Advisor · Entrepreneur · Educator
Martin-Sebastian Abel
Helping organizations navigate their most critical transitions.
Business succession. Strategic transformation. Market entry. Financing. Sustainability. Leadership.
I work with entrepreneurs, boards, investors, family businesses, and public-sector leaders to help them navigate uncertainty, create long-term value, and make better decisions when the stakes are highest.
Let's Connect
Every organization reaches defining
moments.
These moments rarely fail because organizations lack information. They fail because leaders need clarity, trusted advice, and the confidence to act. That is where I work.
About
Throughout my career, I have worked where organizations face their most critical transitions.
I've advised boards, founders, investors, financial institutions, family businesses, and public-sector leaders on strategy, transformation, sustainability, regulation, financing, market entry, and leadership. Whether supporting a company entering a new market, preparing for investment, navigating business succession, or responding to regulatory change, my focus has always been the same: helping organizations make better decisions when the stakes are highest.
Today, I am the Founder and Managing Director of TransitionPlan, a strategy and transformation advisory supporting organizations through business succession, transformation, sustainability, financing, and international growth.
I also founded NachfolgeWerk, bringing together experts in strategy, M&A, executive search, and legal advisory to support successful ownership transitions in the German Mittelstand.
My entrepreneurial portfolio also includes americanwine.club, a curated marketplace bringing exceptional small-production American wines to customers across Europe. Building this company reminds me every day that strategy only creates value when it is successfully executed.
Before founding my own companies, I held senior consulting positions at KPMG, advised one of Germany's leading public development banks on financial regulation and sustainable finance, served as a Member of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, and led the European market entry of a North American biotechnology company.
Alongside my advisory work, I teach strategy, transformation, communication, and sustainable finance at leading business schools and universities. I regularly contribute to academic publications and speak internationally on business succession, leadership, transformation, sustainability, and governance.
Three Perspectives
Advisor
I advise organizations through periods of strategic change, helping leaders navigate complexity with clarity, structure, and execution.
Entrepreneur
Building businesses myself keeps my advice practical. Every day as an entrepreneur reinforces that successful strategies only matter when they can be implemented in the real world.
Educator
Teaching and speaking challenge me to simplify complex ideas and transform knowledge into practical action for leaders, organizations, and future decision-makers.
Current Ventures
TransitionPlan
A strategy and transformation advisory helping organizations navigate business succession, transformation, sustainability, financing, and international growth.
Visit TransitionPlan
NachfolgeWerk
An interdisciplinary network supporting successful ownership transitions through strategy, M&A, executive search, and legal advisory.
Learn More
americanwine.club
Europe's curated destination for exceptional American wines from small family wineries.
Visit americanwine.clubExperience
Over the past two decades, my work has brought together perspectives that rarely exist within one career.
This combination allows me to connect strategy, execution, regulation, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
Selected Credentials
Author of peer-reviewed publications on governance, sustainability, and finance.
- Abel, M.-S., & Markarian, G. (2023). The rise and fall of the EU taxonomy: Lessons in the implementation of sustainability accounting and accountability. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4618108
- Abel, M.-S., & Markarian, G. (2023). Die öffentliche Hand braucht eine verpflichtende ESG-Berichterstattung. Zeitschrift für Risk, Fraud & Compliance, 5(5). https://doi.org/10.37307/j.1867-8394.2023.05.04
Media & Commentary
- Abel, M.-S. (2026, May 13). Nachhaltigkeitsberichte: Europas verpasste Chance. Table.Media. table.media
- Cabras, M., & Abel, M.-S. (2025, July 28). ESG-Recht: Nicht zu viel versprechen. kom. kom.de
- Abel, M.-S. (2025, January 2). Das perfekte Chaos – wie die Bundesregierung Unternehmen ins CSRD-Debakel führt. Tagesspiegel Background. background.tagesspiegel.de
Speaking & Teaching
I regularly speak for companies, universities, business schools, conferences, and public institutions.
Since 2021, I have been a Lecturer in the Certified Expert in Sustainable Finance programme at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. Working with internationally diverse groups of professionals and graduate students, I deliver classroom training in English and contribute to the assessment of both English and German examinations. For me, teaching is a continuous exchange rather than a one-way transfer of knowledge. It allows me to challenge my own thinking, learn from experienced practitioners across industries and cultures, and continuously connect academic research with practical business experience.
Every transition is different.
The right conversation often starts before the right solution. Whether you're preparing for a business succession, leading a transformation, expanding internationally, raising capital, or responding to strategic change, I'd be delighted to hear from you.
Let's Talk