Understand the situation
Listen first. Understand the business, the people and what is at stake, and separate the immediate question from the underlying issue.
Independent ownership advice. Experienced judgment. Transaction leadership.
JD Ford & Company combines independent ownership advisory with investment banking and M&A advisory services. We work beside owners, CEOs and boards on growth, capital, ownership and succession decisions. The role begins with the objective—not a presumed transaction—and can continue through negotiation and execution when action is warranted.
Someone has to be responsible for how it all comes together.
Legal, tax, accounting, wealth and operating perspectives all matter. Our contribution is to connect the commercial alternatives, financial consequences and negotiation choices so the owner or board can assess the decision as a whole. Where that responsibility is already well served, our role can be narrower.
What “independent” means to us.
Our starting point is the client’s objective—not a preferred buyer, financing product, or sale process. We test acting against waiting or continued ownership. Independence is a responsibility to examine alternatives thoughtfully, not a claim that potential conflicts cannot arise.
Begin with the owner and what is at stake.
A business can represent an owner’s life’s work, a family’s financial future, and the livelihoods of a team. We help owners weigh financial outcomes alongside their responsibilities to family, employees, customers, and the business they have built. The work begins with listening: understanding what matters, acknowledging what is uncertain, and considering the choices together.
Joseph (“JD”) Durnford
CEO and Founder
Joe Durnford is an entrepreneur, investment banker and M&A advisor who brings an owner’s perspective to consequential business decisions. As CEO and Founder of JD Ford & Company, he serves as an Independent Ownership Advisor, helping clients evaluate alternatives, negotiate important terms and keep the overall objective in view.
His experience spans building, operating and investing in businesses, alongside advising on acquisitions, sales, capital and ownership transitions. The practical question: what arrangement will work for this business and its owners?
Joe began his professional career at Deloitte, where he developed a foundation in accounting, financial analysis, and business advisory. He subsequently joined Coopers & Lybrand (now part of PwC), where he was a member of the founding team of the firm’s Corporate Finance Advisory practice, advising clients on mergers, acquisitions, valuations, and strategic financial transactions.
In 1996, Joe founded JD Ford & Company, building an investment banking and advisory practice dedicated to serving entrepreneurs, privately held businesses, and their owners. Over the ensuing three decades, he has advised on acquisitions, business sales, capital formation, complex negotiations, and ownership transitions, working with strategic acquirers, private equity investors, and business owners across a broad range of industries.
Joe brings more than an advisor’s perspective. His entrepreneurial experience includes founding Thomas Industries, LLC and co-founding Pumpkin Masters, LLC, and Placewise Media (formerly Mallfinder Network). Having participated in building, operating, and investing in businesses himself, Joe understands firsthand the opportunities, challenges, and personal stakes that accompany business ownership.
In 2022, Joe received The M&A Advisor’s Industry Leadership Award and was inducted into the M&A Advisor Hall of Fame, recognizing his professional accomplishments and contributions to the mergers and acquisitions industry.
Throughout his career, Joe has combined institutional financial training, entrepreneurial experience, creative deal structuring, and disciplined negotiation to help clients recognize opportunities, preserve alternatives, and pursue outcomes consistent with their objectives.
Today, Joe serves as a trusted advisor and coach to successful entrepreneurs, helping them evaluate growth opportunities, navigate ownership challenges, negotiate important transactions, and prepare for the next chapter of their businesses and lives.
His philosophy is straightforward: The owner’s goals come first. A transaction, when appropriate, is simply one means of achieving them.
Read the client storiesView representative engagementsView Joe’s LinkedIn profile (opens in a new tab)Listen carefully. Weigh the alternatives. Act with discipline.
The work connects analysis, negotiation, and execution.
Develop the alternatives
Test the assumptions behind each path, including continuing to own the business.
Bring the right people together
Coordinate with management and the owners’ legal, tax, accounting and wealth advisors.
Put the decision into action
Lead the negotiation and the process, or support you as you lead it, keeping your objectives in view as facts emerge.
Experience added to the team you already trust.
We work alongside your attorney, CPA, wealth manager and other specialists. Each retains responsibility for their discipline while the work stays connected to your objectives.
For professional advisorsExperience does not make any of us immune to mistaken assumptions. Good advice creates room to question them together. We listen before recommending a course, recognize the limits of our own expertise, and involve other specialists when their judgment is needed.
Begin with a conversation about your business.
Tell us what you are building, what has changed or what you are considering.
Start a confidential conversation