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WHEN THE TOP EXEC of a small company dies suddenly, the emotional impact on employees can be overwhelming.

Tim Keenan knows this firsthand. A private-plane crash in 2003 claimed the lives of three executives of his company, including the co-founder and chief executive, returning from a corporate meeting in Florida. Though High Performance Technologies Inc. had recently put in place a succession plan, tending to the emotional needs of his employees after the tragedy was one thing the Reston, Va., information-technology hadn't planned for.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Keenan, the president and the other co-founder of the company, talked about the healing and recovery process.

WSJ: Were employees worried about the future of the company?

Mr. Keenan: Yes, but they wouldn't let themselves say it because it sounded disloyal. We spent that entire year recovering.

WSJ: You brought in grief counselors. How did that go?

Mr. Keenan: An employee-assistance program was included on our insurance, and grief counseling was one of those things on the list that we hadn't paid much attention to. I never knew there was such a thing as a grief counselor.

You call a number, they show up, they talk to the group with standard slides about standard things. They gave this big speech that was kind of canned. You can't see emotions in groups of 100 people. You need to get in groups of four or five.

We worked out [a new plan after the accident] with our insurance company and human resources. Now we would roll it out with more counselors working with smaller groups. People need to be able to say how scared they are... If you can't get them talking, they can't get it out. People who were closemouthed didn't last at the company more than another year.

WSJ: What were the first steps in keeping the company going?

Mr. Keenan: Step one was calling in a large part of the company and saying, 'Are you committed to this?' There was unanimous support to push forward. The main leadership didn't change. I had been chief operating officer and was supposed to step into the role of chief executive, though we retired the title. And we had the chief financial officer as well as two senior vice presidents who were very mature [and stepped up to help lead].

WSJ: Besides insurance, how were you able to take care of the victims' families?

Mr. Keenan: The wives' biggest fears were how their kids were going to get to school. The company established a scholarship fund. We put in some money and opened it to matching [for employees]. One of the kids just graduated from the University of Virginia. Another is at James Madison.

WSJ: At the time of the accident, your board of advisers consisted of you and your co-founder. Now, you're moving in the direction of a five-person board. Why?

Mr. Keenan: We should have never had a board of two. [After the accident] it was a board of one. All of that stress on one person is a little daunting.