The Transitions West 2012 conference, held Nov. 7-9 at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, Calif., attracted a record number of participants. Nearly 200 people—a 40% increase over April’s Transitions East 2012 event in Orlando—attended the November conference; 63 family enterprises were represented at the event, which was presented by Family Business Magazine and Stetson University’s Family Enterprise Center.
The theme of Transitions West 2013 was “Ownership, Management and Entrepreneurship: Building Family Legacies.” The program included panel discussions, keynote addresses and interactive workshops, presented in a confidential setting that encouraged participants to ask questions and share their concerns.
Timely opening event
The November 7 opening session, which took place the day after Election Day in the U.S., featured a discussion entitled “The Implications for Family Business of the Presidential Election.” Ann Kinkade, president and CEO of Family Enterprise USA, a non-profit advocacy organization, and Frank Blethen, publisher and CEO of the Seattle Times, discussed the estate tax and other issues of concern to family business owners. A welcome reception followed the kickoff program.
Thursday morning, November 8, opened with a keynote address from Jim Ethier, chairman of the board of Bush Brothers & Company, famous for its baked beans and its TV commercials featuring Duke the “talking” dog. Ethier, who has been with the company for 42 years, is a third-generation member of the Bush family.
Ownership and management
Barbara Spector, editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Family Business Magazine, moderated a panel discussion focusing on “Separating Ownership from Management.” Panelists were Bush Brothers & Company’s Jim Ethier; Michael P. Rucker, chairman of the board, Geo. H. Rucker Realty; and Roger Muselman, chairman and director of DRG, the management company that oversees his family’s publishing and fulfillment companies. They discussed their companies’ transition to non-family leadership, and how their families add value to their companies as owners who are not involved in day-to-day management.
Stephanie Brun de Pontet, a senior consultant with the Family Business Consulting Group, then led a workshop that addressed ownership and management issues. Conference participants broke into small groups to discuss a case and then reconvened to compare notes.
A panel discussion on “The Non-Family Executive” was moderated by Justin Zamparelli, a partner with the law firm of Withers Bergman. Three key non-family managers in family enterprises—James Wood, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at The Clemens Family Corporation; Robert Underbrink, president/CEO of King Ranch Inc.; and David Yale, president of Just Born Inc.—spoke about their experiences working with family owners. They were joined by Ross Born, co-CEO of Just Born.
Stephen McClure, a principal with the Family Business Consulting Group, led the second workshop of the day, which focused on the role of family business culture in setting the tone for a company with senior non-family executives.
Conference attendees posed questions to a trio of family business advisers in a session entitled “Ask the Experts.” Arne Boudewyn, managing director—family dynamics, education and governance at Abbot Downing; Bryant Seaman III, managing director and head of private asset advisory services, Bessemer Trust; and Jeff Sacaccio, a partner at PwC, offered their advice. Family Business Magazine’s Scott Chase moderated the discussion.
Mark Peters, CEO of Butterball Farms Inc., presented the afternoon keynote address. In a talk entitled “Entrepreneurship, Cultural Change and a Lesson in What Not to Do with Your Kids,” Peters candidly discussed the hurdles he faced on taking the helm of Butterball Farms after the death of his father.
Peters’s address was followed by concurrent roundtable discussions. Next-generation members and those who married in to family enterprises shared their joys and concerns in discussions moderated by Stetson University Professors Greg McCann and Peter Begalla, respectively. Family business advisers were also available for one-on-one chats with attendees.
The day ended with a cruise and dinner aboard the FantaSea One, owned by FantaSea Yachts, a family business.
Engagement, collaboration and entrepreneurship
Friday, November 9, began with a panel discussion moderated by family business consultant Nancy Drozdow, a principal at CFAR. The topic was “How Family Councils Foster Engagement and Collaboration Among the Extended Family.” Ashley Levi, a board member and family council president at the H.G. Hill Company, and Meghan Juday, family council chair and a director of IDEAL Industries, spoke about their family councils’ role in strengthening family dynamics, resolving conflicts and building harmony in the extended family.
Dirk Jungé, chairman of Pitcairn, a multi-family office, and a fourth-generation member of the Pitcairn family, was the moderator of a panel entitled “Igniting the Fire: Fostering Entrepreneurship in the Third Generation and Beyond.” Gavin Cuneo, a partner in Cuneo & Company, discussed his partnership with his father in a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies in the entertainment, consumer and retail industries. Josh Johnson, president of Fidelitone Logistics, explained his company’s transition from a maker of phonograph needles to a provider of supply chain management and logistics services. Wm. Christopher Kerr, a fifth-generation member of the Pitcairn family, spoke about his entrepreneurial activities, begun at an early age, and his current role as entrepreneur-in-residence and director of private equities at the Humane Society of the United States.
David Lansky, principal consultant with the Family Business Consulting Group, then led a workshop dealing with differing levels of risk tolerance in a family investment company.
The conference’s final panel, moderated by Stetson University Professor Greg McCann, offered insights into “Teaching Financial Literacy to the Next Generation.” Charlotte Lamp, a member of the Eddy family, owners of Port Blakely Companies, and Bhaj Townsend, who coaches clients to strengthen their connection to their families and family businesses, drew on their own experiences as business family members. Lamp’s family owns a thriving multigenerational enterprise; Townsend’s family was split apart amid friction stemming from indecision on succession planning.
Ross Born, who serves as Just Born’s co-CEO along with his cousin David Shaffer, offered brief closing remarks.
Transitions West 2012’s Platinum Sponsor was PwC. Gold Sponsors were Bessemer Trust and Abbot Downing. The Family Business Consulting Group was the conference’s Silver Sponsor. Bronze Sponsors were CFAR, Pitcairn, the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and Withers Bergman.
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