In this episode, we sit down with David Savir, co-founder and chief executive officer of Element Pointe Family Office, to discuss key considerations in preparing for a family business sale. David also discusses how families can remain engaged in legacy building after a liquidity event.
We also chat with Ron Attman, CEO of Maryland-based Acme Paper & Supply Company, which celebrates its 80th anniversary next year. He discusses the importance of staying nimble in the face of challenging market conditions, and why successful family businesses need to be about more than just the family owners.
And finally, we feature Part 2 of our conversation with Peter Blommer, former chairman & CEO of the Blommer Chocolate Company. In the last episode, Peter talks about how the family narrowly escaped a sale to massive multinational food corporation Cargill by making an appeal from one family-owned enterprise to another. In this episode, he explains how that experience spurred Blommer Chocolates and the Blommer family to shore up their governance and improve their communication with each other. He also talks about how the family ultimately came to the difficult but necessary decision to sell the business to Fuji Oil Holdings in 2018.
If you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, you can find it, along with every other episode we’ve released, right here or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode is brought to you by Element Pointe, an independent multi-family office and wealth management firm dedicated to guiding individuals and their families through important financial, investment, lifestyle and interpersonal matters — in turn, helping clients build a secure future and enduring legacy.
Interested in being a guest or have a topic you’d like to hear us discuss? Contact host Zack Needles, editor-in-chief of Family Business Magazine, at: zneedles@familybusinessmagazine.com.
Don’t miss an episode! Follow Family Business/Business Family on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Guests
Peter Blommer
Peter Blommer is the former chairman & CEO of the Blommer Chocolate Company, which was the largest fully integrated cocoa bean processor and manufacturer of ingredient chocolate in North America with four manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Canada, and Shanghai. He represented the fourth generation of Blommer family members in the chocolate business. In 2018, Blommer was acquired by Fuji Vegetable Oil of Japan to create the third largest global ingredient chocolate company, with a network of 16 facilities in 10 countries. After the merger, Peter continued to operate the North American business while helping to integrate Blommer into the Fuji group and to realize merger synergies. He stepped down from the president & CEO role in July 2022 and was a Board member and strategic advisor as Vice Chairman until December 2023.
Peter graduated from Georgetown University in 1985 and in 1989 earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Prior to joining Blommer Chocolate, Peter held positions in investment banking in New York and in business development and brand management for the Dole Food Company.
He is married and has three children and is based in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Ron Attman
Ron Attman is the CEO of Acme Paper, where he oversees all aspects of the family-owned business. Prior to becoming CEO in 2014, he started his career at Acme in 1968 and has served in numerous roles.
Attman is an active member of the Baltimore community. He has served in many roles, including on the board of directors, board of governors and as vice president and chair of Community Planning and Allocation for the Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore. Attman also served as president of the Jewish Community Services. Additionally, he served on the board of Jewish Vocational Services, University of Maryland Hillel, Network Associates, Inc., and The Restaurant Association of Maryland.
Attman is also extremely dedicated to the healthcare community. Attman has served as the Northwest Hospital vice chair and secretary, as well as the chair of the Performance Oversight Committee and vice chair of the LifeBridge Development Committee. He was also a member of the Executive Leadership Cabinet for the 2021 Maryland Heart Walk.
Additionally, Attman served in many capacities on the Network Associates, Inc., board including being its chairman and CEO. As board chairman and CEO, he oversaw an organization comprised of 72 independent distributors of paper products and janitorial supplies with combined sales of 6.9 billion dollars.
David Savir
David Savir is co-founder and chief executive officer of Element Pointe Family Office, a multi-family office and investment advisory firm serving high-net-worth families and family offices throughout the U.S. Element Pointe provides investment management and family office advisory services and serves as an outsourced Chief Investment Officer to a select group of single-family offices.
David is responsible for leading the firm’s overall management and strategy and is involved in all aspects of the firm’s investment management, consulting, and family office advisory services. As a trusted advisor to ultra-high-net-worth families and family offices, he is often called upon to assist clients in navigating the sale or monetization of privately held companies. He has advised families on sales transactions to private equity and strategic acquirers, as well as on dividend recapitalization transactions and other debt monetization events. Alongside clients’ estate and tax counsel, David also advises families and family offices on estate planning and tax considerations, philanthropy, family office structuring and governance, and intra-family communication.
David serves on Element Pointe’s investment committee, which is responsible for managing clients’ investment portfolios encompassing broad exposure to both public and private markets, including investments in public equity and debt securities, private equity funds, private credit funds, real estate debt and equity funds, and venture funds.
Prior to co-founding Element Pointe in 2016, David held the position of Vice President at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where he directed a team of investment and lending professionals in advising ultra-high-net-worth clients throughout the U.S. David began his career in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs, where he was responsible for advising and managing investment portfolios for a select group of successful U.S. families.
David has been quoted on the subjects of family office wealth management, pre-transaction planning, practice management, and investment-related topics in industry publications including the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and Bloomberg News.
David received his JD and MBA degrees from the University of Miami, where he was a Dean’s Merit Scholar and Graduate Assistant to the Business Law faculty, performing academic research in the areas of securities regulation, corporate governance, and business ethics. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Florida. David is a member of The Florida Bar.*
Involved in his community, David serves on the Board of Directors of Temple Menorah of Miami Beach and previously served on the Finance and Investment Committee of the Lehrman Community Day School. He is a past board member of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship South Florida and has served as a mentor to students in the University of Miami Entrepreneurship Program.
*Mr. Savir and Element Pointe Family Office do not provide any legal advice or services in connection with advisory services.