Please feel free to browse our pre-recorded videos and other pre-conference materials or set up your 1:1 meetings prior to the start of our event.
Conference introduction by Peter Begalla, Conference Chair and Bill Rock, President, MLR Media, followed immediately by the opening keynote interview with Kent Johnson — a wide-ranging conversation with the fourth-generation CEO of the company that publishes the beloved children’s magazine and operates other brands that reach children, families and educators over a variety of content platforms and formats. During the pandemic, Highlights has been a lifeline for parents. Interview is moderated by Jonathan Flack, U.S. Family Enterprises and Business Leader, PWC
Panelists discuss the values and strategies that enabled them to keep their operating company going through the challenges of the past, and how they can draw on those values in overcoming today’s difficulties.
Your family business may have stabilized after the economic, health and societal upheavals of 2020, but have you checked the “foundation” of the rest of your family enterprise? Have you re-examined the fundamentals of your estate plans, your family governance and all the related decisions that impact its sustainability? Multi-generational families operate within a complex web of legal agreements, financial structures, and organizational and family dynamics, and a family’s plans require regular testing and maintenance to be sure they function smoothly during times of maximum stress.
We will share what other families have found when they went through this process – situations where trustees and successors are all from the same generation, or children from a first marriage inherit control of a family vacation home that a second spouse is supposed to use. Hear those stories and share your own challenges and solutions.
If you don’t want to give your non-family executives an ownership stake in your family business, you must devise another way to align their interests with the family’s. Compensation specialists offer recommendations.
If a family member does something to sully the family name, the consequence could be long-term harm to the family business. How can family governance structures and policies help to prevent reputational risk? How can the family ownership group exert its influence to ensure the business maintains a good reputation?
“COOKING DEMONSTRATION AND FAMILY FOOD
TRADITIONS”
Join us for a live
demonstration on how to grill meats with Michael
Kiolbassa, president of Kiolbassa Smoked Meats
of San Antonio, TX. Then enjoy the conversation
that follows on family food traditions and
family business trivia. We’ll have lots of
prizes and goodies, so please join in the fun.
A chat with the third-generation senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the 100-year-old company that created numerous iconic signs, including the 80-foot-tall Hard Rock Café guitar sign and the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, the sign atop General Motors headquarters in Detroit’s Renaissance Center, the Olympic rings for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre sign and the Reno Arch in Reno, Nev. Jeff also starred in an episode of “Undercover Boss.”
What is the most tax-efficient way to transfer wealth to the next generation? This session will offer advice, particularly in light of the recent election.
Amid highly challenging circumstances such as the pandemic and economic crisis, decisions must be made while emotions are running high. This session offers tips on approaching the task in a clearheaded way.
Family business owners tend to view their companies from a generational perspective, yet a business needs to post good short-term results to instill confidence. How do company executives and family owners thread the needle?
This session will offer tips on working your way out of family conflict and moving toward productive conversations.
How can a family get “unstuck” from an impasse that is blocking effective decision making or interfering with the health of the business?
A discussion of how diversification and other strategies can mitigate risk to the family business.
The choice of a successor is crucial. Objective criteria must be used to evaluate candidates. The person who gets the job must have the right skills to lead the business into the future. Family members must have confidence in the person who is chosen as well as in the process used to make the decision. This panel will discuss the process of successor selection and leadership development.
In a large, multigenerational family, family meeting attendance (when there isn’t a pandemic) may require the use of vacation time from work and traveling a great distance. Even during a pandemic, family meetings compete with other commitments or treasured leisure time. Family members must believe meeting attendance is worth the effort. This session offers an advice on making family meetings informative, meaningful and fun.
The succession challenges of a business in the early, entrepreneurial stages are different from the challenges of a mature business owned by a larger extended family. This session will explore the issues at each stage and provide advice on managing the challenges.
The oversight and monitoring processes used for family companies that are held in trust offer guidance on how all family businesses can reduce their risks. This session will lay out a template for assessing the status of your company.
This session will provide advice on transition planning that achieves your goals while minimizing the effect of taxes, potential future divorces and other hazards.
Whether the family business is thriving or struggling to survive an economic crisis, family members need to be kept informed appropriately of how the company is faring. They also need to stay connected with each other to maintain a united ownership group. This session will offer tips on keeping your family members in the loop.
This session will provide information on partnering with a private equity investor: the expertise a private equity partner can offer, as well as what private equity firms look for when assessing family businesses.
A discussion with the third-generation president, CEO and board chair of W.L. Gore & Associates, a global materials company and creator of GORE-TEX. He has 25 years of technology experience both inside and outside the family company. He has served as board chair since 2016 and took on the roles of president and CEO in October 2020.
Do multigenerational family companies have an advantage at a time when customers are carefully watching their spending? Panelists will discuss the importance of having a well-established brand — and the importance of maintaining that solid reputation during tough times
Why is it important to create documents such a family mission and values statement, a family employment policy (and other policies) and a family constitution? What’s the best way to get started, and who from the family should be involved? This workshop provides guidance.
NextGen family members seeking a role in their family business or in family governance must prove themselves. Non-family stakeholders must feel comfortable that the NextGens have earned their roles and were not just given a job because of their last name. Older family members must see the NextGens as dedicated adult professionals and not as the children they used to be. This workshop will be a forum for open discussion on building and demonstrating credibility.
Join us for a special interview with William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies as he shares his thoughts on values-based leadership during times of crisis, and how the company responded to the pandemic and social injustice issues within the family and with their employees. Moderated by Peter Begalla, Conference Chair, Family Business Magazine
