Previous Programs
The Next Generation in Business
For Young Adults:
Accountability May Be Costing You The Job
What they see is what you get. Your reputation is your biggest asset. What are you doing to build your assets?
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Lunch and Learn for Students and Alumni of UNC Asheville
Highsmith Center on UNC Asheville Campus
12:15-1:15 p.m., Lunch provided
For Parents and Business Owners:
Integrating the Next Gen Into Your Business
Maybe it's time to rethink the family business model.
Do we assume the family business should continue and our children follow our footsteps? How does the business owner separate the desire to have a hard charging leader and the parent's desire for their child to have a balanced life? Greg McCann will discuss how to adopt the family enterprise model to implement the idea that the best way to preserve the family business is to professionalize the enterprise. This model will better prepare the family and management for the next transition.
Greg McCann, JD, CPA is a professor of family enterprise at Stetson University where he was the founding director of the Family Enterprise Center (1998-2006 & 2010- present). He is also an author, speaker, and founder and principal of McCann & Associates, a firm that consults with family enterprises. Greg is also a member of his extended family's enterprise.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Mountain View Room, Wilma Sherrill Center
UNC Asheville Campus
8:00 a.m. Coffee & Conversation
8:00 a.m. Program Begins
NC Family Business of the Year Award Ceremony
2012 Honorees
- Small Category Winner: Witherspoon Rose Culture, Durham
- Medium Category Winner: Brady Services, Greensboro
- Large Category Winner: Carolina Bio Supply Co., Burlington
- Century Award Winner: The Biltmore Company, Asheville
Thursday, May 3, 2012
6-8 p.m.
Mint Museum Randolph
2730 Randolph Road
Charlotte, NC 28207
Family Business Health 101
March 6, 2012
8:30 a.m. Healthcare Update - Insurance Service of Asheville
9:30 a.m. Identifying Addiction - TBA
10:30 a.m. Healthy Workplace - Johnson, Price & Sprinkle
Taking Care of Family Business Externally and Internally
February 3, 2012
Externally: White Castle to White House
White Castle Burgers is a 4th generation business known for its little square burgers since 1921. Jamie Richardson, White Castle's VP of Government Relations, will share the story of America's first hamburger and why White Castle has chosen to support the advocacy group Family Enterprise USA (FEUSA.)
FEUSA is an organization representing the positive contributions made by business families and drawing attention to the challenges faced due to public policy. Ann Kinkade, President of FEUSA will update us on current policy, pending legislation, and the results of the family business survey mentioned above. Take survey now
Internally: Lessons from the Family Meeting
Dini Pickering, member of our Forum and 4th generation at the Biltmore Company, will share the lessons learned from the last nine years of family meetings. You will learn the true purpose of family meetings, how to structure them, develop content, get past barriers and have fun along the way!
Family Business for Bulldogs
The FBF is invited to cheer on the UNC Asheville Bulldogs on Saturday January 7, 2012 in the new Kimmel Arena, at the Wilma Sherrill Center on campus. Food will be provided in the Mountain View Suite. Bulldog Merchandise discounts are available with your One-Card from UNC Asheville.
Holiday Social Event
Thursday, December 8
Janice W. Brumit Pisgah House, UNC Asheville Campus
Chancellor Ponder warmly welcomes you to the Janice W. Brumit Pisgah House for holiday cheer and to celebrate and applaud another fantastic Family Business Forum year! We'll gather as a group together and enjoy light holiday fare and beverages.
Leading Fearless Change: Making your Ideas Happen
You have great ideas to bring into your organization but often struggle to make them happen. Unfortunately, those who want to introduce change are not always welcomed with open arms. This presentation gave you the tools you needed to influence others, overcome adversity, and encourage people to become so involved and interested in your ideas that they really do want to change. Bring your frustrations! You will hear solutions to the roadblocks that allow "powerless leaders" to fearlessly lead change in their organizations.
Mary Lynn Manns is on the Management faculty at UNC Asheville. She is the co-author of the book, Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas, which documents the successful strategies used by leaders of change in many different types and sizes of organizations throughout the world. Published in 2004 by Addison Wesley Publishing Co, the book continues to recieve outstanding reviews with at "best book" award in 2004 and a place on the "12 books that changed my career" list on amazon.com
Mary Lynn has done numerous presenations and consultations on the topic of leading change for many organizations including Microsoft, Avon, Dannon Yogurt, Proctor & Gamble. She continues to study and document the best practices of successful change leaders and is working on her second book, More Fearless Change.
3 Simple Reasons for Pre-Nup Agreements
Hear why not having a pre-nuptial agreement before marriage for yourself or the next generation destroys the family. This is an opportunity to get wise to the facts and discuss specifics about your company by scheduling a complementary appointment with the expert leading the workshop.
Book Review by Meridith Elliot Powell
“Boomers to Bloggers” Author Misti Burmeister
From Boomers to Bloggers offers critical information that will help both individuals and organizations achieve success across generations. Learn from Meridith Elliott Powell about creating an environment where the strengths of each generation can flourish and succeed beyond comprehension. Meridith is passionate about helping corporations, organizations and individuals understand how to make connections, turn connections into prospects, prospects into clients and clients into champions! mrpprofitstrategies.com
Can We Work Together?
Brings the morning to close with how the ideas presented bring it to a plan of implementation and for maximum ROI – return on involvement! Ellen Castro’s education and business experience on three continents, combined with a keen intuition delivers the timely message, it’s all about trust™.” Castro is the author of Spirited Leadership...52 Ways to Build Trust on the Job. ellencastro.com
Coaching The Next Generation of Business Leaders
Greg McCann has identified 6 fatal business mistakes facing all business. In these challenging times with the Great Recession, globalization, technology, shorter business cycles, a greater need for innovation, the new generation of business leaders need to perform at a different level. This highly interactive program will enable each participant to craft a Life Plan and related action steps to build on the momentum of the day. Greg is a family business consultant, university business school professor, founder of Stetson University Family Business Center, and former executive with his family business. mccannfbconsulting.com
Shift Happens: Is the World Changing Faster Than You Are?
Can we be more open to our customers, employees, our communities, to new research and information, to new technologies? Can we be more open to change? How? We are now exiting a period of very slow change and entering a period of extremely dynamic change. It might seem like the emergence of the web was a big deal. The changes wrought in the past 20 years are nothing compared to the amount and speed of change in the next ten. What are the technologies that we should be trying and piloting to see if they improve our service quality and impact? Which ones are worth investigating? What is happening in the economy? Are there different ways to build community or to attract new customer segments? Stephen Abram is Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute where he swims upstream continually to try to discover the future for world of information technology and people's behavior.
Strategic Planning: One Size Does Not Fit All
Strategic Planning is a tool to help a family business chart its course for the future. Many strategic planning programs get bogged down in a one size fits all approach. In reality, family businesses comes in all shapes and sizes and must deploy parallel- family and business- planning processes to be successful. Family businesses are complex organizations and require interconnected planning techniques. Ann Dugan is the founder of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence, part of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. She is an accomplished author, lecturer and business consultant with more than 20 years of experience researching, developing and writing in the areas of family business, strategic planning, development of the franchise system and dynamics of the entrepreneurial firm. A frequent contributor to articles published in Fortune, Inc, New York Times,
Where Are We Now? Current Economic Forcast
Dr. James Smith, chief economist at Parsec Financial covered the state of the economy and how it may affect your business. Dr. Smith’s career spans private industry, government and academic institutions, and includes tenures with Wharton Econometrics, Union Carbide, and the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He has been a speaker for the UNC Asheville Economic Crystal Ball Seminar for twenty years. Known best as an economic forecaster, Jim is a member of the forecasting panels of Bloomberg, Business Week and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and participates in economic surveys for the National Association for Business Economics, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.
Behind the Beans
Mr. Jim Ethier, President of Bush Brothers Company, (those wonderful beans) shared with us the challenges and humor of making the world's best beans and keeping the secret recipe in the family!
Does This Look Like You?
We were delighted with a performance by UNC Asheville improvisational drama students and Gen Y presented by Dr. Alycia Fogle, Dept of Management & Accountancy.
Immigration: The Story, The Facts, The Future
John Oswald of Mills Manufacturing, Grant Osborne & Rendi Mann-Stadt of McGuire Wood & Bissette and Steve Murphy, President and Owner of Carolina HR Partners discussed personnel and legal issues involved in hiring Non US Employees. In August of 2008 federal agents arrested more than 50 employees of Mills Manufacturing on immigration related charges. We heard the story and lessons learned.
Are Dads Contacts Your Contacts?
Meridith Elliot Powell spoke to the Forum about making the right contacts and making them count! Meridith is the owner of MRP Profit Strategies LLC and has taken a unique approach to business consulting with a blend of developing people and driving up revenues. Her high energy, spirited wit makes her a fast-paced and effective speaker.
Raising Children In A Family Business
The late, Dr. Cindy Iannarelli, founder of the Bernelli Foundation in Italy and creator of The Buzz Project, was dedicated to distributing educational products and training to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviors in children and special populations such as family businesses worldwide. She revealed the things every business owner must know about the money we work so hard to earn. She was raised in a family business!
"The Changing of the Guard: A Panel Discussion"
The success of FBF's panel discussions was experienced again with a look at the transition to the next generation. We learned how our panelist's companies moved to the next era of leadership. Ron Reece, Ph.D., a psychologist from South Carolina, moderated the program with great enthusiasm. The commonality of family complications with a bit of humor and love was shared by three companies.
"Current Economic Outlook for NC Family Owned Businesses"
Mr. Jeffrey Kane, Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond provided the current economic forecast for our region. As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve sets monetary policy, supervises and regulates member financial institutions and provides an array of financial services. In the Fifth District, they contribute to the formulation of national monetary policy, gather and analyze regional economic data, and supervise and regulate financial institutions. This was an outstanding opportunity to gaze into the economic crystal ball for 2008.Mr. Kane was an exceptional speaker and we look forward to his return.
"The Care and Feeding of Your Exit Strategy"
Presented by Ken Kaplan, a partner in the WNC practice of Tatum, LLC and Peter Nilsen of Middle Market Resources, LLC. Since you have spent countless hours nurturing and growing your business, we explored the next phase--preparing your business and yourself for the exit transition. Richard Kort of McGuire Wood and Bissette highly recommended attendance for all business owners regardless if an exit strategy is in the near or distant future.
Building Your Board
We welcomed back to the Family Business Forum, Fredda Herz Brown. Fredda explained the importance of having a board of directors no matter the size of your business. We learned how to build a board if we currently don't have one, get advice on boards if you already do. Fredda is Founder and Managing Partner of The Metropolitan Group LLC and a leading family business consultant.
Contented Cows & the Impact for Family Owned Businesses
Richard Hadden, author of "Contented Cows", shared funny, hard-hitting, practical, and at times a little outrageous, but always professional advice. We learned how creating a great place to work is one of the best things a company can do for its bottom line.
Partners in Marriage and Work
Marriage is a gift, work is a blessing, but what about the mixing of marriage and work? Is it a gift, blessing or curse? Ron Reece, PhD, Greenville SC offered advice on helping marriages in the pendulum swings of life.
Do We Sell?
Ever think you have had enough of this? I'm getting out. We heard both the financial and emotional issues involved in selling a family business. Our presenters were Todd Morse of Chimney Rock Company, Neil Farnam of Farnam Custom Products, and Colin Larsen who sold his family business and is now with Colton Groome & Company. We had an expert panel who added financial and legal advice to members thinking of selling their business, Bill Smith from First Citizens, Gary Mathes from Dixon Hughes Accounting and Ken Kaplan of Tatum LLC in Black Mountain. The panel was moderated by Gerald LeVan of the LeVan Co, LLC.
Can you keep a secret?
Do you know which secrets to guard? Are you protected if there is an information leak from a former employee? The latest info on trade secrets was presented by Joe McGuire of McGuire Wood & Bissette Law Firm.
Women's Roles in Family Business: Changing the Face of Family Held Companies
Presented by Greg Greenleaf and Sharon Krone of The Family Business Consulting Group, Inc. While family businesses traditionally have had leadership sustained by male members of the family, more women are running family businesses. When women aspire to leadership roles within the firm as well as broadened roles within the enterprising family, the opportunities for business-owning families are greater than ever. The many traditional and non-traditional roles that women fill in every family business and what family business members - male and female alike - should be doing to maximize their performance in these roles was discussed.
Evolving Company Culture in a Family Owned Business: Balancing Continuity and Change.
Family Business Forum members had the unique opportunity to attend a luncheon presentation by the LL Bean Company of Freeport, Maine at the beautiful Inn on Biltmore Estate. The presenters, Ms. Elizabeth Spaulding, VP Customer Satisfaction and Ms. Sarah Cox, Senior Manager of Organizational Development of the LL Bean Company explained how LL Bean began as a one man direct mail order business and has now become a global outfitting business which involves over 4000 people producing annual sales of $1.2 billion. They discussed progression of the LL Bean culture - how values and culture spawned by Leon Leonwood Bean evolved to shape the company he founded in 1912 to thrive in a much more complex, competitive and informationally aware atmosphere.
FISH! Philosophy
Presented by Chimney Rock Park. This is a customer service concept that has been successfully employed in financial institutions, critical care hospitals, manufacturing, service organizations and, yes, recreational business and theme parks. It encourages businesses to manage their employees and suppliers with enthusiasm which will promote profit and success for the business.
Achieving Success Across Generations: “Executive Tune-Up and Re-Invention”
by George Flemming
This is a fantastic and rejuvenating executive “tune-up” process. One of every leader’s greatest responsibilities to their company is to be inspired, focused, creative, energized and passionate. Often, though, many leaders put this behind all of their other “duties.” Ultimately this doesn’t serve them, their company, or their results. This program is designed to help take a step back, get beyond the day to day and elevate vision. It also provides a process for helping executives to better focus on and leverage their greatest strengths and passions, better manage their focus and time, and to identify steps and support needed to take themselves and their leadership to the next level. Often leaders reach a ceiling or plateau by using the same approach, tools and style. They will be given the tools to identify their winning strategy, the pros and cons of their strategy, the limiting beliefs that keep them using the same approach, and a process that helps them to identify their unique “leap” that will take them to their next level.
Executives who attend will be inspired, rejuvenated, re-focused, and ready to take themselves and their team to a bold new future!
George brings the logic and problem-solving skills that he developed as a mechanical engineer, the strategic and business understanding he gained while helping Fortune 500 corporations like Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, American Express, and Amazon.com, and the understanding of how people make profound personal breakthroughs by leveraging his Masters in Psychology and ten years of coaching leaders.
59 Minutes of Wisdom
3 Indicators of Embezzlement
Johnson, Price & Sprinkle Boardroom
Come for 59 minutes. Learn three ways to detect embezzlement in your company. This is an opportunity to get wise to the facts and discuss specifics about your company by scheduling a complementary appointment with the expert leading the workshop. No rsvp necessary.
Your Business Under Attack: Vulnerability To Internet Fraud & Forgery Problems
You’ve worked hard to establish your business. You’ve grown it from the ground up, have money in the bank, and are proud of what you’ve accomplished. Congratulations! Now you’re a target. 8 out of 10 businesses will be subject to some type of bank fraud in 2011. Are you doing everything you can to protect your business and your hard earned money?What the crooks are doing, how it affects you, and how you can protect your business. Who should attend? Business owners and accounting managers.
What You Must Know For Successful Succession
The #1 reason privately held businesses fail is lack of succession planning. Proper plans must include how your business will survive without you. Learn the course of action to take for a successful succession plan from experienced professionals with McGuire Wood & Bissette Law Firm; Johnson Price & Sprinkle Certified Public Accountants(Business Valuation); First Citizens Bank (Buy/Sell Agreement); and the personal story of succession from Insurance Service of Asheville. Who should attend? Business owners, family members, Next Gen working in the business
Turn Your Prospects Into Customers & Your Customers Into Champions
by Meridith Elliot Powell
This is a new economy that takes a different set of skills if you want to be successful. Growing your business and increasing your profits takes more than just your typical sales efforts – you have to understand how to – build relationships, add value, create trust, maximize efficiency and drive bottom line results. It's understanding how to strike the balance between building relationships and driving results. Meridith Elliott Powell will discuss the strategies, ideas and innovative techniques she writes about in her new book 42 Rules To Turn Your Prospects Into Customers. Who should attend? Business owners and professionals who want to learn how to maximize their sales efforts, while making selling easy, fun and far more effective.
Kids, Wealth and Consequences
Tuesday September 15
8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
UNC Asheville Reuter Center, Manheimer Room
Richard Morris, co-author of "Kids, Wealth and Consequences," will offer a talk designed to help family business owners pass sound financial values along to their children. The event, sponsored by UNC Asheville's Family Business Forum, will take place at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, September 15, at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center in the Manheimer Room.
While money can provide comfort, security, travel and education, Morris says that family wealth can also fuel dysfunction and rob children of meaning and ambition. His focus will range from family issues like children's allowance and parents' spending habits, to analyzing what levels of business growth will be needed to provide a financial future for families of different sizes.
Morris, who worked for his family's privately held company, Fel-Pro Incorporated, and served on its board of directors, is now an author, educator and principal of ROI Consulting, which helps family business owners expand and pass down their business to subsequent generations.
Admission for Morris' talk is $50; free for members of the Family Business Forum.
What's so special about your family-owned business and brand? Putting Branding into Action:
Tuesday October 11
8:30 - 9:00 a.m. Coffee and Networking
9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Program
UNC Asheville Owen Conference Center
Atlas Branding & Design, husband and wife team Dean and Lisa Peteet will spend some time shedding light on how to best market your family-owned business. They will provide a few key tips for how to make your family-owned business an asset to your brand. This will include a hands-on interactive session where you can explore how to recognize and incorporate great branding into your existing company and brand.
UNC Asheville Career and Graduate School Fair
Tuesday, October 18
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Wilma M. Sherrill Center
Breakfast Buffet 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.; Set up starting at 8:30 a.m.
- Educate students about opportunities in your career field and jobs within your organization
- Network with other hiring professionals from the area and region
- Recruit top students for graduate and professional degree programs
- $75 per organization, includes a faculty networking breakfast
End of Year Tax Planning
Tuesday November 15
8:00 - 8:30 a.m. Coffee and Networking
8:30 - 11:00 a.m. Program
UNC Asheville Reuter Center
This workshop is from Johnson Price and Sprinkle, a community leader and a Strategic Partner to the Family Business Forum. Three tax experts will offer explanations about 2011 tax changes for the NC and Federal tax regulations and ways plan for a better tax return.
VIP TEDx
The TEDx event is a clearinghouse of "ideas worth spreading" by the world's most inoovative thinkers. It is on Sunday, November 13, at the Diana Wortham Theater from 1-4p.m. The best way to get the most out of the TEDx experience is with a VIP ticket. These VIP ticket holders will have priority seating, access to the presenter, and an invitation to the After Party at The Market Place Restaurant and join the presenters and the "big thinkers" in our community.
Open Attendance to lectures by Donna Boone Parsons
Family Enterprise Management Course
Soft side of Successful Succession
Tuesday March 15
Non-family Management
Thursday March 24
Family Communication
Tuesday April 12
Women in Family Business
Thursday April 21