Family Business Center
Find a Family Business Advisor
Get Strategic Guidance and Support
Family businesses have unique strengths, challenges and needs. A business advisor experienced in navigating family business issues can be a valuable addition to your team. Need help identifying which advisors to connect with? One of the best ways it to connect with those in your network or the Family Business Center. You can also reach out to Executive Director Jon Keimig at jon.keimig@stthomas.edu and he can discuss some options that may make sense for your family and situation.
Contact
Jon Keimig
Qualities to Seek in an Advisor
To ensure that your professional advisor is up to the task of serving your family business, she or he should:
- Maintain up-to-date technical knowledge
- Show a strong interest in and commitment to the field of family business
- Communicate openly in clear, simple language and help educate family members when appropriate
- Seek to know your family and business in depth
- Understand how families work and how the family and the business relate to each other
- Give advice and counsel that suits both your family and your business
- Initiate periodic meetings with you for update and review
- Be resourceful on your behalf, spotting opportunities for sharing information and contacts
- Show empathy, patience and trustworthiness
- Be willing to work with successive generations
- Raise questions about the future and give honest feedback and advice
- Promote collaboration among advisers
7 Questions to Ask Potential Advisers
As you search for the best advisor for your family business, it can be helpful to conduct brief interviews. Below are some questions that can help you learn more about your candidates, and give you insight about whom to hire.
- Can you describe your role as a family business advisor?
- How do you build an understanding of the relationship between a family and their family business?
- What does working within a family culture mean to you?
- How do you build and promote collaboration with other advisors serving the same family business?
- How and when do you participate in the changing of family culture?
- Do you have experience with clients whose family businesses are at least as complex as ours?
- Can you provide references from family businesses similar to ours?