Family Business Center

There may not be a more important time for family businesses to continue working on the family and business, than right now. The 2020-21 Family Business Breakfast Season is set to address pressing needs in our family business community, and the topics are relevant to what family businesses across our region are facing.

2020-21 Season:

• September 18: Manager to Leader: Shifting the Mindset
• October 30: Positioning Now for Future Downturns
• December 4: Aligning Your Family as a Team
• January 22: Contingency Planning for the Unexpected Loss of a Leader
• February 19: Family Business Communication Strategies
• March 26: Good Governance is Good Practice
• May 14: (re)Building Your Company Culture

Register Here.

Until safe to get us back together, and learning in-person, our programs will be delivered online. We have a thoughtful plan for our audience to connect with each other virtually, like we would on campus. Our center is built on the interactions and learning from each other, and that continues online.

Register your family for this year's season for $1,250, and get access for all family members to all breakfast events, as well as this year's new series of live web content covering important business issues, like diversity hiring, employee mental health, and dealing with addiction. Non-member families can attend an individual event for $200 per family and first-time families can attend a session at no cost.

Questions? Contact center director Jon Keimig, jon.keimig@stthomas.edu.

In these full-day seminars led by family business experts, gain practical tools to improve decision-making in your business. Learn alongside other business families. Topics include governance, succession planning, financial basics and entrepreneurship. To learn about upcoming seminars and inquire about cost, please contact us.

Family Business Governance - Fall 2019
When family, business and ownership are understood and aligned, family businesses can thrive. This three-day course is for the family that wants to get on the same page, learn how be effective owners, and create its own system to secure the long-term future of the family and business. There isn't a more impactful class we offer.

Join a roundtable with peers who share similar family business roles. Participate in confidential discussions about critical family and business issues, and help each other to navigate and overcome challenges. The center offers four groups (CEO/owner, next generation, women in family business and non-family executives) that meet up to 10 times a year, up to three hours each time. Sessions are facilitated by an adviser who has experience working with business families. The annual cost is $950 per person. To ensure that you and your preferred roundtable will be a good fit, you must submit an application. For details, please contact us.

St. Thomas students can take courses in family business. Through practical and experiential learning, as well as engagement with a family business, students will learn to be an effective part of their family business, or have the tools to help guide someone else's. Learn what makes family businesses unique, and harness the dynamics, values and history to create a competitive advantage.

The Adviser Engagement Luncheon allows family business advisers like bankers, accountants, financial planners, attorneys, psychologists and coaches to learn together about topics that will help them better serve their family business clients and build their professional networks. Adviser firms can purchase a table of eight, to bring clients, colleagues and partners, or purchase individual seats to learn with their peers. This group meets three times per year.

Upcoming Luncheons:

Succession through the Eyes of the Next Generation
Experts & Experiences
Postponed

Whether your family is experiencing hardship in personal relationships, succession planning or has a general need for financial planning, an adviser can add value to your business family. Learn what to look for in an adviser, and see a list of recommended advisers.