The CEO and Family Enterprise Center Takes its Programs on the Road

A past CEO event held by the CEO and Family Enterprise Center. (Courtesy of University of New Hampshire)

For years, family business owners have gathered at the CEO and Family Enterprise Center at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of NH in Durham to discuss topics ranging from succession planning to mitigating conflict, whether at formal presentations or in peer groups.

Now the CEO and Family Enterprise Center is hitting the road and bringing its programs to its members, says Michelline Dufort, the center’s director.

In the coming year, the center’s members will be hosting programs at their workplaces to not only host a presentation by the center but also provide a tour of their business.

The “road trip” started on Sept. 27 at NH Distributors in Concord that included a tour of its new multi-million-dollar renovation and automation system upgrade. Members were also able to hear from Attorneys Peter Burger and Virginia Symmes Sheehan of Orr & Reno on the topic of “How to Mitigate a Crisis Arising from the Loss of the Leader of Your
Family Business.”

Upcoming road trips include a tour of Grappone Automotive’s new Mazda dealership in Concord on Nov. 15, with a panel about “The Non-Family Executive in the Family Business” with Larry Haynes of Grappone Auto and Rick Brenner of the NH Fisher Cats; and a tour of Wire Belt Company of America’s new facility in Bedford on Jan. 24. 2024.

Guests at the CEO event held by the CEO and Family Enterprise Center. (Courtesy of University of New Hampshire)

Dufort says coming out of the pandemic, it was evident members were eager to reconnect in person, and she thought, “Why not make every meeting part of a factory tour?” she says. “That’s how you build a relationship with people—you have them over.”

Dufort says being able to gather with other family business leaders for such programs allows members to know they are not alone in the challenges they face and that being onsite at members’ businesses bring those discussions to life.

“One of my members said to me recently, ‘People have been where I am, and I can turn to people I trust and ask what did you do about X? And I can easily get three or four opinions and that helps me get closer to the decisions I need to make,” Dufort says. For more information, visit paulcollege.unh.edu/ceo-family-enterprise-center.