Family Business Director is excited to be a sponsor of this week’s Transitions Spring 2021 conference produced by Family Business Magazine.  The theme for the conference is “Building the Future Family Business.”  The conference offers a wide range of sessions in support of that theme, including (to name just a few):

• Getting Past the Past
• Defining the Family for the Future
• Effectively Transitioning Your Legacy and Wealth
• Non-Family Executives: When Is the Right Time to Bring Them In?
• Killing the Goose? How to Avoid Laying a (Golden) Egg
• Driving Diversity and Inclusion in the Family Business
• Family Business Senior Executive Compensation Study Results

The Transitions conferences are the perfect venue for enterprising families to gather and learn from the experiences of other families who have dealt with (or are currently dealing with) common challenges in a family business.  The sessions – led by both family business leaders and subject matter experts – are informative and relevant and cover timely topics.  And the opportunity to meet and build connections with other enterprising families is not easily replicated.

We are looking forward to leading a breakout session on Wednesday (12:10-12:50 EDT) on the role of diversification in the family business.  As your family thinks about building the future family business, how should the concept of diversification be considered in your planning?  We hope to guide an interactive conversation among attendees around the following topics:

• What is diversification, and what are the benefits of diversification to family businesses?
• Are there any reasons for family businesses not to diversify?
• How does diversification affect investment decisions?
• From whose perspective should diversification be evaluated?
• How do diversification concerns affect leverage and dividend policy decisions?
• How does the “meaning” of your family business intersect with diversification decisions?

While COVID appears to be on its way out of our lives, it is still not feasible to host large conferences on an in-person basis.  However, the staff at Family Business Magazine have done a great job of providing a virtual conference experience (complete with 1:1 networking opportunities) that promises to replicate some of the best features of in-person events.  Plus, you can wear your yoga pants.

Conclusion

If you are attending, please look us up and reach out; my colleague Atticus Frank and I would enjoy meeting you and spending a few minutes with you.  If you’ve never attended a Transitions event before, this conference will be a great opportunity for you to try it out.  We have complimentary registration for the first four individuals who would like to attend.  Just shoot us an email at harmst@mercercapital.com and we will hook you up.

We look forward to seeing you there!