Past Events
Wednesday and Thursday, May 15 & 16, 2024
Center For Family Business Conference: “The Entrepreneurship of Family Business”
Our Center for Family Business Conference was held Thursday and Friday, May 15 and 16, 2024. A wine and cheese reception held at Penn State Behrend’s Federal House began the event on Wednesday evening as an opportunity for conference attendees to meet and network with other family business owners. The reception was sponsored by RBC Wealth Management.
Thursday began in the Jack Burke Research and Economic Development Center (REDC) with Welcome remarks by Dr. Chris Harben, Academic Director for the Center for Family Business, and Dr. Ozgun Demirag, Interim Director for the Black School of Business. The day included 3 keynote speakers: Robert Castellini of Sentinel Wealth Advisors, James Bly of US EY Private Family Enterprise Business Services, and Richard Seaman of Seaman Corporation. Following each speaker, breakout sessions were held on topics relevant to family businesses. Breakfast, lunch and snacks were provided throughout the day sponsored by business Members of the Center. More than 100 attendees participated in the event.
The event closed with a networking reception in the Clark Cafe in the REDC sponsored by PNC Private Bank.
The Center for Family Business would like to acknowledge and thank the speakers and sponsors for the event including: Robert Castellini; James Bly, Richard Seaman, Leslie Lauer, Patrick Laskey, Abby Donelly, Mark Fischer, and Scott Roulston; also Northwest Bank, RBC Wealth Management, Knox Law, Marquette Bank HBK/HBKS, Edward Jones (Zac Wild), ECCA, FocusCFO, and PNC Private Bank, Penn State Behrend, and the Black School of Business.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Succession: The Private Equity Model and Developing a Board of Directors
Presented By: Aaron Phillips, Owner of Decision Associates
When you Family Business is your Best Investment….
The concept of succession has changed. More often than ever, children of Family Business owners lack the desire to be involved in the business, let alone take it over someday. Those that do often lack the skills to do so effectively.
The Family Private Equity Model can be an effective strategy to retain ownership of the business while allowing the flexibility to determine how they would like to be involved in the future.
This event was a Special “Lunch and Learn” for members of the Center for Family Business
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Center For Family Business Annual Fall Event — Your Business, Your Family, Your Legacy
Our Annual Fall Event was held Wednesday, October 25th at the Samuel P. Black III and Sumi James-Black Knowledge Center in Knowledge Park. It began with a Welcome from Penn State Behrend Chancellor Ralph Ford, followed by updates from the Black School of Business and the Center for Family Business. A panel discussion featuring Minority and Women-owned Businesses in our community followed the Keynote presentation by Travis Sheetz, CEO and a Second Generation Owner of Sheetz.
“Over the past 69 years, Sheetz has grown dramatically from a small dairy store in Pennsylvania to one of the fastest growing family-owned convenience retailers with more than 600 locations across six states.” Travis started at Sheetz as a real estate site selector before spending time as a director in the company’s marketing department. He has continued to work his way up in the company, holding roles as Sheetz’s Vice-President of Operations and Executive Vice President of Operations before being promoted to President & COO in 2018. He holds a B.S. in Finance from Penn State University and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University. “Sheetz will continue to put our people first, bring innovation to our industry and fulfill our vision to create the business that will put the Sheetz as we know it today out of business.”
The event closed with Recognition of our corporate sponsors, followed by a cocktail reception.
September 21, 2023
Webinar: Pollution Prevention – Discover Green Sustainable Pathway Technologies
Presented by PennTAP, this webinar explored fundamental manufacturing process improvements that are key to pollution prevention and to reducing carbon footprints in manufacturing companies. It highlighted sustainable technology improvements developed for the metal casting industry that demonstrate effective green pathway solutions, which can also be used in other manufacturing sectors.
July 26, 2023
Estate Planning & Tax Strategies to Preserve the Family Wealth
Jim Rosa of HBK CPAs and Consultants presented information regarding the sunsetting of the current lifetime estate and gift tax exemption of $12.92 million, which will be cut in half and adjusted for inflation in 2026. Families that may face estate tax liability in 2026 may benefit from transferring assets and their appreciation out of their estate sooner rather than later.
Family businesses work very hard to build their businesses and in the process, many of them pay a much higher tax rate than corporations. As such, retaining as much of the family’s wealth, both while in the business as well as when transitioning out of the business, is critical to the family and the future of the business. Strategically planning your estate now can not only provide you with peace of mind but also financial gains going forward.
May 31, 2023
2nd Annual Your Business, Your Family, Your Legacy
May 18, 2023
Environmental, Social And Governance (ESG): What Small Businesses Need To Know
PennTAP and subject matter experts discuss the history, global trends, and impacts of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks, especially as they relate to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The webinar outlined what SMEs need to know about ESG and discuss steps organizations can take to create and implement an internal ESG program to be better prepared for this new corporate standard. Erik Foley-Defiore, the Director of Sustainability at the Center for the Business of Sustainability was a guest speaker for this event.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are rapidly becoming crucial, non-financial metrics used by investors to identify corporate risks and benefits. Shareholders are demanding ever-greater corporate accountability in the areas of climate resiliency, environmental stewardship, philanthropy, human rights, diversity, equity, and inclusion. These consumer demands have driven the development of formalized ratings and criteria for assessing and comparing companies’ commitments and performance in these areas.
April 27, 2023
Sub Sea Systems Speaker Event
Sub Sea Systems hosted a speaking event exclusively for our members with an amazing panel. Some of the panelists were Jim Mayfield, Melissa Mayfield, and Hannah DeBie, and they talked about the creation of the business and the growth they have had up to this point. In addition, they talked about how they have managed to stay a family when every one of Jim’s immediate family are deeply involved in the business.
April 19, 2023
Lunch and Learn
Ashley Senger, the owner of Language Collaborations, hosted an event called Hiring Immigrants and Refugees: Strategies for hiring, retaining, and promoting a diverse workforce. Language Collaborations provides on-site, custom English workforce training programs to businesses in the Erie area. In addition to working in K-12 public schools, Ashley has worked as an instructor at the ELS Language Center at Point Park University, an ESL instructor at Gannon University, and a faculty & staff trainer for Gannon’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. This event was focused on why businesses who hire immigrants and refugees show higher profitability.
March 29th, 2023
2nd Annual World-Wide Climate-Justice Teach-In (WWCJTI)
Penn State Behrend hosted their 2nd Annual World-Wide Climate-Justice Teach-In (WWCJTI) on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 from 5:30-8:30 PM. This event occurred throughout the Reed Student Union building on the Penn State Behrend campus. This was a highly informative and valuable event for members of The Center for Family Business to attend so that they can have this opportunity to network with students and learn more about climate change and why it matters to the younger generation.
March 6 -10, 2023
Family Business NextGen Event
Family Business NextGen hosted a weekly series of 5 daily webcasts to address the unique challenges and goals of the next generation of multigenerational family businesses. Each day they featured notable NextGen speakers and thought leaders in conversation-style discussions that addressed key aspects facing NextGen’s in family business today: governance, building credibility, legacy & impact, support networks and succession.
March 1, 8, 15, and 22, 2023
Leadership Development Program 2 (LDP2)
The Center of Business is proud to have posted the Leadership Development Program 2 (LDP2) which happened on the first 4 Wednesdays of March. This was a “level up” over the LDP. While the LDP had a lot of knowledge content, the focus of LDP2 was developing skills. So, there was a lot of role-plays, scenario discussion, and practice with active coaching in those 4 weeks.
January 30, 2023
The Winter Mingle Event
Our members were invited to our inaugural Winter Mingle Event at Luminary Distilling in Erie, PA. We discussed upcoming events for the new year, thanked all the members for their support towards the Center, and welcomed all our new members that joined that year. Everyone got the opportunity to tour Luminary Distilling and celebrate a wonderful year together.
November 30, 2022
Bill Bader Jr. Event
Bill Bader Jr., owner of Summer Motorsport Park and Energize LLC., spoke with current members of the Center for Family Business about his experience growing and transforming this 2nd generation family business into a multi-faceted entertainment complex.
