By Dan Beenken

Another season of the UNI Family Business Center is in the books. Just like generational family businesses, we continue to transition from one year to the next. We look back at our last year of programming and think about what is to come. 

This past year was massive for our program as we were awarded Center status thanks to the Iowa Board of Regents. It showed how far our program has come and how much need there is across Iowa for family business-focused services. 

We also launched our first Iowa Family Business Conference. To those who were able to make it, thank you so much! To those that missed it, have no fear – we will be doing it again this coming November!

It was a phenomenal year of growth and firsts for our team as we continue to expand our services and reach to Iowa business families.

2022-2023 promises more of the same. 

We will again offer our five-part Virtual Breakfast Series, complete with virtual bacon, of course. Our topics will focus on succession planning, next generation development, family communication and a couple other surprises along the way. 

In addition, we will have our second Iowa Family Business Conference this November. I am going to keep our keynote a secret for now, but it will be a great follow-up to last year’s presentation by Craig Culver, founder and CEO of Culver’s Restaurants.

We are also expanding our peer group programming in an effort to keep our members connected to each other. Look for more details on these peer groups and how we are going to make it as easy as possible to get involved.  

Most importantly, THANK YOU to you and your families for your involvement in our programming. We are humbled and grateful to have you on board with us. We hope you join us again next year for another great season.
 

Have a great summer and we will see you soon!