Live, Online Masterclass
The Family Business Board in Disruptive Times
September 16-18, 2020
A 3-day, Interactive Masterclass on Strategic Corporate Governance for Family Businesses During Turbulent Times
September 16-18, 2020
9:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT daily
In a series of live, online sessions over three days, owners and board members from family enterprises across the world gather to discuss the vital role of a board of directors during disruptive times.
Active participation is required. Sessions include live, interactive presentations by faculty, daily working sessions in small workgroups, and active dialogue among participants and faculty.
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Strong boards – well connected to the owners and management – are always useful to a family business. In crisis times, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, they are absolutely essential.
No business has been spared by the Covid-19 crisis. Many had to deal with closures and steep declines or were stretched by swings in demand. Family businesses, with an inherent commitment to their stakeholders, had the moral priority to protect their employees, suppliers, and communities. Family owners saw dividends and year-long gains disappear.
Decision-making among boards, owners, and management took place under extreme uncertainty. Boards had to provide support to management and the owners while maintaining business continuity – a process which took place for the most part online, physically distanced. This intense period revealed the strengths and vulnerabilities of governance groups, the quality of the board as a team, and its capabilities to manage uncertainty, guide management, and inspire trust in the owners.
How has your board performed during the crisis? How can your board be strengthened to help guide your family business through the next disruption?
Program Summary
We invite you to join family business owners and directors from around the world to collectively reflect on the governance lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. Led by renowned family enterprise authorities and governance experts, we will discuss the role of family business boards during turbulent times, and explore how to strengthen your board to guide your company and owners through disruptive periods in the future.
Participants will:
- Explore how a good board rises to the challenge during a crisis to guide management, stabilize the company, and inspire trust in the owners.
- Reflect–with other family business owners–on lessons from boards around the world during the pandemic.
- Assess how to strengthen your board to guide your family business through the next disruption.
This is a live, online program that includes interactive presentations by faculty, daily working sessions in small workgroups, and active dialogue among participants and faculty.
Faculty
Program Chair: Professor Philippe Haspeslagh
Professor and Honorary Dean Vlerick Business School
Professor Philippe Haspeslagh is Honorary Dean and Professor at the Vlerick Business School, a Belgian business school with campuses in Brussels, Gent, Leuven, Saint Petersburg and Beijing. He led the school from 2008- 2015. Until 2008 he was the Paul Desmarais Chaired Professor of Active Ownership at INSEAD where he started the International Directors Forum and directed the Advanced Management Programme.
Professor John A. Davis
Founder and Chairman, Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise
John A. Davis is a globally recognized pioneer and authority on family enterprise, family wealth, and the family office. He is a researcher, educator, author, architect of the field’s most impactful conceptual frameworks, and advisor to leading families around the world. He leads the family enterprise programs at MIT Sloan. He is the author of Enduring Advantage: Collected Essays on Family Enterprise, Next Generation Success and Generation to Generation: Life Cycles of the Family Business, a preeminent work in the family enterprise field.
Eduardo Gentil
Fellow, Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise
Eduardo Gentil is an advisor to multigenerational family enterprises on issues related to family and ownership governance; ownership strategies; shareholder agreements; establishing or strengthening boards of directors; financial planning for families, family offices, and businesses; succession planning; and next generation talent development. He is a frequent speaker and instructor on family enterprise best practices. Since 2000, he has led the São Paulo office of Cambridge Advisors to Family Enterprise, a global advisory firm serving business families, where he is Senior Partner.
Andrew Hier
Fellow, Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise
Andrew Hier is an advisor to business families globally on issues related to shareholder relationships, ownership strategies, succession and next generation issues, and governance of the family, owners and business. He is a Fellow at Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise where he teaches and facilitates in family business programs around the world. He is active in the Family Firm Institute, the premiere association of advisors serving families, where he co-chaired the 2014 Global Conference.
Dr. Pascale Michaud
Fellow, Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise
Pascale Michaud is an advisor to family enterprises throughout the world on strategies and governance models for their successful continuity. She advises multigenerational family enterprises on issues of corporate growth, business strategy and governance, innovation management, digital preparedness, leadership transitions, next-generation development, family governance, and family and corporate philanthropy.
Registration
Who Should Attend?
This Masterclass is tailored for operating companies, or portfolios of companies, controlled by family ownership groups. It is designed for family businesses with an existing board of directors or board of advisors (either over an operating company, investment company, holding company, or portfolio). Family businesses at any stage and generation are welcome.
The Masterclass is beneficial for current owners and board members—both family and independent—of privately-held or publicly-traded family businesses worldwide. Future owners and successor board members are welcome if accompanied by an experienced owner or board member. It is useful for two or more participants from a family or company to attend together.
Logistics & Registration
This is a live, online program offered during fixed dates and times. Participants attend live.
September 16-18, 2020
Daily 9:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT
Tuition
- $1500 for the first participant, and
- $999 for each additional person from the same family or company
Space is limited so register today.