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Succession Planning
Family Members Working Together
Estate Planning
Business Financing and Taxes
The Non-Family Manager(s)
Insurance Planning
Day-to-Day Management Issues

Unexpected Transitions
Group Dynamics
The Small Business Administration's (SBA) Role for Family Firms
Developing a Business Plan
Retirement
Researching New Venture Investments

• Workshop Forums
  The Council hosts a number of all-day workshops throughout the year which include lectures, case studies and research discussions on the topics and issues affecting family firms. The workshops also address future trends or directions that family firms may want to pursue. Through the workshops, participants gain the tools necessary to begin handling the challenges they face at work and at home. These workshops are open to everyone; they are free to members of the Council as well as to any first-time guests of the Council members.
  
  
• Breakfast Roundtables
  The breakfast roundtables are a forum where experts and practitioners can meet over breakfast, three times a year, to exchange ideas, developments and concerns that family firms face. The members leave the roundtables with specific ideas on ways to address their concerns. Held from 9:00A.M. to 11:45 A.M., the breakfast roundtables are open only to the Council's members, their guests and other potential members that belong to a family enterprise.
  
  
• Annual Family Retreat
  The Council organizes an annual retreat for its members. This weekend forum provides members with a unique opportunity to spend valuable time re-evaluating their relationships at home and at work. It also offers a rich learning experience for members to review their past, present and future plans with each other as well as with experts in the field.
  
  
• Continuing Efforts to Develop the Children in Family Firms
  The children of family business owners face a number of challenges and opportunities based on their decision to join or not join the family business. If they join, these children must learn how to develop a sound business plan, conceptualize a transition plan, think of estate or other financial planning, understand the value of an outside board of directors, and become aware of other operational and financial issues concerning their family and their firm. If they don't join, children will need to crystallize and communicate their career plans with their parents. The Council engages in continuing efforts to address these challenges and opportunities. A useful forum may include quarterly get-togethers where children and their parents can address the behavioral dynamics of their unique situation.
  
  
• Executive Development Programs
  Family as well as non-family executives of a family business may need to develop or enhance specific skills, such as computer, business plan development and general managerial skills. The Council offers development sessions in the skills that the executives identify as needed. In serving its members' needs, the Council for Family Enterprise will form strategic alliances with the Council for the Advancement of Small Business at The George Washington University and a number of other institutions throughout the metropolitan area.
  
  
• Night Classes on the Family Enterprise
  The School of Business and Public Management (SBPM) will initiate a series of seminars called Night Classes on the Family Enterprise. The classes will be organized into modules according to subject areas. The classes are targeted to members of family firms. A variety of experts from the business and the university community will be invited to host the sessions. At the completion of the class modules, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance. The certificate will later be used as a "ticket of advanced standing" to subsequent events organized by the Council that will capitalize on the content of the courses. We plan to offer the following modules:
  
  

Developing and Preparing the Next Generation
Financing and Ownership of the Next
Generation
Retirement and Transition Planning
Unexpected Transitions

Estate Planning
Preparing Your Taxes
Limits and Objectives to New Venture
Investments
Insurance Planning
Developing Better Accounting Practices

Sibling Rivalry
Husbands, Wives & Other Family Members Working Together
Role Carryovers
Building Strong Families
Family Values
Intergenerational Relations

Continuous Improvement Efforts
Developing and Recognizing Non-Family
Managers
Using an Outside Board of Advisors
Structuring a Sound Business Plan
Researching Sources for Growth and Capitalization
Help from the SBA and other government agencies
Developing the Children in the Family Business

• Co-Operative Ventures
  Internships, international or national exchange programs, and close ties with government agencies with which the Council will establish a relationship, will also help family members improve the operations of family firms and their professional relations with external constituents. These ventures will provide a rich learning experience for those who are looking for innovative ways to manage their business.
  
  
• Thc Stempler Research Fund
  Dr. Cerald Stempler, an alumus from the University, has established a fund to help the advancement of research in areas that affect family businesses. Through this fund, the Council will promote and finance research, dissertations and other studies related to family firms. In addition, the Council will be responsible for coordinating the research efforts of a multiprofessional group of sociologists, psychologists, social workers and business investigators. Such efforts will help ensure the growth and smooth operation of family business.