Author: Claudia Binz Astrachan
Don’t wait for a vacancy. Prepare family members now — through education, mentoring, clear expectations, and hands-on experience — to serve on boards, family councils, and committees.
Family members serving in governance roles can be an incredible asset to the family enterprise system. Family directors typically bring a deep understanding of business and family values, culture, and history -- and can therefore provide guidance and oversight that aligns with the past as well as the shareholders’ envisioned future. Those serving in governance coordinate the interface between ownership and enterprise, facilitate tricky conversations, coordinate family gatherings, and arrange educational activities and engagement opportunities for the next generation.
Sadly, family members don’t always manage to successfully perform their various governance roles. Sometimes a family director lacks basic financial literacy or a sound understanding of governance boundaries, or a family council member embraces partial views favoring individual preferences rather than collective wishes of the family. Boards or family councils can become dysfunctional because of toxic family dynamics; such governing bodies drive away the best talent.
We’ve seen that families don’t end up with the best talent for these important roles unless they have a transparent, rigorous, and sensible process to educate and develop, identify, select and elect, onboard, evaluate, and eventually offboard family members suited for governance. This article discusses both the most useful capabilities for family members taking on governance roles, as well as a sensible process for developing a pool of talented and motivated family members for governance service.
Read the full article here.
Family-owned businesses are built on vision, resilience, and oftentimes generations of sacrifice. When the time comes to transition ownership, whether through succession or sale, the process is far more than a financial transaction. It represents the culmination of years of effort, identity, and legacy. For many business owners, this moment brings emotional and logistical complexities that demand thoughtful, strategic planning.
Selling a business also introduces critical decisions around wealth continuity, tax efficiency, and stewardship beyond the sale itself. Navigating this transition with clarity and foresight ensures that both personal and financial legacies are preserved, setting the stage for enduring success across generations.
Establishing a formal family governance structure is a foundational step for families seeking to preserve unity, ensure long-term business success, and protect their legacy across generations. While governance often begins with planning for the family business, its scope can and should expand to encompass broader family enrichment, including the thoughtful transition of knowledge, values, and wealth. At its core, effective governance is built on clear, consistent communication and a shared commitment to professionalism, accountability, and openness.
As families grow in size and complexity, the need for structured decision-making becomes increasingly critical. A well defined governance framework reduces conflict, fosters collaboration, and provides a forum for diverse perspectives. It promotes transparency and alignment with shared values, strengthening both business and family cohesion.
Read Rockefeller Global Family Office Full Whitepaper – Click Here
Family businesses remain one of the most resilient and influential forces in the global economy. Yet as economic uncertainty, technological acceleration and leadership transition converge, the decade ahead will likely demand new levels of preparedness.
The KPMG Global family business report 2026 captures insights from 1,927 family and founder‑led business leaders across 41 countries. The findings reveal a sector that is strategically confident and values‑driven, but increasingly aware that traditional ways of operating may no longer be enough.
Across markets and generations, leaders describe a shift underway, from family‑run operating businesses to family‑owned enterprises, governed through boards and led by professional management.
Read more at: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/ai-and-technology/global-family-business-report.html
Download the report here: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmgsites/xx/pdf/2026/05/kpmg-global-family-business-report-2026.pdf
When legacy feels distant and the next generation stays silent, could a simple council be the key to unlocking your family’s future?
In the complex world of family wealth, managing transitions and preparing the next generation can be a make-or-break moment. But what if the real solution lies not just in preserving wealth, but in empowering the next generation to take over the reins and lead?
Enter the Next-Gen Council—a structured space where younger family members can step up, engage, and claim their voice. As a partner to family offices across borders and generations, we often see successful families use councils to bridge generations while transforming their family’s legacy from the inside out....
https://www.bernstein.com/our-insights/insights/2026/articles/how-next-gen-councils-are-revolutionizing-family-office-wealth-management.html
The deepest questions wealth raises are rarely financial—and the wisest families know it.
https://www.bernstein.com/information/resources/2026/pdf/wealth-beyond-measure.html
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act: One Year Later, What Really Stuck?
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Apr 30, 2026 | Family Businesses, Family Owned Business By Kristen D. Matteoni
Among the leading domestic jurisdictions, Nevada has emerged as a premier destination for high-net-worth families seeking flexibility, tax efficiency, asset protection, and long-term dynasty planning. While states such as Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, and Wyoming are frequently included among the so-called “Big 5” trust jurisdictions, Nevada offers a particularly compelling combination of advantages that merit careful consideration. This paper explores the “Nevada Advantage” through the lens of tax planning, trust flexibility, and legal protections – highlighting why many business owners are increasingly looking West.
Read more at https://familyenterpriseusa.com/family-businesses/the-nevada-advantage-strategic-trust-and-tax-planning-for-the-modern-family-business/
Families who build successful businesses spend years thinking about succession. They devote significant attention to ownership transitions, governance structures, tax efficiency, and the long-term financial stability of future generations.
Yet in conversations with founders and family business owners, another concern often surfaces—one that has little to do with financial structures and more to do with their children.
Many parents who have spent decades building a business quietly wonder what that success might mean for their children.
The concern sometimes emerges in a blunt form. As one founder put it to me, “How do we avoid raising trust-fund babies?”
Behind this question lies a serious worry shared by many successful families. At best, “trust-fund babies” refers to heirs who grow up entitled, complacent, or disconnected from meaningful work. At worst, it describes situations where inherited wealth gradually erodes discipline and purpose, sometimes leading to destructive outcomes—financial recklessness, substance abuse, or fractured family relationships.
Many founders recognize a difficult reality: the conditions that helped them build a business—necessity, responsibility, and the pressure to succeed—may not exist for their children.
Read more at https://familyenterpriseusa.com/family-businesses/the-hidden-risk-in-family-business-success/
Nancy Westgate-Sytsema got an early start building the skills she would need for her career as a CPA and, later, as co-president of her family’s business.
Nancy, Jerry, and JJ Westgate made a pact: they would sell the business before they’d let it damage the family. That commitment shaped every decision that followed.
“When Nancy was a little girl, she would go trick or treating and come home and make a spreadsheet of how much candy she got, sorted by size and type,” recalls Jerry Westgate, her father.
Today Nancy and her brother, JJ Westgate, are co-presidents of Wesco, a Michigan-based chain of more than 50 gas stations and convenience stores known for their fresh donuts.
“The Wesco fuel and convenience stores are just a delight to go into: They’re clean, they’re orderly, and they have good food,” says Joe Schmieder of The Family Business Consulting Group.
The business is complex, involving transporting fuel, managing real estate and getting fresh food to each store every day. And Jerry is proud of how his son and daughter are managing it.
“They’re selling more product and fuel that I ever was able to,” Jerry observes. “The company is growing. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Read more at https://www.thefbcg.com/resource/managing-business-for-family-harmony-wesco/
By Kate Barnwell, Stephanie Brun de Pontet
An advantage of private business ownership is the freedom to make your own decisions, innovating and improvising to create success. Family employee compensation is one tool family leaders can use to improvise solutions to challenges unique to family businesses. For example, how to fairly employ your children or how to entice the next generation to leave outside careers to return to the family enterprise.
In some cases, family leaders use employment compensation to “take care of the family” without connecting this to business success. While these approaches can work in the short term or under a particular leader’s control, we observe that over time, they prove to be incompatible with growing a successful business and sustaining family ownership.
Read more at https://www.thefbcg.com/resource/paying-family-in-a-family-business-where-good-intentions-create-hidden-risks/
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