SYRACUSE — The Central New York Technology Development Organization (TDO) and the New York Family Business Center are working together on a series of talks on key topics for family businesses. The first event took place May 24 at the TDO office on Electronics Parkway in Salina and was focused on exit planning and valuation […]
SYRACUSE — The Central New York Technology Development Organization (TDO) and the New York Family Business Center are working together on a series of talks on key topics for family businesses.
The first event took place May 24 at the TDO office on Electronics Parkway in Salina and was focused on exit planning and valuation of family businesses. Future scheduled topics include tax incentives (June 28), fraud in a family business (July 19), human-resources issues (Sept. 21), estate planning (Oct. 18), and a tax-law update (Dec. 13).
Teaming up on the talks, entitled the “Food For Thought Series,” with TDO makes sense, says Donna Herlihy, executive director of the New York Family Business Center.
TDO works largely with manufacturers and technology companies on training and consulting. Many of the manufacturers are family-owned companies, Herlihy says.
Instead of competing for attention, the two groups decided to join forces. The Family Business Center provides tools, resources, consulting, training, interaction, and education specific to family-owned businesses in upstate New York. The center is based in the Tech Garden at 235 Harrison St. in downtown Syracuse.
Herlihy notes the two groups often get similar questions from business owners and managers. When she’s talking with a company about a unique family-business issue, a specialized manufacturing matter might come up. She says the TDO is a natural place to refer a firm for advice on those problems.
The New York Family Business Center has experience in dealing with family matters that the TDO lacks, says Robert Trachtenberg, president and CEO of TDO.
“We hope to be able to bring to our client base additional resources,” he says. “And I think the Family Business Center can bring to their members the resources we can provide.”
Even though a family manufacturing business has some of the same challenges as a publicly held company, some are different, Trachtenberg says.
“They have some unique and distinct issues that need to be addressed differently,” he says.
In human resources, for example, questions might come up on whether it’s appropriate to hire certain family members for positions at a firm or whether they need to be paid for some bit of work they performed, Herlihy says. Job-performance evaluations are another potentially sensitive topic for human resources at a family business.
And while TDO and the Family Business Center certainly work with some of the same companies, both Herlihy and Trachtenberg say the collaboration should help each group get in front of some new businesses. Herlihy notes that TDO has been around longer than the Family Business Center.
“So hopefully they can get the word out to people who might not know us,” she says.
She also notes that many owners and managers of family businesses and manufacturers are busy. Giving them a smaller set of events to attend should help boost attendance.
Herlihy says the groups might look to work together on more events in the future. For more information on the Food For Thought Series, visit www.nyfbc.org or call (315) 579-2871.
