SYRACUSE — Le Moyne College on Nov. 4 announced a partnership with the New York Family Business Center (FBC) that will involve a number of ongoing activities and collaborative initiatives to benefit both organizations.

The school made the announcement at the 4th annual Family Business Conference held at Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, Inc. in LaFayette.

Le Moyne College and its Madden School of Business are working to help the FBC “rebrand” itself, says James (Jim) Joseph, the incoming dean of the Madden School of Business.

“Our goal is to make this the Upstate New York Family Business Center,” Joseph says.

The organization’s website currently refers to itself at the “Upstate New York Family Business Center at the Madden School of Business at Le Moyne.”

The organization moved into offices at the Madden school in early October after having previously operated at the Syracuse Tech Garden at 235 Harrison St.

The partnership doesn’t involve a lease arrangement at the Madden School, Joseph says.

In addition to providing office space and facilities to host events at Le Moyne, the Madden school will work in conjunction with the FBC on a number of initiatives, including requests for external funding and recruitment of new members, the college said.

Le Moyne faculty will also serve as consultants to members, in addition to offering seminars and workshops on topics affecting family-owned businesses, says Joseph.

The Family Business Center provides “meaningful content” to its members, including CEO roundtables, which the organization conducts every month, Joseph says.

The FBC will now host the events on campus where students can watch the CEO’s “grappling” with the issues of the day, he adds.

The FBC currently has about 30 member businesses throughout Central New York. Its website lists The Central New York Business Journal among the supporting members.

But the plan is to “broaden” its scope outside the region and double its membership in the next few years, Joseph says.

“Our focus is going to be Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, and all cities and towns and villages in between,” he adds.

Besides the programming efforts, Joseph has joined the FBC board of directors, he says.

The school modeled its partnership on similar relationships that focus on serving family businesses, noting that a college or university either operates or hosts more than 90 percent of family-business centers nationwide, Le Moyne said.

About 50 Family Business Centers operate in locations throughout North America and 46 of those centers are housed at a college or university, according to Joseph.

“Housing it at an institution of higher education makes all the sense in the world,” says Joseph.

Origin of partnership

The Family Business Center in the spring of 2012 requested two marketing interns from Le Moyne to help in promoting certain programs, functions, roundtables, and speakers, Joseph said.

“I went down to visit them and it opened my eyes to this whole Family Business Center world,” he added.

Joseph had joined Le Moyne not long before the FBC had made the request for interns.

Eventually, Joseph had lunch with Donna Herlihy, executive director of the FBC, and discussed the possibility of Le Moyne housing the FBC.

Joseph also attended the 2012 Family Business Conference held at The Lodge at Welch Allyn in Skaneateles Falls to learn more about the organization and spoke with a representative from FBC member Syracuse Glass Co.

Discussions continued over the next several months. Then, Le Moyne and the FBC in the summer of 2013 signed a memorandum of understanding, and the FBC moved into the Madden school in October, Joseph said.

Founded in 2009 as the New York Family Business Center, the organization supports the needs of family-owned businesses through a variety of activities and programs.

It gives family-owned business owners and managers opportunities to interact and learn from each other and from family-business professionals by providing tools, resources, training, interaction, and education in a “nurturing and confidential” environment, according to its website.

FBC members drive its activities, enabling participants to gain “intimate insight into key elements” that create a successful, multi-generational family business, the school said.

Thomas Donahue, president of Donahue Financial Management Group of Skaneateles, is among the FBC’s founders and serves on its board of directors, according to Le Moyne College.

Launched in 2012, the Madden School of Business at Le Moyne includes seven majors and a master’s program in business administration.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide, has accredited the school, Le Moyne said.

The school also includes three centers of excellence. Among them are the Center for Reflective Leadership and Business Ethics; the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity; and the Center for Global Business.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com