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The Family Business Board Life Cycle and What Directors Must Know

Successful Dynamics of a Non-Family CEO working with the family to sell the family business

Christin Cardone McClave and Stan Gowisnock

July 14, 2023, 8:30 am – 10:00 AM

Business families arrive at the decision to sell their businesses in different ways. And yet, they can find common ground and alleviate significant stress in the family through the process of selling.

Through a beneficial board governance process, CARDONE was able to gain wisdom and good counsel from independent board members. One of those directors, Stan Gowisnock, a 2x family business CEO, became CEO chair after the first non-family CEO did not work out.

In May 2019, Christin and Stan worked together to lead a successful sale process of CARDONE to one of the largest, global private equity firms. Stan and Christin will talk through some of these sticky points of working side-by-side in her family business:

  • How did Stan and Christin gain alignment with the family and the board to sell the company?
  • Stan’s perspective as a CEO who prefers working with for family businesses
  • Christin’s perspective as a future successor and what she learned through the sale process
  • What NOT to do as a non-family executive/board member in a family business

While selling doesn’t change the family, it does create a different path forward for the family that wasn’t otherwise achievable. Fostering alignment within a family is usually done under the guise of maintaining the operating business, but in these cases, it came from the decision and execution of the sale.

Christin Cardone McClave is the Chief Growth Officer of AchieveNEXT, a boutique middle market consulting firm specializing in Talent Advisory, Coaching and Training for teams and organizations in high growth mode. Christin is the former COO/Chief People Officer, shareholder, and board member of CARDONE. Christin held positions with global responsibility for all company operating functions. CARDONE is a global, sustainable manufacturing company, remanufacturing automotive parts for the aftermarket with revenues of $1.2B and currently operates in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Spain, and China.

Stan Gowisnock is a Senior Investment Advisor for FOCUS Investment Banking. Stan was President and CEO of Cardone Industries. He helped engineer the sale of Cardone to Brookfield Asset Management, a private equity group with more than $500 million in assets. Prior to Cardone, Stan was President and CEO of DST Inc., where he directed the digitalization of the company’s automotive supply chain prior to its sale to Solera Holdings, Inc.Successful Dynamics of a Non-Family CEO working with the family to sell the family business

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