Goering Center Joins Canadian Business Families Foundation

The Goering Center for Family and Private Business in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business has joined the Canadian Business Families Foundation (BFF), a network of university-based centers for family enterprise.

The new association links the Goering Center with six other affiliates—five in Canada, one in Mexico—making them the first university in the US to join the network.

“We are privileged to be their first U.S. affiliate as we will further our own mission to nurture and educate our region’s family businesses,” says Larry Grypp, Goering Center president.

The goal of the non-profit charitable network—established more than 20 years ago in Canada—is to serve as a support hub for family-owned businesses by offering education, research, materials and mentoring services to address their unique challenges and help them flourish.

The partnership brings with it a benefit of educational support to business families, says Pascale Michaud, Business Families Foundation president.

“The Affiliate Centers have licenses to use our educational material to facilitate educational sessions with business families and the professionals working with them, as well as with students,” Michaud says.

As part of its educational outreach, the BFF offers traditional classroom and online courses, short video/audio clips, cell phone apps and a virtual library that touch on a variety of topics, from women in family business to conflict management to family code of conduct.

By joining the BFF Affiliate Network, the Goering Center will collaborate to further the BFF objectives in empowering entrepreneurial families and offer a place to turn for a growing body of knowledge and resources.

Through affiliation, BFF hopes the partnerships will strengthen resources available to help family businesses resolve issues, grow and continue as the economic backbone and social fabric of their communities.

Grypp says BFF co-founders Philippe and Nan-b de Gaspe’ Beaubien have researched and educated business families around the world for more than 30 years.

“Following the sale of their own family business, they have dedicated their lives to this non-profit work of developing educational support to university family business centers,” he says.