Following its win in the Charlotte Business Journal’s annual Family Business Awards, SPARK Publications was invited to join the Wake Forest University Center for Private Business. It’s mission is to “enable privately owned businesses to achieve dreams for their business, family, employees, community, and stakeholders by providing access to industry leaders, resources, networks, and education.” That mission is right in line with our firm’s own community-based and pro bono efforts, so of course we joined right away!
The center was established in Winston-Salem in 1999 as the Family Business Center, and regional center opened in Charlotte in 2003. In 2016, the name was changed to be more inclusive of other types of privately held businesses. Its programming focus areas are:
- Governance. Creating and documenting policies, procedures, and processes helps everyone in your company know what to do and how in a wide variety of situations.
- Leadership. Developing leaders from all levels of the company ensures its longevity.
- Succession Planning. Making sure a company remains strong long after its founders have moved on requires planning and thinking from a variety of perspectives, such as legal, financial, communications, and more.
- Strategic Planning. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know how to get there or when you’ve arrived?
- Family Harmony. Living and working with all the same people can be hard. But it can also be extremely rewarding when proper boundaries are set.
- Culture. A company’s culture can make or break employee productivity and satisfaction, and it’s not always easy to define.
Members of the Center for Private Business and all employees can take advantage of the center’s educational programming focused on the topics above, participate in the Business Leader Forum, and will have access to networking opportunities.
For more information about the center and membership, visit cpb.wfu.edu.