The Family Business Alliance of Wilkes University and Penn State Worthington Scranton presents How to Make Your Family Business Last with guest speaker Mitzi Perdue on Nov. 14. Perdue is part of two family business dynasties. She is the daughter of the founder of the Sheraton Hotel chain and widow of the owner of Perdue Chicken Farms. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information and to register, visit www.wilkes.edu/FBA.
The lecture will be presented at two locations. The morning location is at Wilkes University, Henry Student Center, Miller Room, Second Floor, 84 W. South St., Wilkes-Barre. Registration is at 8 a.m. and the workshop from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
The afternoon location is at Penn State Worthington Scranton, Dawson Building, Room 10, Campus Drive, Dunmore. Registration is at 11:30 a.m. and the workshop from noon to 1 p.m.
Perdue’s talk will give practical advice on how a family business can develop a culture that supports keeping the business in the family. Perdue will explain how only 30 percent of family businesses make it to the next generation causing problems not only for the families involved, but for the entire global economy. Perdue looks to her family roots and talks about how family members in each generation put enormous effort into creating and maintaining strong, values-based culture.
Perdue was a former rice grower in California and the past president of American Agri-Women, the oldest and largest American farm women’s organization. She was also a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Conference on Women in Nairobi as well as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Perdue holds degrees from Harvard University and George Washington University. She’s authored, How to Make Your Family Business Last: Techniques, Advice, Checklists and Resources for Keeping the Family Business in the Family. Perdue also is the developer of a computer app, B Healthy U, which helps people track factors influencing a healthy lifestyle, and is an artist and the designer of EveningEggs handbags.
The Family Business Alliance of Wilkes University and Penn State Worthington Scranton provides information, insights and strategies, which enable local family businesses to greatly improve their odds of maintaining and growing a profitable business, and successfully transfer management and ownership.
