UNCA's Family Business Forum Hosts Workshop with Michele Desjardins

UNC Asheville’s Family Business Forum will host a workshop on "Preparing and Developing the Next Generation as Managers and Shareholders: A Key Piece of the Family Business Continuity Puzzle" with family business expert Michele Desjardins from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the Asheville Country Club. The program is open to Forum members and their guests; a limited number of seats are available for family business owners interested in membership.

Desjardins is a family business consultant and an associate of Lansberg Gersick & Associates LLC, a research and consulting firm specializing in family enterprises and family philanthropy. She is a Certified Management Consultant and a chartered administrator. Prior to joining Lansberg Gersick, Desjardins was the executive director of the Institute for Family Enterprise (now the Foundation for Business Families) in Montreal, Canada. She has also worked internationally as a management consultant for Price Waterhouse and the Quebec Securities Commission.

UNCA’s Family Business Forum, the first program of its kind in the region, was developed to enhance the continued viability of family-owned businesses in the Asheville area. Membership in the forum is open to firms that have a family member with controlling interest in the business and at least one family member currently employed in the business. In addition to seminars and workshops, members will receive current research and articles on family business issues, a quarterly newsletter, and the opportunity to network with other family-owned business members who face similar challenges of perpetuating a family business.

Registration for the workshop is required. For more information or to register, call Richard Lasher at 828/251-6797, voice box 8003.

Media Contacts:

• Richard Lasher, Family Business Forum Director, 828/251-6797, voice box 8003
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526