Essential Reading

Family Business Governance: Maximizing Family and Business Potential

By John L. Ward (Author), Craig E. Aronoff

Describes the principles and process of effective family business governance and how to ensure that the the family and the business can co-exist. The authors also discuss how business and family governance processes usually change as the business evolves from its entrepreneurial stage to later generations of family ownership.

Building a Successful Family Business Board

By Jennifer M. Pendergast, John L. Ward, and Stephanie Brun de Pontet

Boards of directors can help businesses succeed, yet many family businesses do not have functioning boards of directors that play a valuable role in providing oversight to their businesses. In Building a Successful Family Business Board, the authors show why private firms need the in-depth expertise and objective feedback that a well-chosen board, including qualified independent directors, can provide. They demonstrate how owners and directors can work together to ensure a long and profitable life for the firm. The book also provides best practices for owners and directors with step-by-step guidelines for developing and managing a board: from writing the initial prospectus and conducting lively meetings, to maintaining open, honest communication between owners, directors, family members, and other stakeholders in the firm.