From the Chair

Prepared Exclusively for FFI Members

From the Chair

September 03, 2021

D

ear FFI colleagues,
I hope this note finds you and your families healthy and well and your businesses and work thriving amidst a continued, tumultuous time in our global community. The summer is racing to a finish, and we are already looking back fondly on FFI’s “summer school” (FFI on Monday webinars), and excitedly ahead to the many opportunities to connect and learn in the fall. As always, your steadfast participation and engagement fuel FFI’s continued success advancing our mission. Thank you for your enthusiastic membership and commitment.

We are deep into the preparations for our annual conference in October and could not be more excited about the program and the opportunity to be together. We are proceeding as planned, with virtual conference days on Monday, October 18, and Tuesday, October 19, an in-person conference in London from Wednesday, October 20, through Friday, October 22, and an in-person post-conference session at Cambridge Judge School of Business on Saturday, October 23. We know that everyone is navigating challenging choices about travel and being in person with the continued uncertainty of COVID-19. We are planning these in-person events carefully and will be providing more updated details on the protocols at the event site (the QEII Centre in Westminster) as we get closer. In the meantime, you can find the current safety initiatives here. A special thank you to our Green Associates team for the enormous planning and legwork they continue to do to make this all possible.

Looking ahead into the fall, please mark your calendars to join us for our annual meeting by Zoom on November 9.

We can’t wait for the opportunity to bring our community together, virtually and in person, in the coming months. Here are a few more detailed updates about the opportunities ahead.

Cordially,

Debbie Bing
FFI Chair

Thanks and congratulations to:

FFI on Monday for presenting an outstanding summer school series. More than 250 people registered for these webinars, which were led by the following experts:

Debbie Bing (CFAR), Arnaud de Coninck (Trusted Family), Jim Coutre (Fidelity Family Office Services), Farida F. El Agamy (Tharawat Family Business Forum), Ramia Marielle El Agamy Khan (Tharawat Magazine), Lisa Morel (The Family Business Consulting Group), Scott Peppet (Chai Trust Company), Torsten Pieper (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Maya Prabhu (J.P. Morgan), Carlo Salvato (Bocconi University), Todd Smith (Family Enterprise USA), Pat Soldano (Family Enterprise USA), Daniel G. Van Der Vliet (Cornell University)

FBR team for the record-breaking impact factor of 9.848 and its new ranking of 12/153 in Business according to the Journal Citations Reports^®, 2020 release, a Clarivate Analytics product.

GEN faculty for its consistently outstanding work this year
The FFI committees for their ongoing enthusiasm for the field and for FFI.
The 2021 Award winners

Don’t miss the opportunities available to you in September:

Enroll in “Philanthropy, Investing and the Enterprise: Advising families in pursuit of impact (GEN 504)” on September 14 and 15 with distinguished faculty members James Coutre and Maya Prabhu. Learn more about the course and enroll.
Vote for the new board members before September 17 by going here.
Enroll in “Tools for Positive Change in Family Enterprise Systems: Analysis and application (GEN 503)” on September 21 and 22 with distinguished faculty members Andrew Hier and Neus Feliu. Learn more about the course and enroll.

And in October:

Virtual conference on October 18.
Virtual seminar on October 19 “Managing Ethical Dilemmas in Family Business” with distinguished faculty Rania Labaki, Christopher Robichaud, and Wendy Ulaszek.
In-person conference in London and Cambridge (UK) on October 20–23.

For more information and to register

Previous Edition

The 2021 Nominating Committee is pleased to present the following slate of candidates for election by the membership. New directors will take office following the Annual Meeting, which will be held virtually on November 9, 2021. A formal notice of the Annual Meeting will be provided separately within the next several weeks. The new directors’ four-year terms will end after the Annual Meeting in 2025.