UNC Family Enterprise Center sparks trend in business education

When the Family Enterprise Center was founded in 2008, it was the first of its kind, but now universities around the country are looking to UNC as a model.

Steve Miller began teaching a family business course in 2006, which quickly became one of the most-demanded courses at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Two years later, Cooper Biersach and Miller founded the Family Enterprise Center.

“The majority of family business centers are outward-facing,” Biersach said. “They use a membership model geared more towards members of the community that want to take courses. Our center was one of the first, and still one of the only that I know of that is as well-established, that is for students and fits into the academic model.”

Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management plans to open a family business program next year. Cornell’s program will center on coursework and a speaker series open to students as well as executives, much like UNC’s model.

Students at the Family Enterprise Center trace the history of their family business or a family business of interest back three generations, while also studying business values and strategies.

The center offers two courses open to undergraduate and graduate students. Each course meets once a week for three hours, half of which is hosted by a guest speaker.

At the Family Enterprise Center, parents are encouraged to engage with the coursework. Students are encouraged to communicate with their parents about their business values, strategies and inheritance plans.

“It turns awkward conversations into class assignments, and every parent wants to help their kid with their homework,” Biersach said.

Approximately 400 students have been served by the Family Enterprise Center, representing more than 20 countries.

Thiago Penido, who works at his family business in Brazil, graduated as an MBA student in 2009.

“The most important thing I learned at the Family Enterprise Center was to see the family business I grew up in as a great responsibility, not just to myself, my parents, siblings or family, but especially a responsibility to the thousands of people who work there, their families, their dreams and all the people in community and society who will benefit from our projects,” Penido said.

Frank Kelly, father of Frankie Kelly, who graduated in 2014, said he enjoyed sitting in on his son’s classes.

“The real-life stories Frankie heard from various family business owners and the practical insight he learned will benefit him (and hopefully our family business someday) for a lifetime,” Kelly said in a statement to the Family Enterprise Center.

Douglas Shackelford, dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, is a strong proponent of the center, which is likely to grow under his administration.

“Family businesses are a major economic force in the U.S. and around the world, and we are proud to contribute to their success by preparing the next generation of leaders,” Shackelford said.

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