Episode 46: Facing the Unexpected and Keeping on Trucking with Crissy Wieck of Western Express, Inc.

Crissy Wieck was born and raised in Nashville and graduated from The Harpeth Hall School.  After working at Dell for 12 years, Crissy joined her family business after the death of her father’s business partner.  Crissy has spent 10 years at Western Express and is currently the Chief Sales Officer and a minority owner.  In this capacity, Crissy is responsible for Sales and Operations (~$850M) and is a member of the Executive Team.  Crissy is married to Matt Wiltshire and has three daughters, a son and two stepsons.

Crissy left Nashville to play soccer at Maryville College. After graduating in May of 2000, she headed to Dell.  The company opened an office in Nashville the month before she graduated and made a commitment to the city to grow local talent organically.  By 2009, Crissy was the General Manager and Global Site Lead for Dell Nashville and the Regional Sales Director for the East Coast.  Three buildings, 2500 employees and a $5B footprint in Nashville allowed for her to be the CEO of the largest non-headquarter site for Dell.  Her direct P&L represented $2B of the $5B in Nashville.  This proved to be a perfect training ground for the unexpected career change in 2012 when she joined her family business.      

Western Express is a top ten Truckload Carrier in the country with over 3,000 trucks running the US and Mexico.  The company has been in business since 1991 and was started by Crissy’s grandfather (minority owner) and another family, with only 5 trucks.  Her father joined the company in 1996, when they had 36 trucks, and across the ten years that followed, grew the company to 3000 trucks.  She and her brother joined Western Express upon the death of their father’s business partner to help run the business and they are both minority owners in the business, while their father is the majority owner.  Today the company has 4,500 drivers and ~750 non driving associates across 6 locations in the US.

Crissy has been on several Boards including; The Adventure Science Center, Nashville Public Television, The Maryville College Alumni Board, The Bank of Nashville, The Banner Advisory Board and The Harpeth Hall School.

In this episode of Family Business Today, Crissy will share:

• How two neighbors talking over a fence in 1991 grew into a multi-generational company with 3000 trucks in 2006

• How the vision for the company grew as the company grew, and how it has changed as the economy has changed around it

• What it means to have “fun” as a business’s core value

• How the company has adapted and rebuilt through a tornado in 2020 and COVID in 2021

• How her experiences at Dell helped her learn about how to run an entire business

• And more…

To learn more about Western Express, Inc., visit http://www.westernexp.com/.   

At the Tennessee Center for Family Business our passion is to help business owners create a positive environment in which their family THRIVES, their business performs and working together create a lasting family legacy. To learn more about the Tennessee Center for Family Business visit www.tncfb.com.

If you are considering a transition in your family business contact us today for a FREE  Transition Assessment (follow link) and receive a one-on-one review of your business transition preparedness with a family business consultant. (a $299 value)

Until next time, There’s No Business Like Family Business…..We Know!

Episode 45: A Company That Helped to Mechanize the Mid-South with the Morgan Family of John Bouchard & Sons, Co.

For over a century, the John Bouchard & Sons Co. (JBS) tradition of innovation and excellence has helped create and maintain the systems that keep the Mid-South running. Beginning as a Nashville machine shop in 1900, the company was incorporated in 1913. Today it is a fifth-generation, family-owned, diversified company serving modern industry through four fully-integrated divisions: Industrial Sales, Machine Services, Construction and Foundry. Their home office/shop is in its original Nashville location.

After working in areas of journalism, architectural restoration, home education & serving numerous non-profit Boards, Lisa Bouchard Morgan joined the JBS Board in 2011. Now the Chairman & CEO, Lisa oversees and nurtures the fifth generation of her family’s business. Protecting the rooted history and rich values, while fanning new sparks of innovation and change, are the balances to her vision. In its 121st year, Lisa led the process for JBS to become a Certified Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), making them even more of an asset to their customers and partnering contractors. For JBS, the GOD-given value of each worker, and the value of that work to them, are foundational priorities as they keep the hardworking infrastructure of the Mid-South running.

After working for Exxon’s offshore district operations, William Morgan joined JBS in 1986. Mentored by his father-in-law, he tackled challenges in various departments of the Company and developed as the leader of operations, ultimately serving as President, from 2001 to the present.  His keen engineering sense keeps the navigation of the entire Company on a solid, steady course. He is a graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering and holds an MBA from Vanderbilt’s Owen Business School.

The eldest child of Lisa & William, Carver Morgan joined JBS in 2014, after spending 3 years in the corporate world. He was mentored by JBS tradesmen and technicians during a 3.5 year apprenticeship throughout the diversified areas of the company. Since, he has served as Company Historian, as interim Safety Director and in various project management roles. He currently co-leads the JBS Machine Shop. He holds a BS from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering and an MBA from Lipscomb University.

In this episode of Family Business Today, Lisa, William, and Carver will share:

• The longstanding history of John Bouchard & Sons Co., taking the company into its fifth generation

• How John E. Bouchard III led the company with his actions and his faith

• How the common thread of infrastructure can be traced from the company’s very beginnings, in Nashville, TN and across the Mid-South

• Lisa’s passion for the business she inherited from her father and the steps she has taken to provide for her associates in her role as CEO

• How the pandemic strengthened the family business’s resolve to continue to “help companies do what they do”

• And more…

To learn more about John Bouchard & Sons, Co., visit https://jbouchard.com/.   

At the Tennessee Center for Family Business our passion is to help business owners create a positive environment in which their family THRIVES, their business performs and working together create a lasting family legacy. To learn more about the Tennessee Center for Family Business visit www.tncfb.com.

If you are considering a transition in your family business contact us today for a FREE  Transition Assessment (follow link) and receive a one-on-one review of your business transition preparedness with a family business consultant. (a $299 value)

Until next time, There’s No Business Like Family Business…..We Know!

Episode 44: Arranged Careers: When the Family Business Isn’t Always the Right Fit for You with Dr. Michael Klein

Dr. Michael Klein has over 20 years of experience as an advisor to family business owners and next generations, as an assessment specialist (including assessments of job fit, personality, emotional intelligence, and values and motivators), he also speaks and leads workshops for family businesses. He uses his background in psychology to counsel and assist family businesses.

Michael has worked both internally and externally in Fortune 500 companies, including positions in organizational development and human resources.  He has experience in healthcare, financial services, publishing, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, construction, and private equity and other industries.

He is the author of Trapped in the Family Business: A Practical Guide, which is in its second edition, and is a recipient of the 2018 Schultz Award for Outstanding Family Business Publication.

Michael is a graduate of Haverford College and holds a doctorate in psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers. He has taught at the Commonwealth Honors College and Isenberg School of Business at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has served as a four-time judge at the University of Vermont’s Family Enterprise Case Competition (FECC).

In this episode of Family Business Today, Michael will share:

• How common it is for family members of different generations to feel trapped in their family business

• What it means to be trapped in your family business and how people become trapped

• That his book is not only about “escaping” from the family business but about how to have difficult conversations while maintaining relationships

• How parents and children can balance their needs with the needs of the family business

• The importance of having the tough conversations about your place in the family business even when the issues seem small

• And more…

To learn more about Michael’s book and his work with family businesses, visit www.trappedinthefamilybusiness.com.   

At the Tennessee Center for Family Business our passion is to help business owners create a positive environment in which their family THRIVES, their business performs and working together create a lasting family legacy. To learn more about the Tennessee Center for Family Business visit www.tncfb.com.

If you are considering a transition in your family business contact us today for a FREE  Transition Assessment (follow link) and receive a one-on-one review of your business transition preparedness with a family business consultant. (a $299 value)

Until next time, There’s No Business Like Family Business…..We Know!

Episode 43: Changing with the Times Has Resulted in a Century-Old Family Business with Ben Grossman of Grossman Marketing Group

Ben Grossman, along with his brother, David, are the fourth generation of family leadership and have been leading Grossman Marketing Group for ten years. Their family business was founded as Massachusetts Envelope Company in 1910 by Maxwell Grossman, whose lifelong dream was to own his own business. Now, 111 years since its founding, the company is a full-service resource helping clients with a broad range of traditional and digital marketing needs.

Ben Grossman holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Prior to Columbia, Ben worked as a strategy consultant to Fortune 500 clients, as well as started and sold a sportswear and marketing firm.

In this episode of Family Business Today, Ben will share:

• The story of how Grossman Marketing Group has evolved over time and throughout generations

• How observation and continuous learning paired with a mind for application can help you in your family business

• How important his time outside the family business gaining experience, both in the consulting world and in the start-up world, has been in helping him lead his family business

• That a large part of his family business’s longevity is to not take anything for granted

• How he and his brother started their tenure as leaders of Grossman Marketing Group by asking people’s input into the company using the HR stop-start-continue method

• And more…

To learn more about Grossman Marketing Group, visit www.grossmanmarketing.com.

At the Tennessee Center for Family Business our passion is to help business owners create a positive environment in which their family THRIVES, their business performs and working together create a lasting family legacy. To learn more about the Tennessee Center for Family Business visit www.tncfb.com. If you are considering a transition in your family business contact us today for a FREE Transition Assessment (follow link) and receive a one on one review of your business transition preparedness with a family business consultant. (a $299 value)

Until next time, There’s No Business Like Family Business…..We Know!

Episode 40: Relying on Technology, Your Team, and New Business Development Opportunities in the New Norm with Laurie Guzman of The Inside Story, LLC

Your host, Greg Lewis, talks to Laurie Guzman. Laurie is the founder and president of The Inside Story, LLC, a virtual assistance organization located in Nashville, TN. Laurie has established herself as an Opportunity Broker, a Master of Connecting the Right People and the Right Business to the Right Opportunity. Laurie is also the mother of two amazing sons, who inspired her to launch her business that encourages flexibility and life balance.

In this episode of Family Business Today Laurie Guzman will share:

• How having and recovering from COVID made her appreciate having the right people in her business and the importance of relying on your team and your processes

• How business owners need to rely on the power of calendar management instead of depending on their own mind and memory, especially during times of growth

• The critical role virtual assistants can play in the technological and the business development sides of the business as we experience our “new norms”

• How her passion for connecting people has not only led to the success of her own business but the success of those she works with locally, nationally, and globally

• How businesses can use the circumstances of 2020 to refine their vision and lean more on the support of other business leaders

• And much more…

To learn more about Laurie Guzman and her business, The Inside Story, LLC, visit their website at https://www.theinsidestoryllc.com/.  

At the Tennessee Center for Family Business our passion is to help business owners create a positive environment in which their family THRIVES, their business performs and working together create a lasting family legacy. To learn more about the Tennessee Center for Family Business visit www.tncfb.com.

If you are considering a transition in your family business contact us today for a FREE  Transition Assessment (follow link) and receive a one on one review of your business transition preparedness with a family business consultant. (a $299 value)

Until next time, There’s No Business Like Family Business…..We Know!

Episode 37: Seeing the Blind Spots when Planning a Family Business Transition with Peter Bloom, The Bloom Group

Your host, Greg Lewis, talks to Peter Bloom, business lawyer with The Bloom Group in Washington DC. 

In his role, he serves as general counsel to emerging, mid-stage and family businesses, providing strategic advice as well as guidance regarding corporate law, contracts, tax, intellectual property protection, financing, succession planning and labor & employment law.

Mariana Martinez and Peter Bloom are the authors of Seeing the Blind Spot: A Guide for Advisors Working with the Family Enterprise.

In this episode of Family Business Today Peter Bloom  will share:

• The importance of dealing with the emotional aspects of creating a successful transition plan

• The role family history, culture, relationships and individual personalities play in planning a successful transition

• Why Transition Planning is a Process and not an Event

• Key communication steps that family business owners should take in planning a transition

• Why creating a legacy is so important to family business owners

• And much more….

To learn more about Peter Bloom visit The Bloom Group LLC website at www.the bloomgroupllc.com.  You can also obtain a copy of  Peter Bloom and Mariana Martinez book Seeing the Blind Spots when Planning a Family Business Transition on Amazon.

At the Tennessee Center for Family Business our passion is to help business owners create a positive environment in which their family THRIVES, their business performs and create a lasting family legacy. To learn more about the Tennessee Center for Family Business visit www.tncfb.com.

If you are considering a transition in your family business contact us today for a FREE  Transition Assessment (follow link) and receive a one on one review of your business transition preparedness with a family business consultant. (a $299 value)

Until next time, There’s No Business Like Family Business…..We Know!