For family and privately held business owners, top management and directors.
- Do you want to change the way you are involved in your business but don’t want to retire?
- Are you concerned about the role and effectiveness of your current board?
- Are your owners struggling to find common needs and goals?
- Would you like your managers to take on more responsibility?
- Have you been thinking about creating a Board of Directors?
How did The Board School get started?
The school was piloted in 2002 by Larry Hause, a family business consultant and attorney and Cary Tutelman, PhD., a family business consultant and owner of CJT Company. It was developed in response to the recurring themes they discovered in their many years of working with family and privately held business owners and managers.
Hause on The Board School
“The lack of appropriate, effective checks and balances in America’s businesses is now on everyone’s radar. The Balance Academy helps business owners and managers figure out how to put those checks and balances in place for their business.”
– Larry Hause, Co-founder of The Board School
What do former students say about The Board School?
“Their ideas are a real paradigm shift. People are used to the idea of boards that give advice to company management. The Board School helped me understand the role of true directors who balance the needs of the owners with the needs of the business.”
— Jim Burns, President, Burns Engineering, Minnetonka, MN
“My father started this business about 25 years ago and now my wife and I own it. I am approaching retirement and none of my three children works in the business. I was of the belief that in order for them to continue ownership of the business, one of them would actually have to work here. The Board School experience changed my mind. I learned that when you separate the roles of owners, board members and management, it opens up the possibility for my children, if they are interested, to continue to own this company.”
— Tom Schlough, President, Park Industries Inc., St. Cloud, MN
“I found participation in the school to be a very eye-opening experience. Not only was I presented with some wonderful information, but I found myself in a setting with my counterparts at other businesses where we could freely discuss the governance issues facing our companies.”
— Ron Massie, President and CEO, Image Express, Eden Prairie, MN
“My brothers and I are partners in our business. The school helped me to understand when I need to put on which hat-owner, manager or brother. It gave me a structure on how to think through those roles.”
— Pat Duininck, President, Royal Tire, St. Cloud, MN
“We had a board in the past, but it really didn’t work. The Board School gave me an entirely new perspective on not only the role of the board, but also the roles of the owners and manager. Now we’re taking a completely different approach.”
— Jeffrey Bertelson, President, Bertelson Brothers, Inc., Minneapolis, MN
