Family Business Succession Planning & Executive Search Blog

AIN Media Group needed to find someone who could lead them through the most significant transformation in its history, earn the trust of a family that had built everything from scratch, and stay long enough to actually see it through.

You’ve heard of interim CEOs. You’ve heard of fractional executives. In family business, the bridge CEO is a distinct and frequently misunderstood leadership tool. It’s one that plays a critical role in multigenerational continuity when it’s used correctly. Used correctly is the key phrase. In most cases, families misunderstand both what a bridge CEO is and what they’re supposed to accomplish. What a Bridge CEO in a Family Business Actually Is A bridge CEO is a non-family exe

A new Deloitte survey puts numbers on a succession readiness problem we see every day. Here's what the data means, and what family business leaders should do about it.

Family businesses account for more than 75% of the American GDP. They're not a niche. They're not small. They're the foundation of our economy — and they've largely been underserved when it comes to finding the right executive talent. The Stranberg Talent Network was built to change that.

Family businesses operate in every sector - be it bakeries, restaurants, car dealerships, real estate, grain elevators, dental practices, law firms, farms, tech, or manufacturing, families own businesses everywhere. While each industry has distinct operational requirements, success isn't only tied to industry. It's also tied to your business's culture and to how well new executives understand what makes your family enterprise different.

Family businesses facing executive transitions often discover their planned compensation isn't competitive with market realities. The natural response is to purchase a comprehensive compensation study, expecting clarity on competitive pay rates. Instead, families find themselves staring at spreadsheets that don't reflect their reality - data pulled from public companies, job descriptions that only vaguely resemble their actual needs, and recommendations that ignore the unique

When the long-serving HR leader at Bundy Baking Solutions passed away unexpectedly, the second-generation family business faced a critical challenge. The company had grown from a regional manufacturer into a global enterprise, and this loss left a gap when sophisticated people leadership across international operations was most needed.

When the leader of American Pan, a key division of Bundy Baking Solutions, neared retirement with no clear successor, the owners assessed their options and determined that an external search would best support the company’s long-term growth.

Family businesses excel at maintaining personal relationships with employees and preserving organizational culture across generations. However, when it comes to rare, high-stakes hires like HR leadership succession, these same strengths can create mistakes that undermine both operational effectiveness and the culture you're trying to protect. In our experience advising families, there are three consistent mistakes family businesses make with regard to human resources. Recogni