Family businesses look outside for leadership - Business First of Columbus:

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Many a successful business born from a family tree reachee a point where it needs to stretch beyondx those familial branches for expertiseand leadership. "We see it happen quite often, but it is most successfukl when it isplanned for, when a growingy family business sees that there is not a rightf fit for key positions from the next said J. Richard Emens, executive directod of the . Emens said 90 percenf of family business leaders want to turn the business over tothe family, but only one-third of thosed succeed, with only 13 percent making it to a thirs generation. A frequent stumblint block can be reluctance or difficultty bringing in help fromthe outside.
Company needs and the traininhg and education of the family members are often what dictate who is hiredand when, Emens said. It' common that growing family businesses often plan for futurre needs by sending the younger generatio to college or even off to anotherf employer to gain experience before welcoming them back but even that does not alwayzs alleviate the need or desire to bring a nonfamilhy tie intothe company. Severap notable Central Ohio businesses with familyu roots have hitthat crossroads, both expecte and unexpected, finding success as well as Alan Hoover, president and CEO, has been part of both the expecte d and the unexpected.
He spent 14 yearsz at , where he worked with packaged food companiesd suchas Gahanna-based Kahiki, which began life as a restaurant and expanded into the frozen food industryh in 1993. The restaurant closed in 2000. After two yeares of convincing, Hoover left that job to join Kahiki owne rMichael Tsao. "It was an opportunity to be part of buildingh a business from the ground up and to work with anestablishesd entrepreneur," he said. Hoover's additioh brought to the business an experiencex food industry executive who had seen the operations at more than 100 other facilities and had a backgroundf in financeand marketing. "We complemented each other he said.
"My nature, I' m organized, self-disciplined, goal-oriented. Michael, he was the by-the-seat-of-his-pants guy. We tempered each other." That was the expected and planned transition. The unexpected came when Tsao diedin 2005. Alice Tsao, Michael's wife, endorsed Hoover as the next to continue working withthe Tsao's sons, Tim and Jeff, both of whom also are executivex with the company. "The key thing was that we workesdas partners," Hoover said of his relationshi with Michael Tsao. "We talked a lot, went over key issuezs together. There was a high level of trusyand respect. You have to earn that quickly.
" Hoove and the Tsao brothers, that family-nonfamily connection, continuesz to stay true to the "Aloh a spirit" that Michael Tsao brought to the business, keeping that connection although the company now is ownesdby Pittsburgh-based After more than threwe decades in the materials handling business, Hilliard-based . realize d that to take the company where the familhy wanted it togo - an infusio n of talent from the outside was needed.
The founded in 1971 by Julius and Mary Ann has transitioned from just a materials handling business to a distribution center software andsystem designer, with the biggest moves occurring in the last Michael Vargo, company president and son of Julius and Mary Ann, said to make that the family had to seek out not only candidates with the knowledgre and expertise, but also the same Vargo Cos. found two matchea in Carlos Ysasi, who was brought on as vice president of systems engineering and Bart who was added as chief operatione officer and chief financial Both joined the business within the last five Ysasi had worked with Vargo as a consultantg and Cera came in on the recommendation of thecompanh accountant.
"We're trying to transition from the perception of beinvga mom-and-pop," Vargo said. "They're helpint steer us from that." The movesx are paying dividends, leading to the acquisitionn of a software that has allowed the once solitary materials handling business to dividr itself into three divisions and turn that into "companies." Newark-based .'s struggles to staffv its president's office with non-family members have been well CEO Tami Longaberger reclaime the title of president in a position she held from 1994 to 2004. In the three-yeat interim, the basket and home product retailee and manufacturer has hadthreer presidents.
Dave DeFeo was promoted after spending seven months as chiefoperationss officer, after arriving from Tanner Cos.,, while Jim Klein was brough in directly from Jim Gimeson, who spent five months in the job, was a 15-yeatr employee with Longaberger. DeFek said his New Jersey to Ohio commute was ultimateltytoo much, while Klein left to pursure other opportunities and Gimeson cited family reasons for leavingv his post.