Gregory Monday
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.
Madison
David J. Sisson
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.
Madison
Presenters
Julie M. Bogle
Smith & Gesteland LLP
Madison
Catherine J. Durham
Capital Valuation Group, Inc.
Madison
James Jackson
Winsanity
Madison
John Westphal
Westphal & Company, Inc.
Janesville
8:00 a.m. : Registration
8:30 a.m. : Designing Family Business Governance:
A good governance structure can make a business more profitable and more valuable, but it is also an important part of preparing for ownership succession within a family. The present owners are best situated to establish a governance structure that will help the next generation of owners succeed.
- Create a plan that uses business law and trust law to define and allocate the authority, rights, and duties of next generation owners and managers
- Plan a future governance structure that is tailored to the unique talents, needs, an objectives of the next generation
- Provide mechanisms for peaceful resolution of future owners' differences, including mechanisms for exits or other separations
- Understand the litigation alternatives that will apply in a worst case scenario
Gregory M. Monday, David J. Sisson
10:00 a.m. : Break
10:15 a.m. : The Value of Valuations
Determining an accurate valuation is essential to succession planning because it helps set expectations, define how value will be determined in the future, and provide a starting point for planning how to fund ownership transitions
- Recognize that every business has many values
- Understand the different methodologies that may be applied to a valuation analysis
- Learn what drives buyers to pay more or less for a business
Catherine J. Durham
11:15 a.m. : Planning for the Unexpected
Senior generation exits sometimes happen unexpectedly--sometimes before the next generation is ready to lead the business. A business continuation plan can provide for caretaker management to run the business and maintain its value until the successor owners are ready to assume control or sell the business.
- Prepare a written plan, in plain English, to identify and guide business and estate fiduciaries with respect to management of the business upon the unexpected loss of a principal senior owner/manager
- Identify areas of particular risk or need that may arise upon the death of a principal senior owner/manager
- Draft corporate and estate planning documents that will give effect to the continuation plan
Gregory M. Monday and David J. Sisson
12:15 p.m. : Lunch (On Your Own)
1:15 p.m. : Diversified Funding for Exits and Entrances
A succession plan will be most successful if owner exits for the senior generation and the next generation can be properly funded. Usually this requires a diversified approach.
- Identify the amounts of funding needed upon future owner exits, including funds needed for third party obligations, such as debt pay down or new executive comp
- Understand each realistic source of funding for an owner exit
- Draft seller-financing provisions that are fair to the exiting owner and the business
Julie M. Bogle
2:15 p.m. : Effects of Buy-Sell Agreements on the Living
A panel of presenters and business principals will give life to discussing decision points involved in creating a buy-sell agreement that is properly tailored to a family business and its owners. Audience questions and interaction are encouraged.
- Limit and define the ownership group (for example, can non-employee family members be owners?)
- Provide realistic exit strategies for each potential owner
- Decide when valuation discounts should or should not apply
- Understand that nothing is "boilerplate" for family businesses
Moderator: Gregory M. Monday
Panel: Julie Bogle, Cathy M. Durham, David J. Sisson, John Westphal, James Jackson
3:15 p.m. : Program Concludes
- Get advice for building a strong business governance structure
- Discover how to determine an accurate business valuation
- Learn how to draft a business continuation plan
- Find out how to fund a business owner’s exit
- Explore buy-sell agreements for a family business
- Business lawyers
- Civil litigators
- Estate planners
- Solo/small firm lawyers
- Tax law attorneys
- General practitioners