The panel of Tuesday’s Family Business Alliance forum, left to right: Bill Corcoran, Jr. (moderator), Chuck Cohen, Benco Dental, Kristin Dempsey, Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply, Dick Kane, Kane Properties.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Family Business Alliance panelist, Chuck Cohen, Benco Dental, and Kristin Dempsey, Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Dick Kane, of Kane Properties, speaks at Tuesday’s event.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Family Business Alliance recognized and awarded Penn State Scranton represented by Dr. Marwan Mafa, left, presented by Daniel Haggerty, Family Business Alliance, immediate past president of the advisory board of Family Business Alliance.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Bill Sordoni, right, former Family Business Alliance board member, presented plaques to two of the four sponsor awards on Tuesday evening.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Sue Reilly, Family Business Alliance executive director, leads a forum held at The Banks, Pittston, on ‘Still Family After All These Years,’ on Tuesday evening.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
PITTSTON — The Family Business Alliance (FBA), celebrating 25 years, held a panel discussion Tuesday on the topic of “Still Family After All These Years” featuring Dick Kane, Kane Properties; Kristin Dempsey, Dempsey Uniform & Linen; Chuck Cohen, Benco Dental; and moderator Bill Corcoran Jr., Corcoran Printing (and creator of OnTheStacks blog), at The Banks banquet facility.
Special recognition and awards were handed out to main sponsors of the event, Wilkes University, Penn State Scranton, M&T Bank, and Rosenn Jenkins & Greenwald.
“We’ve had a group of family businesses that are members of the Family Business Alliance that are here and we’ve had some new people here that are not members,” Sue Reilly, FBA executive director, said. “We want to get out the idea of 25 years of trying to get out the information, get out resources, make a community were family businesses can share best practices, can share success stories, awful stories and we learn a lot more from the stories that don’t have the best results but as people come through them can offer advice to someone else.”
Even though the FBA has been in existence since 1997 — and is based at both Wilkes University and Penn State Scranton — they don’t have notoriety such as Chambers of Commerce do, but Reilly is doing all she can to spread the word about FBA and their resources.
“We are sharing information and feed off of one another and we do work hand-in-hand with all the regional chambers,” Reilly said. “We work with the Pittston Chamber, Scranton Chamber, Wyoming Valley Chamber, Back Mountain, everybody.”
Panelist Cohen, Dempsey, and Kane shared their experiences of owning or being a part of a family business, technology, innovation, and philosophies on how to succeed in a family business, along with answering questions from moderator Corcoran.
“We are firm believers that only engine for growth is innovation, that’s it,” Cohen said. “Everything else if financial engineering, even customer satisfaction is not a growth strategy. If your not going to have happy customers there’s no way you’re going to succeed or there’s no way you’re going to survive. Innovation, true innovation that’s valued by the customer is really the only sustainable act of growth.”
Reilly said to continue to spread the word and work of FBA; there are a few upcoming events on the calendar for those who wish to attend:
• The Transformational Woman, May 16 at 11 a.m.
• Environmental, Social, and Goverance (ESG): What Small Businesses Need to Know, May 18 at 11:00 a.m.
• Peer Group Information Session, June 22 (online).
For further information on FBA, visit fballiance.org or call Sue Reilly at 570-408-2120.
“We went to keep family businesses thriving in our area,” Reilly added.
