The purpose of the Center for Family Business is to offer services and information for entrepreneurial families. Our aim is making and keeping family businesses successful.
Members of the program are family businesses, large and small, ranging from first to seventh generation, representing all sectors of the economy, from New Hampshire, Maine, Northern Massachusetts, and Vermont. The Center for Family Business is made possible by member support as well as that of our corporate sponsors.
New and exciting things are happening at the Center for Family Business. We have established a closer relationship with the Whittemore School of Business and Economics as well as a new co-sponsor, the UNH Graduate School. This move should provide greater resources to better serve our members.
The Center started in 1993 with the Penley Forum for Family-Owned Business. This forum was designed for family-owned and managed businesses with gross sales in excess of $5 million or more than 20 employees. This Forum was named for a 1932 UNH alumnus, Howard Penley, whose family, in West Paris, Maine, manufactures wooden clothespins. Founded in 1928, the Penley Corporation has been owned and operated by three generations of the same family.
The Shapiro Forum for the Entrepreneurial Family was started in 1992 to provide a range of service to smaller family-owned businesses, with sales less than $5 million. The Shapiro Forum was founded by Irwin Muskat, president of Jac Pac Foods in Manchester in honor of his grandfather, Alex Shapiro, and uncle, Lester Shapiro, a member of the UNH Class of 1938. In 1930 Alex Shapiro began a one-man business, peddling meat on the streets of Manchester. Now, the company has more than 600 employees and sells its meat products to many well-known restaurant chains. Alex Shapiro's grandson, Irwin Muskat, succeeded his Uncle in running the business. In 1998 Jac Pac was acquired by Corporate Brand Foods of America and is now part of IBP, Inc. However, the family continues to manage the company. Irwin Muskat is joined by his son Daniel (4th generation).
A separate but associated CEO Forum was initiated in 1997. The CEO Forum provides business leaders with an opportunity to meet with and learn from their peers in business and industry at quarterly breakfast meetings. Membership is limited to presidents, CEOs and business owners.
If you would like more information about the Center for Family Business and its programs, or know someone who is interested in joining, please contact the office at (603) 862-1107, or E-mail: Barbara Draper.
Copyright 2005, UNH Center for Family Business, Durham, NH.
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