2005 Press Releases
John Major to give Keynote Address on Family Business
Former British Prime Minister John Major will address the role of
family business at an international conference being hosted at
University College Cork next month.
Family businesses are major economic actors not just in Ireland, but
globally, yet their role is often neglected in economic and business
commentary and analysis.
The conference Sustaining the Family Business is aimed at both raising
the profile of a key driver of economic activity and dealing with how
family business can become a more sustainable and effective dimension
of a stable economy.
It is part of an ongoing agenda of the John C. Kelleher Family Business
Centre, currently Ireland's only such centre. It links the experience
and expertise of family businesses, through the involvement of members
of some of Ireland's leading family businesses with the academic
business community at UCC.
"The family business centre has been set up to support family
businesses in dealing with those issues that are peculiar to family
businesses. We are the only such independent centre in Ireland, and our
key objective is to help families manage their businesses and business
issues while maintaining positive family relationships." Says Dr. Joan
Buckley, Director of the John C. Kelleher Family Business Centre.
The April conference focuses on the long-term sustainability of family
businesses. It is aimed at all those working in family businesses, both
family and non-family members, and at advisors to family businesses.
"The conference is the first national forum for the discussion of
family business issues. We hope to allow those involved in the
management and ownership of family businesses an opportunity to air and
discuss family business issues, as well as learning from the
experiences of the speakers." Says Dr. Buckley, Director of the Family
Business Centre.
In the keynote address John Major will focus on the general business
and commercial environment and the ever-increasing need for family
businesses to anticipate and manage change.
Leading figures from Irish family business like Alan Crosbie and
Patrick Campbell will contribute to the conference. Alan Crosbie is a
fifth generation family business member and chair of both Examiner
Publications Ltd and Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd.
Patrick Campbell heads the highly successful Campbell Bewley Group,
which he co-founded, as Campbell Catering, with his wife in 1967. Today
it not only leads its sector at home, but also operates internationally
under the Bewley and Java City marques and also in a strategic alliance
with Aramark Corporation in America. Patrick Campbell will personally
describe these developments while setting the scene for further
evolution and growth in the business he and his family have stewarded
since 1967.
Gerry McCaughey, Ireland's Industry Entrepreneur of the Year 2003, will
deliver a strategic message based on his vast experience as an
entrepreneur and as an adviser to business over two decades. He
currently chairs Blackwater Region Plato, which specializes in business
support.
Peter Leach, a partner in BDO Stoy Hayward will offer an international
perspective. He has pioneered research into family business at Warwick
University and the London Business School. He is the author of the
internationally influential A Guide to the Family Business and is on
the board of the UK Institute for Family Business.
The main sponsor of the conference is Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd., and
their managing director Anthony Dinan said "Thomas Crosbie Holdings
Ltd. are proud of our association with the Family Business Centre at
UCC". The other associate sponsors of the conference are BDO, Davy and
Enterprise Ireland.
Full details of the conference are available from the John C. Kelleher
Family Business Centre at University College Cork or on the web at:
www.ucc.ie/mgt/about/centres.htm
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