The S. Dale High Center for Family Business recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The Center invited some of their best speakers from past events to speak at the annual Family Business Forum. The event was held Thursday, March 26 at the Marriott hotel in Lancaster.
The High Center was founded in 1995 by a group of representatives for family-owned and- run businesses of Elizabethtown College. The two groups decided to create this building to help family businesses grow and continue their success, seeing as they are the backbone of the national economy. Today, the High Center is one of the oldest and largest centers in the country and is still growing.
To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the High Center, Michael Mitchell, executive director of the High Center, and Lisa Rosenberg, Assistant to the Executive Director, brought back the highest-rated speakers from their past forums, including Phil Clemens, CEO of Clemens Companies, Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s and Mark Sanborn, bestselling author and award winning speaker to speak at the anniversary event.
Each speaker discussed the value of family business. Phil Clemens has been speaking at Family Business Forums all over the country. He has been a part of the Clemens family business his entire working career. Clemens worked in all areas of the business, but today he is CEO of the family-run food business. “Phil always delivers outstanding practical advice on how to prioritize running your business as a business,” Mitchell said.
Anne Beiler is the founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, which is also a family-run business. Beiler started making her famous pretzels in 1987 to support her husband’s vision to provide more opportunities for free counseling in their area. “Anne has such a powerful story and inspires audiences to dream big,” Mitchell said. Beiler started her pretzel-making at a single farmers market. It grew into Auntie Anne’s Inc. which is the largest hand-rolled pretzel franchise. Belier has received honorary doctorate from both Eastern College and Etown.
Mark Sanborn is a bestselling author on the subjects of leadership, change and customer service. “Mark is in the speaker Hall of Fame for good reason.” Mitchell said. Sanborn has given more than 2,400 speeches, has become an award-winning speaker and is one of the youngest inductees into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Sanborn talked excitedly about leadership principles.
The goal of the High Center is to strengthen the family businesses in the local area, connecting them to new people and helping to strengthen their business. The High Center wants to have a strategic plan for each establishment to grow. The High Center has been setting up different events like breakfast seminars and evening receptions to help businesses set up a day-to-day plan to improve their business. The events are set up by industry-acclaimed family business experts who help business owners understand the best practices to use to promote their companies.
Each March, the Family Business Forum takes place to offer a day of seminars, dinner and a keynote event to wrap up the night. This was a year to remember because the High Center awarded its founders like Dale High, Mary Beth Matteo, John Reed and Phil Clemens.
The event attracted a total of 350 executives to hear great advice from the speakers.
There was a cocktail reception where the local business people were able to get better acquainted and network to fellow members. In the future, the group hopes to expand to counties like Berks and York. “We are targeting 100 members by the end of 2016,” Mitchell said.
The event is known for bringing new faces to the High Center. Last year the High Center added eight new members after the Forum.
“The goal of this special 20th anniversary event was to celebrate the individuals that built the High Center into one of the oldest and largest family business centers in the country,” Mitchell said.
The forum was a success, according to initial reactions that Mitchell received from the guests. The crowd of executives really enjoyed attending the event and seeing familiar faces.
The High Center will continue to grow and expand and plans to always be an integral part of the College and surrounding communities.
