Client Testimonials

Blackwood gets clients talking about themselves, their needs and dreams, and what is important to them and not about reviewing financial statements or legal documents. That is a major step for good succession and legacy planning. Without a plan, a family enterprise can end in bitterness and litigation. That’s why I chose to partner with Blackwood Family Enterprise Services.

This Blackwood process has been great, and continues to be. You really get us talking about the important things we never have time to talk about while we are running an enterprise like this with 400+ staff and operations across multiple continents.

The longer term things like where we’re going and the roles that each of us want to play (or not play) are difficult to address. As a shareholder, my goals and timelines are now understood and documented. Our family is starting to get on the same page, and the different branches have actually started to look forward to gatherings and dinners together. Before it was – and I hate to say it – almost like an obligatory chore. This process is also helping us in our business. Before the interviews, family council meetings, and partners’ meetings (with our non-family shareholder), I feel like we didn’t really know where we wanted to take our business.

Everyone was working really hard, putting in tons of hours, but without any clear direction. The family council meetings have helped bring us together to start communicating again, and the partners’ meetings with our non-family shareholder are helping us to get aligned, plot out our future, so we can then communicate this to our leadership team and staff. Having a facilitator in these meetings restricts the number of tangents, since you’ll often say “guys, this is your meeting not mine… Is this tangent worth the time it will take, or should we put it on the parking lot?” That helps to keep us way more focused than we would ever be on our own. Being focused on the right things will help us grow, and growth creates challenging new opportunities both for us and our staff, which increases engagement and loyalty.

The Blackwood process continues to be great. It’s all good, Man! Let’s keep going! See you at our meeting on Monday!

Our rural law firm has represented farmers since we started in 1970. The size of their operations and the value of the assets managed by those clients has grown exponentially, particularly in the last 15 years. Almost all of them are incorporated now and involve two or even three generations – grandparents, sons and daughters, grandchildren and in-laws. They are great people and great clients but we can see the iceberg that is on the horizon – no succession plan. All too often we see family situations where they just cannot get out of the gate; they will listen to us and their accountants tell them repeatedly why they need to have a plan and they promise to work on it “when they are done combining”; rinse and repeat annually. Perhaps the clients have this perception: the accountants focus too hard on the numbers and the lawyers focus too hard on rights and remedies. People don’t like hearing about either of those. If they will let him, Blackwood Reichert at BFES can get the clients talking about themselves, their needs and dreams, and what is important to them (and that usually isn’t reading financial statements or legal documents). That is a big step towards a good succession plan. Without a plan, their operations can end in bitterness and litigation-not a result I would want any of my clients to suffer.

We had been thinking about the importance of succession and transition but Blackwood actually helped us to execute a plan.

We now have a regular rhythm to our communications that allow us to keep all family members informed. Our relationship with Blackwood has been beneficial to our entire family.

Our family has worked with Blackwood for over a decade. In that time, Pat O’Connor has provided guidance and direction around the many challenges that our family enterprise has faced. Issues have ranged from complex tax planning and corporate structure work, through to facilitating partner meetings and sitting with five others on my personal board of directors. Pat continues to work closely with all members of my family to ensure important personal matters are discussed before working directly with our legal and accounting advisors to ensure relevant documentation remains current.

This Blackwood process has been great, and continues to be. You really get us talking about the important things we never have time to talk about while we are running an enterprise like this with 400+ staff and operations across multiple continents. The longer term things like where we’re going and the roles that each of us want to play (or not play) are difficult to address. As a shareholder, my goals and timelines are now understood and documented. Our family is starting to get on the same page, and the different branches have actually started to look forward to gatherings and dinners together. Before it was – and I hate to say it – almost like an obligatory chore. This process is also helping us in our business. Before the interviews, family council meetings, and partners’ meetings (with our non-family shareholder), I feel like we didn’t really know where we wanted to take our business. Everyone was working really hard, putting in tons of hours, but without any clear direction. The family council meetings have helped bring us together to start communicating again, and the partners’ meetings with our non-family shareholder are helping us to get aligned, plot out our future, so we can then communicate this to our leadership team and staff. Having a facilitator in these meetings restricts the number of tangents, since you’ll often say “guys, this is your meeting not mine… Is this tangent worth the time it will take, or should we put it on the parking lot?” That helps to keep us way more focused than we would ever be on our own. Being focused on the right things will help us grow, and growth creates challenging new opportunities both for us and our staff, which increases engagement and loyalty. The Blackwood process continues to be great. It’s all good, Man! Let’s keep going! See you at our meeting on Monday!

Pat has been working with our family since 2014. Since then he has made a significant contribution to our family enterprise. He has helped us develop strategic objectives and streamline our processes. He has brought a lot of discipline to how we operate. He facilitates our regular family conference calls and annual family conferences. He helps set the agenda, chairs the calls and conferences, takes minutes and follows up on action items. He also brings new ideas and activities that broaden our horizons and contribute to family solidarity. Because of his input, I think we are near the top of how a family enterprise should operate.

We are an enterprising family with G2 siblings spread across North America. Over the past 8 months, our family has gone through Blackwood’s Discovery process, which led to a family meeting that brought 3 generations to the table. We made more progress in this one meeting than we had in the past many years of family meetings. Now our Family’s Values, Mission and Vision statements have been articulated, we will use them to guide our future financial, legal and philanthropic decisions.

Families have complicated relationships. The Blackwood process has helped me appreciate my children and to understand their strengths and where their ideals lie.