Baylor To Honor Outstanding Family Firms In Texas
by Alan Hunt
WACO -- Members of the public and chambers of commerce across Texas are being asked to nominate companies for the 12th annual Texas Family Business of the Year competition sponsored by Baylor University's Institute for Family Business. Family business owners also can nominate their firms for the awards. Nominations are being accepted from May 1 through July 1.
Each year, the Institute for Family Business honors companies that demonstrate strong business and family values. Awards are given in three categories -- large firms, with more than 250 employees; medium-sized firms, with 51-250 employees; and small firms, with 50 or fewer employees.
Outstanding firms also are recognized in the special award categories of Family Values, Community Commitment, Fastest-Growing Family Business, Well-Managed Family Business, and the Founders Award for the business that best maintains the identity and original concept of its founders.
Last year, more than 200 family businesses were nominated for the contest, said Mary Abrahams, program coordinator of the Institute for Family Business. Family business consultants and advisers and principals of family firms will be among the judges for this year's program, she said. The awards will be presented Oct. 18 during a ceremony on the Baylor campus.
"Outstanding family firms should demonstrate contributions to their industry and community and be positive role models for both the business community and the family in business," Abrahams said. "Seventy-five percent of all businesses in the United States are family-owned or controlled, making family businesses the backbone of the U.S. economy."
To be nominated, a firm must be headquartered in Texas and have one or more of the following characteristics:
Owned and operated by different generations of a family
Potential exists for ownership to be passed on to a younger generation
More than one family member has active employment in an organization owned by a family
Family holding company which is presently operating a business
Baylor's Institute for Family Business is a component of the university's nationally ranked John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship.
A nomination package for the contest can be obtained from Mary Abrahams by writing to P.O. Box 98011, Baylor University, Waco, 76798-8011. She also can be contacted at (254) 710-4159, fax (254) 710-3724 or by e-mail at Mary_Abrahams@baylor.edu . Nominations and information on the Texas Family Business of the Year Award program also can be found at http://hsb.baylor.edu/entrepreneur.