Content area
Full Text
Printed in Automotive News July 18, 2016
PRITCHARD FAMILY AUTO STORES, FOREST CITY, IOWA
For a 103-year-old family-operated dealership group, developing a succession plan ranks high on the to-do list.
That's why Joe Pritchard, 52, the fourth-generation CEO of Pritchard Family Auto Stores in Forest City, Iowa, has appointed his son and daughter to put together a group of future company leaders. They call the group the G5 -- or Generation 5 -- governance board.
The idea to build G5 came to the Pritchards through a class at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. One of the Pritchard siblings who is not formally involved in the company graduated in 2011 from St. Thomas with a degree in family business. As part of her curriculum, once a month for a semester in 2009, the entire family -- four siblings and their parents -- went on a two-hour road trip to Minneapolis to participate in the course. It was the first time the family had discussed succession.
A balancing act
Ryan Pritchard, 31, Joe's son and an executive for Pritchard Family Auto Stores' retail and commercial business, said it helped the family "identify...