Discover innovative pathways that advance the next stage of effective, adaptable succession planning.
Traditional succession planning is essential to business continuity and stability. This presentation traces its evolution and, through case studies, demonstrates that rigorous plans promote survival through leadership continuity and financial strength, while revealing weaknesses such as inadequate successor preparation, resistance to change, and misaligned objectives. It also examines innovative approaches and alternative models tailored to diverse contexts, highlighting the need for flexibility and stakeholder engagement.
Presenter: Jarvis Tyrell Curry, professor of strategic management, corporate governance, and analytics at the University of the Cumberlands.
Check out additional workshops in the Rural Business Transitions Webinar Series 2026:
This free series offers practical guidance to help rural communities retain local businesses, as many owners are retiring or relocating. Presented in collaboration with Rural Partners, the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, and University of Illinois Extension, the series examines current trends in rural businesses, best practices for supporting business continuity, and opportunities to work with leaders and residents to strengthen and stabilize local economies.
Navigating an Era of Transition in American Business: Emerging Trends, Risks, and Opportunities | March 10.
The average age of business owners in the U.S. has been increasing for decades. As more and more business owners near retirement age, there may be a wave of business transitions as these owners pass their companies to new owners. However, the large-scale transition of businesses has been slow to accelerate. This session will explore demographic trends in business ownership and their relationship to the transition of U.S. businesses, as well as a range of considerations that can positively or negatively impact business succession.
Presenter: Tessa Conroy, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics and community economic development specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Evolution of Succession Planning: Strengths, Shortfalls, and Innovative Pathways Forward | March 24.
Traditional succession planning is essential to business continuity and stability. This presentation traces its evolution and, through case studies, demonstrates that rigorous plans promote survival through leadership continuity and financial strength, while revealing weaknesses such as inadequate successor preparation, resistance to change, and misaligned objectives. It also examines innovative approaches and alternative models tailored to diverse contexts, highlighting the need for flexibility and stakeholder engagement.
Presenter: Jarvis Tyrell Curry, professor of strategic management, corporate governance, and analytics at the University of the Cumberlands.
Succession Through Shared Ownership: Exploring ESOPs and Employee-Led Transitions | April 7.
This webinar provides a framework for understanding broad-based employee ownership and for applying it across three common models: ESOPs, worker cooperatives, and employee ownership trusts. Rather than focusing on technical mechanics, the session explores how governance and financial rights differ across these models and how workers benefit from ownership in practice, with special attention to their role in business succession and community stability in rural and small-town contexts. Participants will learn a more straightforward, evidence-informed, and practical way to think about employee ownership as a succession-planning option.
Presenter: Michael Palmieri, associate director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University.
Business Succession for a Strong Rural Community: Worker Co‑ops as a Transition Strategy | April 21.
Rural communities across the country are facing a growing succession crisis as long‑time business owners retire without clear buyers in place. This webinar explores how transitioning to a worker cooperative provides sellers with a built-in buyer for the business, preserves stable jobs, and supports the community's long-term economic vitality. Participants will learn the basics of the worker cooperative structure, how employee buyouts are feasible, and why this strategy is powerful for sustaining rural economies.
Presenter: Stacy Mullinex, senior project manager for the Iowa Center for Employee Ownership at the University of Northern Iowa.
Sustaining Local Commerce: The Role of Community-Supported Enterprises in Business Retention | May 5.
Small towns facing a long-standing business closure due to retirement, or other events, can have organized groups of residents to invest in the business or its structure and reopen it. These locally based efforts can revitalize a community by improving quality of life and making the area more attractive to prospective residents. This webinar examines several cases and discusses key factors important to their success.
Presenter: Norman Walzer, professor of economics and founding director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs housed at Western Illinois University.
