Upcoming
Conferences & Workshops
FEISC Lunch Briefing with Jean Meeks‑Koch
- September 17, 2025
- 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- Columbia, SC
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AFBE Fall Conference 2025
STRIVING, THRIVING, EDURING
- Thursday 25th September, 2025
- 8:00 – 19:30
- Trademark Suites,Enaki. Nairobi,Kenya
The conference brings together dynamic keynote speakers, interactive breakout sessions, and panels featuring family business owners and experts sharing real-world insights. Designed to engage, connect, and inspire, this event offers practical strategies and thought leadership for anyone navigating the unique world of family enterprise.
Jean Meeks-Koch – Featured Speaker
Session: Building Strength Through Family and Corporate Governance
Family business enterprises differ from traditional organizations for one defining reason: family. That distinction changes everything about how they’re governed. Jean will explore why thriving family enterprises adopt a dual governance model—one that balances the emotional fabric of the family with the operational needs of the business. Attendees will walk away with practical frameworks to align family unity with business performance, creating a foundation for lasting success across generations.
Jean Meeks-Koch – Panel Moderator
Morning Wrap-Up: From Striving to Thriving — One Family’s Journey
Every family business has a story, but few share it openly. In this powerful session, a family shares their transformational journey from misalignment and conflict to clarity, cohesion, and long-term success. Through an honest conversation with live audience Q&A, Jean will guide a discussion on how integrating family and corporate governance reshaped their relationships, strengthened their business, and secured their legacy for future generations.
FFI Global Conference 2025
Where Legacies Meet Innovations
- October 29–31, 2025
- Boston Marriott Long Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts
Positively People’s Jean Meeks-Koch and Bernadette Watowich-Stead will each deliver featured sessions at this year’s FFI Global Conference, bringing fresh perspectives to the future of family enterprises around the world.
Session: Africa – Where Tribalism, Faith, Caste, and Innovation Conjoin
October 30, 2025 | 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
African family-owned businesses are becoming powerful drivers of economic growth and global trade, fueled by a rising generation bringing innovation and new perspectives home. Yet, these businesses face complex challenges: volatile markets, foreign competition, and the struggle to transition successfully into third- and fourth-generation ownership.
In this session, Jean will explore how advisors and practitioners can support African family enterprises during this transformation—balancing tradition with modernization and leveraging tools like AI, robotics, and global partnerships to build sustainable, multigenerational success.
What You’ll Gain:
Insight into the growing global influence of African family-owned businesses and the opportunities they present
Strategies to help families navigate third-generation transitions despite economic and cultural challenges
Tools to build trust and foster sustainable wealth management while honoring cultural and tribal dynamics
Speakers: Jean Meeks-Koch, Dennis Oteng
Session: The Hero’s Journey – Transforming Legacy Through Storytelling and Systems Thinking
October 30, 2025 | 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM
Every family business has a story. Those narratives—rooted in myth, legacy, and lived experience—shape how families navigate leadership transitions, growth, and sustainability. Using the lens of the hero’s journey, this session explores how families can identify, understand, and reshape the narratives that guide their businesses.
Through storytelling and systems thinking, Bernadette and fellow panelists will share real-world case studies from the FFI Systems Thinking Virtual Study Group, showing how recognizing and reframing these stories can lead to stronger leadership development, healthier transitions, and more resilient family cultures.
What You’ll Gain:
A framework for using storytelling to preserve and evolve family business legacy
Practical ways to identify and shift inherited patterns using systems thinking
Actionable strategies to help families build resilience and create adaptive, future-focused cultures
Speakers: Bernadette Watowich-Stead, Guillermo Salazar, Chris Yonker
