A Letter from The Publisher
BWD
A REHMANN PUBLICATION VOL. 19 | SPRING/SUMMER 2015
B u s i ness Wisdom Deli vered
The time for succession
planning is now
All organizations — even ours — face transitions
In their ongoing quest to build strong and successful organizations, business
leaders often turn to studies, surveys and other sources of information. This
research, it is hoped, will allow them to successfully forecast important market
changes or shifts early enough to eke out the greatest amount of leverage
possible.
Sometimes, that information misses the mark completely. Other times,
however, it is spot-on.
Transition planning is a great example of the latter. For years, research on
demographic shifts has suggested that we were building toward a period of
mass transition at the leadership level of companies nationwide … and that’s
exactly what we’re seeing now.
Today, transition planning dominates many of the conversations
I’m having with business owners across an array of industries. Little
wonder: many of today’s business leaders are members of the baby boomer
generation, and those born in the earliest years of that boom are approaching
70 years of age.
There’s rising urgency to address such a widespread phenomenon, which is
why we’re devoting a special section in this edition of BWD magazine to the
topic. Check it out beginning on page 11.
The topic is especially resonant with us here at Rehmann as we recently
underwent our own transition. Steve Kelly, an exceptional leader whose
decades-long tenure at the helm of this Firm saw truly remarkable success by
any definition, is moving to a new role within the organization — leaving it up to
me to carry the baton he so confidently, and triumphantly, carried for so many
years. I encourage you to turn to A changing of the guard (page 8) to learn
more about what Steve has meant to Rehmann and what the future holds.
Randy Rupp, CPA
CEO