Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1511664
18 PalletCentral • November-December 2023 palletcentral.com Steve Yelland CEO & Owner JFR Holdings J FR Holdings is a fifth- generation family business. John Forry Rohrbaugh started the business in 1880, doing construction work in the Hanover, PA area. He handed the business down to his son, John Walter Rohrbaugh, who sold dimension lumber to local contractors. ere was a transition period with JW's son-in-law running the business before Bruce and Sally Yelland ( JW's granddaughter and my parents) bought the business. In 1962, they began to build pallets. ere was a fire in 1964, and the insurance proceeds only allowed Bruce and Sally to continue doing pallets or the dimension lumber. Bruce would always say he 'made the worst decision of his life in picking pallets!' I came into the business in 1991 and bought the business from my mother and father in 1996. Since then, our company has added revenue growth and diversified through acquisitions and today the company operates as JFR Holdings. In the transition from Bruce to myself, there responsibilities, as well as to allow the organization to learn to trust them after they demonstrate that they are capable to run the enterprise. Some of the challenges will be with the founder being unable to give up significant responsibilities to the new leaders. e founder must continue to promote and mentor them early enough for the transition to be relatively seamless. is allows him or her to come to terms and embrace the changes. e benefits are many and to name a few, I would begin with great satisfaction and pride for the founder to watch the next generation step up their game! With youth comes the added benefit of more energy and excitement. Finally, if you know you want or need to transition to the next generation do not wait another week. Get planning and involve the new leaders with your vision and approximate timeline. Once committed, and there are specific goals and concrete objectives, it's only a matter of time that all involved will embrace the change and be excited about the future anew! Personally, it's been a great experience to watch my two sons Mitchell and Justin grow into terrific were many issues we had to resolve due to our very different personalities and interests in the business. I would say we really had to find a way to communicate as peers rather than father and son. We actually hired an industrial psychologist, which proved to be the game changer we needed to move the transition forward. We also needed to decide as owners between growth, liquidity, and control. You can only pick two! Once we got through those processes, we were able to communicate our strategy and transition ownership much more effectively. e benefits or new opportunities that resulted from the new leadership was, I think, a different perspective in how to run the family business. If the transition process is thoroughly mapped out, and you really determine what the owners want from the business, the opportunities for success improve dramatically. My advice to others who are ready or planning for transition in generational leadership is don't be afraid to find outside counsel and ask for help. ere are tons of generational family businesses out there and a lot of resources. You're not the first one to go through the process. Communication is also key. If the transition is from one family member to another, it takes planning, and it's never too early to start! Bernie Kamps CEO Kamps Pallets K amps, Inc. was started in 1973 by a 17-year-old high school student (Bernie Kamps) who began a business venture and a journey. at business, with the help of so many great employees, strong leadership teams and a good board of advisors has turned into a national leader in the pallet industry with 4,300 employees delivering quality and service every day. Succession planning must be done purposefully, as soon as time allows for the new leaders to grow into the position, gain enough experience by being promoted to new Bernie, Mitchell and Justin talk business in Bernie's office.