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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

CSUN Family Business Center Going on Hiatus

In the face of budget cuts, the Family Business Center of California State University, Northridge, will go on hiatus indefinitely. “While we’re very proud of the contributions we’ve made to the community over the years, we lack the resources to take the center to the next level,” Center Director David Russell said. The university faces across-the-board budget cuts because of the state’s fiscal crisis, prompting CSUN College of Business Dean William Jennings to examine the feasibility of keeping the center open. But with both financial and staffing troubles, it was determined that center activities would need to be suspended. “Both (Russell) and I are huge fans and believers of the Family Business Center, and we value a number of supporters, including, especially, Barry Gump,” Jennings said. “We did a really outstanding job of (educating). Others can pick up the slack until we get back.” Jennings estimates that the center will be on hiatus for the next three years. Precipitating its closure was not only budget cuts but also the exit of Professor Patricia Born. Because Born teaches the same subject matter that Russell does, he is needed to cover her classes, giving him less time to focus on the center, he explained. “We’ll be on hiatus until such time as we can get more traction and that will require an input of time and money the college and the university don’t have in the current hostile budget environment,” Russell said. “On a personal note, I’m saddened that it came to this, but I take some responsibility in not doing as good a job marketing the center as I would have liked.” The center has struggled to attract a large audience beyond a core group of family businesses, students and occasional attendees, according to Russell. Moreover, it was often difficult to convince family business executives to take time out of their day to participate in the center’s activities, Russell added. “I would have liked to have done a better job convincing family businesses that they couldn’t be without the resources that we offered,” Russell said. But Barry Gump, chairman of the center’s advisory board, praised the work Russell has done. “His dedication and effort over the past few years is exemplary,” Gump said of Russell. “It is so sad to realize such a valuable opportunity for family business will not be there.” Russell said that CSUN isn’t the only university to cut its family business center, citing USC’s making a similar move. On the flip side, Russell said that California State University, Fullerton, has an exemplary family business center, primarily because the director there has successfully assembled family business participants, as well as support, from Orange County. Russell attributes that center’s effectiveness, in part, to the fact that it has full-time staff support. Though CSUN’s center is closing due to shortcomings in certain areas, it has been markedly effective in others, Russell and Gump said. “We brought a lot of family business center experts from the Valley as well as outside of the area and even out of state,” Russell said. “We’re particularly proud that we focused on family business, rather than just small business issues. A lot of people confuse the two.” Gump of Andy Gump Temporary Site Services said he can attest to what a valuable resource the center has been for he and his daughter Nancy in succession planning and other family business issues. “I can only hope somehow, some way, we can resurrect it in the not too distant future,” he said. Russell also considered the activity of board members in center programs and recruitment as a success. Members were willing to invest both their time and money in the center, according to Russell. “We’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished,” he said. “We’re very grateful for the support we’ve received from both our core members as well as people in the community. Without that, we wouldn’t have gone on as long as we did.”

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