The boss is retiring. The kids don't want to take over. Family-owned manufacturers confront a succession 'crisis'
Terry Iverson, president and CEO of the manufacturing firm his grandfather founded 88 years ago, loses sleep worrying what will come of the business once he decides to retire.
His kids aren't interested in taking the reins at Iverson & Co. in Des Plaines, which sells and services machine tools. His vice president had been groomed for ownership but left for another opportunity.
Iverson expects he will have to merge or sell, but to whom? And will the buyer take good care of his customers and his family's legacy?
"It's something I think about every day," Iverson, 59, said.
His succession concerns are shared by many in the Chicago area's manufacturing industry, which anticipates a barrage of baby boomer retirements among company owners who often don't know who will take over their businesses once they hang up their gloves.
Some industry leaders worry that companies without succession plans might close, or get purchased by private equity firms that move them out of the region or pick them apart - consequential for the local economy, given the hundreds of thousands of workers that Illinois' small and midsize manufacturing firms employ and
