FGCU launches family business entrepreneurship program

Florida Gulf Coast University has launched a Family Enterprise program within its Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship designed to prepare students to inherit, launch, manage or acquire family-owned businesses across Southwest Florida. The program begins this fall as a minor available to the general student body and as a concentration for entrepreneurship majors, and includes a required course, Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, that focuses on handoffs and business transitions.

"We have a lot of students who recognize they’re going to be working for family-owned firms," said Professor William McDowell, dean of the School of Entrepreneurship, describing an early classroom exercise that asked students to map genograms and family dynamics alongside business planning.

The program was developed by Associate Dean and Professor Jason Lortie, who said the curriculum is unique because it is "the first time that a family type of either minor or concentration is coming specifically from an independent school of entrepreneurship." Lortie noted the emphasis on experiential learning: "They would have had experiential classroom time with thinking through those types of ideas and how it is that you properly do that with the best chance of success, if you go through that direction of doing it."

Southwest Florida’s economy is heavily composed of family firms. Michael Wynn, a third-generation leader of Sunshine Ace Hardware and past chair of FGCU’s Board of Trustees, stressed the regional stakes: "So, right off the bat, our future prosperity of the region is directly tied to the success of family businesses." Census-based measures show family businesses account for nearly one-third of firms in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties and 26% of firms nationwide. Advocacy-group analysis cited by the program places family control — even partial — at 87% of business tax returns and 59% of the private sector workforce.

Program backers point to succession planning gaps that imperil business continuity. Tim Cartwright, partner at Naples-based Fifth Avenue Family Office and an adviser to the School of Entrepreneurship, warned of wealth erosion if owners cannot successfully transition companies. "What is the business owner left to do?" Cartwright asked, noting Exit Planning Institute findings that a large share of owners’ net worth is tied up in their firms and that roughly 30% of businesses that go to market end up selling. "If there’s a business that can make it past the five-year survival rate … you want to keep that business going."

FGCU’s School of Entrepreneurship opened in 2017 under founding director Sandra Kauanui and moved into its permanent home, Lucas Hall, in 2021. The Family Enterprise minor joins new offerings such as Applied Blockchain Technology, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Creator Entrepreneurship as part of the school's first major curriculum update since opening.

The program benefits from an existing ecosystem of supporters and events, including the annual Resnick-Wynn Family Business Conference organized with John and Billie Resnick and Michael Wynn. That conference has drawn national speakers such as Steve Forbes, Jonathan Tisch of Loews Hotels & Co., and Jim Purdue of Purdue Farms, alongside regional business leaders from companies including DeAngelis Diamond and My Shower Door.

Outlook

• FGCU leaders are exploring expansion options, including a possible four-year major, startup competitions and a regional family enterprise center.
• The curriculum aims to equip students for succession realities and acquisition challenges, addressing a 2026 Family Enterprise USA finding that 66% of family business owners have not passed on ownership due to planning, control or capability concerns.
• With regional economic health closely tied to family firms, program advocates view skilled next-generation leaders as central to preserving businesses and local wealth.