This quarter at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, I took a class called Family Enterprises: Issues and Solutions. Joined by counterparts in their own family businesses across the world, we shared stories of the highs and lows of working in the family business.  All families have their ups and downs, but when you mix family with business, those ups and downs can be magnified. For all of our sakes, I’ll only tell you the ups. And, for the sake of Father’s Day, I’m going to tell you about my dad.

 It’s rare nowadays to get to say you work with your parents on a daily basis. I have a lot of friends who live in different cities than their parents – even ones in different countries. I’m a better man because I get to observe my dad in personal and professional settings so often. Having them there to ask questions and learn from him directly in person is helping me grow literally every day in multiple facets of my life.

My dad is just a cool, down-to-earth and relatable guy. This and the true care he takes in personal relationships has been the main reason why Chalet has been successful and why employees stay for decades. My sister, brother and I have big shoes to fill (my feet are slightly bigger than my dad’s if we’re taking that literally... not competitive or anything) for the next generation, but I’m eager to keep the same passion within the business as our dad has.

He and I make a great team and I can’t wait to see what we can do together!