Our Featured Programs & Services
The Centre for Family Business was established in 1997 as a support to family businesses in the Waterloo Region and surrounding areas. Today, CFFB is comprised of over 55 family businesses representing a broad spectrum of industries and ranging in size from just a few to several hundred employees. Join our family of businesses and explore how we can help yours.
CFFB Podcast:
Family Business Matters
Listen to our latest episodes of Family Business Matters, featuring our members’ stories, experiences and successes in their family businesses.
Member Testimonials
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The CFFB’s sponsors provide our membership with invaluable insight and experience. Listen to how our partnership with these companies can benefit you.
Our Valued Sponsors
Josslin Insurance has brokers who specialize in insurance solutions for home, auto, business, farm, disability and life, finding the right coverage for you, your business and your employee benefits program.
CFFB members may also save up to 15% off their home and auto insurance through Josslin.
The Part Time CFO Services LLP team provides in-house accounting and finance help to work with your existing staff. Our team members have valuable insights and are trusted, strategic business partners who collaboratively work with family or private enterprises, building and implementing customized financial and management solutions.
Our team at Richardson Wealth is available to support your business vision and help you fully realize your long-term goals with an integrated approach to family and wealth planning. Fundamental issues involving tax, investing, insurance and succession planning can’t be dealt with effectively as stand-alone topics. Here are some of the key issues we can help with:
- Tax efficient corporate and personal investing
- Integrated Financial Planning
- Individual Pension Plans
- Insurance Planning
- Business Succession Planning
- Preparing for a Business Sale
With more than 170 years of experience in serving family enterprises like yours, our team of dedicated professionals brings deep knowledge and offers a wide range of services to help you grow your company today while protecting your wealth and supporting your legacy. We understand the challenges you face, but we also appreciate how your unique strengths as a family business are an integral part of your success.
No matter where you are on your business journey, we’re at your side to help you craft the right approach to addressing your needs across your business, including:
- Continuity and succession planning
- Defining purpose and values with a family charter
- Tax and wealth planning
- Family management and conflict management
- Board composition and responsibilities
- Digital strategy and transformation
- Revenue models and efficiency improvements
- Financing and deal opportunities
- Family and business governance
SOLD OUT
What does the future hold? Larry Smith looks ahead (and back)
📅 Date: Friday January 30, 2026
📍Location: Entrepreneurship Space at Conestoga College – Waterloo Campus: 108 University Ave E, Waterloo, ON N2J 2W2
🕓 Time: 11:30am – 2:00pm: Lunch Served at 11:30pm, Presentation at 12:30pm.
Event Details:
Who Are These People? A Practical Tour of Differences
📅 Date: Thursday February 26, 2026
📍Location: Thunderstorm Productions: 283 Northfield Dr E Unit 8A, Waterloo, ON
🕓 Time: 11:30am – 2:00pm
We’re happy to have you join us at the new and fabulous Thunderstorm Productions facility. Mingling begins at 11:30am with complimentary pinball and a grazing lunch, followed by the workshop at 12:30pm.
Event Details:
About the Facilitator
Christie brings over 25 years of cross‑sector experience spanning higher education, human resources, business development, international partnerships, and the food and beverage industry. Her career has taken her across Canada and to more than 25 countries, with leadership roles at organizations including Little Mushroom Catering, Wilfrid Laurier University, Lutherwood, Acadia University, and Algonquin College.
After a successful career in higher education, she joined her family’s business—Little Mushroom Catering & Dining Lounge—as Director of People & Culture, supporting its growth into Southwestern Ontario’s premier catering company known for social responsibility and culinary innovation.
Selling Beyond the Founder: How Family Businesses Build Sustainable Sales
📅 Date: Thursday March 26, 2026
📍Location: Conestoga College 108 University Ave E, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
🕓 Time: 11:30am – 2:00pm
We’re happy to have you join us at the new and fabulous Thunderstorm Productions facility. Mingling begins at 11:30am with complimentary pinball and a grazing lunch, followed by the workshop at 12:30pm.
Event Details:
Family businesses in the Waterloo Region are built on trust, reputation, and long-term relationships. Yet many still rely on founder-driven selling, informal networks, or “the way we’ve always done it.” As markets grow more competitive and customers more informed, family enterprises need sales systems that are disciplined, repeatable, and transferable across generations without losing the values that make them unique.
Antonio Michael Downing will explore how family businesses can modernize their sales operations while honouring their legacy. Drawing on real-world experience with founders and growth-stage companies, he will cover shifting sales from an art to a science, clarifying value, professionalizing the sales process, and reducing dependency on a single rainmaker. He will also address challenges such as succession readiness, pricing confidence, accountability, and balancing long-tenured reps with growth-minded new talent.
Participants will learn how to strengthen their technology posture, evolve their talent strategy, and build a sales engine that supports consistent, predictable, long-term growth. Attendees will leave with practical strategies they can apply immediately, regardless of company size or generation.
Unlike other meetings, this session will be a working lunch at the request of the presenter. This talk is designed to be practical, candid, and actionable, with an emphasis on lessons learned, real examples, and decisions that matter in family-run enterprises.