Family-business organization · Family business · Business owners
Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University
Family business owners and leaders in Georgia and the surrounding region, plus students from family businesses through the centre's next-generation programming
A profile page holds what the organization publishes and what named sources report: who it admits, what it costs, how it is structured, where it operates, and how it has changed. Every figure carries the date it was checked. A dash means the organization does not publish that fact.
Founding: The centre's about page states it was founded in 1987 by Dr Craig Aronoff within the Coles College of Business. It is commonly described as the oldest university-based family business centre; its own landing page says it has operated for over 40 years, which does not reconcile exactly with a 1987 founding.
The Family Enterprise Center sits in Kennesaw State University's Coles College of Business and was founded in 1987 by Craig Aronoff, which makes it one of the earliest university-based family business centres anywhere. Its founding idea, that family business owners learn most from each other, produced the Family Business Forum, an early peer group format that the centre still runs twice a year, and the Georgia Family Business of the Year awards, which it operated from 1992 to 2020. Later directors extended the work: Joseph Astrachan built an executive MBA curriculum for family enterprise leaders, and Gaia Marchisio added advisor workshops and a nine-month online programme for next-generation leaders. Membership today is sold in two tiers, both priced per business: Core at $1,000 a year for workshops, webinars, a speaker series, a resource library and educational discounts, and Signature at $2,500 for four Forum seats, monthly peer group membership, a Family Business Roadmap, more staff office hours, next-generation engagement and talent exchange. Peer groups are described as confidential, facilitated and monthly.
How it works
A family business joins at one of two annual price points. Core membership provides open programming: workshops, webinars, a speaker series, the resource library, discounts on Kennesaw State education, open house tours of member businesses and three staff office-hours sessions. Signature membership adds the things that need places reserved: four seats at each of the twice-yearly Family Business Forums, monthly confidential facilitated peer groups, a Family Business Roadmap of expert-guided sessions, six office-hours sessions, and access to the NextGen student group and talent exchange. The centre asks prospective members to schedule a conversation before joining.
Typical member
Members are family businesses rather than individuals, at a range of sizes and stages; the centre notes that membership is expected to move between tiers as a business changes. The next-generation side reaches Kennesaw State students from family businesses through a student group and a talent exchange with member companies.
Membership requirements
Requirements in detail, with history →Requirements are the tests the organization itself publishes: an age ceiling, a company-revenue floor, a net-worth minimum, a role. Where a figure straddles a range, the organization's own assessment decides. Local chapters can apply stricter tests than the published standard.
| Criterion | Published requirement | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Other criterion | Membership is open to family businesses; no revenue, generation or ownership threshold is published | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | Programming is delivered at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta, which in practice limits membership to Georgia and the surrounding region | Verified September 2026Medium confidenceSource ↗ |
| Other criterion | Monthly peer groups are available to Signature members only | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
Published criteria as verified on the dates shown. Final eligibility and admission decisions belong entirely to Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University. See how you compare against these criteria →
Initiation fees are paid once on joining; dues recur. Chapter dues, retreats, travel and events are usually additional and are listed separately when the organization discloses them. Figures are as published or reported on the date shown, not quotations.
| Cost | First year | Three years | Provenance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual duesa year | $1,000 | $3,000 | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Annual duesa year | $2,500 | alternative tier, not added | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Initiation fee | No initiation fee is published. | |||
| Programme fee | Not publicly disclosed: the centre does not publish separate prices for the Family Business Forum, peer groups, the Family Business Roadmap or Family Business Boost; these are bundled into Signature membership or quoted on enquiry. | Source ↗ | ||
| Estimated total, disclosed figures only | $1,000 | $3,000 | Not counted: Annual dues (alternative tier, not added), Initiation fee, Programme fee. | |
Structure and programming
Independent context
For $1,000 to $2,500 a year this is among the cheapest structured family business memberships available, and the tiering is honest about what the money buys: Core is access to open programming, Signature is where the peer group and the reserved Forum seats sit. The centre's research and executive education lineage is genuinely deep (the Family Business Forum format and the Georgia awards were early enough to have shaped how other centres were built) but the current public materials are thin on operational detail. Peer group size, facilitator background, Forum agendas and the Family Business Roadmap are all described in general terms with no figures, and member counts are not published. The Georgia awards ended in 2020 and have not visibly been replaced. Anyone tracking the organisation should also note the name: current pages say Family Enterprise Center, older material and the university calendar still say Cox.
Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.
Similar organizations
Alternatives, grouped by need →Appears in: Groups for family-business owners: federations, national bodies, university centres
History and changes
Site-wide change log →- milestoneFamily Enterprise Center founded by Dr Craig Aronoff within the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University ↗
- milestoneGeorgia Family Business of the Year awards launched; the centre ran them until 2020 ↗
- milestoneGeorgia Family Business of the Year awards conclude after 28 years ↗
Milestones as published by the organization or reported by a named source. “Record” entries are changes to this site’s own record of the organization, kept in the public change log rather than overwritten.
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Sources
- Family Enterprise Center — Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- About Family Enterprise Center — Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Programs and Events — Family Enterprise Center, Kennesaw State University. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Family Enterprise Center Membership — Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2
Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.
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