résumé

IRA BRYCK 255 Strong Street, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002

Cell: 413 575 5850
Email: [email protected]
Website: irabryck.com

EMPLOYMENT
Senior Advisor Giombetti Associates, 2019- present, leadership training and team development using coaching, assessment, feedback, as well as executive search

Director UMass Amherst Family Business Center, Amherst, Mass., 1994- 2019, “your trusted business learning community,” based on membership of small and medium closely held companies, providing educational dinner forums, peer roundtables, workshops, newsletter, and custom consulting; from 2015-2019 known as the Family Business Center of Pioneer Valley, Inc.

Radio Host weekly host on WHMP’s Western Mass Business Show, 2014- 2021,  interviewed 350 business owners and expert advisors, hearing their personal stories and the wisdom and perspective within, the show continues after I passed the mike to the next generation

Consultant/ Facilitator Ira Bryck, Helping Leaders Grow 1994-present, hundreds of unique engagements with family businesses, including conflict resolution, and succession and strategic planning

Coach/ chair Impact Peer Advisory Group, 2019- 2020, executive roundtables that included monthly coaching

President/Co-owner Barasch’s Better Kids’ Clothes, Freeport, NY 1976-93, was 4th generation leader of the oldest childrenswear store in the US, I wrote the play Tough Nut to Crack about my experience in the family business – the play was performed several dozen times, in several nations. I was also the tailor, till the very end.

Teacher/Co-director Central Community School, K-6 Open Classroom in Buffalo, NY 1975-76, co-ran and taught at this parent coop school, after student teaching when at SUNY Buffalo.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND UNIVERSITY TEACHING
Instructor regular guest speaker at several Western Mass MBA and undergrad business classes at several colleges
Facilitator/Trainer for UMass Continuing & Professional Education; including focusing on strengths, creating a great workplace, idea gathering systems, improving morale and communication
Creator/Trainer for UMass Outreach (Continuing Education, public radio, agricultural extension, STEM, University Without Walls, Arts Extension Service) using improvisation actors to solicit ideas for improved customer service
Search committee member at UMass, as well as Strategic Planning committees for UMass Outreach

Conference presenter at 2 family business consulting organizations, one of educators and one of psychologists

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Presenter to many industry and educational groups, including Paperboard Box Manufacturers Assn, Pest Control Technology Assn, John Deere Retailers Assn, Piano Retailers Assn, International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Assn, Black McDonalds Operators Assn, Massachusetts Maple Producers Assn, New England Grows Conference, UMass Green School, MassMutual Life, Northwestern Mutual Life, Prudential Life, Pioneer Valley Estate Planning Council, New England Business Brokers Assn, Social Venture Network, University Continuing Education Association and many more

Designer/Consultant of family business trainings, planning sessions, mediations and retreats, including • strategizing generational transitions • determining whether to keep or sell • creating opportunity for the next generation • professionalizing family companies • conflict resolution • sharing the family vision • selecting successors • creating boards and councils • plotting preferable futures • theater and improv for trainings of various sorts

Mediator trained at Franklin Mediation Collaborative, incorporating mediation skills into my work with family businesses

Mentor pro bono brainstorming with budding entrepreneurs around Pioneer Valley, helping them think through niche, marketing, growth, change, and brainstorming through mentoring with entrepreneurs who’ve left or closed their family business, or managers between jobs, to figure out next steps. Also a paid mentor to a few entrepreneurs.

Roundtable facilitator for tenants of business incubator, Springfield Technical Community College. The roundtable was rated by its members as the most valuable resource of the incubator, beating out subsidized rent; and also for groups of company presidents and key family members, assembled either randomly or by position in the business (founder, successor, siblings, spouses, et al)

Educator  for several years, helping the Amherst non-profit Institute for Training and Development build their curriculum, including organizing and leading classes, site visits, professional development experiences, for visitors from El Salvador and several former Soviet republics.

AWARDS
Difference Makers, 2020, BusinessWest magazine’s annual honoring of people who’ve made a positive impact on the region

Innovative Program Award International Family Business Program Association, an educational alliance

Innovative & Creative Programming Award University Professional & Continuing Education Association

First Place Award Alliance for Community Media, Northeast Video Festival for my play Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA
Author of 3 plays about family business that continue to be performed globally: Perils of Pauline’s Family Business, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, A Tough Nut to Crack
Creator, Author, Editor of Related Matters newsletter 1994-2009, now online
Creator, author, editor of umassfbc.com family business website
Author of family business advice column, Dear Ira: Fresh Air and Cold Water for the Perplexed Family Business
Author of website and blog for family business consulting practice, at irabryck.com
Interview Subject in numerous venues, including Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Business Week, Forbes, Nation’s Business, National Public Radio Marketplace, Fortune, CNBC, Family Business Magazine, Entrepreneur, Banker and Tradesman, Smart Money, and many other local, national, global publications and stations

AFFILIATIONS
Editorial Board Member (formerly) Journal of Family Business Management (UK)
Member (formerly) Family Business Study Group, Princeton, NJ, a multidisciplinary group I co-led, built for professional development
Member (formerly) New England Regional Family Business Program Directors learning group
Member Family Business Alliance: annual conference of university based family business educators/program directors
Member (formerly) Family Firm Institute: international organization of family business expert advisors
Committee Member (formerly) Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Plan for Progress
Committee Member (formerly) Town of Amherst, Mass. Town/Commercial Relations Committee 2004-2008
Board of Directors Member (formerly) Brookfield Farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) 1994- 1999

Volunteer for several years, part of the team of volunteers that assist the See Hear Feel Film program at Amherst Cinema, where 3rd graders from many schools in the region participate in an entertaining and enriching program for film literacy and story telling, also building collaboration and critical thinking skills; also with EforAll, an accelerator with a branch in Holyoke, Mass; where I mentor start up entrepreneurs, and have also interviewed candidates to enter the program, also judge at pitch competitions they produce

Board of Directors Member Clinical & Support Options (behavioral health agency) 2015- 2019

EDUCATION
State University of New York at Buffalo BS Elementary Education, Sociology, graduated 1975
Pennsylvania State University 1971-72

INTERESTS
Playwriting, cycling, hiking, travel, meditation, public speaking, poetry, cartooning