or Joanne and Scott Ulnick, the wife-and-husband team at the top of Troy, Michigan-based
Ducker Worldwide, growing the business doesn't mean staffing the shop with family
members.
CEO Joanne Ulnick joined the market research firm founded
by her father as an entry-level research analyst. Father William Ducker, she says,
wouldn't have had it any other way. Expecting a slow but steady progression through
the company ranks, Ulnick was promoted to project manager. Then, more than a decade
ago, Ducker began preparing to retire.
"He wanted to start transitioning the business to key
employees, but that was a little bit difficult because not all the key employees
turned out to be the leaders we had hoped for," she says. "We joke about that because
I was quickly promoted then."
Around that time, husband Scott Ulnick, whose expertise
was in computing, joined the firm.
"I was now in a leadership role, and we were starting
a family at the same time," she says. "I said, ‘It would really be helpful if you
would consider helping us out in the family business’ "; Scott Ulnick's experience
at such companies as Unisys and Lexis-Nexis didn't hurt.
Ducker passed away in 1996, and the Ulnicks were thrust
into the company's top roles. Ducker Worldwide has grown, with offices in Paris,
Shanghai, Berlin and Bangalore.
But that experience of Ducker's well-laid succession
plans falling apart stayed with the Ulnicks.
"We started to hire more people, and our team grew,"
Joanne Ulnick says. "We built a young team of professional project managers, and
started to bring on additional shareholders, or partners, which enabled our growth."
Today she is CEO and Scott Ulnick is chairman of the
board, and both are managing partners. The company reports revenue of about $17
million a year. They have three teenagers; all have worked in entry-level jobs at
Ducker, though Joanne Ulnick says it's too early to know if any will enter the business.
But, Ulnick says with pride, Ducker is capable of running
sans a family connection.
"We built a team of trusted leaders in our executive
leadership team," she says. "On a global basis, we think the same but we challenge
each other to grow and continue to grow the business. Without the team we have in
place, we couldn't have gotten as far as we have, and it will live beyond our years."
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