South Shore native takes part in Hofstra family-business panel

Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business hosted a discussion in late March titled “Does it pay to be in a family business?" and one of the participants was East Rockaway native Kenneth Broadlieb, whose father, Theodore, owned Broadlieb Motors in Woodmere for more than two decades until the late 1980s.

Broadlieb has followed in his father’s footsteps and has also been involved in the automobile business, currently serving as chairman of East Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Inc. in Greenvale. He is also managing partner of a golf management company called Tee to Green Pro Services Inc. and is managing partner of Tee to Green at Sunken Meadow.

Broadlieb said he never worked at his father's Woodmere Chrysler-Plymouth dealer on Franklin Place but learned from him what it takes to be successful in business. "I learned the work ethic from him because he was always working," said Broadlieb, a Lynbrook High School graduate. "He was a very hard worker."

While Broadlieb never worked for his father in Woodmere he did help out at his other dealership in Queens. He pointed out during the March 24 panel discussion that he always encouraged his son and daughter to work with him. However, after Broadlieb’s son, Tim, approached him about joining the business after leaving a job with Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, he was initially reluctant to bring him aboard because of fear he wouldn’t listen.

“I finally took him and five years later he is 49 percent owner in one of my companies with me and he is doing fabulously,” said Broadlieb. “Coming from Wall Street he has a different vision of business than I do.”

Broadlieb was joined in the discussion at the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center Theater by Helene Fortunoff, president emeritus of the retail conglomerate Fortunoff, and David McQueary, former president of McQueary Brothers, a family-owned and operated pharmaceutical distribution company that was in business for 84 years before being sold in 2008. The roundtable was moderated by Norman Goldberg, who teaches a continuing-education course at Hofstra about running a family business, and has held senior positions with The Wiz, Cablevision, Fortunoff, Christian Dior, USA, Bloomingdales and Diane Von Furstenberg.

Goldberg noted that 75 percent of family-owned businesses fail by the time they reach the third generation because of the complexities that can develop when working with relatives, leading to an inadequate transition period. “If there was no bridge built there is no question you are going to have serious problems and it will blow the business,” said Goldberg.

Broadlieb said when he gives the reigns of his company to his son Tim he will stay available to help in case any problems arise from the transition. “I will still be there in the background, so if it falls apart I will be there to prop him up and to help him,” said Broadlieb. “You have to learn to trust each other and when to push back.”

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