About Richard
RICHARD SEAMAN is the Board Chairman of Seaman Corporation, where he served as CEO from 1976 to 2015. He assumed the leadership role of this family business in 1978 after his father passed away at the young age of 55. Under his leadership, Seaman Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial coated fabrics, grew from $10 million in annual sales to over $200 million in sales today.
Richard serves as the Chairman of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, whose mission is to support entrepreneurship and the free enterprise system. In 2012, he was asked by the Governor of the State of Ohio to serve as a Commissioner of the Ohio Third Frontier, a billion dollar initiative focused on creating an innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state. He is a member of the Young President’s Organization and a Trustee on the board of the College of Wooster.
About Richard
RICHARD SEAMAN is the Board Chairman of Seaman Corporation, where he served as CEO from 1976 to 2015. He assumed the leadership role of this family business in 1978 after his father passed away at the young age of 55. Under his leadership, Seaman Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial coated fabrics, grew from $10 million in annual sales to nearly $200 million in sales today.
Richard serves as a Trustee of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, whose mission is to support entrepreneurship and the free enterprise system. In 2012, he was asked by the Governor of the State of Ohio to serve as a Commissioner of the Ohio Third Frontier, a billion dollar initiative focused on creating an innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state. He is a member of the Young President’s Organization and a Trustee on the board of the College of Wooster.
A Kaleidoscope of Choices
When starting a business, entrepreneurs are faced with a kaleidoscope of choices. Their commitment to grow a business faces a multitude of challenges. These entrepreneurial experiences are well documented by the many stories of the entrepreneur’s journey through early stage funding, venture capital, private equity, and exit strategies.
Challenges to the entrepreneurial spirit become even more complex when it is a family business, particularly if the entrepreneur wants to have the business survive him or herself and successfully grow into future generations. This vision contrasts sharply with the lifestyle business or “harvest your business” mentality.
The DNA of a Family Business
To have a vision of growing a small family business into a sustainable multimillion-dollar growing business requires an open-mindedness, culture, and leadership ability of continual change. The organization must develop business processes that support innovation, human capital development, strategic planning, and quality assurance in manufacturing and service.
If the vision is to have the business be multigenerational, additional processes must be created and implemented that support good governance and effective education and stewardship of future generations of family shareholders. These processes recognize the DNA of the organization and the family that drive the sustainability of the family business enterprise.
A Vibrant Tapestry
A Vibrant Vision shares the experiences of the author in his growing their family business after his father passed away at a young age and building the industrial fabrics business into $200 million of annual revenue while at the same time encouraging his children and grandchildren to become stewards of this treasure we call a family business.
What People Are Saying
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What People Are Saying
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Recent Post
A Vibrant Vision Podcast Series – Customer-Focused Quality
A Vibrant Vision Podcast Series Seaman Corporation knew early on in their company's inception that giving their customers the quality they deserved would be paramount to everyone's success. Join us as we learn how this focus came to be and how Seaman Corporation has...
Recent Post
A Vibrant Vision Podcast Series – Customer-Focused Quality
A Vibrant Vision Podcast Series Seaman Corporation knew early on in their company's inception that giving their customers the quality they deserved would be paramount to everyone's success. Join us as we learn how this focus came to be and how Seaman Corporation has...