BEMA - June 2018 - 57

FAMILY ROUNDTABLE

championing certain initiatives. I don't really view it
as a challenge, but you can tell there are at times
surprises in how you may vote or react to certain
situations where your dad may have done it differently. I guess that's the only real thing that's been a
surprise to me over the years. But it's never really
been an issue.
MZ: Probably the challenge was 'Did you get that
seat because of your last name, or did you get it
because you earned it?' That's always a challenge
whether you're in a family business or you're following in the footsteps of a parent in any sort, I
guess. The benefits were that I had somebody I
could always go to and say, 'We're thinking as a
board of doing this. What are your thoughts?' I had
that support structure in place. I remember having
lots of talks with my dad about thoughts we had as
a new board and what they had done in the past.
Because the wisdom of the past was fantastic to
listen to and draw from.
AW: I think there are definitely more positives than
negatives, and DJ said it best. We're not all exactly
our dads; there are going to be some differences
there. But for the most part, it's a positive thing.
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5LFN+RVNLQV For me, my family is my No. 1 priority in all decisions for everything I do. So, given
the commitment that's expected of us with BEMA,
there's just no way I could've committed to a lot of
these things if family wasn't almost as high of a priority within BEMA as it is to myself. I can honestly
say I would not have been involved from Day 1 if it
were not for this family-centric philosophy.
DL: I second that.
BZ: In my case, the challenge was trying to make
fundamental changes in the organization to broaden its scope and to improve it in terms of what it
did for its members and for the industry but still try
to maintain the family atmosphere. And I think we
succeeded in doing that.
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BZ: I'd say they're more the same than different. In
a trade association, you try to be as collaborative

as possible and still maintain order. I'd say I saw
Matt doing things the same.
MZ: Dad had much different challenges than
I did, as far as the size of the organization
and the amount of money they had. When
I was going through the board, we weren't
strapped for cash, and that was all due to the
leadership that came before me. Our primary
goal was to address membership in terms of
who could join. It was the Bakery Equipment
Manufacturing Association, so if you weren't a
'metal bender,' you weren't going to be a part
of that organization. But during the time I was
there, we changed it to the Bakery Equipment
Manufacturers and Allieds, and we brought in
people like Mike Gude from Sosland, and there
were more ingredient companies and other allieds that support and supply the baking industry and not just people who make stainless steel
equipment for the industry.
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working collaboratively and really trying to just take
the next step.

Dale S. LeCrone
addresses BEMA
convention attendees.
His son, Dale J. "DJ"
LeCrone, became BEMA
chairman in 2003.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BEMA - June 2018