This episode features a conversation with Kevin DiGilio, founder of KMD Technology Solutions and spin‑off AIBI, on how a highly technical software company unexpectedly grew into a multigenerational family enterprise. Kevin traces the journey from a single project‑management platform built during an internship at LORD Corporation to a secure system now supporting hundreds of complex engineering and manufacturing projects around the world.

The discussion explores how his daughter Courtney became the platform’s lead tester, trainer, and de facto product owner, and how his son Nathan joined during COVID through a programming co‑op, helping prove that powerful AI models can safely run on local hardware inside regulated facilities. Together, they now use structured data systems and air‑gapped AI to clean decades of “messy” manufacturing information, automate documentation, and surface insights engineers never had time to find.

For family businesses and manufacturers alike, the episode illustrates what it looks like when next‑generation talent brings AI, automation, and fresh thinking into an existing enterprise while a founder focuses on mentoring, setting guardrails, and making the company flexible enough for them to take it in new directions.

In this episode, we sit down with James Bly, Managing Director of Family Enterprise Business Services at EY, to talk about what the next 40–50 years will look like for family business heirs. James explains why the post‑World War II era of globalization and efficiency effectively ended early with COVID‑19 and how we’ve entered a new “S‑curve” defined by de‑globalization, geopolitical fragmentation, rapid digital change, and demographic shifts.

We dig into what he calls a NAVI world, nonlinear, accelerated, volatile, and interconnected and why owners can’t simply train the next generation for the business as it exists today. James walks through his “four quadrants” of positioning, 11 core performance factors, and the 10 exponential technologies (from AI and quantum computing to biotech, robotics, and renewables) that will reshape business models in the coming decades.

If you’re thinking about long‑term succession, board and owner governance, or how to give heirs the strategic literacy to steward your enterprise into the next S‑curve, this conversation is a roadmap for where to start.

In this episode, we sit down with Steve and Nate Jones of Ron Jones Hardwood, a multi‑generation hardwood lumber company rooted in northwestern Pennsylvania. Steve shares how his father Ron launched the business in 1983, built a reputation strong enough to put his own name on the door, and gradually transitioned ownership to Steve over many years as the industry, product mix, and markets shifted again and again.

Nate joins to tell the third‑generation story: from childhood trips to the yard, to a formative journey to China at 18 where a customer pulled him aside and sold him on the future of hardwoods, to graduating into COVID, going through lumber‑grading school in Memphis, and being pulled into sales when demand exploded. Along the way, we talk about what it means to grow up watching your dad sell, work side‑by‑side in the office, and still have a grandfather who calls regularly just to ask, “What’s going on in the industry today?”

If you’re in a family business, this conversation is a great window into generational mirroring—how Ron mentored Steve, how Steve now mentors Nate and his brother Isaac, and how each generation is trying to honor the name on the sign without locking the next one into something they don’t love.

When Tom Tredway moved back to Erie to join his family’s plastics company, he walked straight into a crisis: the bank dropped them, 60% of their business had disappeared offshore, and his dad was asking if it was time to shut the doors.

Instead of liquidating, they doubled down on a new niche, stock threaded caps for the packaging industry and spent the next decade grinding through a complete rebuild of Erie Molded Packaging.

In this episode, Tom shares:

• How his dad went from Montreal banking to San Diego sandwich shops to buying distressed plastics equipment in Erie.

• The brutal five‑year stretch where globalization wiped out most of their contract manufacturing work.

• The “Night Flights” beer conversation where father and son chose to risk retirement savings to pursue a new vision.

• How landing Utz Quality Foods became the launchpad for a focused packaging strategy.

• Why simplifying products, joining peer groups, and open‑book management became their levers for survival and growth.

If you’re in a family business facing headwinds, Tom’s story is a masterclass in pivoting, communicating with your team, and rebuilding trust, from the shop floor to the bank.

What if Erie could keep more of its own tax dollars working here at home?

In this episode, host Jacob Jones sits down with Brian Polito, Executive Director of the Erie CRIZ Authority, to unpack how the City Revitalization and Improvement Zone (CRIZ) works, why Erie fought to secure it, and what it means for local and family‑owned businesses.

Brian explains:

• What the CRIZ is and how it captures state and local taxes for reinvestment in Erie

• Where Erie’s CRIZ zones are located and the kinds of projects they can support

• How the program helps close funding gaps on projects that “almost” pencil out

• What business owners need to do (and not do) to participate

• Early projects already moving forward—and what they signal about Erie’s future

If you’re a business owner, developer, or community member who cares about Erie’s next 30 years, this conversation will help you see where the opportunities are and how to get to the table early.

Erie CRIZ Authority

• Address: 100 State Street, Suite 700, Erie, PA 16507

• Phone: (814) 679‑CRIZ (2749)

• Email (general): info@eriecriz.org

• Website: https://eriecriz.org

Executive Director – Brian Polito

• Email: brian@eriecriz.org

• Phone: (814) 679‑2749

This podcast is sponsored by Zac Wild CFP, CEPA financial advisor with Edward Jones. Zac works for business owners who are interested in maximizing their investments in tandem with efficient tax strategies. this includes fully leveraging the benefits of 401k's, SIMPLE IRA, and other more unique tax advantaged accounts. Learn more about Zac by clicking here.

In this episode, host Jacob sits down with Casey Lucas Szumigala, founder and owner of Click Pragmatics, to dive into the messy, emotional, and absolutely necessary communication that keeps family businesses alive. Casey unpacks how families can talk about the hardest topics: death, money, responsibilities, succession, and transitions.

Drawing on real scenarios, Jacob and Casey explore what happens when a family member dies and someone outside the business is suddenly asked to “come run it,” how to plan for succession before a crisis, and how to navigate grief while still keeping the business afloat. They also dig into money conversations (who gets paid what and why), how to address feeling undervalued in a family role, and why clarity around pay structure matters so much in a family context.

The conversation then shifts to communication styles and generations how to speak to different personalities (direct, diplomatic, deliberate, dynamic), why knowing your audience matters, and how to approach pay and responsibility conversations depending on who you’re talking to. How emotional and social intelligence can help keep relationships healthy on and off the clock.

Finally, Jacob and Casey look at multi‑generational family businesses: older and younger family members working side by side, the temptation to stereotype generations, and how to replace “you don’t get it” with curiosity, respect, and shared values. Casey argues that every generation has faced its own hard things—and that leveraging each group’s strengths can create something no single generation could build alone.

About the Guest – Casey Lucas Szumigala

Casey Lucas Szumigala is the founder and owner of Click Pragmatics, a communication consulting practice focused on helping people communicate more clearly, compassionately, and effectively at work and in life. She specializes in social‑emotional intelligence, communication styles, and practical tools for navigating difficult conversations—especially in complex environments like family businesses.

In her work, Casey helps individuals and teams understand their own communication style, recognize others’ styles, and build strategies to better connect across differences in personality, generation, and role.

Her approach is grounded, pragmatic, and deeply human, with a focus on getting through the “ick” of hard conversations so people can move forward together.​

Connect with Casey

• Website: https://www.clickpragmatics.com​

• Email: casey@clickpragmatics.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casie-lucas-szumigala-75a98795/

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This podcast is sponsored by Zac Wild CFP, CEPA financial advisor with Edward Jones. Zac works for business owners who are interested in maximizing their investments in tandem with efficient tax strategies. this includes fully leveraging the benefits of 401k's, SIMPLE IRA, and other more unique tax advantaged accounts.

Strategic investment is turning Erie from a legacy manufacturing town into a modern innovation hub, and this episode dives into the people and partnerships making it happen.​

Today’s conversation spotlights the Erie Revitalization Investment Fund, a 500,000 dollar evergreen fund launched by Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Erie Insurance to back early-stage tech companies and small manufacturers in Erie County.

Host Jacob Jones sits down with Ben Franklin’s Brian Slawin, along with entrepreneurs Desiree and Bob Troutner of FIXED HHS and Alan Tate of Intag Systems, to explore how this fund helps founders cross the “valley of death” between idea and sustainable growth.

They discuss why capital alone isn’t enough, how wraparound mentorship, expert teams, and regional partnerships de-risk innovation, and what it means when startups choose to headquarter and scale in Erie instead of leaving for bigger cities.​

You’ll hear real stories of moving from cramped spaces to larger facilities, building new greenhouses at Savocchio Opportunity Park, and creating family-sustaining jobs in both tech-enabled services and agricultural technology. The group also unpacks how Erie’s collaborative entrepreneurial ecosystem Ben Franklin, Erie Insurance, the Beehive, Radius CoWork, the EDDC food hall, the Center for Family Business, and more is shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset where “no wrong door” means every connection can lead to the right support.

If you’re an entrepreneur wondering how to fund and scale your next step, this episode offers a candid look at what resources are available, who to call, and why Erie might be the right place to grow your business.

ERIF Information: https://cnp.benfranklin.org/funding/erie-revitalization-investment-fund/

This podcast is sponsored by Zac Wild CFP, CEPA financial advisor with Edward Jones. Zac works for business owners who are interested in maximizing their investments in tandem with efficient tax strategies. this includes fully leveraging the benefits of 401k's, SIMPLE IRA, and other more unique tax advantaged accounts.

Fourth‑generation owner Shane Reese joins Zach and Jacob to share the nearly 100‑year story of General Exterminating, an Erie‑based pest control company that began with his great‑grandfather’s Depression‑era decision to find a “recession‑proof” business. From shooting rats in basements with a .22 in the 1930s to today’s regulated, highly professional structural pest control operation, Shane traces how each generation has adapted while serving some of the same accounts for more than nine decades.​

Shane talks about growing up in the business (born on a Friday, in the office by Monday), learning the trade from an employee with 50+ years of experience, and modernizing operations with new technology while respecting his parents’ “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset. He opens up about working side‑by‑side with his dad, navigating loud but productive disagreements, keeping family and business separate, and planning a thoughtful transition so the fifth generation won’t face the same sudden hand‑offs his father did.​

Along the way, he shares wild on‑the‑job moments—from hazmat‑suit cleanups to bedbug‑ and roach‑infested homes—plus the quieter realities of ownership: 2 a.m. worries, long days, and the pride of maintaining a 94‑year reputation for “great service at a decent price.” If you’re interested in multigenerational succession, small‑business resilience, or what it really takes to carry a family company to 100 years and beyond, this episode offers a candid, down‑to‑earth look inside a legacy pest control business.​

This podcast is sponsored by Zac Wild CFP, CEPA financial advisor with Edward Jones. Zac works for business owners who are interested in maximizing their investments in tandem with efficient tax strategies. this includes fully leveraging the benefits of 401k's, SIMPLE IRA, and other more unique tax advantaged accounts.