For his innovative approach to family business guidance, consultant Todd Smith is the 2026 winner of the Hubler Award for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Working with Family Businesses. Smith, who has been advising family businesses for nearly two decades, is a Minneapolis-based co-owner of CFAR, a Philadelphia-headquartered consultancy for family- and owner-led enterprises. Most of his recent work has been with larger family businesses, but Smith says “the issues and challenges are exactly the same” for both the larger and smaller clients he has advised.

Tom Hubler, the founder of Minneapolis-based consultancy Hubler for Business Families and the creator of the Minnesota Family Business Awards, observes that Smith seeks to prevent family members from polarizing around challenging issues. “He takes the broader, big-picture issues of a business and integrates them in a positive way to family relationships,” Hubler says.

Smith describes his approach as one that “leans towards alignment rather than harmony. Harmony can come and go over time. But if you have owners that can remain deeply aligned on what they’re trying to accomplish together, they can weather the disagreements.”

Although dynamics vary, one conflict shows up consistently across family businesses: Tensions between reinvestment in the business and the financial desires of family members exist in every family enterprise, Smith says.

He acknowledges that “each set of circumstances is slightly different,” and he modulates his approach based on those circumstances. Still, he adds, “I find it terrifically interesting to work with all these family enterprises and see the commonalities as well as the attributes that make each family business unique.”

Back to Main Page >>