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"Family-owned businesses often don’t succeed with their second generation. About 30 percent of companies make that leap successfully, and just 12 percent survive into the third generation, according to reports compiled by the Family Business Institute that specializes in management succession planning.

IMCO General Construction, a Whatcom County-based construction company now into its fifth year of family leadership transition, looks to beat the odds.

To understand the full nature of this challenge, it’s important to understand who IMCO is and where it came from. Given the complexity, the variety, and the risk involved in construction projects in general, and particularly given the kinds of projects IMCO traditionally takes on, the transition to a new generation of leadership could be especially difficult.

Frank Imhof, who founded the company with his wife Patti in 1978, said the transition is still very much in progress. The family management team has learned a great deal in the process of how IMCO has approached business and succession, yet Imhof said many lessons remain.

“Intentional” is the word that four family members used most often to describe how they went about the transition, as well as how the company is growing and operating now. Intentional and strategic. That is seen both as a description of IMCO’s president, Tyler Kimberley’s approach and as a contrast to the scrappiness and entrepreneurial character of IMCO under Imhof’s leadership.

Kimberley is 35 years old and married to Ashley, who is Frank and Patti’s youngest of three daughters. Kimberley was named the president of IMCO in 2013, with Frank remaining as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Advisors. In this arrangement Kimberley runs the company operations, reporting to Frank.

According to co-founder Patti Imhof the succession process started with doing research. “We read a book about families in business,” she said, “and talked to families who have experienced succession planning successfully and not so successfully.” This research led to the most important decision the Imhofs made: They traveled together as a family to Harvard to participate in a week-long transition planning session with other family business owners.

That experience was a game-changer. Ashley Kimberley said the discussion focused on three overlapping circles: shareholders, family, and business management. The keys were establishing separate structure for each of these elements, and including family members who were not involved in running the company."