About
MEET BRAD FRANC
Bradley Franc is a seasoned entrepreneur, author, and business advisor. He is the creator of The Succession Solution and author of "The Succession Solution: The Strategic Guide to Business Transition."
Bradley has formed four separate companies that have been named nine times in INC Magazine's list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S. He is a strategic business advisor who has led quarterly strategic meetings for 25 years.
Bradley has an extensive background in law and business, with 30 years of experience representing closely-held businesses in succession planning. He is a former president of Houston Harbaugh P.C., one of the top 20 largest law firms in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Worth Magazine named him as one of the top 100 attorneys in the United States.
Bradley is a certified public accountant (inactive status) and a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. He also holds a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was a law review graduate.
In addition to his business ventures, Bradley is a sought-after speaker and has been featured on Bloomberg television, Sirius Radio, Young Presidents Organization, and other local radio and television programs. He has also been written about and published in Forbes, Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, and the United States Supreme Court.
Core Principles
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Create a safe and supportive environment for our clients
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Empower our client to take control of their plan
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Remain neutral and avoid biases
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Work with all the important stakeholders to create a shared vision
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Help our clients achieve tangible and objective results
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Prioritize continuous learning for ourselves and our clients
Meet the Team
Randy Russell
Randy started his career in finance working for Federated Investors. After a few years, he decided to join the family business working along side his father at Ranbar. Ranbar was a growing chemical manufacturing company at the time. Randy was named President in 2000 and ran the company until he decided to sell the entire business in 2017.
Randy has seen first-hand succession planning at its best and worst over his lifetime. His grandfather was a very successful entrepreneur who decided to retire abruptly. He sold off all his many businesses and transitioned none to his family members. Randy and his father took a different approach with Ranbar after watching what happened to the family after his grandfather’s succession planning decision.
Randy has a BS Finance degree from Georgetown University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. He is also Vice Chairman of Preservation Technologies. He has also been very involved in the Young President Organization over the years serving as Chapter Chair of Pittsburgh and Region Chair.
Jessica Lee
Jessica Lee brings 20+ years of experience as a sophisticated advisor, investor and entrepreneur in multiple industry sectors, including the following:
Strategic business advisor & executive coach for 20+ years through ViveVenture, LLC advising entrepreneurs, executives, businesses and investors (both individual and institutional)
Business, Investment & Entrepreneurial Counsel with undergraduate at Duke University (Durham, NC) and law degree at Duke University School of Law (Durham, NC)
Investment Adviser, including legacy and charitable advisory services, in affiliation with H Financial Management (Southpointe, PA)
Social Entrepreneur in affiliation with Pittsburgh Gateways Corporation; Pittsburgh Green Innovators, Inc.; and Energy Innovation Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Creative Entrepreneur through ViveVenture Productions as a Professional Vocalist, Musician, Songwriter & Producer (www.jessicaleejazz.com) with national and international performance, production, composition, and song recording and licensing experience and credits
Bill Egger
Bill, a seasoned executive with over three decades of experience, excels in guiding businesses through successful succession and ownership transitions, creating enhanced value.
As a Certified Succession Solution Advisor, he builds trusting relationships, facilitates complex negotiations, and fosters strategic alliances for mutual benefit.
His expertise spans family-owned, publicly traded, and private equity-backed organizations, with a background in corporate development, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, team development, and process innovation. Bill has held leadership roles in Construction, Engineering, Industrials, and Aerospace and Defense.
His influence extends across companies of all sizes, from local to global, with academic credentials including an MBA from the University at Buffalo School of Management, complemented by MS and BS degrees in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Bill is also certified as an Advisor by the Judgment Index and a Talent Optimization Consultant by The Predictive Index. His commitment to academia is evident through his role on the Mechatronics Advisory Committee at Volunteer State Community College and as a former Advisory Board Member at the University of Houston. He has also contributed to the community and healthcare as a Founding Board Member at Trace My Heart™, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Michele Lowe
Manager of Client Relations
Michele is an integral part of The Succession Solution team working as a liaison to help communicate with and address client’s needs, manage expectations, and to help enhance and maintain strong relationships with our clients.
She brings over 25 years of experience as a resourceful and skillful assistant and utilizes her unique skills to assist the team in helping clients to achieve their goals and ensure the highest levels of satisfaction and loyalty.
She has a proven track record of successfully managing client portfolios, resolving complex issues, and contributing to the overall growth of The Succession Solution.
Michele believes that at the heart of successful client relations is the ability to listen and empathize with clients, creating a foundation of trust that leads to enduring partnerships. Her approach is always client-centric, focusing on delivering value beyond the contract.
Our Story
My great-grandfather, Alexander Sanguigni, migrated from Pisa, Italy to Pittsburgh when he was just 9 years old, arriving in a new country with his family and little more than the clothes on his back. Though he didn’t know it at the time, he would eventually end up at the heart of a true, 19th century “rags to riches” immigrant success story.
Alexander’s father, my great-great-grandfather, was a baker who decided to start an Italian bread and macaroni trade. Over time, the business prospered and employed several members of the family, including Alexander, who drove truck.
Less than a decade later, after marrying a fellow Italian immigrant named Anna, as well as being blessed with 4 sons and 5 daughters, Alexander bought a used delivery truck. Little did he know this would be the first step in the creation of a very successful family trucking and excavation business: A. Sanguigni Sons Company.
The company flourished under Alexander’s direction, growing into one of the largest excavation companies in western Pennsylvania. Thanks to his contributions to community and sporting events, a field named in his honor still exists today in Pittsburgh.
The successful transition from the 1st to the 2nd generation
The family business thrived even through the Great Depression until it was hit with an unexpected twist – Alexander passed away unexpectedly at the age of fifty-nine, leaving everything he owned (including his business) to his wife Anna. Suddenly, she was left on her own to figure out what to do, and to do so fast, before the company value diminished significantly.
To keep things fair to her 9 children, she allowed each of them to submit a sealed bid to buy the company.
Camil, the second oldest son, submitted a successful bid to buy the family business and had the right skills to take over. And thankfully, Camil proved to be an outstanding successor to his father, and the company continued flourishing.
A. Sanguigni Sons Company excavation site
A failed transition to 3rd generation…
But then Camil passed away unexpectedly at the age of 56.
Unlike his father, Camil didn’t leave the business to his wife. Instead, he left the business to his two sons to decide how to proceed, both of whom quickly realized that they could not work together after their father’s passing.
So, one of them left the company and the remaining brother tried to buy him out. But when they couldn’t agree on a price, the remaining brother sold the assets and closed the company down.
And in what seems like the blink of an eye, the family business of A. Sanguini Sons Company was suddenly over.
How does one of the most successful excavating companies in Pittsburgh fail to continue when passed to the next generation?
Could Camil have anticipated and addressed the possibility of sibling rivalries? Or better trained and educated his sons to run the business?
Or even divided the business into separate companies for each son to run?
Perhaps more importantly, could the failure of the Sanguigni business have been prevented with a better plan for the succession of the company?
A surprisingly common story
Although the company had already ceased to exist during my youth, I grew up regularly hearing family members lament the loss of the company. And needless to say, it left an impression on me.
But unfortunately, the fate of the Sanguigni family business is just one example of the all-too-common American succession story that has been repeated for generations.
In fact, 70% of all businesses fail in the transition from the 1st generation to the 2nd generation owners, 85% to the 3rd generation, and 95% to the 4th generation.
In my 30 year career as an entrepreneur, consultant, attorney and CPA (inactive) who represented hundreds of closely-held businesses, I saw this statistic play out again and again.
I could put together the most flawless, perfectly-executed shareholder agreements, stock options, retirement packages, golden parachutes, employment agreements, by-laws and estate planning documents out there, and I’d still see companies fail because
of family discord or simply not knowing how to get things on to the next generation. I even ran into succession issues because of problems with the CEO and shareholders while planning exits for 2 companies of my own.
In other words, it seemed like succession issues were everywhere!
And this is where I realized a critical aspect that most succession planning seemed to miss – working through succession wasn’t solely a tax issue, a legal issue, or a family issue...getting it right meant using a multidisciplinary approach that took all these factors into account.
And so, I pulled together my 30 years of experience in the field of succession planning to create a multifaceted, 6-stage process that considers legal, financial, and familial factors. I call it The Succession Solution.
I’ve directly led 100+ clients ‒ from majority owners & CEOs, to minority owners, to in-laws of minority owners, to disgruntled next-generation family members and more ‒ through The Succession Solution with remarkable results.
Get the Book Today
The Succession Solution: The Strategic Guide to Business Transition