Professional financial planner Thomas Langdon will discuss exit strategies — options available to owners of businesses in transition — as part of the Iowa Family Business Forum today and Friday in Des Moines and Iowa City.

Langdon is director of the Center for Family Business Planning.

Key issues he will address at the forum include choosing the right person to run a company, evaluating options for succession and buyouts and minimizing taxes.

Langdon, a tax and estate planning professor and attorney in Massachusetts, is an expert in both the legal and financial aspects of family business succession, said Lars Peterson, associate state director of the Iowa Small Business Center, headquartered at Iowa State.

Exit strategies are critically important to family business owners, Peterson said.

“We strongly believe that exit strategies should be considered five to 10 years ahead of time,” he said.

Determining the role of key non-family employees also is a crucial task for family business owners, he said.

Exit strategies are often matters people don’t like to think about, but they are nevertheless vital to a business’ survival, Peterson said.

“Ten years before is not too soon to begin planning for the future of your company,” Peterson said. “[Succession] is an issue that will affect every business someday.”

Organizers for the forum plan to showcase often-neglected exit strategies but hope to offer many other tips for the success of family businesses.

“We help family business executives successfully deal with challenges unique to their businesses,” Peterson said.

Access to consultants and experts such as Langdon are an important feature of the forum’s program, as are one-on-one business assessments, Peterson said.

The forum also will offer family business owners an opportunity to discuss numerous issues that impact their enterprises.

“A lot of valuable learning takes place then,” Peterson said.

The Iowa Family Business Forum will be held today from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Oak Room at the Des Moines Botanical Center and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Radisson Hotel in Iowa City.

The cost of membership is $249 per family and is open to family business owners, their families and key non-family members.