June 9, 2006 -- Atlanta-based Family Business Institute announced today that Dr. Kevin Fleming has joined the organization to lead the Family Business Innovation Team.

According to Don Schwerzler, founder of the Family Business Institute, the organization reviewed a number of candidates before selecting Dr. Fleming to join its exclusive team of professional resources. Fleming has earned a national reputation for his work in coaching highly successful, fast-track executives and entrepreneurs and brings the ideal credentials needed to help train the next generation of leaders and owners of family businesses.

Schwerzler is an internationally recognized family business expert who pioneered the multi-discipline consulting approach that has proven to be consistently successful in dealing with the unique and complex issues that confront families in business together. The Family Business Institute's web organization, Understanding Family Business, is the highest ranked family business resource site on the Internet.

"There is an enormous amount of literature about the value of succession planning,' says Schwerzler, “but creating the succession plan is only about 20% of the effort that goes into our work in managing the succession process. For many family businesses, succession is approached as a transgenerational event, but the real value is recognizing the succession process as an opportunity for innovation and transformation. That is where the real excitement takes place, and that's why Dr. Fleming was attracted to our organization. Fleming's work on REALignment (TM) of family businesses will make 'innovation' an integral success strategy for family-owned businesses.'

Dr. Fleming received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and has utilized 10 years of clinical and organizational insight that can best be explained as “the neuroscience of leadership and behavior change in the workplace.' Fleming has been called a "man of unusually acute insigh"' by corporate philosopher and best selling author, Tom V. Morris (If Aristotle Ran General Motors). Dr. Fleming's writings and insights have been featured in the New York Times, on msn.com, Consumer Health Journal, Prevention magazine, and Physician Executive.

Dr. Fleming contributes regularly to the Gately Newsletter, as well as being a regular columnist on “Transformation Insights' with Executive Decision, a national innovation and executive development magazine. He is one of four North American change management consultants chosen by the leading change management network to represent North America in corporate transformative change, a mission that is represented by over 40 countries and international gurus worldwide. He has received a leadership and contribution award from Congressman Tom Reynolds that honors Dr Fleming for his work in teaching innovation principals and practices to family-owned businesses