My husband's family has run the same company for 170 years. I married into it at 24, and now my role is 'family president.'

• Jill Gardner leads a team of more than 500 family members who own Laird Norton.
• She married into the company, and it has changed how she thinks about family connections.
• The family holds annual summits and hosts camps for the youngest generations.

Lucky for me, the Laird Norton family has always been very open to bringing married-in family members into the business. Part of that was through necessity. Most of the second generation of the family were women, so the men they married were brought to the table. Today, not all spouses take ownership of the company, but they can.

As family president of the company, my role is to keep family members engaged. I help produce the Laird Norton family journal, which is somewhat similar to an alumni magazine. It’s a place for the family to tell its story — everything from writing about personal interests, to sharing family trips, to announcing new babies and spouses. We’ve recently welcomed the first 8th-generation member of the family.

We also get together each year. This summer, about 350 family members will meet in Salt Lake City for our annual summit. That’s where we have a stakeholder meeting and talk about goals. Of course, it’s fun too. My children, who are now grown, loved going to these events to catch up with their cousins. That created an authentic, genuine connection as they carry this legacy forward.

We focus on keeping younger family members engaged

There’s a saying with family business that most go “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” in three generations, meaning the wealth is built, then lost again. That might have happened with Laird Norton, but we had a third-generation family member with the drive of a founder. He helped establish a company that could stand the test of time.

When my husband was growing up, the company was less intentional about engaging family members. The cousins who are his age jokingly call themselves “the lost generation.”

Now, they’ve completely changed things for their children and grandchildren by being very intentional about bringing younger generations into the fold. During our summit, we run a camp for kids. Beginning at 14, family members can attend the business overview meetings. We have an internship program to help family members learn about the company, and a bi-annual “next gen” event specifically to engage family members age 21-40.

Continuing to hold an eighth-generation business takes a lot of work. Having events that foster connection with the company and the cousins helps us ensure the Laird Norton family legacy continues.