|
Loyd Rawls began working as a financial planner in 1973 where his practice primarily consisted of doctors and agricultural business owners. After 5 years of focusing on personal financial planning, Loyd shifted his focus to business succession planning because he wanted to make a difference in his clients’ lives beyond the realm of helping with probate, deferring taxes, estate planning and trusts.
 headquarters in Orlando
In 1980, The Rawls Company (TRC) was officially founded and headquartered in Orlando, FL. Soon thereafter, and with the help of family “assembly lines” for marketing mailers, The Rawls Company began to grow. By 1994, The Rawls Company had expanded to include a Continuing Financial Services (CFS) department, a Marketing Department, and had survived the bankruptcy of Fidelity Mutual, which threatened to put TRC out of business.
As TRC grew, more people learned about Loyd’s passion for family business succession and other planners wanted to become part of TRC’s mission. Due to the increased demand by businesses and professional associations for seminars and publications, Family Business Resource Center (FBRC) was created. From a profound need, FBRC also became a resource for training family principals, successors and key personnel in the critical factors of business succession.
TRC experienced exciting changes and growth in the new millenium with the opening of a second office in Northern California. Three long‐standing associates, Dan Thill, Don Doudna and Ricci Victorio, became partners and stockholders, committed to perpetuating Loyd’s vision of expansion. In 2003, TRC transitioned from helping family businesses to also becoming a family business with Loyd Rawls’ oldest daughter, Amy, joining as Accounting Manager. In 2004, the company assumed the marketing name of The Rawls Group to encompass the different companies associated and dedicated to the succession of family and privately held businesses: The Rawls Company, Family Business Resource Center, and Rawls Employee Benefits.
 Amy, Champ, Loyd and Kendall
As of today, The Rawls Group has assisted over 500 family and privately owned businesses across the nation and has grown to include 9 offices in Florida, California, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Maryland, Oregon, and New York. Kendall Rawls, the second member of the Rawls family, has joined the business, and is a vital part of the Marketing and Public Relations department. Two succession focused publications by Loyd Rawls, “Seeking Succession: How to Continue the Family Business Legacy” and “The Succession Bridge: Key Manager Succession Alternatives for Family Owned Business,” have been published with a third, “Estate of Mine,” in the final stages of publication. Since 1973, Loyd Rawls and The Rawls Group have been dedicated to the succession of family and privately owned businesses. They will continue to grow and develop programs, providing services to meet the needs of the changing dynamics of family and business for future generations of entrepreneurs.
|
