Affinity Peer Groups

Eric has served his entire career in various leadership roles, establishing systems, growing business and working on M&A transactions. His current role as CEO of an accounting firm requires him to wear multiple hats revolving around leadership, coaching and executive management, and advisory services.

His breadth of experience aides in his ability to work with family businesses from any industry and help them to build growth strategies and systems to support their long-term goals.

Ginny Curley founded Power Your Partnerships to help family-owned businesses become successful multi-generational endeavors. Like a canary in a coal mine, the breakdown of communication often precedes a failing business. Ginny knows that strong relationships fuel strong businesses.

When family relationships strain or when the business struggles because of conflict, Ginny helps individuals and teams navigate the tension to find positive outcomes. Ginny uses a variety of tools and techniques in formal and informal coaching and group facilitation that build on the strengths that are present.

Ginny taps into 30 years of experience in leadership and organizational development as she helps family businesses thrive through strong communication. Ginny’s academic background in counseling and higher education administration has been applied to challenges in organizations that range from small start-ups and nonprofits to large corporations.

Kyle grew up in a family business and was instrumental in its growth before deciding to make a shift and focus on coaching family business owners in navigating the unique challenges that come with mixing family and business. He has a passion for helping families and businesses succeed and prepare to transition their companies.

Kyle is a Professional EOS Implementer®, enabling him to guide families in building a structure and process to clarify, simplify, and achieve their vision for the business. His expertise brings a level head and caring heart to the peer group conversation while guiding family leaders to the right decisions for them.

Rana is the Chief Vision Officer and partner in VOLT Strategy, a revolutionary company that works at the intersection of behavior science and business strategy to move people and business forward, together.  

Using a holistic approach, she helps leaders develop a vibrant culture where people know and use their unique strengths and talents to advance business goals. Through proven practices and a guided process, she develops leaders and teams while helping them activate the essential building blocks for healthy, sustainable growth and thriving performance.

Rana holds over 25 years’ experience in strategic planning, culture engineering, and individual, team, and organizational performance.  Her dynamic facilitation and gift for strategic vision is grounded in human-centric design that has helped hundreds of leaders in building effective systems in Culture, Leadership, Human Resources, Safety, Well-Being, Social Impact, and Communications.  As a community leader, Rana is a champion for change on civic issues that impact quality of life.  She is well known as an inspiring writer, speaker, and coach focused on an encouraging “can-do, time is now, take action” message.

De Vee is a Professor Emeritus of Business Law and Ethics at the Beacom School of Business, University of South Dakota with over 43 years of teaching, research, and leadership experience, including serving as Associate Dean. She has a deep interest and breadth of experience in boards of directors, next generation experiences, business startups, and growth strategies. Her passion for family business revolves around her family’s businesses and her past service on the Prairie Family Business Association Advisory Board, serving as its treasurer. Her family’s farm is in its third generation, and she works with her husband and son in the automotive repair industry.

De Vee has her MBA and Juris Doctorate from the University of South Dakota and is a member of the S.D. Bar Association and the First Bank & Trust Board of Directors and a member of its Audit Committee. She is also a member of the Clay County Fair Board. De Vee has been a recipient of the Belbas-Larson Award for Excellence in Teaching. She started the University of South Dakota Technology Transfer Office and the Beacom School of Business Career Services Director. She also spent seventeen years as director of the State Data Center (SDC) undertaking socio-economic and demographic research for businesses and government. She has been a member of Secretary of the U.S. Census Bureau’s State Data Center Steering Board, president of the South Dakota Career Planning and Placement Association, South Dakota 4-H Foundation, Vermillion Rotary Club, and P.E.O. Vermillion Chapter.

Trish has more than 30 years of successful leadership experience. Trish is a seasoned change catalyst who welcomes the need for positive change, is willing to champion the cause, and motivates people to see the benefits of the outcome.

Trish is a former Commissioned Officer in the United States Army Nurse Corps and her areas of expertise include Executive Coaching and Leadership Development, Complex Conflict Resolution, Strategy and Solutions Organizational Development, and HR Department Support.

Tom Iverson is a partner at Sagency with over 35 years of experience working in strategic planning, executive and performance coaching, succession planning, employee engagement, and organizational and team development. He is a certified Hudson Institute Coach as well as a member of John Maxwell’s team of coaches, trainers, and speakers.

Tom is passionate about seeing individuals and organizations do better, reach higher, and go further than they think possible. His clients can rely on him to develop plans for success that can be replicated, improved, taught, tracked, and measured to provide a productive and more profitable path forward. Through his executive and performance coaching, Tom’s clients grow and develop as individuals to perform at a higher level in their jobs and to be able to contribute more to the community.

Tom believes strategic focus and alignment are critical to an organization’s success and viability, and he uses his expertise to ensure his clients have the clarity, unity, and strategy they need to thrive, prosper, and engage in work that really matters.

Kyle knows the challenge of transitioning a family business to the next generation first-hand. Through that experience, he discovered EOS® and has built his career around leading business leaders through the EOS process® and achieving a healthier and higher valued company.

Kyle is an excellent coach and has a passion for helping people discover how systems and tools can address their challenges. His experience in a family owned business himself gives him a greater understanding of the challenges faced specifically by family owned businesses and how they might best be addressed.

Julie Keyes is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) and the founder of KeyeStrategies, LLC in Minneapolis, MN specializing in exit and transition consulting. Julie has been an entrepreneur most of her life. As the founder and operator of several companies, she understands the responsibilities of ownership and the struggles that come with being an owner.

She works with business owners who seek to understand and maximize their exit and critical transition options and is actively involved with the Exit Planning Institute, as a faculty and Leadership Council member. She is also the recipient of EPI’s “Thought Leader of Year” in 2017 and 2022, and nominee for “Exit Planner of the Year” in 2023.

In 2021, Julie released the 2^nd Edition of “Poised for Exit” a book which helps owners of privately held companies navigate the process of business exit. Her weekly podcast, also called “Poised for Exit”, provides content relevant to business owners and advisors alike, and can be found on all major podcast platforms as well as a local MN radio station, KRWC.

On a personal note, Julie and her husband Shaun have 8 children and 11 grandchildren. She’s also active in her parish and in the business community

Founder and owner of WillKate, lives at the intersection of family and business. Using her more than 30 years of experience, she has created a unique and intentional process, tailored to each client’s needs. As a CFP. CPWA, her technical skills blend in with her Executive Coaching and Bowen Institute of Family Systems training. The process empowers individuals, families and their business to build on and sustain their relationships, structure and governance while striking a balance between the individual, family systems and cultures and the needs and the intricacies of business systems.

Having been a General Partner with her sister, eight total siblings, in a third-generation family business, she knows first-hand what it takes to create and sustain a thriving family and family enterprise. Understanding how to navigate challenging family dynamics while balancing competing needs of each individual, family as a whole, business and wealth is complex and where we make a difference. Aggie and the WillKate team take a unique, heart-centered, holistic/multi-disciplined approach, comprised of multi-generational family transition process, wealth planning and management and family enterprise office to help our clients build a lasting family enterprise. 

Sandra McNeely found her passion serving family businesses and founded Abbey Legacy in 2000. Abbey Legacy provides services in four key areas that support successful ownership and management transitions in family-owned businesses: succession planning, facilitation of family and owner meetings, advisory board/formal board development and strategic planning.

Abbey Legacy is a PFBA sponsor. Sandra has facilitated Affinity Peer Groups for over twenty years, first at the Marquette University for Family Business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and for the past 12 years at PFBA. Sandra is a member of several family business boards.  She serves as a Family Firm Institute Board member and treasurer and received her advanced certificate in family wealth advising and is recognized as an FFI Fellow of this international association for family business research and education.

Aaron Purkeypile's grandfather started a construction business in rural Kansas in the late 70s only to see everything fall apart in the mid-90s while trying to navigate succession planning in the family. Aaron spent his formative years in accounting, operations, teaching, coaching and leadership, and is determined to help other family businesses avoid the same pitfalls and mistakes his family experienced. 

When Aaron discovered a system, called EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System), he helped implement the system in the health & fitness company he worked for and revolutionized the business. The company grew revenue by 30% year-over-year, cut out problem clients, and gave the owner's freedom of time and resources.

Aaron is passionate about helping family business leaders show up everyday as the best version of themselves so they can positively impact their family's legacy, the lives of their employees and the communities they serve.

Jon Simmers serves as the Chief Executive Officer and second-generation owner for Bismarck Aero Center (BAC), a full-service Fixed Base Operator (FBO)located in Bismarck, ND.

Jon’s aviation roots began as a child where his Father, Grandmother, and Grandfather each had their pilot’s license and operated aircraft off the family farm. Jon currently has his private pilot’s license and enjoys leisure flying with his family.

With family roots in Bismarck and Jamestown, ND, Jon earned his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of North Dakota. Jon also proudly attended Bismarck State College and Jamestown College where he received his Associates and Bachelor’s Degrees.

His most proud professional accomplishment is to be leading a company that has a family atmosphere and has been named one of the 50 Best Places to work for 5 years. At home, Jon lives for spending time with his wife Katie and two great kiddos. He is member of Vistage International, Prairie Family Business Association and several aviation advocacy organizations.

Lisa has more than 25 years in sales and development experience and is passionate about helping others achieve success. Lisa focuses on providing companies with the necessary leadership tools and processes that allow senior executives and other organizational leadership to successfully execute their strategy and performance goals.

Lisa specializes in the areas of personal development, leadership development, results management, and organizational/personal assessments. She enjoys working with peer groups to challenge them to think deeper, be accountable to their goals and grow into the future leaders of family businesses.

Todd is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fusjon Group, LLC.   His 40+ year professional career includes C-Suite leadership/ownership of private and publicly owned professional service business enterprises.  Over the past 10 years, he has immersed himself in technology-related businesses, as an investor, operator and consultant, with an emphasis on data capture/intelligence and productivity-related growth/investment themes.  He currently serves as both a trusted advisor and board member for professional services and technology-related business enterprises across the US and Canada.   He is a graduate of SD School of Mines and Technology and the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP).