Ira Bryck

Current

• Director, UMass Family Business Center at University of Massachusetts Amherst

Past

• President / Co-owner of 4th generation family business at Barasch's Kidstore (1902-1993)
• teacher/ co-director at Central Community School, Buffalo, NY

Education

• State University of New York at Buffalo

Recommended

9 people have recommended Ira

Connections

74 connections

Industry

Professional Training & Coaching

Websites

• My Website

Ira Bryck’s Summary

Please visit website (below) to learn more about how I can help as a family business advisor, mediator, facilitator, trainer, speaker, and more: http://www.umass.edu/fambiz/ira_speaks/ira_presenter.html

I can help you improve, as your meeting or roundtable facilitator, interactive educator; keynote presenter; advice columnist; family business referee (high school wrestling experience), moving you from Point A to Point B (high school shotput experience). Let's discuss how I can also customize theatrical or improv trainings to suit your company's needs; and assist in making your meetings more effective and your decision making saner.

I can also host and help you design your family business video chronicles, telling your family business history in a way that is sentimental, instructive, entertaining, strategic for your descendants.

To get a taste of my perspective, please call me, or see my online advice column, Dear Ira: Fresh Air and Cold Water for the Perplexed Business Family: http://www.umass.edu/fambiz/ira_speaks/ask_ira.html

Consider what others have to say about me, at: http://www.umass.edu/fambiz/membership/testimonials.html

Ira Bryck’s Specialties:

Conflict resolution, meeting facilitation, custom consulting that will help you succeed in having difficult discussions and making decisions on thorny and complex issues; I will customize for your needs a novel use of drama and improv to improve customer service, communication, etc; and acquaint you in the art of strategic questioning, to provoke great thinking and getting unstuck.

Ira Bryck’s Experience

• Director, UMass Family Business Center

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  (Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

  1994 — Present (15 years)

  Warm, interactive, provocative learning community of families in business from Western Massachusetts and beyond. Features include dinner forum series, roundtables, newsletter, website, consulting. Benefits including collective wisdom, frank discussion, 10,000 years of experience, brutal yet compassionate honesty; discover more at http://umass.edu/fambiz
  Also advisor/facilitator/mediator, helping companies plan, resolve conflict, brainstorm, strategize; and creator of innovative consulting methods, including improv and theater to improve customer service, communication, family business governance, transition, functioning; creation of family business memoirs; always interested in trying new methods of making stuff better.

• President / Co-owner of 4th generation family business

  Barasch's Kidstore (1902-1993)

  (Retail industry)

  1959 — 1993 (34 years)

  Grew up in my family's 4th generation business, oldest children's clothing store in U.S.; closed it in its 90th year; chronicled in my semi-autobiographical play, "Tough Nut to Crack" see more at http://www.umass.edu/fambiz/ira_speaks/plays/biztheater.html
  "For Every Day or That Special Day, One Store Fits All...Barasch's Kidstore"

• teacher/ co-director

  Central Community School, Buffalo, NY

  (Educational Institution; 1-10 employees; Think Tanks industry)

  1975 — 1976 (1 year)

  My big one year of teaching, in a Buffalo free school, K-6, parent cooperative; a spectacular experience, school closed when city of Buffalo opened a publicly funded open classroom school (Waterfront School) and gave our kids right of first refusal; as a cooperative, we decided to load in all the kids to that school...my teaching career ended then and there, as I joined as the 4th generation of my family business, Barasch's Kidstore

Ira Bryck’s Education

• State University of New York at Buffalo

  Education 1972 — 1976

Additional Information

Ira Bryck’s Websites:

• My Website

Ira Bryck’s Interests:

playwriting, kayaking, archery, darts, bowling, driving range, target shooting (basically, all aiming activities), snowshoeing, hiking, game night, movies, theater, swimming, friends, family, travel, reading, learning, teaching, meditation, being helpful, winning large lottery sums, fixing things around the house (hopefully not breaking them worse), humor, profound realizations, not taking myself too seriously for moments at a time, gazing into a campfire with cigar in hand, glass of port in other hand, loving wife, Lenore, making me perfect S'more; doing absolutely anything with my magnificent children, Molly and Danny; and more, to be determined

Ira Bryck’s Groups:

UMass Family Business Center

•    NCIIA Invention to Venture

Ira Bryck’s Honors:

Innovative Program Award (University Continuing Education Association); Innovative Program Award (International Family Business Program Association); Most Comprehensive Family Business Website, By Far (Yahoo Internet Life Magazine); Best Professional Dramatic Production (Alliance for Community Media for Amherst Community TV video of the UMass FBC play, “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home”); UMass Points of Pride (Listing of UMass Achievements and Accolades) ; American Legion Boys' State (NY, 1971); #1 Dad (Molly & Danny Bryck)

Ira Bryck’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• getting back in touch