Carrie Meek-Cuneo, Chief Growth Officer and Partner, Anchor Peabody; Former CEO, Meek’s Lumber & Hardware
2022 Vistage Member Excellence Award Winner
When Carrie Meek-Cuneo was born, she automatically became a fourth-generation co-owner of Meek’s Lumber & Hardware. That was due to a trust set up by her great-grandfather, who founded the business in 1919 and named all future generations of the family as co-owners upon birth.
By the time Carrie reached her 30s, Meek’s had 44 owners, ranging from age 2 to 78. Only five family members were active in the business, which was split into two divisions: the California-based Western Division run by Carrie’s father, Bill, and the Missouri-based Midwest Division run by her uncle, Terry.
Of Carrie’s generation, only two of her cousins were active operators. As Bill and Terry inched closer to retirement, members of the family started wondering about the future of Meek’s. To complicate matters, there was no buy-sell agreement to allow family members to exit, and Meek’s had only informal governance for distributions or capital investments.
Carrie, who worked in sales management, didn’t intend to join the company. But when her dad lost his successor, she agreed to lead the Western Division as CEO until she found her replacement.
In the meantime, she became a member of Vistage and later joined Chair Janet Fogarty’s group when she relocated to Denver, Colorado.
Bill and Carrie believed selling the company was the best way forward for shareholders. Terry and his sons were less certain, as they were successfully running the Midwest. “My very first meeting with Janet was about this very topic,” Carrie recalls. “Her observation was that I was feeling timid about trying to get the whole family to agree to sell, and I was underestimating the influence that I had, given my role and the fact that I had moved. And she said, ‘I think you actually have a strong position here, and I think you need to change your mindset.’ That was a turning point for me.”
A few days later, Carrie met with the family and announced she was promoting one of Meek’s longtime employees — a Vistage member from outside the family — to CEO of the Western Division. “I said, ‘My intention is to exit. Let’s figure this out,’” she recalls. “That’s when the momentum started to change. I credit Janet with getting me into the right mindset to drive the process.”
In 2018, the family sold Meek’s to a private equity firm after deciding to compensate the cousin operators for their contribution to the business. Carrie remained on the company’s board for three more years while Bill and Terry finally retired.
Now Chief Growth Officer and Partner at Anchor Peabody, an investment bank working primarily in the building industry, Carrie can look back on her experience and easily point to lessons learned. “I believe very strongly that you either need a solid succession plan and strong governance with clear rules on how you’re managing a family business or you need to exit,” she says. “What makes a family business so successful and nimble in the beginning doesn’t always translate when you transition it to future generations.”
She also emphasizes the importance of hiring representation to lead a family business through a competitive selling process. Without that support, “there’s money being left on the table,” says Carrie.
What should family owners anticipate after a sale? “You have to realize it’s not your baby anymore,” she says. “There’s going to be a lot of change. Some of it you’ll like, and some of it you won’t.”
