The Welsh Wire: Leading a Family Business from the Outside ft. Nelson Sanchez of RoMan Manufacturing

This month’s The Welsh Wire podcast, sponsored by the Family Business Alliance, features an engaging conversation between Sheri Welsh and Nelson Sanchez, CEO of RoMan Manufacturing.

In 2023, Sanchez became the first non-family member to lead the company, a transition made possible by RoMan’s thoughtful, long-term succession planning.

From the beginning, the family behind RoMan created clear rules for how future generations would enter the business or move into leadership roles. This proactive approach, rare among many family companies, has helped prevent conflict and ensure continuity.

For Sanchez, leadership is about preparing RoMan for the future.

“Defining what success looks like is obviously growing RoMan to being bigger and better than it was when I took it over and preparing it for the next person who’s going to continue to grow it and make it better,” he explains.

That next leader may or may not be a family member, but what matters most is finding the right person who can uphold RoMan’s values and build on its success.

Those values—trust, integrity, quality, continuous improvement, and innovation—guide the company every day. They’re reinforced through 26 specific habits that employees discuss daily and cycle through twice a year.

RoMan’s purpose statement, “building a better world by transforming power and people,” captures both the company’s technical expertise and its commitment to people.

Listen to the full conversation to hear Sanchez’s insights on succession, leadership, and sustaining culture at RoMan Manufacturing on this month’s The Welsh Wire, sponsored by the Family Business Alliance.