Passing the torch on a business you’ve built, or stepping into one someone else shaped, is more than a transaction. It is a deeply personal process filled with timing pressures, family dynamics, employee concerns, and the emotional weight of letting go. University of Minnesota Extension began asking business owners what it really looks like to hand off, or take over, a business. Learn about what they found.
This webinar shares the latest research on business succession and transition, including a series of qualitative case studies surfacing the themes owners face: maintaining a business’s integrity through transition, the role of small business as the touchstone of community, personal relationships, and knowing when the time is right.
On-demand webinar
Recorded: July 17, 2026
Presentation slides
Shared resources
- Retaining businesses as owners retire/transition – case studies and stories
- Support business succession and transition
- The silver tsunami and rural small business retention: What can communities do?
- How well are business owners preparing for succession and transition?
- Rural Business Transitions Webinar Series
About our presenters
Michael Darger is a community economics specialist who manages University of Minnesota Extension’s business succession and transition (BST) program. He facilitates a business succession and transition (BST) ecosystem group of public and private sector professionals across Minnesota to support BST efforts by all. He led a major study of small business owner awareness, attitudes and actions to prepare for transition (2023-24). Currently, he is conducting BST research to collect stories of success and failure in business transitions.
A related research interest is the conversion of businesses to employee ownership. Michael has managed Extension's connecting businesses and community program for 26 years. He teaches business retention and expansion (BRE) courses to economic development audiences and provides BRE consulting and applied research for Minnesota communities. He has served on the boards of economic and community development organizations and edited a BRE book in 2019, Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) A Practical Approach to Economic Development (Rutledge).
Michael served on the board of directors for five years and was NACDEP’s president in 2013. Prior to Extension, he served in both inner city and exurban economic development roles as well as corporate marketing, finance and banking positions. He holds an MBA in marketing and finance (Michigan) and a BA in economics & management (Albion College).
Anna Luepke is a graduate student at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, pursuing a masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Housing and Community Development. This past year, under the supervision of Michael Darger, Anna has worked on a qualitative research project on business succession and transition in Minnesota.
As a part of this project, she interviewed business owners across Minnesota on their experience transitioning into, or out of, their small businesses, and she has outlined these stories in a series of case studies. The goal of this project is to collect real-life stories and provide a valuable resource to economic developers, researchers, and small business owners approaching transition.
Prior to arriving at the Humphrey School, Anna published a book titled “Hope!,” sharing the stories of low-income senior residents of St. Mary Development's affordable communities in Dayton, Ohio. Additionally, she worked as a Research Analyst for market analyses of low-income housing projects.
This summer, Anna is working as a small business planning intern at Ramsey County’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
This webinar is part of the University of Minnesota Extension, Community Development’s CD Exchange series and is co-sponsored by Illinois Extension's Community and Economic Development practice as a follow-on to their Rural Business Transitions webinar series, developed in collaboration with Norman Walzer, Ph.D., and Chris Merrett, Ph.D.
Reviewed in 2026