Family Enterprise USA Advisory Board
Meet our Advisory Board members – trusted leaders providing expert guidance to support the future of family-owned businesses.
Advocating for Family Owned Business
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Meet Our Advisory Board
Introducing the leaders who are passionate about advocating for family owned businesses nationwide.
Ed Laird
Ed Laird grew up and was educated in Detroit, Michigan. After college accepted a job in California as a chemist at the Andrew Brown Company. After 3 years, he became Chief Chemist dealing with coatings for aircraft and dealing with regulations in air quality. Working with new polymers, Ed went off on his own dealing with coatings that adhered to plastics. For many years his company was the leading manufacturer of coatings for plastics. To meet emerging air quality standards, Ed started Air Quality Consulting. Today Ed’s son runs Laird Coatings Corp and his daughter runs Air Quality Consulting, along with 3rd generation members. Ed Laird is a Hall of Fame recipient to the Western Plastics Pioneers, Lifetime member of Scouting America, Past chairman of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, and past president of Kiwanis. Ed is Married to Patty and enjoys his six grandchildren.
John Smith
John M. Smith is Chairman of the Board of CRST Holdings, LLC, one of the nation’s leading transportation companies. He began his career at CRST International in 1971, eventually serving as President and CEO from 1987 to 2010, and Chairman until 2015. He holds a BA in Economics from Cornell College and an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Business. Beyond his professional achievements, John has held leadership roles in numerous civic and industry organizations, including the American Trucking Associations, the Iowa Motor Truck Association, and several Cedar Rapids community boards. He is a past recipient of the Regional Entrepreneur of the Year Award and enjoys sailing, tennis, golf, and reading.
Connie Vaughan
Connie Vaughan, a respected leader whose career and community service reflect an unwavering commitment to advocacy, industry, and regional prosperity.
Connie has spent an impressive 38 years with McKee Foods, including the past 20 years as head of Government Relations. In this role, she regularly works with local, state, and federal elected leaders to represent the company’s interests and regulatory policies to support family owned companies. McKee Foods, based in Collegedale, Tennessee, is a privately held, family owned bakery, best known for their Little Debbie brand snacks.
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Beyond her corporate work, Connie is involved in numerous organizations. She currently serves as Chair of the Thrive Regional Partnership, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering collaboration in logistics, conservation, and community prosperity across the region. She is also a current member and long-time supporter of the Advisory Committee of the Bradley County PIE Center, helping shape educational pathways for future generations and a current trustee for the Cleveland State Community College Foundation Board of Directors.
Connie’s leadership includes past service as Chair of both the Tennessee Trucking Association and the Independent BakersAssociation. She also serves on both the national and state boards of Be Pro Be Proud, a nonprofit focused on reshaping perceptions of careers in the skilled trades and empowering the next workforce.
John Zaruka
John Zaruka was born and raised in Babylon, New York. In 1965, his father, Bill, a teacher, was awarded a food & beverage concession on the beach on Long Island’s South Shore. It was there, John, at age 14, began his hospitality career. Upon Mom Alice’s suggestion, John applied and was accepted to the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Upon graduation from Cornell in 1973, John joined Winegardner and Hammons, a well known hotel management company. In his eleven years with the firm, John ran several hotels across from Alaska to Ohio.
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He met the love of his life, Linda in Boise and they were married in 1974. His last position with WHI was Regional Manager for nine hotels in Cincinnati. In 1984, John and his family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to open a large hotel, then on to the Los Angeles area as Director of Operations for a new hotel company whose portfolio included a newly renovated Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
In 1986, John, with the support of his family, decided to parley his skills by starting his own business. The Zaruka’s purchased a failed fine dining restaurant at a public golf course in Ventura, California. John saw an opportunity in the banquet only space in the market so he converted the venue to banquet only. The business, known as the Wedgewood Banquet Center, began with no customers and no employees, but with a lot of confidence!
In 2020, John began a national consulting business for the F&B portion of the golf industry. It was named ZGolf Food & Beverage Services. John was a sought after speaker throughout North America and wrote many articles for golf industry publications. Soon after he began his consulting business, a client suggested he operate two of their facilities. He took on the challenge, thus began a rapid expansion of the Wedgewood brand. Bill Zaruka joined the company in 2001 and now is the CEO of ZGolf, branded as Wedgewood Wedding and Events with seventy five venues in nine states, hosting over ten thousand weddings a year, grossing over $200 million in sales and over 2000 employees. In 2014, Prospect Partners purchased 60% of the company to provide capital for the rapid expansion. A new capitalization is planned in the summer of 2025.
In 2017, the Zaruka’s purchased a flailing golf course in their hometown of Camarillo, CA. Since the purchase of the Sterling Hills Golf Club, revenues have tripled and the course is now very successful.
John is a member and Past & Current President of the Rotary Club of West Ventura County and an Emeritus Board Member of the California Restaurant Association. He was selected to the West Babylon High School Hall of Fame, been three times selected as Rotarian of the Year, chosen as one the original 50 Persons Over 50 in Ventura County, and Person of the Year by the Boy’s & Girl’s Club of Ventura. Their business was also selected as Small Business of the Year by the US Small Business Administration.