Roll that beautiful bean footage, a generations-spanning household phrase, was only one of the national TV ad savory morsels that Bush Brothers & Company’s Sarah Bush Nuckolls, family senate chair, shared during her presentation at Rawls College’s McCoy Family Speaker Series in September. Attendees also enjoyed peeking behind the scenes of the ad, learning how intimidating the process was for Jay and, yes, not only does Duke (the dog) really talk but he also has a great singing voice!

Hosted by Rawls’ Alderson & Griffin Center for Family Business & Entrepreneurship at the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences, Nuckolls outlined the fascinating history of the fourth-generation family-run business, from handshake contracts with Ball canning jars to mixing batches of grandma’s baked beans recipe in the bathtub with paddling oars, to today’s everything-in-the-can-still-made-in-America product produced in their state-of-the-art facility where they’re rolling cans off the line at higher speeds, with NO waste, and reusing the facility’s water to run the plant.

She also highlighted their product diversification strategy to reach multiple audiences – smaller cans for older generations, healthier on-the-go options for younger generations, and everything from sweet to savory for traditional flavor sides to sides for traditions like tailgating – and detailed their Family Senate which governs family business matters such as state taxes and their private trust, family employment policy (for issues like when Sarah’s dad had to fire her uncle), pre-marital guidelines, and new spouse onboarding…because when you marry into the Bush family, you don’t simply meet the family at a BBQ in the park.

As a closing thought, when a female student in the audience asked Nuckolls what advice she’d give women in business, Nuckolls said, “Be loud.”