News & Stories
Lessons learned at Carolina work for family business
Caroline Lindley (BSBA ’14, MBA ’17) tapped the Family Enterprise Center’s resources and network throughout her undergraduate and MBA experiences at UNC Kenan-Flagler. Now, as vice president of sales and marketing at Lindley Mills, she continues to be involved with the Family Enterprise Center.
Part of her career exploration began during her Undergraduate Business Program studies and involvement with the Family Enterprise Center. She applied valuable lessons she learned in the Family Business courses at Lindley Mills, and had meaningful conversations with her parents about the future of their business.
Lindley capitalized on the many networking opportunities offered by the Family Enterprise Center, often using visiting speakers as sounding boards for her ideas for Lindley Mills. She served as the president of the MBA Family Business Club, which brings together family business students to talk about the opportunities and challenges that arise when family, business and ownership are combined.
During her MBA studies, she identified marketing and sales as a need in the Lindley Mills’ long-term strategy, and interned at The Biltmore Company where she learned from a world-class marketing team and further refined her skills by working with their exceptionally loyal customers.
Women in many family businesses have unique challenges, and Lindley joined the Women in Family Business peer group to meet and learn from successful businesswomen. She continues to participate in the group which includes undergraduates interested in family business.