Washington Family Business Awards 2012: Best Practices Winner, AAOA Healthcare

BEST PRACTICES WINNER:
AAOA Healthcare

City: Kirkland
Employees: 19

To explain the lifelong habit of starting his own companies, including an orchard he ran with his father, Patrick Chestnut says hes simply not a good employee. After being retired for about three minutes in the early 2000s, he decided if he ever started another business, he would build something that would have lasting value. So, in 2002, he reinvented how small companies buy and manage health insurance.

AAOA Healthcare is an employee benefits consulting and association health plan administration company that provides the small- and midsize-group insurance market with tools that typically are available only to large employers. These include fixed administration costs, complete transparency and an e-solutions platform that brings an employees medical plans together in one place.

Joined by his wife, stepson and oldest daughter, Chestnut has established deliberate management practices to avoid the pitfalls of family business, which include standards limiting business discussions at family gatherings, policies that ensure nonfamily employees are treated fairly and a road map for family members who want to work for the company (featuring a paid one-year internship and a two-year outside work requirement). When it comes to setting standards for family members in the company, Chestnut says, Im old-fashioned about this. Theyve got to earn their way.

More information: Washington Family Business Awards 2012