Continuity amid change: at Franco Public Relations Group Inc., the name of its pioneering founder lives on but the business is securely rooted in the present and ready for the future under the leadership of CEO Dan Ponder.

Opportunity came knocking, big time, for Dan Ponder 10 years ago. After eight years as chief financial officer of one of Detroit's leading public relations firms, he led a management buyout and successfully launched the business into a new era.

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The fact that Franco Public Relations Group, formerly Anthony M. Franco Inc., is thriving today, long after the departure of its legendary founder, is a testament to the skilled leadership of a man who got his start in business running a pizzeria as a teenager.

Ponder, 44, now heads a company that offers a full line of communication services, including media relations, crisis management, community relations, event planning and corporate identity development. Its 35-plus client roster includes such names as Autoliv North America, Deloitte & Touche--Great Lakes Region, International Transmission Co., Yazaki North America and Farmer Jack Food Market.

Tony Franco, a pioneering figure in Detroit's public relations community, founded the company in 1964 in an era when the PR industry was young and its mission in terms of advancing business goals and strategy was still emerging. Ponder came aboard as CFO in 1985 after three years with Touche Ross & Co., now Deloitte & Touche.

In 1990, Ross Roy Group, a Detroit-based national ad agency, acquired 100 percent of Anthony M. Franco Inc., with Tony Franco remaining as chairman and CEO. In 1993, four top executives of the firm, led by Ponder, purchased the company from Ross Roy and gave the firm its present name. Ownership was reshaped again in 2000 when Maria Leonhauser Rosenau and her husband Pete joined the management team with Maria as president and Pete as chairman. Today, Ponder and the Rosenaus each own 50 percent of the company.

After the 1993 buyout, Tony Franco remained with the company for about nine months as chairman, then stepped aside to pursue other interests until his death in 2002. Keeping the business going with a strong client base after the departure of its larger-than-life founder would become the No. 1 challenge of Ponder's career.

Detroiter: How did you get where you are today?

Ponder: I started out as a pre-med student at the University of Michigan but during my first semester I decided to drop out of school and open a pizzeria with a partner. Once in the business I realized that running a small business is a tough job. We worked very hard--24 hours a day, seven days a week--to make this small business go. We did well, but it was hard work. Ultimately, I felt maybe life was passing me by and I was chained to this small business, so I decided to go back to school. But instead of medicine, I went to Michigan State University and got my bachelor's degree in accounting.

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Detroiter: How did you make the transition from accounting to marketing and public relations?

Ponder: After college I joined Deloitte & Touche in their Private Company Advisory Service. Again, a common theme was that I enjoyed small business, and this gave me the opportunity to work with companies anywhere from single proprietors to $500 million in sales. After about three years I had an opportunity to become chief financial officer at Franco. In the late 1980s I went back to school and got my master's degree and placed a special emphasis on marketing and organizational design so that I could better meld my business background with the communications and public relations business that we were in. Then, in 1993, after about nine years with Franco, I had the opportunity to lead a successful management buyout, and so I find myself here today, 10 years later, about ready to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary (in 2004).

Detroiter: Leading a management buyout must involve a certain element of risk. Would you call yourself a risk taker?

Ponder: Not many small businesses like this are able to make the transition from a strong dominant founder, like Tony Franco, into an ongoing concern. The immediate risk is whether your clients and the community at large accept the changes that are being made. And in our case, fortunately, they did. From the time I joined the Franco organization I always wanted to have an equity interest or become more substantially involved in the business. When the opportunity came to buy it, I weighed the pros and cons and felt very certain that I could design a program to make it happen and minimize the risks. I would say I'm a conservative risk taker. This might sound like an oxymoron, but it means that I've understood the pros and cons and calculated what the odds were and then moved ahead.

Detroiter: Was preserving your client base a major concern after the buyout?

Ponder: That was an issue, and we tried to work with those clients. Early on I took it personally if we lost one client, but I came to realize that we can't please everybody. We did lose a piece of business or two that were more strategically tied to Tony or couldn't accept the fact that Franco was changing as an organization. We just had to learn to live with it. We've grown from the experience and I'm very pleased with where the organization is today. Despite an uncertain economy, we're thriving and we have a strong portfolio of clients that keeps us very busy.

Detroiter: What has been your greatest professional challenge?

Ponder: Leading the management buyout of this company ranks near the top of the list. Many times when a firm is owned or founded by a strong personality, it has a hard time continuing when that person decides to leave or move on. Back in 1993 one of the challenges was to be able to acquire this company and allow Mr. Franco to pursue his interests independently and to let the company continue and thrive without missing a beat. And I think we accomplished that, although we had to work very hard to make it happen. This company is more than any one person. We still have many of the values that the business was founded with. For example, we've got a very strong Midwest work ethic. We believe that's important. We believe in what we do. And we've been committed to the community for nearly 40 years.

Detroiter: What are some quick marketing/PR tips you can give small businesses?

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Ponder: I think it's better for small business to simplify their programs. Most small businesses are living day-by-day and week-by-week, and they need to do the things that they can have control over and/or can change. One of the things I've learned is that it's better to look at the communications program you're putting in place in its simplest form. In other words, try to boil it down to the basics. So, start at the beginning and make sure you understand your business goals and objectives. Then set your communications goals and objectives as they relate to your business plan. Next reassess and segment the audiences--your customers or any other important audiences you may have. Take time to understand them. This may require a little bit of research or just good listening. Finally, based on that, develop and implement your tactics. Be sure to put some criteria in place to measure whether you're being successful or not. And then revisit the whole plan every so often and make sure you're keeping it on target. Small businesses will often lose focus on what their goals and objectives really are or what's really important to their customers or audiences.

Detroiter: What are some of the trends you're seeing in the marketing/PR business?

Ponder: In the short term, we're seeing the larger organizations outsourcing more of their communication services because they've downsized their internal staffs. Even some of the smaller businesses that might have had one person in that role are turning to agencies like ours to help with strategy or implementation. As the economy comes back and businesses begin to staff up again, I think agencies like ours will be used to help internal staffs sharpen their skills set, develop their communications processes and handle "value-added" assignments. Value-added must be defined by each client company. Some companies will value strategy, some will value implementation and still some others will value a turnkey program.

Detroiter: So what's hot these days--and what's not?

Ponder: One of the things that's hot and will continue to be is a strong emphasis on relationship building. What's not hot is unfocused mass marketing. I would assume most people understand that, but if they don't they should. We see a lot more time and attention being devoted to developing focused programming on smaller audience segments. There is more concentration on relationship building than on trying to get a broad message out.

Detroiter: Is there one campaign you're most proud of?

Ponder: That would be The Heat and Warmth Fund, or THAW, a nonprofit organization that helps thousands of low-income people across Michigan avoid having their heat and electricity shut off for nonpayment during the winter months. They hired us with a limited budget. We were charged with helping them reach out to some of their key audiences and enabling them to fulfill their mission. This past winter was exceptionally cold, and there were a good number of stories that we were able to share, which helped increase the awareness of this good cause. The bottom line is that we were able to measure our results because THAW tracks the people they are able to help. It was a good example of achieving results with limited resources.

Detroiter: What do you see as the basic elements of being an effective leader?

Ponder: A good leader is someone who leads by example and operates with integrity under all circumstances. Nowadays that's more important than ever before. All businesses go through change, and people are faced with different circumstances. The bottom line, though, is if you can set a good example and make good decisions based on your ethics and your values, you're going to be a winner at the end of the day.

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Franco Public Relations Group is a Silver-level member of the Detroit Regional Chamber.

RELATED ARTICLE: File on Dan Ponder

Title: CEO, Franco Public Relations Group

Education: BA and MBA from Michigan State University's School of Business

Born: Dec. 19, 1958

Family: Wife Cathy; children Jeffrey, 17, Meredith, 15, and Christopher, 13

Home: Northville

First professional job: Member of the Private Company Advisory Service of Deloitte & Touche (formerly Touche Ross & Co.)

Favorite vacation spot: Glen Arbor in northern Michigan 

Favorite movie: Ken Burns' documentary film on explorers Lewis and Clark

Favorite sport activity: Kayaking 

Greatest challenge: Balancing time between work, family and friends

Organizations: Board of directors, Detroit Regional Chamber; board of directors, Michigan Chamber of Commerce; board of directors, Alliance for a Safer, Greater Detroit; board of trustees, Michigan Council for Economic Education; Henry Ford Estate Advisory Committee