
The winners of the 2023 Private Company Boards of the Year Awards may vary in service offerings — operating in such areas as air conditioning, software and cooking supplies — but they all have one thing in common: a commitment to stellar corporate governance.
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The awards, now in their eighth year, are presented by Private Company Director, Family Business and Directors & Boards magazines at the annual Private Company Governance Summit. They were created to recognize private companies that go above and beyond legal governance requirements and commit to the highest levels of governance, whether through fiduciary or advisory boards. The awards honor the performance of the board as a whole.
The awards recognize fiduciary boards as well as advisory boards. Fiduciary board awards were categorized by company revenues and ownership type.
The Private Company Governance Summit, which will celebrate its 11th anniversary May 17-19 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Washington, D.C., is the only national conference focused on the unique governance challenges faced by owners, shareholders, directors and advisory board members of closely held, family-owned and private equity-owned companies.
While nearly 20 private company boards were nominated for the 2023 Private Company Boards of the Year Awards, eight stood out for their diligence, standards and best practices.
Here are the eight boards chosen for this year’s recognition. Also, if you are interested in entering your board for the 2024 Private Company Boards of the Year Awards, make sure to fill out the nomination form today! Check out our past winners.Â

ABARTA
Type of Private Company Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: $351 million to $1 billion
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
ABARTA Coca-Cola Beverages is the exclusive distributor of Coca-Cola beverages throughout most of Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, Erie, Johnstown and Altoona, and parts of West Virginia and Ohio.
Governance highlights include:
- They boast a rigorous outside audit process and employ disciplined financial, strategic, budgeting and reporting systems.
- The board regularly performs succession planning and bench-strength analysis of all key positions.
- They have developed a complete array of documented governance policies, charters and calendars of activities.
- The board uses both whole-board surveys to measure overall board performance and peer-review surveys to measure individual director contributions.Â

Cargas Systems
Type of Private Company Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: Less than $100 million
Company Ownership: Employee-Owned
Cargas Systems is a software company whose products streamline processes in accounting, supply chain management, and sales and marketing.
Governance highlights include:
- The board transitioned the company’s governance from majority ownership previously held by the founder to a diversified ownership, primarily held by company employees.
- The board chair holds one-on-one discussions with each board and committee member each year to discuss board and leadership performance and succession.
- At the end of each board meeting, the chair asks what they did well, what they could do better and what they need to learn. Follow-ups to these questions include education on cybersecurity and shareholder communication.
- They have a transparent board refreshment process, including clear communication about term limits during the recruitment process.

Etnyre International
Type of Private Company Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: $100 million to $350 million
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
Etnyre International is the parent company of BearCat Manufacturing and ED Etnyre & Company, two leaders in building equipment for the asphalt roadbuilding industry.
Governance highlights include:
- The board has created a “Values, Mission and Vision” statement, a family council and a foundation.
- They have also formalized board processes and developed detailed charters and procedures.
- Board expansion has recently taken place (going from seven directors to nine) to increase diversity and build the skills of family members.
- Four committees have been established in the areas of audit, compensation and people, governance and nominating, and investment.

Field Fastener SupplyÂ
Type of Private Company Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: $100 million to $350 million
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
Field Fastener Supply is a global provider of inventory management and supply chain solutions for fasteners and other inventory items.
Governance highlights include:
- The board has helped refine the company’s acquisition strategy and criteria, resulting in four successful acquisitions since the board’s formation in 2015.
- Guidance was provided by the board in developing the company’s senior leadership succession plan over a two-year period, resulting in a successful transition in 2022.
- The board features a collaborative spirit, but stresses the importance of each member being free to bring opposing ideas to the table.
- Board leadership includes the splitting of the CEO and chair roles and three independent directors out of the seven-board-member team.

Griffith Foods
Type of Private Company Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: Over $1 billion
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
Griffith Foods sells customized ingredients (such as seasonings and sauces) and recipes to food companies.
Governance highlights include:
- The board features seven committees in areas such as well-being & fulfillment, climate action/environmental management and enterprise risk management.
- The board is very diverse, with two women, two people of color, one director from the LGBT community and one director from Spain.
- Formal board evaluation processes have been established, with a survey conducted every other year and informal evaluation performed more frequently.
- Financial performance has improved in each of the past 15 years.

Lodge Cast Iron
Type of Private Company Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: $100 million to $350 million
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
Lodge Cast Iron is a manufacturer of heirloom-quality cookware and accessories.
Governance highlights include:
- The board has established four committees in compensation, nominating, governance, and audit and finance.
- They conduct annual evaluations of board members and hold them to three-year terms.
- Best-in-class governance procedures are followed to ensure transparency of decision-making to shareholders, including on the selection of new board members.
- The board features three independent directors and a nonfamily CEO.

Merritt Aluminum Products
Type of Private Company Board: Advisory
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: Less than $100 million
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
Merritt Aluminum Products is a manufacturer of aluminum accessories serving the heavy duty and light truck transportation industry.
Governance highlights include:
- The board helped increase profitability by challenging the company’s longstanding use of an independent sales representative program instead of having direct relationships with customers.
- With the board’s encouragement, the company developed a culture of continuous improvement.
- The board drove the company to change its pricing structure, helping them navigate the notification of customers that the company would change prices more frequently. This allowed them to be more aggressive with pricing in a volatile market for metal.
- Their monthly board meetings allow for a large and valuable amount of communication and feedback.

Neuco Inc.
Type of Private Company Board: Advisory
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: $100 million to $350 million
Company Ownership: Family-Owned
Neuco Inc. is a master distributor of heating/ventilation/air conditioning/refrigeration controls, providing replacement parts to wholesale distributors in the U.S. and Canada.
Governance highlights include:
- The board has created a charter that defines the role of the board with clearly established terms.
- They have quarterly board meetings with separate sessions for the independent directors and board dinners the night before meetings.
- There are annual evaluations of the board as a whole, which are discussed and analyzed with the assistance of a third-party consultant.
- Board materials are sent a week in advance of meetings, allowing discussions to focus on strategy rather than reviews of reports.