Laird Coatings Founder Ed Laird Hands Over Reigns to Next Generation

Laird Coatings Founder Ed Laird Details Transition to New Family Leadership After 50 Years, in New Video by Family Enterprise USA

Taking Advantage of Expiring Estate Tax, Gifting Laws, Coatings Founder Laird Discusses Estate Planning with Family Enterprise USA’s President Pat Soldano

With advantageous estate tax and gifting laws running out in 2025, Laird Coatings founder Ed Lairds decided the time was right to hand over company reins to his children.

In a new video hosted by Family Enterprise USA’s Pat Soldano, Laird details how after 50 years in business in Huntington Beach, Calif., and as a leading aviation and plastics coatings supplier, he decided to shift leadership and management of several companies to his son and daughter.

Planning and preparing family businesses for the next generation of leadership is not without some deep consideration, Laird says, but the stark realities of not making the change were facing him head on.

“If we didn’t make the change now, my children would have to sell the company after my passing, just to pay the taxes,” Laird says. “It been a wonderful experience making this change, if fast, and my children are performing wonderfully.”

Laird agrees there are many critical decisions family businesses face when looking at the next generation of leaders, and the delicate issue of bringing family members into the business is not easy.

Laird Coatings is a $30 million business with 50 employees, many of which have worked for the company since the beginning.

“Many of the workers I brought in twenty years ago are still working for us, and now I see their sons are working for us, too” Laird says of his multi-generational workers. “It’s great to have this kind of loyalty and longevity in our workforce.”

Laird Coatings grew with the burgeoning southern California aerospace and aviation industries, but it also felt the pain of the state’s tough environment regulations. As a result, he says, a large percentage of chemical manufacturing has “moved to other states, or to Mexico.” Those onerous regulations have brought him into local Orange County politics.

“The environmental rules need to be modified and our local congresspeople can be very helpful in making that happen,” Laird says. He and Laird Coatings are now active not only in politics, but in local charities like the Boy Scouts and other local county non-profit organizations.

“Family businesses like Laird Coatings have to grapple with leadership issues head on or face truly dire decisions, like selling the company just to pay government estate taxes,” said Soldano. “The best solution is to wisely begin estate planning now, train the next generation of leadership, and rest comfortably knowing you’ve planned safely for your business’s future.”

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