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Our History

CFC® was founded by Owen J. Roberts in 1961 and for almost 60 years has exclusively served large family owned private companies that seek to remain private. CFC® believes that large, successful family owned companies lay the foundation for the strength of our country. The philosophy of CFC® is that the best Ultimate Store of Value (USOV) is a major closed corporation that can compete successfully against world competition, that has outstanding, proven leadership and has postured itself not to be confiscated by the tax collector. Owen Roberts had almost 60 years of experience working with leaders of major family owned companies, and spent over 20,000 hours working with CEOs in 72 industry groups nationwide. Capital Formation Counselors, Inc.® stands ready to serve you. You can trust that your communications with CFC® will be totally and completely confidential.

CFC® has a continuing commitment to our

corporate purpose written in 1964:

“We shall seek out those substantial pools of private capital controlled by people of character and we shall, with all our strength and skill, isolate them as best we can from the ravages of creeping socialism, confiscatory taxes, inflation, fiscal irresponsibility and moral decay.”

1961

Capital Formation Counselors, Inc.® incorporated in the state of Florida

1971

CFC® moves into new headquarters in Belleair Bluffs, Florida

1981

Owen attends a Franz Pick seminar in New York City. Pick was an international currency analyst and was paymaster for the European and Czechoslovakian underground during WWII. Pick died in 1985.

1983

Owen named Chairman of the Princeton Economics Department Advisory Council.

1986

Owen meets Newt Gingrich at Anton’s Loyal Opposition restaurant in Washington, D.C. One month later Newt visited CFC® for the first of many times.

1988

Owen named to The Mennen Company’s Board of Directors.

1991

Owen named to the Advisory Board of the Center for Economic Policy Studies at Princeton.

1991

Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1900 – 1993) visits Capitol Hill at the invitation of Newt Gingrich and arranged by CFC®. Dr. Deming was an American engineer and statistician who helped Japan after WWII with the Japanese post-war economic miracle when that country rose from the ashes of war to become the second largest economy in the world.

1991

Dr. Deming’s first of several visits to CFC® with Newt Gingrich to discuss how to apply Deming’s principles for productivity and quality to the federal government.

1994

Congressman Newt Gingrich visits CFC® to generate ideas for the Republican Party to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The multi-day meeting concludes with the drafting of the “Contract with America.”

1994

Owen named to Jockey International, Inc.’s Board of Directors.

1998

The Rev Fr. Robert Sirico and Kris Alan Mauren, co-founders of the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, MI, visit CFC® to strategize the development of this new think tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society.

2000

Owen named to The Poynter Institute’s Board of Trustees. The Poynter Institute, a distinguished non-profit school for journalism, is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper.

2000

Dr. Norman Borlaug visits CFC®. In 1970 Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his advances in agricultural crop-yield, for which he is credited for saving over one billion lives worldwide from starvation. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006.

2002
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First CFC® Position Paper sent to clients.

2011

CFC® celebrates its 50th corporate anniversary.

2012

Owen briefs CIA economic analysts at the invitation of CIA Director David Petraeus.

2017

Political strategist, author and presidential campaign manager, Joseph Gaylord is the guest speaker in CFC®'s first webinar.