EP24 Two Families, One Roof: Ken and Bianca Barry's RGO Edmonton

What does a family business look like when the family didn't actually start the company? In Episode 24 of ABFI Table Talk, host Matt Knight sits down with father-daughter duo Ken Barry and Bianca Barry of RGO Office Products Edmonton — a family business story that doesn't fit the usual mould. In 1996, Ken left a corporate role at Steelcase Canada in Toronto, moved his young family to Edmonton on a handshake deal with RGO founder Ross Glen, and built the Edmonton branch from scratch. Nearly 30 years later, that operation has grown to 60 employees serving Northern Alberta across workplace, healthcare, education, and government. Bianca grew up running through RGO's hallways — playing receptionist, getting hired by her dad as a "sanitary engineer" — but deliberately built her career outside the business first, spending four years at Steelcase and POI in Toronto before the pandemic brought her home in early 2021. What makes this conversation especially rich is that the Barry family's first-to-second-generation transition is happening alongside a second-to-third-generation transition in Calgary, where Cathy Orr now leads RGO, and her daughter Sarah and niece Cassandra are stepping in. Two families, two different stages, one enterprise — and a founder, Ross Glen, who passed away just a year ago. Ken and Bianca dig into the impact of that loss, what it took for Bianca to earn credibility coming back as the boss's daughter, the future of work and the WorkBetterLab they helped launch in the Pendennis Building, and the small acts of intentional welcome — an envelope of childhood notes left on a desk, introductions to Edmonton's women business leaders — that show what next-gen onboarding can actually look like. For any family business leader considering partnerships, building credibility across generations, or navigating succession in real time, this episode offers a rare conversation between two generations early in their respective transitions. Learn more about ABFI at https://abfi.ca/, connect with Matt Knight at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or on LinkedIn at   / mattknight  . Learn more about RGO Office Products at https://rgo.ca/