A bright new start

Making good on our promise to bring you something extra special for this launch issue of Campden FB we've pulled out all the stops. As Families in Business, we brought you incisive interviews with some of the top names in family business. George Vanderbilt, Christof Bosch, Bill Ford, Andrea Illy, JW Marriot Jr and Giuseppe Lavazza are just some of the names that have graced our pages. We've even thrown in a few famous family celebrities over the years, like Paul Newman and Playboy heiress Christie Hefner.

So for this launch issue, editor Marc Smith brings you a world exclusive with Pamela Mars-Wright – great-granddaughter of the founder of Mars and ex-chair of the board. The family hasn't granted an interview for 30 years and we're privileged to have her in our pages. Our front cover artist Matthew Laznicka and art director Teresa Rosato did an incredible job introducing this unique interview with a riff of Magritte's Son of Man. Of the original work – dealing with the mystique of the hidden – Magritte said: "There's an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present." The Mars name is ubiquitous yet little is known about the honoured dynasty behind it. I'd like to personally thank Mrs Mars-Wright for granting Campden FB an interview and sharing her views.

We don't think the Mars family is selling their family business anytime soon, but for those of you on the verge, or at least weighing up the pros and cons, this issue's Finance focus is not to be missed. Over 120 family firms contributed to our research and we have some of the world's best commentators providing you with insight for this important step. We hope you enjoy this first edition of Campden FB.