Here’s the program real family owners created with your family in mind
Family Owners & Next Generation Leadership Conference
6: 30 p.m. Welcome opening reception and dinner
The Florentine in the JW Marriott, 151 West Adams St., Chicago
8:30 a.m. Successors Generation Leadership Discussion
This session affords a unique opportunity for the next generation of family media owners to share their concerns, their successes and their expectations as they prepare to lead their businesses. What’s said in this session stays in this session, offering an atmosphere of candor and also of support.
Facilitated by Zack Richner, Director, Richner Communications and Brad Waters, Publisher, Rome Sentinel.
8:30 a.m. Incumbent Generation Leadership Discussion
This session encourages confidential discussion exclusively for and among current family owners. The topics up for discussion are picked by the incumbent generation owners themselves, aided by a moderator who deeply understands the challenges facing family-owned newspapers as well as the strengths family ownership bring to a business.
10:45 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. He said/ She Said: Recapping our morning discussions
Everybody gets together to give the perspectives on the selected topics at the separate meetings.
Facilitated by our morning generational discussions moderators.
Noon: Lunch
1:00 p.m. Success with Succession Planning
There’s plenty of information out there on “succession planning” from the perspective of funding stock gifts via insurance, or tax and estate planning. This session and open discussion will focus on the issue from the standpoint of next generation and executive team presentation and the set of circumstances those present. Facilitating the discussion will be a veteran director of numerous businesses—including several family-owned news organizations that are Inland members. Among the panel members will be Bruce Werner, whose family owned Chicago-based Werner Ladders for multiple generations, before exiting over two successive transaction steps. He is a noted speaker on succession planning.
Facilitated by Mary Elworth, founder, VPoint Group with Bruce Werner, former owner, Werner Ladders and additional expert panelists from the Private Directors Association, representing a variety of family-owned companies across industries.
2:15 Break
2:30 Family Owners Profile: The Salt Lake Tribune Story
The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah’s largest newspaper, is embarking on a unique strategy to sustain itself in a difficult media environment. It has asked for, and received, IRS approval to create an endowed nonprofit foundation to support independent journalism in Utah. But it is also asking that the newspaper itself become a nonprofit “community asset,” with ownership transferred from businessman Paul Huntsman, who bought the paper in 2016, to a public board. In this session, Fraser Nelson, who will lead The Tribune’s community fundraising efforts, explains this unique strategy for a sustainable future.
With Fraser Nelson, vice president/business innovation, The Salt Lake Tribune
3:15 Break
3:30 p.m. Non-traditional funding for family owned newspapers
As publishers look for revenue streams that are alternatives to declining advertising, some surprising opportunities are emerging. For instance, the Knight Foundation has committed $300 million over the next five years to help strengthen journalism and research into news technology.
Jennifer Preston, the foundation’s vice president/journalism, will explain this and other non-traditional funding sources available to family owned newspapers.
Presented by Jennifer Preston, vice president/journalism, Knight Foundation
4:30 Adjourn
