Diane is an Independent Board Director and has worked closely with private, private equity owned and family boards over the years, including Thrall Enterprises (Chair of the nominating and governance committee), Valco Industries, an ESOP Company (Chair, compensation committee)and Lodge Cast Iron (Chair, governance committee and compensation committee), She is recognized as a valued business partner known for her collaborative and coaching style. She has been instrumental in developing processes to improve board composition and initiate generational transitions to meet the future needs of the business and the family.
Diane has extensive corporate experience developing long term sustainable growth strategies for branded manufacturing companies in both consumer products and industrial goods. She is an expert in digital marketing, consumer insights and market driven innovation.
Diane’s board certifications include: Leadership Fellow with NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors), ESOP certification from the Private Company Directors Association as well as a founding member of EWOB (Extraordinary Women on Boards).
She is a CEO Coach, professional speaker, and has authored several publications on various topics including digital innovation, branding and leadership. Diane was recognized as one of the Directors to Watch 2025 (by the Private Company Directors Magazine) and she has been highlighted as 100 Exceptional Private Company Board Members 2025 (by BoardProspects).
Dustin Campbell is a seasoned middle-market executive with extensive experience as a CEO, board member, and private equity operating professional. A dyed-in-the-wool finance and operations professional at the outset of his career, Dustin has spent decades helping businesses navigate transformational growth, operational improvement, and numerous mergers and acquisitions – producing significant gains in revenue, profitability, employee engagement, and customer retention
That experience led him to an increasingly clear conclusion: while strategy, capital, and
operational rigor are essential to creating value, strong, intentional cultures and capable management teams are what translate those assets into outsized results.
Today, Dustin helps leaders build the cultural and management operating systems that translate strategy into what employees do every day – and what customers ultimately experience. His work combines the rigor of an operator with a deep interest in human and organizational systems, helping businesses develop high-performing teams, embed continuous improvement, and create the clarity and shared accountability required for
sustained growth.
Dustin earned his undergraduate degree from Indiana University Bloomington and his MBA
from Harvard Business School.
Michael is the Chair of our Private Client Services Department where he leads our group of over 30 lawyers and allied professionals. As a Partner in the firm’s Private Client Services Department, Michael regularly counsels clients on the far-reaching financial implications of estate planning, estate and trust administration, probate litigation, and business succession planning. Yet he is also a trained counselor with insight into the family dynamics these matters can effect. Known for his empathy and good humor, he helps clients take prudent action in the face of indecision, hopefully resolving contested issues before litigation. He is also a member of wiggin(x).
Michael’s estate planning practice includes assisting individuals and families in tax-efficient and practical estate and gift planning, including the preparation of wills, revocable living trusts, insurance trusts, and entities to own special family assets such as vacation homes and collections.
He guides fiduciaries and beneficiaries through estate settlement and trust administration matters. His estate and trust administration practice often dovetails with his probate litigation experience, where he advises clients in will and trust construction cases, contested accountings, fiduciary removal proceedings, payment of unpaid claims, and conservatorship and guardianship matters.
Michael also assists business owners with succession planning, by presenting to family groups on business/estate planning matters and by preparing business entities, shareholders’ agreements, buy-sell agreements, and grantor-retained annuity trusts. He often facilitates the sale or purchase of business assets.
Michael has recently:
Michael is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is a frequent speaker on trust and estate strategies at bar association and continuing education events. He is a member of the Probate and Estates Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association and a former Co-chair of the Probate and Estates Section of the Fairfield County Bar Association and the President of the Fairfield Chapter of the Exit Planning Exchange (CT XPX).
Michael received his J.D. magna cum laude from the Quinnipiac University School of Law, where he served as Executive Managing Editor of the Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal. At graduation, he was the recipient of the Academic Excellence Award, Superior Classroom Performance Award, and CATIC Foundation Award. He received numerous academic excellence awards during law school.
Michael received his B.A. in political science from the University of Richmond. He holds a M.Ed. focusing on college student personnel from the University of Maryland. A former Division I college baseball player, Michael coaches in the Fairfield American Little League and continues to play baseball and golf when possible. Michael lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife Melissa and three children.
Jim and his brother Bill purchased Field in 1990. As CEO, Jim focuses on Field’s long-term strategic plan and ensures that our partners LOVE Field. He is dedicated to enhancing our world-class culture to continue to create an environment that allows our team members to thrive and is a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Cora Flanagan is the Marketing and Public Relations Manager at JDog Brands, supporting franchise owners and developing marketing initiatives. With over five years of experience in the family business and a degree in Communications from Coastal Carolina University, she’s passionate about community and service, inspired by her proud military family background.
After starting his career in consulting with Coopers & Lybrand, Rich joined The Gund Company in 1992. Over the past 30 years, Rich has held a variety of manufacturing and administrative roles with the company and currently serves as its Chairman and Chief Operating Officer.
Most importantly, Rich is blessed to be married to Kathleen, his partner in all things. They have three adult children, Ellie, Marilyn and Krai. The opportunity to work with the wonderful people at The Gund Company continues to be one of the great joys in his life.
Why Statement
“To recognize and serve others so lives are transformed.”
Education
B.B.A. and M.B.A, University of Notre Dame
Employment
Coopers & Lybrand 1990 – 1992
Associate Consultant – Staff consultant working on operational improvement projects for Fortune 500 clients
The Gund Company, Inc. 1992 – Present
Account Manager – Sales role responsible for developing the generator insulation market
Shop Manager – Responsible for order fulfillment at the St. Louis plant
Operations Manager – Responsible for integrating acquisitions and order fulfillment across all company plants
Vice President, Operations – Responsible for integrating acquisitions and order fulfillment across all company plants and administrative functions
Executive Vice President, Administration – Responsible for the administrative functions of Accounting, Human Resources, Information Systems, and Quality
Executive Vice President, Operations – Responsible for all manufacturing and distribution facilities representing 11 plants in 4 countries
Chairman & Chief Operating Officer – Responsible for Board-level strategic initiatives primarily related to governance, acquisitions and leadership development
Professional
Board Service – Board Member for both privately held, for-profit companies as well as not-for-profit organizations
Public Speaking – Podcasts, keynote speeches, training sessions and virtual events on leadership, culture, people first, continuous improvement, and family business
Personal
Rich and Kathleen actively support a variety of non-profit organizations including:
Foster Parents (17 years) International Institute of St. Louis
St. Louis Tax Assistance Program American Red Cross
North Grand Neighborhood Services Trailnet
Ed Mills brings more than 20 years of Washington D.C. experience to his role as a managing director and Washington policy analyst. Joining Raymond James in 2017, Mills concentrates on the impact of Washington on Wall Street, with a specific focus on elections, trade, Wall Street reform, housing finance policy, taxation policy, and tech regulation. He is frequently consulted by policymakers and stakeholders, and his work has been featured extensively in media outlets, including Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, the BBC, Fox Business, and CNBC.
Prior to joining Raymond James, Mills spent more than seven years as an analyst and head of the Washington Policy Group at FBR & Co and nearly a decade on Capitol Hill. He worked in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, serving as a professional staff member for the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, a financial services policy advisor for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York, and a senior banking and finance policy advisor for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He holds a B.A. in political science from Boston College.
For the past 28 years, Richard has been a director of the consulting firm Stokes & Jolly Ltd, with offices in the US and the UK.
Richard has worked with organizations in 41 countries across a wide range of industries. His core client base includes professional and financial services firms, family-owned businesses and family offices, technology companies, and creative industries. His work spans external challenges—such as building more effective client and trusted-advisor relationships—and internal challenges, including strategy, leadership, culture, resilience, organizational change, and succession.
Recent assignments include:
· Serving as the first non-family director in the company’s 99-year history at a large third-generation consumer goods business, advising the two owning families on governance, leadership, and sustaining momentum across generations.
· Supporting the founder succession and CEO transition of London’s leading commercial property firm, including CEO selection and the retention and development of the entire senior leadership team.
· Partnering with the Executive Committee of the UK’s leading wealth management firm to develop senior leaders, clarify the behaviors required for the next phase of growth, and build capability in the next generation of leaders.
· Working with a private equity firm to provide management due diligence for potential investments and develop the leadership capabilities of emerging leaders involved in origination and board-level roles.
In addition, Richard Jolly is an Associate Clinical Professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he teaches leadership, power and politics, and organizational change. He joined Kellogg’s full-time faculty 5 years ago after a 22-year career at London Business School, where he was consistently one of the School’s highest-rated, most innovative, and award-winning faculty members.
In addition to his work at Kellogg and LBS, Richard has taught for Columbia Business School for 13 years and at more than 20 leading business schools worldwide. Across his academic career, he has taught core MBA courses in organizational behavior and leadership; electives on power, politics, interpersonal dynamics, and change; and flagship Executive Education programs for senior leaders.
Joe Weaver is the president of Raymond James Trust, a subsidiary of Raymond James Financial (NYSE-RJF). Joe came to Raymond James in 2011 after more than 20 years of banking and wealth management experience, most recently at Regions Financial as the private banking and wealth management executive for West Florida. He also served as managing director of U.S. Trust / Bank of America private wealth management in Tampa, where he led a team of advisors and specialists focused on developing relationships with high-net-worth individuals and families. Prior to moving to Tampa in 2006, Joe was the northeast sales executive for the premier banking and investment division at Bank of America. Joe’s responsibilities included managing, coaching and directing all affluent client management processes across the Northeast U.S.
Joe is a Florida native and received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas Christian University, where he was also the team captain of the men’s swim team. He is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, earned a Six Sigma Greenbelt certification for his work on improving the client experience at Bank of America, and maintains a Series 7 and Series 24 securities license. He also serves on the board of directors for Raymond James Trust, N.A., and on the Trust & Wealth Management Committee for the Florida Bankers Association.
Dr. Josh Baron is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a part of the Strategy Unit. In the MBA program, he teaches in the Required Core Strategy course as well as elective courses on Ownership and Leading a Family Business. He also teaches in several executive education programs, including Owner/President Management, Family Office Wealth Management, and Families in Business. He was a Faculty Cochair for Family Office Wealth Management. He was formerly an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, where he taught MBA courses on Family Business Management and Managing Conflict in Family Business.
Josh’s interests are in how to build businesses to last for the long-term, how to manage conflict, and how ownership affects company goals and strategies. He has a particular focus on family businesses. He has written extensively for Harvard Business Review and is co-author of their Family Business Handbook. He has also written for The Huffington Post, Trust & Estates Magazine, and Family Business Magazine, among others, and has been cited in The New York Times and Forbes. He is the author of a book about international relations, Great Power Peace and American Primacy: The Origins and Future of a New International Order.
Josh is a co-founder and Senior Advisor at BanyanGlobal, a leading advisor to family enterprises. For the last 15 years, he has worked closely with families who own operating companies, family foundations, and family offices together. He helps these families to define their purpose as owners and to establish the structures, strategies, and skills they need to accomplish their goals. Prior to Banyan, he worked at Bain & Company and the Bridgespan Group.
A graduate of The University of Pennsylvania, Josh received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Business and a BA in International Relations with Honors. He also holds a Masters with Distinction in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and a Masters and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.
When he is not teaching, researching, or advising, Josh and his wife Beth most enjoy spending time with their twins Eloise and Charlie, who in their endearing ways provide endless opportunities for developing fresh insights into family dynamics.
Lynn Clarke is a three-time CEO, a Board Chair and an Independent Board Director. She has extensive experience in board governance, having served on more than a dozen family and PE boards. In addition, Lynn is a Strategic Advisor & Mentor to Family Board Chairs for Vitamix and a Coca-Cola distributor. She also works with early-stage companies to help them get to the profit stage and exit.
Currently Lynn serves as the Lead Independent Director for Vollrath Manufacturing, the Nominating and Governance Chair of Basic American Foods, as an Independent Director for Kalsec Global Flavorings and, as of 2025, Just Born Confectionary, the PEEPS company.
Lynn’s industry experience spans CPG, beverage, food, food service, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics. As an executive at PepsiCo, Lynn gained functional expertise in corporate strategy, operations, manufacturing, brand strategy, marketing and sales. She was named The Private Company Director of the Year by the National Association of Corporate Directors in 2022. Lynn also serves as one of three independent judges for Deloitte’s Best Managed Private Company program and frequently speaks and writes on effective family business governance. She is a member of YPO Greenwich Gold and served as a chapter board member.
Ken Grider is a managing director with Raymond James Investment Banking, serving as the head of the Business Development Group. In this role, he manages the investment bank’s relationships with legal and accounting firms; venture, mezzanine and lower market private equity funds; and Raymond James’ more than 8,100 financial advisors.
Prior to joining Raymond James, Ken was a partner with Equitable Capital Management. Ken also spent 13 years working with a boutique corporate finance consulting firm (Tunstall Consulting), ultimately serving as the firm’s senior managing director.
Ken received his undergraduate degree in economics from Emory University and his MBA from Wake Forest University. He serves on the board of the ACG Tampa Bay Chapter, is the chairman of the Florida Venture Forum and is a board trustee of the Tampa Museum of Art.
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.