20/20 Vision: Blind Spots and Bright Spots in the Field of Family Enterprise

Prepared Exclusively for FFI Members

March 13, 2020

S

hining a Light on the Keynote presenters.

20/20 is traditionally used as an index to measure the acuity and sharpness of vision— “perfect vision.” We use surgery, glasses, contacts as corrective measures to bring our sight to as close to 20/20 as possible. We use phrases such as “seeing is believing” or “I’ll believe it when I see it,” and yet the famous magician, Harry Houdini, was able to fool the eyes into believing an elephant had disappeared.

In choosing 20/20 Vision as the theme of our 2020 FFI Global Conference in NYC, we want to consider the ways in which this metaphor might be used in our work with and research of families in business and families of wealth.

Introducing….these exciting keynote presentations for 2020 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

Opening Keynote
Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Jessica Genick, Tony nominated producer and 3rd generation family business member.

Jessica Genick is a Tony nominated producer of 10 Broadway shows including the current production, Come From Away. Daughter of the famed and prolific producer, Jerry Frankel, Jessica grew up in the business of theater. In addition to producing, Jessica creates and leads “Business of Broadway” workshops and specific curriculum for students of all ages and for private groups. Prior to her career as a producer, Jessica was a professional actor and received her BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University. Jessica then studied Drama Therapy at The New School and received her master’s degree in Drama Therapy from NYU. Jessica is also a Leadership Coach at Fordham University.

Closing Keynote
Friday, October 30, 2020

Niki Russ Federman, 4th generation Co-Owner of Russ & Daughters

Niki Russ Federman was pretty much born in a herring barrel, with a sharp knife in her hand and a penchant for caviar. Educated at Amherst College, Niki worked in a variety of professions — from the art world to international development — before realizing that her appetite was fulfilled by continuing her family’s 106-year-old culinary legacy at Russ & Daughters. Russ & Daughters is a New York culinary and cultural icon, known for the highest quality appetizing foods: smoked fish, caviar, bagels, bialys, babka, and other traditional baked goods.

The home of bagels and lox since 1914, Russ & Daughters has been continuously owned and operated by four generations of the Russ family. Today, along with her cousin Josh Russ Tupper, she is the 4th generation to own and run Russ & Daughters, Russ & Daughters Cafe, Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum, and Russ & Daughters Brooklyn. Niki appears frequently in a variety of media, including The New York Times, NPR, Food Network, The New Yorker, Martha Stewart, Travel Channel, and Vogue.

She is also one of the subjects of The Sturgeon Queens, a PBS documentary about Russ & Daughters. Niki is a board member of the Lower East Side Partnership and Chair of the Friends of the Educational Alliance. She is fluent in several languages, but alas, Yiddish is not one of them. Niki was named one of Crain’s New York Business’ “40 Under 40” and Eater’s “New Guard of Power in NYC Dining.”

SIDEBAR

Read the celebrated memoir: Russ & Daughters: The House That Herring Built by Niki’s father, Mark Russ Federman

The former owner/proprietor of the beloved appetizing store on Manhattan’s Lower East Side tells the delightful, mouthwatering story of an immigrant family’s journey from a pushcart in 1907 to “New York’s most hallowed shrine to the miracle of caviar, smoked salmon, ethereal herring, and silken chopped liver.”

READ NOW

View the complete program

Register for the conference

Book your hotel reservations at the Marriott Marquis Times Square

Previous Edition

The 2020 Nominating Committee welcomes suggestions from the FFI membership for possible nominees for consideration for Board of Director positions for four-year terms that begin following the Annual Meeting in New York in October 2020.