Carol Lavin Bernick, Chief Executive Officer, Polished Nickel Capital Management
Caro,
You’ve helped grow Family Business Magazine into a preeminent resource for family businesses across the country with forward-thinking solutions on everything from generational transitions and succession planning to governance, ownership and wealth management. Drawing on your own personal and professional experiences, you’ve shown by example how to navigate the careful balancing act often required between business management and family dynamics, and you did so with wisdom and an authentic heart. And that’s largely what sets Family Business Magazine apart from others.
Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement — I’m so excited for you and for all that comes next!
Anne Eiting Klamar, Chair of the Board, Midmark Corporation
Caro, I met you at my first Transitions Spring, unsure about attending and not well educated on family governance or family business. You introduced yourself to me immediately and made me feel right at home. I still remember your kindness in doing so. Later, when you were speaking to open the meeting, I realized that you had a significant leadership role and was humbled by your outreach to me as a newbie. Thank you and all my best for the future!
Lansing Crane, Former CEO, Crane & Company
As a sixth-generation member of my family, I had the privilege of leading our 200-plus-year-old family business into the 21st century. Caro Rock helped us get there successfully. Her vision and leadership led to an array of essential resources for families and family businesses, including ours, to learn together how to succeed and endure in our dynamic and challenging world. Thank you, Caro, for helping so many of us learn how to do right by our legacies.
Debbie Brown, Retired Board Chair, Laird Norton Company
Hi Caro,
Congratulations on your retirement! It’s been a true pleasure working with you and your team over the past few decades. I learned a great deal at the various Transitions conferences that you hosted, and I am forever grateful for the many introductions that you made for me to fellow family business colleagues. Your generosity in sharing your network opened many doors for me and helped broaden my connections with family business leaders from across the country. While you will be greatly missed, I’m excited for all that lies ahead for you in what I am sure will be another exciting chapter — may it be filled with joy, adventure and some well-earned relaxation.
F. Douglas Raymond, Partner, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Caro hired me, wet behind the ears and right out of college, for my first job, which was at the Fidelity Bank. A few years later, I was thrilled to work with her and her family as their lawyer in a series of transformative transactions for MLR Media, including the purchase and then eventual sale of the regional newspapers of which Caro was such an effective editor. Caro is a thoughtful, astute and innovative business leader and a dynamic presence at the organizations with which she has been involved. She has been a terrific and positive change agent in the family business space, and her legacy will be felt for many years across many family businesses and offices.
Howdy Holmes, Chairman of the Board & Cultural and Strategic Advisor, Chelsea Milling Company
Caro is a lady with impeccable values and vision. She understands the challenges that family businesses face. Always willing to help, she exists with a legacy of caring and purpose. Thank you, Caro.
David Shaw, Publishing Director, MLR Media
Caro:
It has been both a personal and professional pleasure to work for you over the past 20 years. You have always inspired me with your creativity and your can-do attitude. I will deeply miss working shoulder-to-shoulder with you to serve multigenerational family businesses, but I know that you’ll still have great ideas for us in the years ahead.
Judy Green, President, Family Firm Institute (FFI)
Congratulations to Caro, a long-time collaborator with FFI and a major figure in the field of family enterprise publishing. The recipient of the 2018 FFI Barbara Hollander Award, Caro exemplifies all that this award stands for: civic responsibility, belief in the human capacity for change and love of education, especially in the study and understanding of family systems and dynamics.
Bryant Seaman, Managing Director and Head of Private Asset Advisory, Bessemer Trust
Dear Caro,
Congratulations on your remarkable career and impressive accomplishments as the publisher of Family Business Magazine! Thanks to your leadership, family business owners have had a guiding light as they were building and sustaining their family business legacies. On a personal note, it has been a great pleasure working with you for many years on the influential Transitions conferences — we miss you already!
Barbara Spector, Former Editor-in-Chief, Family Business Magazine
Caro is a friend to family business owners worldwide and an enthusiastic champion of their products and services. Through her stewardship of Family Business Magazine, she has been instrumental in building a community of future-oriented business owners.
Jill Shipley, Managing Director and Head of Governance and Education, AlTi Tiedemann Global
Caro, congratulations on your retirement! You were a true pioneer who recognized the immense power of community, creating an essential space for family business peers to learn with and by one another. Having had the joy of involvement with Family Business Magazine and participating in Transitions conferences for decades, it’s been incredible to witness the vision you brought to life and the growth it inspired in the industry. Thank you for your leadership and generosity. I wish you all the very best in your next exciting chapter!
Andrew Pitcairn, Family Council Chair & Director, Pitcairn
I have been fortunate to know Caro and the Rock family for over 15 years, and am honored to call them friends. Caro, your dedication, perseverance and, most of all, your passion for helping family businesses is tremendous. Your stewardship as publisher of Family Business Magazine, as well as your professional commitment to helping other family enterprises grow and thrive, have had a lifelong impact on so many people across the country. On behalf of the Pitcairn family office, I want to wish you as much joy in retirement as you have instilled in all of us over the decades. Blessings.
Scott Chase, National Account Executive, MLR Media
What a whirlwind, that Caro! When I first joined the MLR Media team, lo, these 20-plus years ago, Caro shuttled me around to local Philly clients and prospects. “Wow, she knows everyone,” I thought. Our daytrips were a traveling roadshow, touting the magazine and building relationships, one customer at a time. Everything I needed to know to get started serving family businesses Caro taught me almost overnight.
Peter Begalla, Conference Chairman, MLR Media
The ease and grace with which Caro would connect with family company leaders built the Transitions brand. Each attendee, sponsor and speaker was warmly received, and their story truly understood by Caro. Plus, she could wordsmith a panel title to perfection.
Phil Clemens, Retired Chairman, Clemens Family Corp.
Caro,
I remember our first meeting when you were beginning family business conferences — it was in Phoenix. We both were from the Philly area and both involved in family business. Your contribution to family businesses through the magazine and the conferences have had a profound impact on everyone that has read or attended them. Thank you for providing sage advice and counsel and being committed to making every family business the best they can be. They say the first 20 to 25 years are spent learning, the next 40 to 50 years spent earning and the rest are spent returning. Best wishes as you enter the “returning” phase of life.