Connecting Succession and Estate Planning to Sustain Family Wealth–Mind the Gap!

Join family business owner Taylor Fernley, Wilmington Trust’s Frederick M. Hopkins and Family Business Magazine’s Barbara Spector for a robust discussion on how successful individuals coordinate their business succession plan with their personal estate plan to protect their investment in their business and sustain their family's wealth Mind the Gap! Connecting Succession and Estate Planning to Sustain Family Wealth

Taylor Fernley

President & CEO, Fernley & Fernley, Inc.

Taylor Fernley is president & CEO of Fernley & Fernley, Inc. and has been involved in daily operations for over three decades. Founded in 1886, Fernley & Fernley is a fifth-generation family firm that represents the distinct needs of membership-based professional societies and trade associations.

Taylor has served in numerous leadership roles throughout his career in the association and hospitality industry, at organizations including the American Society of Association Executives, the AMC Institute, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and Associated Luxury Hotels International, where he is now chairman of the Association Executive Council.

He has also served in leadership positions at a wide array of civic and community organizations, including the Mid-Atlantic Employers Association, the National Liberty Museum, the Foundation Board of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church and the Union League Business Leadership Forum.

Recent awards have included the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Family Business of the Year award and Top 100 Best Run Companies in Philadelphia Award by SmartCEO Magazine.

Taylor is a graduate of Randolph Macon College in Ashland, VA. He and his wife, Pamela Moyer Fernley, have two grown children.

Frederick M. Hopkins

Director, Wilmington Trust’s Maryland Family Wealth Group

Frederick M. Hopkins is the Director of Wilmington Trust's Maryland Family Wealth Group. He joined Wilmington Trust three years ago with nearly 15 years of experience with trust and estate work. Most recently he was a principal at Legg Mason Investment Counsel in Baltimore, where he served as a senior advisor to the firm's high net worth clients. Hopkins earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law, and his bachelor's degree in Economics from Williams College. He is a CFA charterholder, and a member of the Baltimore CFA Society, the Maryland Bar Association, and the Baltimore Estate Planning Council.

Barbara Spector

Editor-in-Chief, Family Business Magazine

Barbara Spector, who grew up in a family business, has served on the editorial staff of Family Business since 2000. She has been editor-in-chief since 2004 and became associate publisher in 2011. She has compiled and edited seven volumes of the acclaimed Family Business Handbook series. Previously, she was the managing editor of Jewelers’ Circular Keystone, a trade magazine for the jewelry industry, which is primarily composed of family businesses. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.