Forum Overview

This event will take a deep dive into financial communications and innovation in corporate messaging, targeting key stakeholders, including investors, analysts, employees and directors at both public and private companies. Our keynote speakers will focus on the impact of social media and the 24/7 news cycle in the C-suite messaging strategy. Our panel will discuss how best to translate complex financial communications topics in a rapid-paced multi-media environment.

Watch the Webcast On-Demand

Forum Schedule

• 12:50 – 1:00 pmWelcome remarks (CommPRO / Equities / CME Group / Communications Week)
• 1:00– 1:30 pmFinancial Communications Keynote: Caleb Silver, VP of Content, Investopedia, interviewed by Doug Simon, President, DS Simon Media
• 1:30– 2:00 pmInnovation Keynote - Fireside chat with Gabriele Corcos, Chef, NYT Bestselling Author, James Beard Award Recipient and TV Personality of Cooking Channel hit show “The Tuscan Gun"
• 2:00– 3:00 pm
• Panel discussion moderated by Annie Massa, Bloomberg News Reporter.Panel Topic: How best to translate complex financial communications topics in a rapid-paced multi-media environment.Marc Drechsler, Partner, Financial Communications, KetchumMichael Becker, EVP, International Business Strategy, Business WireDeborah Belevan, Investor Relations Officer, Party City
• 3:00 – 3:30 pmFinancial Communications Keynote: Eli Broverman, Co-Founder & President, Betterment
• 3:30 – 3:45 pmClosing remarks / Key takeaways from the afternoon

Our Speakers

Michael Becker, Executive Vice President, International Business Strategy, Business Wire

Michael Becker was named Executive Vice President, International Business Strategy in January 2016. Previously, he had served as Senior Vice President, Financial Product Strategy. Prior to that he was Vice President, Global Disclosure and Financial Reporting Services.Michael oversees Business Wire's global disclosure services, partnerships within the broader financial community, and is responsible for identifying revenue-generating opportunities for Business Wire. He also possesses overall responsibility for Business Wire's Canadian and Hong Kong operations. Under Becker's guidance, Business Wire today offers a comprehensive suite of services for the investor relations community, including: sophisticated investor relations sites, webcasting, corporate social responsibility and venture capital press release distributions, XBRL services, and Business Wire's in-house EDGAR Desk, consistently ranking among the top SEC filers. Becker also worked closely with Business Wire's European team, setting up more than a dozen disclosure networks throughout the European Union, keyed to the January 2007 implementation of the EU's Transparency Obligations Directive [TOD].Michael was a member of the Board for CoreFiling, the Business Wire-DecisionSoft joint venture company formed to create XBRL solutions. He currently serves on the XBRL-U.S. Board of Directors, and is a board member and past-president of NIRI-New York, NIRI's largest chapter with some 400 members. Becker joined Business Wire in 1999 as Financial Information Services Specialist. Prior to joining the company he worked for Capital Link, Inc., where he created and implemented comprehensive media and investor relations programs for high profile clients, including SBF-Paris Bourse and the Athens Stock Exchange. 

Deborah Belevan, Investor Relations Officer, Party City Holdco Inc.

Deborah Belevan is the Vice President of Investor Relations at Party City.  She joined the company in early 2015 and participated in the company’s IPO.  Prior to this, Deborah was the Director of Investor Relations at Interactive Brokers since February 2008 and also served as an Institutional Sales Representative, targeting hedge fund and financial advisors.  Prior to this she headed the Accounting & Financial Analysis Practice at Gerson Lerman Group, a global marketplace for expertise, and earlier, she served as the Manager of Investor Relations for Meridian Gold, a gold producer with mining operations primarily in South America.  She holds an MBA, is a Certified Public Accountant and started her career at Ernst & Young.   

Eli Broverman, Co-Founder & President, Betterment

Eli Broverman is Co-Founder and President of Betterment. Eli co-founded Betterment with a vision that smarter technology will help people better plan for their financial needs and reach their goals. Through his work at Betterment, Eli aims to make personal finance one of the first fields to reach the age of automation. Eli oversees the company’s business operations, strategic initiatives, and legal matters. Eli is a frequent guest on CNBC, FOX, and Bloomberg TV, and regular speaker  at leading industry events.Prior to forming Betterment, Eli practiced law at the international law firm Proskauer Rose LLP, where he advised Fortune 500 companies and their senior management on securities, tax, and compensation matters. Mr. Broverman is a graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law.  

Gabriele Corcos, NYT Bestselling Author

Born in Florence, Italy, Gabriele Corcos was raised in the Olive Country of Fiesole. His grandmother and mother taught him everything he knows about Tuscan food and traditional farmers’ cuisine. He has an insatiable fascination with food, a love for organic ingredients, and foremost a determination to feed his wife and children in the healthiest and most natural way he knows…the Tuscan Way. Gabriele lived for 10 years in Los Angeles where he has spent some time in the kitchens of notable chefs such as Mark Peel of Campanile Restaurant and Gino Angelini of Osteria Angelini. He catered private events, cooked for many celebrities and for the year 2012 he was appointed as executive chef of the prestigious Montauk Yacht Club, the oldest Yacht Club in America. His menu features traditional farmers cuisine from his home country and a few Super Tuscan takes on American staple recipes. Gabriele recently opened his first eatery “The Tuscan Gun” in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. The shop offers super traditional Tuscan dishes and it’s open every day for breakfast and lunch; a few ticketed dinners are held monthly, featuring special menus and farm to table seasonal ingredients. He has already been chosen as a critic’s pic by NY Magazine’s dining section and made the #10 in the Power Rank list compiled by Grub Street.The hit Cooking Channel show, Extra Virgin, invites viewers into his family’s Brooklyn home, where Gabriele and his wife, actress Debi Mazar, share their passion for food and each other.  She’s a modern girl from Queens, and he’s a food purist from the hills of Tuscany. With their two young daughters, they have a home life that is pleasantly chaotic and filled with only home cooked Tuscan meals. Gabriele and Deborah created, produced and hosted the James Beard Award Winning show “Extra Virgin” that airs domestically on the Cooking Channel and globally on the Food Network International platforms. The couple’s new TV show “Extra Virgin Americana” premiered on March 2^nd, 2016; filmed entirely in the US the new series features family travel, local foods and chefs, all seasoned with some Super Tuscan spice! Extra Virgin: recipes and love from our Tuscan Kitchen, was released on May 6^th 2014. It has been #1 on Amazon (Italian Food) for 6 months and in the top #10 ever since, also made the NYT Best Seller List in July 2015. Gabriele and Debi are currently working on their second cookbook that will be released Fall 2017 by Simon and Schuster. 

Marc Drechsler, Partner, Financial Communications, Ketchum

Marc is a partner at Ketchum and global head of financial communications based out of our New York office. He advises clients on event-driven communications issues including financial transactions and other material events, as well as long-term corporate positioning and investor relations programs.Spanning his career of more than two decades in the financial communications and services industries, Marc has advised hundreds of clients in Europe, North America and Asia counseling senior executives on some of their most critical, high stakes financial communications and corporate reputation issues.Prior to joining Ketchum, Marc was a director at Citigate Dewe Rogerson and a trader at Commerzbank in New York. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 

Annie Massa, Bloomberg News Reporter

I’m a journalist at Bloomberg News, covering equity market structure. My work has also appeared in Money Magazine, Time, Quartz, Narratively, TheStreet, Reuters TV (Paris) and The Poughkeepsie Journal.    

Caleb Silver, VP of Content, Investopedia

Caleb Silver is an award winning media executive with 20 years of experience in broadcast news, digital video programming, documentaries, live events and branded content. In 2014, he formed Frog Pond Productions, a New York based production and consulting company that produces and sells television and digital content for cable and broadcast networks, and consults with major media companies and investment firms.Prior to that he was the Director of Business News for CNN and worked for the network for ten years in a variety of executive and management roles. He was the Executive Producer for CNNMoney.com, where he helped launch the CNNMoney Video Network. He was also a Sr. Producer on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Silver began his business journalism career at Bloomberg News in 1997, where he worked as a senior television producer for 8 years. He is a graduate of NYU’s Carter Journalism Institute and Colgate University. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters. 

Doug Simon, President, D S Simon Media

Doug Simon is founder and CEO of award-winning media firm D S Simon. His firm pioneered Internet Media Tours and its unique approach to guiding clients, PRketing®, was awarded a trademark by the US patent office. He’s provided strategic counsel and executed campaigns for leading brands and non-profits including Pfizer, Fidelity, Lincoln Financial, Macy’s, HOOD, the Consumer Electronics Association, Whitney Museum of American Art and the American College of Physicians.Doug is an entertaining and informative speaker on communications topics. He’s been among the top ranked speakers at multiple conferences and spoken at the Impact Leadership 21 Global Summit, PRSA International, PR News, Bulldog Reporter, Software and Information Industry Association conferences, Women & Co and many others. He has provided expert testimony on communications issues during US Senate hearings and founded the award-winning video blog Vlogviews.com.Doug is frequently quoted in top media across platforms. Television appearances include Dateline NBC, PBS, Reuters, CNN, Fox News Live, First Business and WNBC. He’s appeared on NPR and been quoted in USA Today and on The Huffington Post in addition to numerous trade publications. Doug’s video commentary on the 2012 political conventions was picked up by the humor site Funny or Die. Doug is former VP of PRSA NY Chapter and he was a three-time president of the Publicity Club of New York. Doug began his broadcast career at NBC Sports, where he served as Talent Assistant to Bob Costas. His hobbies include performing stand-up comedy at New York’s top clubs and rooting for terrible sports teams including the Jets and Knicks while still remaining optimistic.