Wednesday, November 1
7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. NHES sponsored: Boss Lift – Refueling Flight Mission
Boss Lift is a Department of Defense program designed to show our community leaders and employers, a day in the life of a reservist while on duty. On this morning, you will receive mission briefings, breakfast, NHES overview and of course, participate in your mission.
“I had the opportunity to go on Boss Lift at Pease Air Force base where we refueled F-15 fighters in midair. It was an amazing experience to see six F-15 fighters approach from the distance and hook onto our plane. We were close enough to the fighters to be able to hand signal to them at 30,000 feet.” –Gordie Spater, CEO, Kurgo
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Check In at Wentworth by the Sea
588 Wentworth Road
New Castle, NH 03854
5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception at Wentworth by the Sea Marina Site:
6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Dinner in the Solarium Ballroom at the Wentworth Main Hotel
8:30 – 11:00 p.m. Casino Night!
We’re bringing some fast paced excitement to the annual retreat this year! Nothing beats the sights and sounds of a casino. You’ll have the opportunity to try your luck in Roulette, Craps, Blackjack & Texas Hold ‘em. Funny money will be provided.
Thursday, November 2
7:30 – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast – All American Buffet
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Opening Remarks
Settle in for a day of stimulating content and conversation as we introduce our agenda and review objectives for our annual retreat
Speaker: Melissa Raffoni, Founder and CEO, The Raffoni Group
8:30 – 9:30 a.m. CEO Job #1: Setting Direction
Listen to three CEOs tell their stories of how they came up with their business ideas, plans and directional themes. Note how they are different. Figure out what they have in common.
Our Panelists:
Mark Goldstein, CEO, 2020 Spaces
Mark Kasdorf, CEO, Intrepid Pursuits
Katherine Kostereva, CEO, Bpm’online
Facilitator: Christa Benjamin, Program Coordinator, The Raffoni Group
9:30 – 9:45 a.m. Networking Break
9:45 – 10:45 a.m. CEO Job #2: Building a Great C-Suite Team
Take a step back and grade your C-suite. What grade would give them? Listen to CEOs who we consider to have A-teams as well as expert C-suite recruiters talk about where CEOs get stuck and how great CEOs get unstuck in pursuing the A-team goal.
Our Panelist CEOs:
Chuck Cohen, CEO, Benco Dental
Mark Hatton, Facilitator, The Raffoni Group (formerly CEO, Core Security)
Our Panelist Partners:
Jim Ward, President, The Ward Group
Jeff DiSandro, Partner, Howard Fischer Associates
Facilitators: Melissa Raffoni, Founder & CEO, The Raffoni Group
Erin Mullen, Director of Operations and Client Development, The Raffoni Group
10:45 – 11:00 a.m. Networking Break with Snack
11:00 – 12:30 p.m. CEO Job #3: Allocate Resources
You’ve got your idea, you’ve built your team, now you’re faced with the responsibility of growing your business to successfully increase enterprise value. There are various scenarios for capitalizing your business. What are some of the advantages to each option? What are some of the disadvantages? These CEOs and TRG Partners have deep experience in all areas.
Our Panelist CEOs:
Peter Bransfield, CEO, RYPOS
David Cohen, CEO, Firestone Financial
Mike Dreese, CEO, Newbury Comics
Ken Lazarus, CEO, Go Scout
Our Panelist Partners:
Joe Volman, Partner, Burns & Levinson
Murray Beach, President, Business Consulting Group
Doug Brockway, Managing Director, Stephens, Inc.
Facilitator: Mark Hatton, The Raffoni Group
12:30 – 1:45 p.m. Lunch and CEO of the Year Awards
1:45 – 2:45 p.m. CEO Job #4: Adjust to Market Shifts
Technology, M & A and disruptive players like Amazon and Uber are changing the playing field for many businesses. All CEOs are questioning how they should go to market. Some themes that are top of mind are branding, investments, the shift of CIOs to CMOs. Listen to our astute panel, all go to market experts, talk about what they and their clients are facing as we all rethink our go to market strategy.
Our Panelist CEOs:
Ted Nelson, CEO, Mechanica
Peter Prodromou, CEO, Racepoint Global
Chris Pisapia, CEO, Verndale
Our Panelist Partner:
Trish Bertuzzi, President, The Bridge Group
Facilitator: Brian O’Donnell, Facilitator, The Raffoni Group
*3:00 – 3:30 p.m. CEO Job #5: Create and Enable a Fantastic Culture
Update from last year: Employee engagement, when done well, can positively impact culture, talent development, customer satisfaction and overall business performance. How do you define it? What trends are you seeing? What are you doing that is working?
Round table discussion: How far do you take employee engagement?
Facilitator: Melissa Raffoni, The Raffoni Group
3:30 – 4:00 p.m. Retreat Group Photo
4:00 – 4:45 p.m. CEO Job #6: Mature Gracefully - Fishbowl
We will look in the “fishbowl” while our selected CEOs discuss how they achieved their personal goal of financial stability. They’ll ‘privately’ talk about what they used to guide and drive them, how they got to where they are today and what sacrifices they made. We’ll hear about when enough is enough and how they built their exits.
Our Fish:
Brian O’Donnell, Facilitator, The Raffoni Group (formerly CEO of AW Chesterton)
Mike Dreese, CEO, Newbury Comics
Joe Mullen, Chairman, Bottomline Technologies (formerly CEO of Bottomline Technologies)
Facilitator: Melissa Raffoni, The Raffoni Group
4:45 – 5:15 p.m. Check Out - Closing Remarks, Evaluations and Partner Input
Attendees will end the day with a quick check out on the retreat: Insights they gained, action items they will implement, and who they want to connect with in the network, post retreat. We will collect your feedback on how we can continue to make our Annual CEO Retreat the best investment of your time.
