David Bestler, Executive Vice President & CFO for Hubbard Radio, and Brett Fennell, CFO and Executive Vice President of National Ad Platforms for Cox Media Group (CMG), will Co-Chair the MFM 2017 CFO Summit, Media Financial Management Association announced today.
Scheduled for March 2-3, at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Beach Resort, MFM’s annual CFO Summit provides the media industry’s senior finance executives an exclusive forum for an in-person exchange of ideas and discussions.
“Now in its eleventh year, MFM’s annual CFO Summit provides the industry’s senior finance executives the chance to engage in a no-holds-barred dialogue focused on the most important issues facing CFOs and media executives who deal directly with financial management processes,” said Mary M. Collins, President and CEO of MFM and its BCCA subsidiary. “We are very fortunate to have Dave Bestler, who brought a background in sales, operations and finance to his role as CFO at Hubbard, return as Co-Chair of this year’s Summit.”
Added Collins, “Dave will be joined by Brett Fennell, currently CFO of Cox Media Group, who will be adding the title of EVP of National Ad Platforms in January. We couldn’t ask for two more ‘in the know’ executives to help us lead an agenda focused on the needs of the industry’s financial leadership.”
David Bestler has served as Executive Vice President & CFO for Hubbard Radio since 2011, in conjunction with the company’s acquisition of radio stations from Bonneville International, which helped to lift its current count to 41 stations in seven states. Bestler joined Hubbard Radio in 2004 as Vice President and General Manager for its KSTP- FM station in Minneapolis.
Recognized twice by Radio Ink magazine in its “Best Manager in Radio in a Large Market” list, Bestler’s career in radio began in 1989 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market as Assistant Controller at WCCO; he later served as Market Controller for WCCO-TV, WCCO-AM, and WLTE-FM. Bestler has also held positions on the sales side of the business, including National Sales Manager for Hubbard’s WCCO-AM and WLTE-FM stations, General Sales Manager at WXPT-FM in Minneapolis and as Director of Sales for Cox Radio’s Louisville KY stations.
Launched by Stanley E. Hubbard, Hubbard Broadcasting operates radio stations and television stations in nine states. In addition to radio and television stations, other Hubbard Broadcasting companies include the satellite and cable networks ReelzChannel and Ovation TV, F&F Productions, 2060 Digital and the Hubbard Radio Network, which distributes talk radio content to subscribing stations in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Brett Fennell, who has served as Senior Vice President and CFO of Cox Media Group since 2014, is responsible for all finance, strategy, engineering and legal functions for CMG’s broadcasting, publishing and digital companies. Effective January 1, 2017, he will take on the added responsibility of serving as CMG’s Executive VP of National Ad Platforms, which includes its CoxReps, Gamut and Videa operations. Cox Media Group’s operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, more than 60 radio stations, six daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services.
Prior to his current position, Fennell was VP of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) at Manheim, a Cox Automotive company. While at Manheim, he built and provided vision for an FP&A organization that previously did not exist in Cox Enterprises’ second-largest operating division. His other Cox career highlights include Assistant Vice President of FP&A at Cox Enterprises, Director of Commercial Operations at Cox Communications, and Director of FP&A at Cox Communications. Before joining Cox, Fennell held financial management positions with Verizon Wireless and AirTouch Communications. He started his career at T. Rowe Price, in Baltimore, MD.
Additional information about the CFO Summit and an online registration form may be found on MFM’s website, at http://www.mediafinance.org/cfo-summit
About MFM and BCCA:
Media Financial Management Association (MFM) is the premiere resource for financial professionals for media industry education, networking, and information sharing throughout the U.S. and Canada. More information about MFM is available on its Web site: http://www.mediafinance.org and via its updates on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. Its BCCA subsidiary serves as the media industry’s credit association. BCCA’s revenue management services encompass a variety of credit reports on national and local media advertisers, including Media Whys, a credit report for media businesses which offers a credit score based on industry-specific aging combined with trade data from Experian or D+B. More information about BCCA is available at http://www.bccacredit.com as well as its updates on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.
