Family Business CEOs to Watch 2020

We are proud to announce Vertex President, CEO and Chairperson of the Board, David DeStefano, has been awarded Family Business Magazine’s CEO to Watch 2020. To win this award, a family business chief executive must have the talent to steer the business to growth and profitability while maintaining family engagement and harmony, ideally promoting good governance to help smooth the way. Family business CEOs in 2020 have had to emphasize resilience in communicating with a stakeholder group that includes family members not employed in the family company.

This year, business leaders in all sectors were tested as the COVID-19 pandemic challenged them to keep revenues coming in and circumvent supply chain disruption while taking measures to ensure the safety of employees and customers.

The exceptional CEOs recognized here include non-family executives, members of the founding family and married-ins. The family CEOs are members of the first through fifth generations. The non-family CEOs include long-tenured employees who worked their way up as well as those recruited from outside to be the next leader.

However they made their way to the C-suite, these chief executives clearly have earned the respect and admiration of the family business owners.