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CFO Publishing

 

2010 Stevie Award Winner

Company: CFO Publishing, New York, NY USA
Entry Submitted By: Rx2 Marketing Communications
Company Description: CFO Publishing provides tools for senior finance executives through — print, online, and through conferences and research
Nomination Category: Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Lifetime Achievement Award

Nomination Title: Julia Homer; executive vice president & chief content officer, CFO Publishing Group, founding editor of CFO magazine

Describe for the judges the nominated individual's lifetime of accomplishments (up to 500 words):

Julia Homer has made an indelible mark on business journalism. Twenty-
five years ago, she introduced to the business world a new magazine, one
devoted to exploring the world of finance from the unique perspective of
chief financial officers. She created the editorial and design concepts for
the premier issue of CFO magazine and played a crucial role in expanding
the CFO brand into conference and research divisions as well as print
editions for Europe, Asia, and China. She oversaw the launch of Treasury
& Risk Management magazine and, in 1999, the content development and
editorial strategy for CFO.com.

Today CFO magazine reaches over 400,000 financial executives.
CFO.com has a monthly unique audience of 380,000 users and delivers
over one million page views monthly. Under Julia’s editorial leadership, CFO
magazine and CFO.com have won literally hundreds of awards over the
years, including several Neal Awards and multiple Magazine of the Year
awards. CFO writers and editors are regularly asked to appear on national
television and radio news programs. The Duke University/CFO Magazine
Global Business Outlook Survey, a quarterly business confidence survey
Julia developed in cooperation with Duke University, is used by the Federal
Reserve to gauge economic sentiment. CFO's editorial reputation extends
to its conferences, which have been ranked among the Top 10 Most Valued
Podiums for C-suite executives in a Burson-Marsteller survey.

To ensure that CFO and CFO.com remain 'must-read' publications in the
world of corporate finance, this year Julia reorganized her editorial team
according to a beat structure. Instead of acting simply as writers for
magazine or web, journalists now write for both platforms, moderate
webcasts and conference panels, develop their own advisory boards, and
function as editors of their own websites. The beat structure has allowed
CFO's journalists to deepen their subject matter expertise, which is critical
for CFO's audience and creates a hedge against the aggregation
strategies of larger competitors. At a time when many publications were
cutting editorial staff, Julia championed the idea of adding a financial
analyst and benchmarking expert to the editorial team, giving CFO the
ability to produce data-driven finance stories not available elsewhere. She
encouraged her team to develop new products, including a “predictive
market” on CFO.com that used the collective wisdom of the audience to
make financial predictions. Under her leadership, the editorial team also
identified and developed audience-paid products including the Audit Fee
Report, which allows companies to benchmark audit fees. Deeply aware
that finance executives spend all day immersed in spreadsheets, Julia also
managed the development of a community web site devoted to Excel tips
for finance executives -- one of the few topics guaranteed to generate
community activity from the traditionally reticent finance audience.

In a year when many media companies failed, Julia’s leadership helped
CFO maintain and even strengthen its position. Print revenues were
maintained, while digital products saw a double-digit growth. CFO’s awards
in 2010 included a prestigious national journalism award from SABEW in its
15th annual "Best in Business Journalism" competition.

List the URLs (web addresses) of any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that you would like the judges to see that support your entry. IMPORTANT: List each URL on a separate line, begin each URL with http://, and enclose each URL in square brackets. For example, [http://www.yourcompany.com/pressrelease.html]:

http://www.cfo.com
http://www.cfo.com/benchmarks/fees/
http://www.cfo.com/pressreleases/pressrelease.cfm/14485007
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/finance-forum/na/speakers.html
http://www.cfosurvey.org/
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UP5QE9tn0sYJ:
paidcontent.org/article/419-the-economist-sells-stake-in-cfo-publishing-to-pe-
firm-seguin-partners/+%22JULIA+HOMER%22+CFO&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

http://business.wfu.edu/default.aspx?id=50

Provide a brief biography of the nominated individual (up to 100 words):

Julia Homer is the founding editor of CFO magazine, a 400,000-circulation
monthly national magazine written for senior executives with financial
responsibilities. Under her leadership, CFO has won numerous awards for
editorial and design, and has become the recognized leader in its niche. In
addition to reporting on current issues of substance to its readers, CFO
has conducted some of the original research used by large companies to
evaluate corporate performance. In recent years Ms. Homer has focused
on increasing brand awareness for CFO. She orchestrated a partnership
with Duke University to produce the Duke/CFO Magazine Business Outlook
Survey, which is covered each quarter by the Wall Street Journal, CNBC,
and other media outlets and watched closely by the Federal Reserve.