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Mar. 30, 2015 Source: Farm Journal Media news release Today, Top Producer Editor Jeanne Bernick announced her upcoming retirement from media after 20 years at Farm Journal Media and nearly six years leading content creation for the Top Producer franchise. Following in her footsteps and stepping into the prestigious role is Sara Schafer, an accomplished Top Producer team member. "I've enjoyed a great career at Farm Journal Media and loved leading Top Producer," noted Bernick. "Now, it is time to retire from media and make a personal change to pursue more diversified business experiences. I am delighted to pass the Top Producer leadership baton to Sara." In her distinguished career at Farm Journal Media, Bernick created authoritative coverage of a wide array of topics that literally touched every key aspect of agriculture. As an award-winning writer, she was named Writer of Merit for the American Ag Editors Association (AAEA), was a recipient of FOLIO awards and American Business Media Neal Awards and was a member of the Farm Journal Media team that won a Grand Neal Award. Bernick grew Top Producer magazine into a multimedia CEO brand that includes: print, digital, eNewsletters, two national awards contests (Top Producer of the Year and Tomorrow's Top Producer), social media and three national events. During her tenure, Top Producer Seminar doubled in size, and she created two other national events-Tomorrow's Top Producer and Executive Women in Agriculture. The Top Producer Executive Network, which Bernick helped create, is a professionally facilitated farmer peer network that has grown to over 150 members. She managed all content for the network, including its annual Signature event. "Jeanne has an unwavering commitment to service journalism and the American farmer," said Charlene Finck, Farm Journal Media Senior Vice President of Editorial and Content. "Her accomplishments at Top Producerr have been outstanding. She also played a valuable role in the professional development path that makes Sara poised and ready to follow in her footsteps." Schafer assumes content leadership for Top Producer at a time when the brand has tremendous momentum. She brings her deep roots in agriculture and adept multimedia experience to the role. A native of Jamestown, Mo., and former state FFA officer, she has a passion for service journalism. Since joining the company nearly eight years ago, Schafer has covered a broad range of topics pivotal to the success of American farmers. In addition to being an award-winning content producer, she has played several key roles at AgWeb, Farm Journal and Top Producer, including the first, transformative relaunch of AgWeb that turned the website into the industry's leading site for news, weather and markets. Schafer also drove the multimedia launch of the innovative Farm Journal Pulse, a national farmer poll established with Commodity Update to use mobile surveys to gather instant market intelligence. Working across all platforms at Farm Journal Media, Schafer spearheaded the Farm Journal Legacy Project expansion in 2014, established the Legacy Advisor Team and hosted the first Legacy Conference. Her leadership greatly increased the flow of succession planning information to farmers. At Top Producer, Schafer has served as the architect and host of the Tomorrow's Top Producer event for the past three years. She has also been responsible for the Tomorrow's Top Producer Horizon Award, which recognizes excellence for young farmers. Working with Bernick, she helped produce and host segments of Executive Women in Agriculture and Top Producer Seminar. "I'm honored to assume the reins from Jeanne," said Schafer in accepting the promotion. "Top Producer is poised to move to the next level, and I'm excited to put my ideas for accomplishing that into action. That will entail harnessing our multimedia capability, the talent across all of Farm Journal Media and the industry experts we're proud to have on the team." Tweet |
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