Lessiter Media Inc. Acquires Cover Crop Innovators From Farmer and Consultant Steve Groff

I can't tell you the number of conversations I've had lately where someone recommends a podcast to me—The Weeds, The Moth, My Favorite Murder, Slate Political Gabfest. And the numbers back this up. According to Nielsen, the number of avid podcast fans has risen from 13 million in the fall of 2016 to 16 million in the same period of 2017 in the U.S.

"It was a fun, multi-channel, multi-touch campaign that we tied to both internal and external celebrations. Ads ran during the charity week in all our newsletters. It proved to be a positive campaign [inside BLR and with customers]. We even dedicated a BLR board room to our founder, Bob Brady."

Welcome New Members

Welcome New Members 

Four market-leading, SIPA member companies—BLR (Business and Legal Resources) and UCG-owned businesses DecisionHealth, Argosy and CCMI—have been merged and sold to Leeds Equity Partners, LLC. Leeds Equity created a new entity called Simplify Compliance Holdings, LLC to manage this new group. It will be led by Dan Oswald, the current CEO of BLR, and headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn.   Simplify Compliance represents the first investment for Leeds Equity Partners and will be a buy-and-build platform with an exclusive focus on the governance, risk and compliance market.   "We are excited to join the Leeds Equity team," said Oswald (pictured). "Leeds Equity's track record of providing support to leading businesses in the knowledge industries is unmatched, and we view our partnership with Leeds as a strategic asset of the company. We chose to work with Leeds Equity because of the depth of their experience and expertise, and we are confident that their resources ...

"UCG found out pretty quickly that the virtual cocktail reception—an oxymoron at best—was not the answer. Their belief that people need to meet in person at events large and small has already paid dividends." I wrote that almost seven years ago after listening to a talk by UCG co-founder Bruce Levenson.

"People will pay for customization," said Elizabeth Petersen (pictured), executive vice president, Health Care, at Business and Legal Resources (BLR). Because of new strides in data and tools and it brings in revenue, customization is becoming much more frequent today. Here are three examples of successful customization initiatives in the member/subscriber world: