Date
Tuesday, January 15, 2008,

Time
7:30 am ET - 9:00 am ET

Location
UVa Darden School, Room 50
100 Darden Boulevard
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Media companies use the mantra “content is king” to state their sustainable competitive advantage: their ability to generate and monetize appealing news and information for target markets. Though that mantra is still a meaningful rallying cry for the industry, the changing landscape of content distribution has shifted consumer expectations and challenged long time business models.

Despite this turbulent time, Portico Publications is aggressively pursuing a growth strategy based on internal product development and acquisitions of media properties in new markets (Portico has entered two new markets in the past 3 years). The critical success factor in executing this strategy has been in recognizing that culture is king.

A defining culture has been key to the company’s internal growth strategy - embracing many of the fundamentals of traditional media companies (“content is king”) and advancing those fundamentals with an eye toward best practices - particularly in disparate markets. A defining culture has also been important on the front of acquisitions. In competing with larger firms looking to grow externally, Portico’s cultural story has been an advantage with sellers concerned about who they are selling to.

Michelle Prosser will moderate.

• Steve Delgado is the President and Group Publisher of Charlottesville based Portico Publications, Ltd. Portico publishes weekly newspapers in the southeast (C-Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Free Times in Columbia, SC and Metro Spirit in Augusta, GA) as well as other special publications. Delgado, who joined the Portico in 2002, is responsible for Portico’s operations as well as the ongoing growth strategy of the company.
• Delgado is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received his MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. While serving as Publisher of Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine in 2002, Delgado set Portico on a growth strategy focused on free weekly newspapers. That strategy led to the sale of the Blue Ridge Outdoors and the acquisition of the Free Times in Columbia, SC, and Metro Spirit in Augusta, GA.
• Prior to attending UVA’s Darden school, Delgado managed several business areas for a major retailer with corporate HQ in Philadelphia, including areas related to merchandising, supply chain management and information systems.
• Delgado is the President of the Board of Directors of Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia and remains an active member of Darden’s Charlottesville alumni chapter.