A Major Transition for RVBusiness & Woodall’s Magazines

ELKHART, Ind. – G&G Media Group LLC, the Elkhart, Ind.-based publisher of RVBusiness (RVB) and Woodall’s Campground Magazine (WCM), changed hands on Friday (Feb. 17) when co-owners Sherm Goldenberg and Gregg Fore sold their respective interests in the industry-leading trade journals to RVB Executive Editor Rick Kessler and former Statistical Surveys Inc. General Manager Scott Stropkai.

As a result, Kessler, a former minority owner and 9-year employee of G&G, has assumed from Goldenberg the publisher’s title while Stropkai, who’s worked with the RV and manufactured housing industries for 16 years as part of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Stat Surveys – now part of Trader Interactive – succeeds Fore’s business-side duties as chief operating officer.

“Some things just take their own natural course, and that’s exactly what’s happening here,” said Goldenberg, who first worked for RVBusiness in 1985 before acquiring both titles in partnership with the late Beverly Gardner in 2011 from Affinity Group Inc. (AGI) – the former owner of Camping World Inc. – and moving them from Southern California to the Midwest RV-building hub of Elkhart.

“It’s been a great ride, all things considered, for a magazine title that’s always seemed to have a commercial and social life of its own and an impeccable reputation within the North American RV industry,” added Goldenberg, now RVB’s senior editor, who will maintain a role in editorial, event planning and “Capitol Talk” videos with Kessler among other things.

Fore, for his part, plans to expand his charitable endeavors and pursue digital consulting initiatives, details of which will become public in the next few months.

“It’s a thing that happens in every business and industry where a company’s management and ownership looks to the next generation,” said Fore, who’s also well known for his previous career stops at Coachmen Industries Inc., Dicor Corp. and, since 2018, G&G Media. “I see that as just that, having built a really solid base at G&G in preparation for a transfer to people with high integrity and high energy who have a strong interest in seeing the business survive and thrive.”

Meanwhile, Kessler and Stropkai plan to retain RVB and WCM’s core national print coverage in mainstream RV and campground markets while developing a new focus on cutting edge digital formats, a goal in which they’ll be enlisting the support of RVB Editor Gary Gerard and WCM Editor Ben Quiggle along with national ad sales executives Ally Kollat and Wendy Thorne, Art Director Trina Nissley and Digital Media Coordinator Alex Burkett.

CFO Karen Goldenberg, in turn, is stepping away during the transition.

“Our core skill sets are evident in the depth and quality of our daily online news feeds for both publications,” said Kessler, a Michigan State University graduate and Detroit-area newspaper veteran. “And we’ll be working to stay as relevant and timely as possible going forward. But you can plan on us bringing some authentically new ideas and opportunities to the table and it shouldn’t take too long for us to go public with some of those plans as well.”

Stropkai, too, supports widening the scope of 51-year-old, bi-monthly RVBusiness as G&G’s staffalso works to maintain its event-planning edge with continued oversight of the annual RVBusiness Top 50 Dealer Awards and RV Industry Power Breakfast — the latest round of which is planned for the morning of Thursday, May 11, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart.

“RVBusiness has been the information staple of our industry for over 50 years and, likewise, Woodall’s Campground Magazine for many years as well,” said Stropkai, a graduate of West Virginia University. “I am thrilled to be able to add to what Sherman, Beverly, Rick, Gregg and the rest of the team at RVB and WCM has built. Rick has shared his vision with me on the next steps for the company and it blew me away. It will be something that boosts the potential media reach of the entire RV and campground industries.”

Kessler, likewise, hopes to enhance his role within the RV arena at every level while continuing to pursue his own personal interest as a third-generation RVer and to expand G&G’s horizons beyond a standard trade audience. “Without ignoring what we’ve built so far because it is the core of what we do and will remain so,” he added, “we are very much looking forward to paving new ground including more digital opportunities in both marketing and editorial formats.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/a-major-transition-for-rvbusiness-woodalls-magazines/