Agenda
Our legendary biennial business-and-broader discussion continues in 2025. That’ll be a big one! As always, we’ll address important issues of business strategy, growth, and exit (for our kind of leading closely-held companies, their owners and Boards) as well as the business of life. See agenda below.
Events & Venues
Thursday Evening Welcome Reception
DNDCo Saratoga HQ
(Franklin Square historic district in the heart of downtown Saratoga)
Friday Business Sessions
Gideon Putnam Hotel & Resort
(The grand dame of Saratoga hotels, in Saratoga Spa State Park)
Friday Evening Dinner
Saratoga Automobile Museum
(Saratoga Spa State Park)
Saturday Day at the Races
Saratoga Race Course
(Oldest organized sporting venue in the U.S.)
Conference Program
Thursday – August 14
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8:00am
Travel to Saratoga
3 hours from NYC and Boston, 30 minutes from Albany Airport, and a historic Victorian-small-town world-away from anywhere you’ve been.
4:00pm - 7:00pm
Welcome Reception & Registration in Franklin Square Historical District
Thursday Welcome Reception at DNDCo’s Saratoga Office in historic “Franklin Square.” We traditionally kickoff the Saratoga Weekend with a local, relaxed “welcome to town.” Find Franklin Square in the heart of Downtown Saratoga, just off Broadway. Follow your ears to music from our porch. Then follow our tour of the architecturally stunning mid-19th century buildings in the district (including our office) featuring influences from the Italian and French Renaissance along with some Greek revival style. There’ll be plenty of food, drink and pre-conference revelry, and our opening discussion on “Building a City,” with some of Saratoga’s most important leaders.
Friday – August 15
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8:00am
“Breakfast at
The Gideon”
Compare pre-session notes with other Campers over omelets, coffee, and the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, in the the “Arches Room” of the grand dame of Saratoga hotels, The Gideon Putnam. Named after the City’s “founding father” (a hotelier whose relatives were early settlers, clergymen and revolutionary war heroes), “The Gideon” is located in the heart of Saratoga Spa State Park.
8:45am
“Mr. Mayor”
Since the beginning of the Saratoga Weekend, Saratoga Spring’s Mayor (both sides of the aisle) have welcomed our guests to the City of Health, History and Horses. We’re honored and thankful to Saratoga’s new Mayor, the honorable John F. Safford, for upholding this tradition. Fmr Army Lieutenant (led SRU#4 Japan, a Top Secret-C Intelligence Task Force) and founder of Retco Inc.,, John played a pivotal role in another enterprise, TNTMororg, and its explosive growth, before turning his attention to real estate and city government. We welcome ‘Hizzoner’ as he shares his vision for Saratoga Springs.
9:00am
“Family Business. Family Office”
We all understand, intuitively, the notion of a Family Business (not a corner-candy-store; an institutional-quality enterprise owned and managed by multiple family members). A Family Office manages that family’s “stuff,” all under one roof, including assets, trusts, homes, philanthropy, etc. Some are large (think Bessemer of Saratoga’s own Phipp’s family), some are mid-sized (think the “Single Family Offices” of many corporate executives) and many are so-called Multi Family Offices. Hear from some of the smartest people we know in the family business and family office arena.
9:45am
“Leadership in Non-Profits”
What do NPR/WAMC, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Lincoln Center, Earth Day, Smithsonian Museums, etc. have in common? The need for great leadership. Not fill-the-board-with-a-bunch-of-donors leadership. True leadership. Strategic planning, risk-spotting, financial management and budgeting. As legendary “Effective Executive” author Peter Drucker defines it, “Effective leadership isn’t about making speeches or being liked; it’s defined by results (not attributes).” That said, it’s ok to be liked too. Learn “leadership” from the CEOs of some of our favorite national and Capital Region not-for-profits.
10:30am
Mid-Morning Break
10:45am
“Pushing Limits”
In “Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age,” award-winning journalist (Wall Street Journal) Gwendolyn (call her “Wendy”) Bounds tells the inspiring story of her unlikely midlife journey to master the daunting sport of obstacle course racing – a powerful, science-based account of the change possible at any age if we push limits. And, who better to pair our friend Wendy with than our friend, Sandy Wollman, Venture Capitalist… who swam the English Channel. Your Camp David host’s triathlon exploits can’t begin to compare to the push-the-limits attitudes of Wendy and Sandy — can’t wait for this discussion.
11:30am
“Planning, Process, and PE”
The holy trinity of business management is team/plan/execution. The right team creates the right plan, then executes on that plan. And, great execution can’t happen without great “process.” And, much of that can’t happen without the right financing along the way. Join us and a couple of the brightest young CEOs (of PE-backed companies) we know on team-building, strategic-planning, and process-the-processing to company value-creation-toward-exit.
12:15pm
“What do we do now?”
The Presidential Election of 2024 changed everything. So will the Mid-terms. As Robert Redford famously said in The Candidate, “What do we do now?” Join three super-senior, Washington insiders — and the many educated perspectives of the attendees of Camp David — in determining what’s next, what’s right, what’s wrong, and what to do about it. We intend to approach the discussion from both “right” and “left” perspectives — call it Camp David Crossfire. We’ll see where it goes. Don’t miss it.
1:00pm
Lunch
Kickoff your lunch-time break (we packed a lunch for you) with a few wrap-up and pre-dinner comments from host, David Deutsch.
1:30pm
Downtime
Enjoy a few hours of downtime in Saratoga Springs. Stroll Broadway, visit Congress Park (with one of the nation’s most beautiful restored wooden carousels), and pickup something sweet at Saratoga Candy Company.
Or, slightly out-of-town, check-out Saratoga Apple (where the Darrow family have been growing apples for 5 generations), or Saratoga Lake, or Saratoga National Historic Park (site of the Battle of Saratoga).
But, return to your hotel room in time to cleanup for this year’s Friday evening dinner program at the Saratoga Automobile Museum.
6:00pm
Dinner at the Saratoga Automobile Museum
We’re planning a really cool Friday dinner program at a really cool place: the Saratoga Automobile Museum in The Spa State Park. Located in the historic New York State “Bottling Plant,” the Museum chronicles the history, innovation and cultural impact of the automobile. For Camp David 25, the Museum is revving-up the horsepower with Classic Corvettes. Along with drinks, dinner and music, we’ll have a presentation and discussion on corporate culture with a talk by Darrin Jahnel, an award-winning leader who specializes in building special teams, and who, with his partners, also built a one-of-a-kind horseracing app — just in time for tomorrow’s Day at the Races (including the annual running of “The David N Deutsch & Company” and the 145th Alabama Stakes).
Evening
Out-and-About
Informal out-and-about in Saratoga with other guests. Checkout Morrissey’s at the Adelphi. Or, the bar-and-music scene on Caroline Street. Or, The Parting Glass (the oldest continuously run bar & restaurant in Saratoga, complete with Dart Room). “Last Call” in Saratoga was, historically, 4 a.m., but thanks (not thanks?) to a recent town resolution, it’s now 2 a.m. Get some rest before our Day at the Races.
Saturday – August 16
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Morning
Breakfast & Explore Saratoga
Sleep-in if you’d like. Breakfast on your own. Grab a bagel and coffee at Uncommon Grounds, or breakfast at Saratoga iconic Compton’s Diner, or spend the morning at Saratoga’s great Farmers Market (opens at 9 a.m.). You can walk (10-15 minutes) to the races from there.
Arrive at Saratoga Race Course by noon.
12:00pm
“Annual Running of
The Alabama Stakes and
The David N. Deutsch & Company”
The 145th running of The Alabama Stakes (the longest running stakes race for 3-yr-old fillies in the U.S.) at Saratoga Race Course and the Annual Running of The David N. Deutsch & Company. Our Day at the Races is The Saratoga Weekend’s end-cap. A great way to say hello again, and goodbye, to those you’ve met at Camp David. Super seats, clubhouse admission and David’s handicapping tips (he was a pari-mutuel clerk growing up in Saratoga): study the Daily Racing Form or pick the entry with most compelling name.
See you in the Winners Circle!!
Dress is racetrack casual (long pants preferred for clubhouse access).
5:00pm
Departure & Travel Home
Travel home after another memorable Saratoga Weekend.
