Packers schedule rare afternoon shareholders meeting after start of training camp
GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers’ season-opening game in Brazil means an earlier start to training camp and a later time for the annual shareholders meeting.
The Packers will play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in São Paulo, Brazil, resulting in the first training camp practice at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 22. Normally, training camp would start later in the week after the annual shareholders meeting. This year’s business meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. that Monday in the Lambeau Field bowl.
The Packers are the only team in the NFL owned by fans. The organization has more than 539,000 shareholders owning about 5.2 million shares. Proxy materials will be sent to shareholders this month. The annual meeting consists of reports by President and CEO Mark Murphy and General Manager Brian Gutekunst, a financial report, and reports by various committee leaders. The Packers traditionally release financial details in the week before the meeting.
Last year, the team reported a record $610.3 million in revenue for the 2022-23 fiscal year. It reported profit from operations of $68.6 million and net income of $35.6 million. The year before, revenue was $579 million, profit from operations was $77.7 million, and net income was $61.6 million.
In 2023, the meeting was attend by 7,825 shareholders and their guests, with another 1,200 shareholders watching a livestream of the event. Over the years, normal attendance was 8,000 to 12,000 shareholders and guests. Record attendance was 18,707 in 1998.
Search for a new Packers’ president underway
It is possible, by the time of the shareholders meeting, that the Packers will have a successor to Murphy, who is scheduled to retire in 2025, when he turns 70, The search process is underway. The Packers have not indicated where in the process they are, but Murphy has said they would like to have someone in place for a transition period before his retirement.
The Packers said they are unlikely to identify candidates, although it is known that Ed Policy, the team’s chief operating officer, is among those interested in the job.
Bill Jartz, UWGB chancellor nominated for board of directors
Television news anchor Bill Jartz and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander are nominees for the board of directors.
Jartz, a news anchor for WBAY-TV, is a Clintonville native with more than 40 years broadcast experience. He also is the Packers’ public address announcer during home games. Alexander was named chancellor of the university in 2020, during which time enrollment increased 17.4%.
Leaving the 43-member board of directors will be vice president and lead director Susan Finco, Tom Cardella and Johnnie Gray. All will have reached mandatory retirement age. Finco leads the search committee looking for the new president.
Executive committee member Mike Simmer, retired CEO of BMO Harris Bank Green Bay, was proposed to succeed Finco as vice president and lead director. Simmer joined the board in 2005 and the executive committee in 2017. Executive committee member Karl Schmidt, president and CEO of Belmark Inc., who joined the board in 2017, was proposed to succeed Simmer as treasurer.
Michael Barber, retired chief diversity officer for General Electric, who was elected a director in 2021, was nominated to fill Finco’s spot on the seven-member executive committee.
Packers 5K run/walk with be Saturday before meeting
The 15th annual Packers 5K Run/Walk at Lambeau Field, presented by Bellin Health, is scheduled for 8 a.m. July 20 at Lambeau Field.
The family friendly run/walk route goes past Titletown and the Bellin Health Titletown Sports Medicine and Orthopedics clinic before going through Lambeau Field and around the football field. The finish line is the Packers’ “G” painted on turf in the parking lot.
Registration is $30 for adults and $20 for children age 12 and younger, and is available at packers.com/fans/packers-5k.
Money raised by the event will benefit the Volunteer Center of Brown County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Wisconsin and Preble High School Boys & Girls Cross Country Team.
Packers Family Night details will be released later
Details on Family Night have not been released. Traditionally, Family Night happens the second weekend of training camp.
Family Night is a full-blown Packers practice. It allows the team to practice on Lambeau Field with a game-like atmosphere: crowds cheering, gameday music, scoreboards in use and the like. Fireworks will end the event.
Source: Packers schedule rare afternoon shareholders meeting after start of training camp
