Gene Marks

As President Trump begins his second term, familiar challenges like tariffs, rising costs and ongoing labor shortages persist, alongside fresh opportunities and renewed momentum for business growth. New regulatory policies are reshaping the landscape, while tax reforms signal potential advantages for strategic, forward-thinking organizations. Higher interest rates are impacting financing and growth. Sticky inflation is hurting margins. And our growing national debt is creating long term challenges for our economy and for business leaders.

Meanwhile, AI continues its transformative role across industries, bringing both risks and unprecedented potential for efficiency and innovation. The “Silver Tsunami” has arrived, making succession planning more critical than ever as experienced leaders prepare to transition to the next generation.

What are some of the smartest and most experienced business leaders doing to drive growth, sustainability and profitability beyond 2025 amidst all of these challenges?

What changes are they making in their operations and cash management? How are they attracting and retaining talent?

What technologies are they investing in? How are they addressing both federal and local regulations that are impacting their businesses?

In this fast-paced, entertaining and highly valuable session, Gene will share real-world, practical strategies and tactics that smart leaders are using to navigate an uncertain economy, a shifting and often divisive political climate, and the complexities of technological and workplace decisions to position their companies for sustained growth and success in the face of change.

After Gene’s presentation, audience members will be able to:

• Track the economy effectively using lesser- known but impactful economic metrics based on real-life data;
• Stay informed on congressional initiatives that will directly affect your industry;
• Implement proven tactics to retain top employees and attract new talent, even during these times of tight labor;
• Leverage financing, market opportunities, and tax planning strategies to maximize profits and ensure sustainability;
• Apply the latest estate, wealth management, and succession planning strategies for long-term business success;
• Adapt to AI and emerging technologies with real- world examples of industry-specific tools transforming workforce productivity.

Whether you’re a financial person or not, this presentation is critical for your business. Why? Because taxes represent the biggest expense you have in your organization and personally. Minimizing your tax expense will free up capital to invest, hire and save. Knowing the tax breaks and incentives that you can use will help you defer the costs of bringing on great people and growing your business.

The 2017 tax reform legislation is coming to an end. Many of the provisions are expiring in 2025. Which means that the clock is ticking on more than a few deductions, credits and other benefits that can have a significant impact on your business. How do you plan for this now? What can you do before the end of 2025 to maximize your tax savings and minimize your tax expenses? What changes can be expected and how can you prepare?

Join author, columnist and CPA Gene Marks for a fast paced, entertaining but very detailed discussion of how tax reform will affect you, your company and your employees.

During this lively presentation Gene will cover the following topics:

• What provisions from the 2017 Tax Reform Act are expiring and what can be expected to continue
• The organizational structure that’s right for your business;
• New energy efficiency and vehicle tax credits to leverage in your business and personally;
• Moves to lower taxes on your compensation;
• Property and equipment investments that qualify for tax breaks;
• Special employee related credits to help reduce the costs of compensation and benefit plans, including healthcare;
• An update on tax rates, rules and strategies for your company’s retirement plans;
• Tax considerations when exiting your business;
• Key questions you should be asking your accountant.

The average age of the U.S. small business owner is about 53 years old, which means that many will be looking to transition from business owner to retirement in the years to come.

But what’s the best strategy for you? What are the considerations for passing your business down to family members? What options do you have for selling your company? How should you best prepare your company — and your finances — to best take advantage of today’s tax and business laws?

Join “The Succession Advisor” Columnist for Accounting Today and Certified Public Accountant Gene Marks for a fast paced, entertaining and informative discussion where you will better understand your best succession actions you should be taking that benefit yourself, your family and others connected to your business.

During this presentation, Gene will cover the following topics:

• How the 2017 tax reform will impact your business structuring and life insurance planning.
• The latest estate planning developments from the recent year that affect business owners like yourself.
• The key issues in transitioning a business to family members or key employees while providing for financial security.
• The most important retirement and estate tax considerations you should be taking into account to ensure that your income will be maximized for the years to come.

How will AI impact your business this year? In 5 years? Where should you be investing? What’s reality and what’s hype? You’ve read about ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Google Gemini, and other AI tools that will be changing the way we work, both in the short and longer term. As a business leader you want to leverage this technology to increase both productivity and profits. So what should you know now? Where should you be investing?

During this fast-moving, informative and entertaining presentation, Forbes technology columnist and consultant Gene Marks, CEO of The Marks Group, will share will share his thoughts on the biggest technology and AI trends that will affect your industry in the near and long term and help you make the right investment decisions.

After Gene’s presentation, audience members will be able to:

• Understand the latest AI advancements from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI and how they will impact business operations.
• Leverage AI agents to improve productivity and streamline workflows.
• Analyze real-world AI implementations by major companies and assess their potential applications.
• Develop strategies to build AI solutions within their own business, similar to larger corporations.
• Optimize back-office functions like HR, Accounting, and CRM by integrating AI-driven tools.
• Identify industry-specific AI use cases and upcoming innovations to stay ahead of trends.
• Prepare their business and workforce for AI adoption by implementing data management strategies and policies.

Currently a $1.5 trillion market, the cyber crime economy continues to grow. Is your business prepared with the security it needs to protect against a cyber attack? In 2024, the workforce is more virtual than ever, making cybersecurity a priority for every business in the years to come.

Join nationally recognized technology columnist for Forbes, best-selling author, and technology consultant Gene Marks for a fast paced, entertaining and data filled presentation where he will share with you advice, lessons and actions to position your company for security in the years to come.

During this lively presentation Gene will cover the following topics:

• A look at how cybersecurity has changed during the pandemic and why cyber attacks are increasingly on the rise.
• The biggest and latest threats in 2024 that business owners are facing in this new hybrid, virtual world such as ransomware, phishing/ SMiShing, Internet of Things, and reputation implications.
• How business owners can protect themselves, their business, and employees through training, security software, password management, multi- factor authentication, backups, VPN, managed services providers, and operating system upgrades.
• The importance of employee training: The biggest cause of data breaches and malware attacks is employee error. And the biggest reason why so many employees are making errors is because they’re not satisfactorily trained.
• The new and latest software technologies that your business can begin implementing and investing in today to ensure security for your entire business for the future.
• Workspace collaboration tools to migrate and manage all your business data in one secure place and more.

How Will AI Help You Close More Deals and Increase Revenue?

AI is transforming the way sales teams work—from prospecting and lead qualification to closing deals faster and automating time-consuming tasks. The question is: how does this impact sales and marketing professionals?

If you’re marketing, what are the latest AI-tools to help you create better brand awareness while generating and qualifying the best leads. If you’re a sales professional, how can these tools be used to maximize your productivity and reduce wasted time going after less-than-valuable prospects? And if you’re a marketing or sales manager, how can AI help you manage the effectiveness of your team?

During this fast-paced, engaging, and practical presentation, Forbes technology columnist and CRM consultant Gene Marks will break down the biggest AI trends impacting sales and marketing today and what sales professionals should do to leverage AI for more revenue, more efficiency, and more success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
After Gene’s presentation, sales and marketing teams will walk away with actionable AI strategies to:

• Find more qualified leads faster How AI-driven tools can help to identify high- potential prospects, personalize outreach, and automate follow-ups.
• Boost customer engagement & close rates When AI is best used to analyze customer interactions, suggest the best follow-up actions, and even draft persuasive responses that increase conversions.
• Build better processes How to take advantage of AI to build blueprints, workflows, automation, alerts and processes to handle the different types of opportunities that your business encounters.
• Automate repetitive sales tasks What AI-powered automation, chatbots, and virtual assistants can handle scheduling, data entry, and even initial outreach, freeing up more time for selling.
• Predict customer needs & buying behaviors Leveraging AI-driven analytics to anticipate when a prospect is ready to buy and what product or service they’re most likely to purchase.
• Optimize pricing & sales strategies Using AI-powered dynamic pricing and trend analysis to help you stay competitive while maximizing profits.
• Know the CRM leaders, and their add-ons Learning about the latest CRM platforms from Microsoft, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho and others, as well as the key add-ons and integrations that enhance their ability to engage with customers and ensure that no opportunity is missed.
• Stay ahead of industry trends See how leading companies are using AI to dominate sales and how you can replicate their success.