Stride is led by people who have lived the family business journey themselves, and who now help other families navigate it.

Jason Packer, Founder and CEO

Jason founded Stride after a career spent inside family business. He grew up in his family’s company and eventually became its CEO, leading Hill and Markes, a fourth generation distribution business, through a cultural transformation and a private equity sale at four times the industry average valuation. Today he advises families on succession, governance, and leadership. His training spans a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy now in progress, an MBA from American University, a bachelor’s degree in Policy Studies from Syracuse University, and family business certifications from the Family Firm Institute. A husband and father of four, he is based in the Albany area.

Corey Finkle, Chief Story Officer

Corey is Founder and CEO Jason Packer’s second cousin, and the two represent two branches of the same entrepreneurial family tree. Both trace back to their great-grandmother Bertha Finkle, who founded the family’s first company, Finkle Distributors — later run by Corey’s grandfather Leon and then by his father Mark alongside his uncle Dan. When the family sold that business a couple of decades ago, it was the mothership that made everything after it possible: the proceeds allowed Jason’s grandfather to buy Hill & Markes in 1947, launching the branch Jason grew up in and eventually led.

Corey brings that family storytelling instinct to Stride as Chief Story Officer. An accomplished creative director, writer, and producer with more than two decades of experience, he currently serves as Creative Studio Lead at Dassault Systèmes Simulia and has created work for brands and networks including Hasbro, Reebok, Sony, Boeing, the Mars Company, TLC, the Travel Channel, and National Geographic, with earlier roles at Schneider Electric, Fidelity Investments, and InQuest Technologies. A graduate of Northwestern University, he is based in the Providence, Rhode Island area.

Steward Generation Peer Group

This group is for the senior generation and current owners, the leaders carrying the weight of legacy, ownership, and the decisions that shape what they pass on.

Jonathan Phillips, Co-Chair

Jonathan is a leader at his family business, Phillips Hardware, and co-chairs the Steward Generation Peer Group, helping fellow senior-generation owners navigate legacy, ownership, and succession.

Next Generation Peer Group

This group is a space for rising family business leaders to grow together and step into their roles with confidence. It is led by two next generation leaders who are living that journey in their own family enterprises.

Christopher Walrath, Co-Chair, G2

Christopher is a next generation leader at his family’s firm, Walrath Recruiting, where he serves as Vice President of Growth and was named a 2025 Albany Business Review 40 Under 40 honoree. He pairs a decade of people strategy experience with deep involvement across the Capital Region.

Rosie DeFilippo, Co-Chair, G3

Rosie is the third generation Executive Manager at Albany Management, Inc. Before joining the business, she led transformative strategic initiatives for a national nonprofit. Today, she applies that expertise to support the company’s continued growth and evolution while staying true to its core values. Outside the office, you’ll often find her hiking trails or on the curling rink.

Advisory Committee for STRIDE

Eliza Orleans

Principal at CFAR, Inc.

Eliza Orleans is a Principal at CFAR Consulting and Coaching, where she works with organizations navigating complex leadership, strategy, and culture challenges. She brings a distinctive lens to her consulting practice — one shaped by nearly a decade in arts leadership, including roles at Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Long Wharf Theatre, and advanced training through the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Eliza holds an MFA in Theater Management from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and has built her career at the intersection of organizational dynamics, human systems, and leadership development.

Interested in joining a community of families like these?