Case Study: Fifty Years of Aviation Media, and a Family Ready for What Comes Next

How AIN Media Group found the right president to lead the family’s next chapter.

Wilson Leach was in his early twenties when he co-founded the publication Aviation International News in 1972. Over the next five decades, he built it into a multi-platform media conglomerate and the most trusted name in global aviation media. AIN Media Group had survived the Great Recession and the pandemic. It had grown, adapted, and thrived.

But by the time Wilson was approaching the company’s 50th anniversary, something else had to change. Wilson needed to step back. His son Dave, who had been running much of the day-to-day, wanted to reduce his involvement to a board role. His daughter Jennifer was full-time in the business but wasn't looking to take the helm. And the family knew (after more than a few difficult attempts) that plugging someone into a senior role without the right process was a mistake they couldn’t afford to make again.

They needed to find someone who could lead AIN through the most significant transformation in its history, earn the trust of a family that had built everything from scratch, and stay long enough to actually see it through.

A Family Business Built on Credibility

AIN Media Group started as a show daily publisher producing hard-news print editions at trade shows like the Paris Air Show and Farnborough. It was exacting work, and the quality showed. That reputation gave the company a foundation to branch out internationally and eventually grow into an operation spanning publications, data, and events across the aviation industry.

The business was, in every sense, a family enterprise. Wilson owned it. His children grew up in it. His son Dave served as board chair. His daughter Jennifer was embedded in operations and the editorial department. The Leach name and AIN were effectively the same thing.

By 2022, that 50-year legacy was both the company’s greatest asset and the backdrop for a leadership challenge the family needed to solve carefully.

The Challenge

The Right Succession, After the Wrong Ones

The decision to bring in an outside president wasn’t one Wilson arrived at easily. “At first I said nobody’s going to tell me what to do,” he recalled. It took counsel from both his son, Dave, and a trusted outside advisor to help him see what the business needed.

But the need for outside leadership wasn’t the only complication. AIN had been through this before. In 2019, the family had brought someone into a senior role, and it had failed. Within three months, the placement collapsed due to personality and cultural conflicts. It wasn’t a one-off. Wilson counted three costly attempts at senior executive placements that hadn’t worked before they engaged Stranberg.

“We had three very costly attempts. Then we came to Stranberg, and it just fit. The thoroughness of the process was something we had never done before. And the result is someone who’s just working out wonderfully.”

- Wilson Leach, Founder, AIN Media Group

Each of those failed attempts carried a cost not just financially, but in trust. The family had been through enough bad fits to understand that experience on paper wasn’t the same as the right person in the seat. Dave put it plainly: “It failed miserably, and it failed because of personality and cultural conflicts.”

The Process

Defining What the Business Needed First

The Stranberg process started before any candidate was ever presented. The first order of business was to develop a clear picture of what AIN needed from its next president, what the family needed from the person who would run their company, and what kind of executive would thrive in that environment.

The process involved thorough due diligence on candidates before the Leach family met anyone. Both finalists traveled to Chicago for in-person, half-day presentations — a structure that gave the family the time to assess fit, not just qualifications.

Both finalists came from media backgrounds. The search had also surfaced candidates with deep roots in the aviation industry itself, including one Wilson had championed, but the process made clear that AIN needed media leadership, not aviation industry credentials. The skills required to diversify a media company’s revenue streams belonged to someone who understood how media businesses operate. Ruben Kempeneer brought a background spanning advertising, events, and aviation data.

“A lot of the success came from Stranberg’s guidance — really understanding how much emphasis to put on the cultural aspect and how important it was to get that right.”

- Dave Leach, Board Chair, AIN Media Group

The candidate evaluation went well beyond resume review. Stranberg conducted extensive pre-qualifying conversations with candidates before they ever met the Leach family, which was a distinction Ruben noticed immediately.

“This was the first time I’ve worked with a recruiter who I could tell had put a lot of time into what the Leach family actually needed. There were a lot more pre-qualifying calls before I spoke with the family than I would have expected.”

- Ruben Kempeneer, President, AIN Media Group

The family also received a transparent picture of each candidate: strengths, gaps, and everything in between. That candor extended to Ruben as well. There were no surprises. Just a clear view of what he was actually walking into.

The Decision

Character Over Credentials, and a Long-Game Mindset

“We all trusted Ruben and how he would enter the business, how he would be a good steward for the business, and that he was open to it being a long game — not a two-to-three year, come in and break a bunch of stuff and then leave.”

- Dave Leach, Board Chair, AIN Media Group

“I liked him instantly. He seemed very calm and thoughtful, very well spoken. It felt to me like he could come in and learn what we needed him to learn. He had the necessary emotional intelligence, leadership abilities, and knowledge of sales. I thought: this is what we need here.”

- Jennifer English, AIN Media Group

Ruben’s background had something the search criteria specifically sought: he had worked in large, sophisticated organizations and also in smaller, owner-led businesses. The combination of big-company discipline applied to a smaller, family-owned environment was a profile Stranberg recognized as predictive of success in this type of role.

From Ruben’s perspective, the opportunity itself was the draw. It was a chance to take something that had been built over 50 years and lead it through the next chapter.

“It was, effectively: here’s a traditional media business that has been very successful for 50 years, but fundamentally needs to change to be successful for the next 50 years. Here are the keys. Go figure it out. That was a big challenge for me at this stage of my career.”

- Ruben Kempeneer, President, AIN Media Group

Three Years In

The Business Looks Very Different

When Ruben joined AIN, the company was almost entirely reliant on advertising revenue from one division: publishing.

Under his direction, the company has diversified meaningfully, adding new lines of business that did not exist when he arrived and completing acquisitions that have changed the shape of what AIN is, not just what it covers.

The company also formalized its governance in ways it hadn’t before. A board of directors now meets quarterly with Dave as the chair. The business that Wilson built on instinct now operates with documented processes, defined roles, and a leadership structure that protects both the family and the business.

“He brought so much to the table — respect, focus, energy. He rolls up his sleeves and gets things done. He’s a doer. He’s got great judgment. We just could not be happier.”

- Wilson Leach, Founder, AIN Media Group

From Ruben’s side, the experience matched what he’d been told it would be. The Leach family backed his plans, including providing capital for acquisitions, and gave him genuine authority to run the business.

Wilson put it simply: “It’s the best decision we ever made.”

Lessons for Family Business Leaders

What This Engagement Teaches. AIN’s experience points to three things that family business leaders consistently get wrong in executive searches, and what it looks like to get them right.

The process is about protection. The Leach family had previously tried to hire senior executives three times before Stranberg, without finding a lasting match. The key difference was the thoroughness of the process. Conducting comprehensive due diligence on candidates, extensive pre-qualification before the family met anyone, and a deliberate structure that prioritized alignment over speed—all serve to protect families from making costly mistakes again.

Culture eats credentials. The family chose the candidate they trusted, who understood the long game, respected the family’s role, and fit the culture they’d built. Technical skills can be assessed on paper. Whether a person will operate with the right values inside a family business cannot.

Honest representation reduces failure risk. Ruben walked into AIN without a single significant surprise. That is the result of a process that shared the real picture before any commitment was made. When candidates know what they’re walking into, they can make a genuine decision. And when they make a genuine decision, they’re far more likely to stay.