Speakers

2019 Program Presentations 

Did you miss a session or need a recap? Check your inbox for an email from NAFCD or NBMDA for access to the presentation link. Email hcarson@distributorconvention.org with any questions.

Jim Ambrose

President, Jim Ambrose Workshops for Wholesale Distribution

University of Innovative Distribution In-A-Day: Jim Ambrose’s Business Skills and Leadership Training for the Wholesale Distribution Branch Manager

Tuesday, November 12 | 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Jim Ambrose’s workshop will provide you with strong tools and techniques to improve effectiveness at driving employee engagement by exploring your communication style and leadership personality for an end goal of aligning costs to maximize profit. 

Learn More About UID In-A-Day

Meet Jim Ambrose

Jim Ambrose has been directly engaged in wholesale distribution sales and management positions for over 40 years. He is a very popular speaker and the author of the best selling books, Five Fundamentals for the Wholesale Distribution Branch Manager published by NAW. Jim’s series of Workshops on Business Skills and Leadership Training for the Branch Manager and on selling skills for the outside salesperson have proven to be a valuable training tool for managers in all trades across the U.S. and Canada.

Walter Bond

CEO, Walter Bond Worldwide

Keynote Address: Teamwork: The Best Team Always Wins
The 6 Traits of High Performing Teams

Wednesday, November 13 | 9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

In sports and in business we all have to compete and work together as a team to win. There are bad teams, good teams and championship teams…everyone wants to win but sometimes just don’t know how. Winning teams are built one layer at a time. How do you take a group of individuals and make them work together for the greater good of the organization? Great teamwork is most about great team building. Trust, Communication, Chemistry, Commitment, Accountability and Common Goals are just a few of the topics that Walter teaches in order to make your team stand tall and WIN.

Meet Walter Bond

Walter Bond made it to the NBA, but he didn’t stop there. Where many would consider a career with the Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks some of life’s greatest achievements, Walter saw it as a jumping off point. A catalyst that launched him into what he was made to do. His experience on and off the court prepared him for a thriving career in business coaching, mentorship, and public speaking.

His journey to the NBA was not an easy one, but instead of seeing obstacles, Walter saw opportunity. While some may have complained about being on the bench as a college basketball player, Walter used it as an opportunity to hone in on the fundamentals every team needs to be successful. It is this mind shift, these simple yet powerful concepts, that has allowed Walter to reach massive audiences, long after his days on the court were over.

Walter weaves both inspirational anecdotes and action steps together in his engaging storytelling style and commands the audience with confidence. Walter’s relentless commitment to helping get entrepreneurs, business leaders, sales teams and eager employees to the next level is what sets him apart from the rest.

Walter is far more than a former NBA player. He is a renowned business coach, an author, a high-profile speaker, a business owner, a father, a husband and a friend. He is a breath of fresh air for businesses across the country that are eager to get to the next level.

Mike Marks

Managing Partner, Indian River Consulting Group

General Session: Branding Strategies for 2020

Wednesday, November 13 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

This is not a session about brochures, advertising, slogans, or posters as these things are marketing communications materials. Like many other subjects in business today, branding means something very different. Major disruptions of digital, generation changes, private label initiatives, and business models continue to affect everything. Branding today is actually defined as a customer promise of an experience. At a basic level most distributors define their competitive go-to-market strategy as selling service with excellent people. When the employees speak to each other saying this for twenty years it becomes an echo chamber and an article of faith. The customer’s reality in building material and flooring distribution is actually very different with delivery issues, backorders, materials damaged in delivery, a perceived need to invest time negotiating every price, returns issues, and difficulties getting the extra fill in materials needed so they can get paid. This list could go on and on from the customer’s perspective. On top of all this, distributors even need to deal with emotional style issues.

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This session shares a strictly B2B model of how branding actually works in our industry. Every distributor and manufacturer has a brand but it usually has nothing to do with their self-perceptions. Real branding work starts with understanding the difference between what you think you are selling and what your customers are actually buying. Your brand is defined by your customer and they will tell you, if properly asked. It can’t be done with your sales force as every customer wants to buy from the best distributor at the worst distributors price, so negotiation clouds discussions. Once you understand the gap to your own beliefs you can define changes to your value proposition and build a brand. The session will share practical examples on how to do this and include multiple links for those participants that decide to take it further. Consider this, every market has a distributor that is known by customers as the price house that is weak in most areas but has cheap prices. Every one of those firms believe that they sell service with excellent people and the market is forcing them to discount. When confronted with evidence that their beliefs are incorrect, anger and denial is the most common initial response.

This session may be challenging to some but it will reaffirm the practices of this industry’s market leaders.

Meet Mike Marks

Mike Marks is the Managing Partner of Indian River Consulting Group, an experience-based firm that focuses exclusively on market access and distribution channels. Before co-founding IRCG in April 1987, he worked in distribution management for more than 20 years. Mike always makes an impact with an audience. Two characteristics make groups want him back: He is from the industry. With his experience-based approach, the audience feels like he is one of them. Second: He uses humor to cut to the chase about painful changes in the market, with audience-specific examples. He connects the dots and provides perspective in a way that challenges the audience’s thinking. He is irreverent without trying and optimistic without being naive.

He has worked for hundreds of distributor, retail, manufacturer and private equity clients in dozens of lines of trade. Mike is a trusted advisor to senior executives, a permanent University of Innovative Distribution faculty member and a distribution company board director. He is the Senior Research Fellow for the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence. He is a grandfather and a competitive road racer at the national level.

Mike’s speaking engagements have included webinars, workshops, technical sessions for management-level audiences, strategic sessions for executive-level audiences and keynote speeches.

Scott Klososky

Founding Partner, Future Point of View

General Session: Leading Through Disruption: Survive & Thrive in the Digital Transformation

Wednesday, November 13 | 2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Every leader inside every organization is currently facing the monumental task of maturing their tools, processes, and people in a world dominated by technology. The ultimate health of every organization is based on how well this transformation occurs. In a thought-provoking and inspiring presentation, Scott walks you through the digital transformation and its formidable impact on your industry. Scott considers technologies that are currently impacting your sector, including the Internet of Things, automation, wearable devices, cashless society, hyper-personalization, cybersecurity, and much more. He peppers this talk with real world examples of organizations that have navigated the digital transformation successfully and those who have not. He also uses interesting and humorous anecdotes from his work as a CEO, technologist, and consultant to provide illustrations of the steps leaders must take to pilot their organizations through a world that is evolving at breakneck speeds.

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Learning Objectives:

  • Consider the influence innovative technologies are having on your industry
  • Understand how technology can be used to make your organization more efficient, effective, and capable of adapting to a rapidly changing marketplace
  • Develop “high beam” thinking, looking out into the future to spot trends that will disrupt your industry
  • Creating Rivers of Information® to help you grow your technology IQ more quickly and effectively
  • Form a “technology halo” so customers can recognize the ways you use technology to offer them convenience and ease

Meet Scott Klososky

Scott is the founder of numerous successful technology startup companies, and this has helped him gain a unique perspective into technology’s impact on industry and humanity. He is not just an observer of digital trends, he has routinely invested in his future visions with a great track record of success.

This unique perspective and future vision has allowed Scott to travel the globe as a speaker, consultant, and author. He works with senior executives in organizations ranging from the Fortune 500 to universities, nonprofits, and countless professional associations and coalitions. As a technology entrepreneur, he also continually works in the trenches of building his own companies.

Scott is the founding partner of TriCorps Technologies, a digital strategy and cybersecurity firm based in Oklahoma City. TriCorps Technologies focuses not only on helping clients to raise revenue and lower costs but also on protecting their organizations’ resources in both the physicalworld and in the digital world. At TriCorps, Scott has developed a pioneering integrated security model which targets security from three directions: physical security, surveillance, and cybersecurity, providing a systematic approach to organizational security.

TriCorps Technologies represents a merger between Future Point of View, a digital strategy firm Scott founded in 2007, and TriCorps Cybersecurity, a venture he co-founded in 2015.

Kathryne Newton Ph.D.

Professor, Supply Chain Management Tech, Purdue University

Concurrent Session: Personnel Productivity and Preparing for 2020

Wednesday, November 13 | 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Distribution is a people intensive business; one of the most important challenges for managers in today's tough business environment is enhancing employee productivity. In this session, you will learn how to take a "systems" viewpoint of the organization, learning tools to identify productivity gaps in your firm and working towards a balance for management activities such as recruiting and hiring great people, onboarding, training, and performance evaluation. You’ll even get a checklist for “is this employee salvageable?”

Meet Kathryne Newton Ph.D.

Dr. Kathy Newton is a Professor of the Supply Chain Management Technology Program in the School of Engineering Technology at Purdue University. She currently serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Faculty Success in the Polytechnic Institute with responsibility for the MS and Ph.D. Programs. Kathy is an accomplished speaker, consultant and author of a variety of topics including human resource development, distributor profitability, channel management, strategic planning, and sales and sales management. She frequently works with distributors, manufacturers and trade associations and is widely published in academic and distribution trade journals. She has served as the Coordinator for the University of Innovative Distribution since 1995, and has been a popular speaker for the program for over 20 years. UID is the premier international executive education program for the distribution industry.

Dr. Newton has a Ph.D. in Educational Human Resource Development, an MBA, and a B.S. in Industrial Distribution, each from Texas A&M University. Kathy started her teaching career in the ID Program at Texas A&M in 1984 and from there moved to Purdue to build a new ID Program. She also served as the Excellence 21 Coordinator in the Provost’s Office for 6 years and as Head of the Industrial Technology Department from 2007-2010.

Mac Fulfer

Amazing Face Reading

Concurrent Session: Face Reading Workshop

Wednesday, November 13 | 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Face Reading is a tool that gives you an immediate advantage in every face-to-face interaction you have and it works with every person on the planet. By the time you finish shaking hands you will already know the other person better than some of their best friends by just looking at their face. Your face is a complete history of your life and an open book to anyone who can read faces. After this session, you will never look at anyone the same way again. Skeptics are welcomed, you don’t have to believe Mac, get your face read and see for yourself.

Meet Mac Fulfer

Mac Fulfer is a popular speaker who gives presentations on face reading for national and international conferences. He customizes his presentation to the specific needs of any organization such as improving sales, jury selection, and better hiring interviews. He has spoken to more than 2,000 companies and organizations that include American Airlines, the FBI, the Kansas State Judicial Conference, Business Week Magazine, the International Meeting Planners, the National Association of Legal Administrators and the US Postal Service.

Mac Fulfer practiced law in Fort Worth for over 22 years after earning his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas in 1975. Initially, Mr. Fulfer became interested in the practice of face reading for the purpose of jury selection. He quickly discovered that face reading changed his perspective, allowing him to see people more compassionately through the experiences reflected on their faces.

Since then, he has researched and developed these skills and presented ideas in workshops across the country. His workshops are in great demand from lawyers, educational institutions, Fortune 500 companies and other venues that have an interest in understanding people. As a presenter, Mr. Fulfer relies on his background, personal experience, wisdom and expertise in face reading to give participants information that will enhance their communication skills.

Alan Beaulieu

Principal, ITR Economics

General Session: Managing in an Uncertain Economy

Thursday, November 14 | 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

U.S. and global economic trends are shifting and uncertainty is growing in many sectors and in many parts of the world. Seeing those shifts, understanding them, and setting realistic expectations for 2020 will empower NAFCD and NBMDA members to be keenly aware of the changes taking place in residential and nonresidential construction trends in North America. Will be talking about industry trends, consumer trends, labor, tariffs, interest rates and growing need to invest in the future. Thinking and planning for the changes before they are on your door step is key to being successful as we go through the business cycle. Attend and learn what the leading indicators are telling us and what it all means for budgets and cash planning, and what we can do about it. We will also take a closer look at the 2020s, and what opportunities and potential problems await us there.

Meet Alan Beaulieu

With a reputation as an accurate, straightforward economist, Alan has been delivering award-winning workshops and economic analysis seminars in countries across the world to thousands of business owners and executives for the last 25 years. He is co-author of Prosperity in the Age of Decline, a powerful look at how to make the most of the US and global trends over the next 20 years. Alan also coauthored Make Your Move, a practical and insightful guide on increasing profts through business cycle changes, and noted by one reviewer as “simple, yet awesome.

Alan has been providing workshops and economic analysis seminars to countries and literally thousands of business owners and executives for the last 25 years. He is considered one of the country’s most informed economists.

As the chief economist for numerous US and European trade associations, it has been remarked that Alan’s “insight into our business, a track record of accurate forecasting, and unparalleled knowledge of global markets has earned him the respect and appreciation of key business leaders in our industry.”

Pronouncements from ITR Economics™ and/or Alan have appeared in/on: the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Knight Ridder News Services, Business Week, Associated Press, The Washington Times, CBS Radio, CNN Radio, Sirius talk radio, KABC, NPR affliate WLRN and numerous other outlets.

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