Emerging technology.
Industry megatrends.
Voice of the customer.

Anticipatory Leadership: Use Hard Trends to Accelerate Innovation and Growth

As digital transformation continues to accelerate, reacting and responding to change, no matter how agile you are, is no longer good enough. Anticipatory leaders use hard trends to identify and act on disruptions before they disrupt. They pre-solve problems before they occur and anticipate customer needs before their competition. As a result, disruptive change becomes a major competitive advantage.

In this eye-opening and highly motivating presentation by one of the world’s leading global futurists, Daniel Burrus shares the most important trends shaping the future and the opportunities they provide.

Attendees will learn how to identify the hard trends based on future facts that will happen, and how to use those certainties and the game-changing opportunities they provide, to craft low-risk high-reward strategies to elevate value, accelerate growth, and transform results.

Daniel Burrus

Leading Futurist. Strategic Advisor. Disruptive Innovation Expert.

Daniel Burrus is considered one of the World’s Leading Futurists on Global Trends and Disruptive Innovation. The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker.

He has delivered over 3,000 keynote speeches worldwide and is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies, helping them to develop game-changing strategies based on his proven methodologies for capitalizing on technology innovations and their future impact. His client list includes Lockheed Martin, Verizon, Microsoft, VISA, Deloitte, Google, Procter & Gamble, KPMG, Honda, FedEx, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Burrus is also a featured writer with millions of monthly readers on the topics of disruptive innovation, exponential change, and the future for a variety of publications, including CNBC, Huffington Post, and Wired Magazine.

He has been the featured subject of several PBS television specials and has appeared on programs such as CNN, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. Burrus has been quoted in a variety of publications, including Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, and Forbes.

Burrus is an innovative entrepreneur who has founded six businesses, four of which were U.S. national leaders in the first year. He is the CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology-driven trends to help clients profit from technological, social, and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.

He is the creator of the Hard Trend Methodology and the Anticipatory Organization® Business Model now being used by leading organizations worldwide.

His accurate predictions date back to the early 1980s when he became the first and only futurist to accurately identify the 20 exponential technologies that would become the driving force of business and economic growth for decades to come. Since then, he has continued to establish a worldwide reputation for his exceptional record of predicting the future of technology-driven change and its direct impact on the business world.

This session will take a macro look at the trends happening at our end user companies. Topics like Global Supply Chain Disruption, Inflation, M&A, Sustainability, and more are shaping the way that our customers choose to buy.

By gaining a better understanding of their internal pressure and external opportunities, attendees will walk away prepared to form stronger End User partnerships built on a mutual understanding of the world around us.

Brooke Sutherland

Brooke Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist focusing on the industrial sector. The industrial umbrella encompasses a variety of sectors and themes, and Sutherland covers just about all of them: from airlines to air conditioning, manufacturers to M&A, robots to railroads, supply chains to shareholder value. She pays particular attention to the industrial sector’s role in the broader economy and has written extensively about the effects of the pandemic on longer-term strategies for labor and supply-chain management.

Sutherland also publishes an influential weekly newsletter on the industrial sector. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News. Sutherland graduated summa cum laude from Washington & Lee University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and French.

To see Brooke Sutherland’s recent columns, click here: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/authors/AQ1oJ6PUBL8/brooke-sutherland?sref=jJ5dcbrU

To sign up for Brooke Sutherland’s industrial newsletter, click here: https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/industrial-strength

Future Trends in Technology

What are the emerging technologies that will both impact and provide opportunities for the companies in the Industrial MROP Channel? What is the next phase of artificial intelligence (AI) and who will be able to benefit? Will automation continue to drive efficiency or are there limits to its power? Are robots the answer to labor shortages and shrinking margins?

These questions and more will be discussed with a panel of industry leaders so that we may all understand where to position our companies to be on the early side of adoption before it’s too late.

Benj Cohen

Benj Cohen is the Founder & CEO of Proton.ai, a growth engine for distributors. His company’s mission is to help distributors harness cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) to drive increased sales. Benj learned about distribution firsthand at Benco Dental, a family business started by his great grandfather. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Applied Math and speaks regularly at industry events on the benefits of AI for distributors.

Benj has been featured in trade publications including MDM, Industrial Distribution, and Industrial Supply Magazine. His company, Proton.ai, recently received a $20 million Series A round of funding led by Felicis Ventures.

Paul J. Nobel

As founder and CEO of Verusen, an innovator in supply chain data, inventory, and procurement technology, Paul Noble oversees the company’s vision and strategic direction. He has extensive experience in the industrial supply chain and distribution space, as he was recognized as a Supply Chain Pros to Know by Supply and Demand Chain Executive in 2020 & 2021.

Prior to founding Verusen, Noble spent over a decade with The Sherwin-Williams Company, where he specialized in supply chain/manufacturing and led its Eastern U.S. Industrial Distribution business unit.

Noble graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management and Marketing from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.

Ray Grady

Grady, who brings more than 20 years of experience in scaling high-growth B2B organizations, is well-positioned to build on Conexiom’s history as a driving force in the industry. Grady comes from Salesforce B2B Commerce, where he held the role of SVP, COO and GM. Previously, Grady was President and COO of CloudCraze, where he led the company through its 2018 acquisition by Salesforce. Grady’s extensive experience also includes roles as SVP and GM of Acquia, one of the fastest-growing SaaS providers in the world, and the co-founder of Acquity Group, which went public in 2012 before being acquired by Accenture Interactive in 2013.

Craig Francisco

The Voice of the Customer Part 2: The Future of the Automobile

What do you make of a company that produces cars, vans, and buses that considers itself to be a technology company first? Welcome to the ISA stage Arrival: the Electric Vehicle startup that is making big waves in the North American market.

Let’s together discover how they see the future of transportation and learn about their innovative approach to partnering with local communities and supply chains to produce vehicles in regional Microfactories.

A Radical Approach to Making Electric Vehicles:

What is a Microfactory? 

Tracey Yi

CEO, Arrival Elements, Chief Procurement Officer, Arrival Group

Tracey Yi is the CEO of Arrival Elements, leading Arrival’s vertical integration efforts. In addition, Tracey serves as Arrival’s Chief Procurement Officer, overseeing the production of Arrival’s materials and vehicle components.

Prior to joining Arrival, Tracey held various leadership positions in sourcing, strategy and procurement, working at some of the world’s biggest technology companies including Apple, Nokia, and Intel.

Why Arrival: A better approach using a New Method

The Workforce of the Future

Like it or not, the power is shifting in our companies from organizations to people. From profit to mutual prosperity. From “me” to “we”.

The competition to attract and retain talent is growing fiercer than ever. This poses an existential threat to businesses everywhere as an organization is only as good as the people it employs. Those organizations that want to survive and thrive in 2022 will need to respond to the new power dynamic in kind.

This session will look at how the workforce will continue to evolve and how the companies in this channel can evolve with it.

Heather McGowen

Future of Sales and Marketing

These past 24 months have forced our companies to do things differently – most notably the approach to B2B sales and marketing. We are already seeing companies transform their organizations’ sales strategies, processes, and allocation of resources, moving from a seller-centric to a buyer-centric orientation and shifting from analog sales processes to hyper-automated, digital-first engagements with customers.

Do we all see this trend continuing or is it simply a reaction to the pandemic environment?

This session will explore where the experts feel B2B sales and marketing will be moving forward. With top-line growth opportunities in the forecast, attendees will either walk away confident in their structure… or rethinking their strategy. Either way, this session is a must-attend.

Sinem Hostetter

Sinem Hostetter is a Partner with the Marketing and Sales Practice at McKinsey & Company, based in Chicago. In this role, Sinem supports B2B companies across a range of industries, including chemicals, agriculture, food, and distribution with commercial transformations, from go-to-market strategy and analytic enablement of sales teams to driving growth with green products.

Prior to McKinsey, Sinem worked in investment banking at JP Morgan and at a FinTech start-up managing the financial performance of global and JV operations.

Outside of work, Sinem serves in various alumni roles at the University of Chicago, where she received both her BA and MBA. She is currently a member of the Impact Council at a Better Chicago.

Economic Guidance: Accurately Prepare for the Future

Key segments of the US and global economy are experiencing a decelerating rate of rise while others are accelerating. We will assess the input from proven leading indicators and determine the opportunities and risks for the remainder of 2022 and for 2023 in pertinent segments of the economy.

Labor, supply chain, and prices are top of mind for today’s business leaders, and we will explore current and future trends and discuss what decision-makers must consider in the face of these crucial factors. A clear understanding of inflation and interest rate trends is key to preparing for the coming years. Knowing what to plan for will place your company well ahead of the competition while increasing profit potential.

In addition, we will:

• Assess business demand for the rest of 2022 and through 2023
• Look at ITR’s key leading indicators and what they foretell about your markets
• Present relevant market outlooks and discuss issues that have an impact on your profitability via resource allocation, budgets, expectations, and strategic planning
• Deliberate on the potential impact of the midterm elections later in the year
• Determine potential unintended consequences of massive government spending
• Assess the health of financial market trends and their impact, if any, on the forecasts
• Illustrate what inflation pressures and financial market trends likely mean for interest rates through 2023

Alan Beaulieu

President, ITR Economics

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

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 affiliate WLRN, and numerous other outlets.

Why Switch? How to Convert the Modern End-User into Your Brand

Why should an end-user switch to your brand over what they’re currently using? If your response draws attention to an innovative product feature or specification, then your selling proposition needs some retooling.

Today’s buyer doesn’t care about you. They don’t care about your latest innovative product. What they care about is in their facility. They care about the problems that their teams are experiencing. End-user buying behavior has changed throughout the COVID-era and is continuing to evolve. Manufacturers and distributors need to evolve their sales and marketing approach to stay relevant. Your competition is not sitting idle and is getting stronger every day.

In this session, learn how the modern end-user seeks solutions to their problems and how you can cater your sales and marketing approach to break through the clutter and convert buyers into advocates of your brand.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand how the modern End-User shops for your type of products and services
2. Discover how you can break through the clutter and capture the attention of End-User decision-makers
3. Learn how to win more market share by converting End-Users into using your brand over competitors

James Dorn

James is the President & CEO of the Dorn Group. He is a proven leader with more than 25 years of consulting experience helping growth-minded executives across manufacturing and distribution firms build modern revenue growth strategies.

James is a true innovator and results-oriented executive that draws upon a mix of market-back principles, competitive intelligence, agile strategic planning, and data-driven decisioning to help commercial teams more effectively acquire, grow and retain customers. He emphasizes the power of alignment across the product, marketing, sales, and service teams for helping industrial firms build more efficient and effective business models that win market share.

J Schneider

J is the Managing Director of the Consulting Practice at the Dorn Group. J is an enthusiastic and collaborative leader, author, and public speaker with the unique ability to help leadership teams both formalize their vision for growth and implement change management across cross-functional teams.

With over 25 years of conducting business in the EU, South America, EMEA, and Asia for global manufacturers and distributors of industrial, commercial, aerospace, and high-tech solutions, J brings unique, well-informed operating insights to the table that show industrial-focused firms how to reduce unnecessary inefficiencies while hitting growth targets. J captures experiences from the field to fuel a customer–back approach in helping industrials develop company-wide innovation, strategic plans, and customer experience improvements.

Selling in a Post-Pandemic World: The Future of Industrial Distribution Sales

What have the last two years wrought? COVID and its descendants supply chain nightmares and inflation have rapidly accelerated changes to how buyers spec, bid, and buy products. Unless ISA members change, they could be left behind like a used N95 mask. The rules of channel sales are changing, and many salespeople are slow to adapt to those changes. This presentation will help sales executives and reps understand how to meet the new demands of today’s digital sales environment where buyers are taking control of the sales process.

The presentation will look at key trends that appeared early in the century but accelerated under the pandemic, including:

• How and when purchasing wants to be engaged by salespeople
• The importance of culture for a sales organization (in many cases more important than compensation),
• How to better partner with manufacturers to represent their products with one voice, and
• How the metrics you run your business with have and must continue to change.

Learning Outcomes

1. Attendees will see real-world examples showing how their peers are addressing new sales trends and accelerating their business.
2. Attendees will receive industry data that can help them shape their organization’s decision-making process to reflect post-pandemic changes.
3. Attendees will walk away with tools to benchmark their own organization’s sales progress and measure how they are addressing these key trend areas.

Russ Sharer

Russ Sharer is the Director of Strategic Sales Excellence at The Brooks Group. Russ has led large and small teams to achieve exponential growth and is passionate about helping people maximize their strengths and improve their performance on the job. He combines his 30+ years in B2B Sales and Marketing with his in-depth facilitation experience to help program participants connect the dots with a practical, “easy-to-learn” approach.

Russ’s career has included work with companies from early start-up to Fortune 500 and involved the work of sales force recruitment, training, and assessment. He also has in-depth experience with channel strategy, product strategy, sales readiness, global partnerships, and outbound marketing in industries such as lighting, telecommunications, and software. Russ also is co-author of the new book “Agile and Resilient: Sales Leadership for a New Normal.”

Impact of Changing Buyer Preferences to the Channel Sales Environment

Buyer expectations have changed at a faster pace in the last 5 years than ever before, and then we met COVID-19. Vendors and channel partners are experts at implementing their products and services that help customers solve business challenges.

Yet when revenue misses the target, they often resort to tactical measures to correct the decline. Quite often these macro changes of buyer expectations are misdiagnosed or not seen as relevant. This discussion will encourage a pause for consideration of strategic changes to their aligned sales and marketing processes.

This session will share changing expectations of the B2B buyers as documented by CSO Insights, Gartner, and McKinsey, and discuss the impact this data has on the channel selling environment.

Learning Outcomes

1. The customer-facing sales rep is still important in the B2B buying process, but their role, skills, and competencies are evolving.
2. The customer’s trusted sources are evolving requiring vendors and partners to build new sales and marketing strategies.
3. The steps in the buying cycle (and sales cycle) have not changed. The speed and decision-making process through these cycles is evolving.
4. Vendors and Partners need to align on how they will evolve together to satisfy the evolving digital buyer.

Lee Richards

Lee Richards is the Founder and Managing Partner of Navigant Associates, LLC, a global consulting, training, and research firm specializing in channel sales strategies. With a special focus in the industrial markets, Lee and his partners design, execute and enable channel strategies by leveraging the Channel ACE model of best-in-class channel practices.

Prior to founding the firm in 2016, Lee led global sales organizations including Gardner Denver, Ingersoll Rand, and Solar Turbines through both direct and indirect sales channels. His sales experience included expat assignments globally along with partnerships with numerous trade and government organizations.

In addition to his professional experience, Lee’s education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology along with an MBA from the University of Houston.

How Focusing on Customer Experience through Unified Commerce Drives Profitability

From the CIO to the Business Development Director, improving the bottom line is a priority. The sales process is often overlooked as a target area to streamline and optimize available technology for improving revenue and driving digital transformation. But with today’s technology, you can find significant financial incentives to address your legacy systems in sales and understand the modern buyer’s behaviors.

Research indicates that the modern B2B buyer has access to more buying channels and their buyer journey is more complex and multi-dimensional. Businesses that focus on the customer experience, and streamlining sales processes are reducing inventory overages, reducing overselling, and improving their order accuracy. Using Digital Transformation to enable Unified Commerce produces results.

Learning Outcomes

1. Learn the difference between single-channel, multi-channel, omni-channel, and unified channel.
2. Understand why a unified channel matters to your business.
3. Recognize the value of real-time data to your sales team and how it impacts your bottom line.
4. Determine how streamlining your sales process can impact your revenue growth.

Timothy Yates

As a founding member and the CEO of DataXstream, Tim has acquired over 25 years of business experience and over 20 years of experience in SAP systems architecture and program delivery. A mechanical engineer with experience in manufacturing, Tim’s knowledge base includes integration, project management and product development in a wide variety of industries. Tim specializes in the development of SAP technical strategies and services for customers with a pragmatic, get the job done approach. His extensive SAP technical and functional background has enabled him to bring real value to customers of all sizes and complexities. An alpine ski enthusiast, Tim coaches and races Slalom and GS.

Panel: Optimizing the Manufacturer and Distribution Relationship with Data

Join this panel discussion of industry experts from a variety of different perspectives where they explore how a data-driven mindset can optimize the manufacturer and distributor relationship.

Emerging technologies, industry trends, and the changing customer landscape are all factors that affect the channel, both on the manufacturer and distributor side. With so much change, a channel strategy that tightens the relationship between Manufacturers and Distributors will arguably drive efficiencies, cost savings, and revenue growth.

In this panel discussion, we will hear from our industry experts about real applications and lessons learned in developing a strong, mutually successful partnership.

Learning Outcomes

Hear from our industry experts about:

• How the current landscape has impacted the Manufacturer-Distributor relationship
• Working through common challenges and obstacles
• Leveraging data and facts for optimal decision-making
• Showing ROI on channel programs

Joe Durante

Joe Durante is the Vice President, Industrial for Precision with 15+ years of experience in channel sales, marketing, and account management. Prior to joining Precision, Joe held key roles with Stanley Black & Decker and Newell Brands and has a wide range of knowledge and expertise in Industrial Supply. At Precision, Joe works with manufacturers and distributors to create cost savings and revenue-generating opportunities leveraging data and analytics.

Pradip Krishnadevarajan

Pradip co-founded ActVantage to help distributors drive profitable growth through analytics and talent development. In the last 15 years, he has worked with over 350 companies to boost revenue and margins. His seven books, consistently on the National Association of Distributors’ Top 10 Best Sellers list, are evidence of this thought leadership in wholesale distribution. With a Doctorate in Business Analytics, he plays a vital role in driving data and analytics strategies for several cutting-edge distributors. Before joining ActVantage, he cofounded the wholesale distribution-focused research lab at Texas A&M University’s Industrial Distribution Program.

Kevin Brown

Kevin Brown is the CEO and Co-Founder of LeadSmart Technologies the maker of LeadSmart Channel Cloud CRM and Business Intelligence system.

Kevin has been deeply involved in the industrial distribution world since 1989 with his start working for a large national safety distributor, having founded and exited a successful IMR agency and later having invested in and ran a manufacturing company in the industrial market. For the past 10 years, Kevin has been consulting with and advising numerous companies in the industrial, safety, electrical and electronics markets on go-to-market strategies, M&A, distribution strategies, and more. Kevin has also during this time had the opportunity to consult with technology and software companies selling into the industrial space.

In 2019 Kevin joined 2 software industry and technology veterans to develop a long overdue, purpose-built CRM, Channel Collaboration and Business Intelligence solution built specifically for Industrial Mfgs, IMRs and another version specifically for Distributors.

A California native, Kevin lives in Southern California with his wife Darlene, faithful office mate/puppy Cooper, and has 3 grown sons.

How to Build Next-Gen Talent Pipeline: Understanding the Mindset of Gen-Z 

The speed at which your company can grow depends on your talent. Unlike products and services, you are competing with everyone for talent. Recruiting, developing, and retaining next-generation employees starts with understanding the expectations, needs, priorities, and mindset of Gen-Z.

This presentation will share best practices in crafting your Employee Value Proposition (EVP), designing effective internship programs, and rethinking your job titles and career paths. These practices will differentiate your organization in the eyes of future employees and can help you become a talent magnet.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand how to create and promote Employee Value Proposition (EVP) including culture, work environment, and employee development.
• Design a project-based rotational internship program that helps create a steady talent pipeline. Hint: Get your managers on board.
• Explore modernizing your job titles and career paths. It might be hard to recruit top talent If you don’t have a documented career path.

Industrial companies need to modernize their recruiting strategies, messaging/communication, and talent practices to win the war on talent.

INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES RECRUITING FOCUS:

Salary, Benefits, Location, Title, Brand Name

GEN-Z PRIORITIES:

Career path, culture/fit, flex work, communication, belonging, learning, and development

Dr. Bharani Nagarathnam

Dr. Bharani Nagarathnam is an Instructional Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Master of Industrial Distribution at the Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Industrial Distribution. He has more than 20 years of experience in teaching, applied research, academic program management, and business development.

Dr. Nagarathnam has worked on applied industry projects, consortia and professional development programs for more than 100 industrial manufacturers and distributors. His research areas include distribution management, talent acquisition, talent development, performance management, and distribution profitability. He runs the Talent Development Council and works with industrial and construction distributions on talent practices. Dr. Nagarathnam holds a Ph.D. in Educational Human Resource Development and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Win the Talent Game with a Culture of Inclusivity

Are you having a hard time filling open positions? Are you worried top performers will leave for another company? Studies have shown that companies that promote a culture of inclusivity internally and externally are more likely to be successful at recruiting and retaining top talent. So how do we do that? Some initiatives are big, but most are not. There are many things that can be done with limited resources and without changing the culture of the company. Join this session and learn from your peers some ideas to help you win the talent game.

Joyce Lansdale

Joyce Lansdale is the Vice President of Industrial Sales at Vallen. In this role, Joyce is responsible for the success of Vallen’s Industrial line of business, leading and motivating Vallen’s high-performance Industrial Sales organization of over 120 sales leaders and specialists who are focused on delivering customer satisfaction, measured by growth and retention in Vallen’s Corporate and Strategic Accounts. Joyce has been with Vallen for over 20 years, with previous positions including Vice President of National Accounts and Regional Vice President.

Joyce was an inaugural member of ISA’s (WISE) Women Industrial Supply Executives, now known as Women in Industry. In 2019, Joyce worked with Vallen’s leaders to create Vallen’s first employee resource group, VICKIE, focused on supporting women’s career growth at Vallen. VICKIE stands for Voices Inspiring Change, Knowledge, Innovation and Empowerment. In 2021, Joyce was awarded a Women in Distribution recognition by Modern Distribution Management (MDM). Joyce is currently serving in the role of Secretary on the ISA Executive Board of Directors, is on the ISA Diversity & Inclusion Taskforce, and has been part of the ISA BOD dating back to 2015.

Kim Williams

Kimberly Williams is vice president of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Stanley Black & Decker – a global, diversified industrial established in 1843 and ranking #1 in tools and storage, #2 in security services and a global leader in engineered fastening.

As an integral leader in the office of DE&I and working across business units and functions, Kimberly provides the center of excellence for the Stanley Black & Decker global DE&I community through the development and implementation of best practices, knowledge management, leadership development and metrics that can be deployed by the local talent and affinity teams within each region.

With 20+ years of HR experience, she has supported and led DE&I initiatives in several organizations across industries, including, investment banking, health care, nonprofit, aerospace manufacturing and higher education. In 2005, Kimberly launched Next Level Development, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the career and personal development of women across sectors, professions and levels.

Williams received her MBA in Human Resource Management from Syracuse University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from American University. Williams has been a visiting professor at Holyoke Community College, Westfield State University and Springfield College, School of Social Work and currently teaches Diversity Management for Non-Profit Leaders at Bay Path University where she has been an adjunct faculty member for nearly eight years.

Jessica Yurgaitis

Jessica Yurgaitis is the great-granddaughter of the founder of Industrial Supply Company, Inc. and is part of the fourth generation of company leadership. As President of Industrial Supply, Jessica is responsible for all supplier programming and business strategy and the company’s sales and marketing programs. Along with these responsibilities she is tasked with building and executing the company strategy.

Jessica has been recognized by Utah Business as one of the “30 Women to Watch” and also won the MDM Women in Distribution award in 2021. She currently serves on the AD Industrial Board of Directors. She also completed a 3-year term as a Board Member for the ISA and later served on the ISA Education Foundation.

Jessica is married with four children and enjoys skiing, hiking in the Park City mountains, traveling, and spending time with her family.

The Remote, the Hybrid, and the In-Person – The Post-COVID Workplace

In 2020, no one was planning on COVID-19 to force thousands of companies to transition to remote work. With these abrupt changes, countless teams found themselves communicating less, employee engagement lowered, and deadlines missed because of the inevitable remote work challenges. The in-person managerial and leadership skills simply do not solve the obstacles that the remote workplace experience brings.

However, there are a select few innovative companies that are leading the charge by building unstoppable remote workforces that are unexpectedly more effective than in-person teams. So, what are these companies doing that makes them so successful? Since 2014 and well before the time of COVID, Jeff Butler has been building remote teams across different time zones and studying what the most successful hybrid and remote companies are doing.

From his research, he put them into practice in his own companies to discover the truth from fallacy. The ideas he found are simple, and yet profound, but most importantly, when someone learns how to master the remote manager techniques, it would make them that much better of an in-person leader. Learning to master the changing workplace is no longer optional- it’s a necessity. Fortunately, anyone can create a successful workforce- it’s just a matter of how.

Learning Outcomes

• How transitioning from a ‘face-time’ manager to a ‘performance-driven’ manager can skyrocket your team’s performance.
• Discover what signals show up when a remote employee is about to quit.
• Leveraging metrics to create an effective and action-driven team.

Jeff Butler, backed by a decade of psychological research, shares insights about motivations, differences, and communication styles, which will help your company and industry to achieve those new challenges for your frontline workers and managers.

Jeff Butler

Jeff Butler is an author and workplace strategist who explores human behavior within the working world. His experience spans over 40 industries in 4 continents on how different cultures and employees interact with each other. He studies common threads of behavior in industries such as IT professionals, underground utility workers, police officers to clothing retail chains. In addition, companies like Google, Amazon, John Deere, and Coldwell Banker.

As a researcher and practitioner, he also runs a consulting company and a tech company, TrinityFix where he is able to test his ideas in different workplace environments. His ideas have made it to TEDx twice and have appeared in dozens of media outlets and two books on human behavior: The Authentic Workplace and The Key To The New You. Currently, he lives in Dallas, Texas as an out-of-place Californian.

Building a Learning Culture Within Your Company

When you deliberately engage employees through learning, they are 48% more likely to find purpose in their work. But learning and development need to be intentional—and continual—to succeed.

Join this session to discover why a culture of learning is so beneficial to organizations big and small, how to gain buy-in from the top down, how to embed learning into the flow of work, and how to keep current with learning trends.

Patty Mattesi

Photo and bio coming soon!

3D Printing: The Best Kept Secret on the Manufacturing Floor

Manufacturers face resource challenges on a daily basis. 3D printing offers a complementary process for making workholding fixtures that eliminates the opportunity cost of diverting revenue-producing workforce and machining resources to build them. It adds capacity, shortens cycle time, and provides an opportunity for growth. Although it is not yet widely adopted or understood, it is a solution being used by a growing circle of forward-thinking manufacturers. The sooner the industry becomes aware of the benefits of this technology, the faster job shops can leverage it to succeed in today’s competitive environment of rising demand and shorter lead times.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn about the magnitude of how 3D is impacting manufacturing operations today.
• See examples of applications where it is being used.
• What are the economic drivers of adoption/implementation?

Lucas Haugen

Lucas Haugen has been involved with both the conventional and additive manufacturing commercial markets for the last 18 years. He spent his early career with Saint-Gobain Abrasives understanding value creation on the manufacturing floor. He then spent several years overseas with Element Six evolving surfacing finishing technology for Aerospace and Consumer Electronics markets.

Lucas is now with Stratasys with experience leading Aerospace OEMs with the innovation of additive manufacturing and is currently the Industrial Channel Director at Stratasys evolving their Go-To-Market strategy bringing customers game-changing manufacturing solutions and cost savings.

Lucas holds an Engineering degree from North Dakota State University and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Lucas currently resides just outside of Minneapolis, MN.

Building a Culture of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is one of the largest risks to business continuity facing ISA member companies today.

Having an effective strategy and building a culture where Cybersecurity is part of our DNA is likely the only chance we have to ensure we are protected from known threats and we are resilient enough to recover from the unknown threats in our future.

Learn how creating a culture of cybersecurity will help you protect the stability and predictability of your enterprise. This session will include real-world suggestions to help improve cybersecurity maturity for organizations of all sizes.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• How to create a culture of cybersecurity?
• What are effective and non-effective methods of improving the culture?
• How do we create a flywheel of continuous improvement within our culture of cybersecurity?

Steve Levy

Steve Levy is the Vice President of Enterprise Architecture for the distribution industry. During his time at Infor, he was responsible for ensuring Infor’s customers established the best possible architecture for their enterprise ecosystems. Steve and his team have successfully helped some of the world’s largest and most complex distributors digitally transform their operations.

AI in Sales Enablement

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we buy and sell. According to a McKinsey survey, a whopping 79% of respondents agree that AI adoption in marketing and sales has helped to increase business revenue.

This technology has already reshaped the B2C world, and B2B is next! Your customers have come to expect a more personalized buying experience. Distribution executives need to respond to that change while planning for organic sales growth. AI has the power to fundamentally transform the modern sales function. Studies have shown that early adopters of AI may increase cash flow by as much as 122%, with those that follow only seeing around 10% improvements. So, it’s imperative that distributors have an understanding of AI, how it relates to their business model, and how to successfully deploy this technology to aid their existing sales force.

In this informative session, we’ll take attendees from the basics of AI all the way up through adopting it within your business. You’ll learn the different use cases for AI in B2B, the kind of sales outcomes they can expect, and how you can successfully introduce AI to your business.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Understand the basics of AI and how it’s different than other tech investments
2. Understand the use cases for AI in the industrial channel across all your sales channels
3. Learn how industrial companies are currently leveraging AI to drive sales growth and the business impact they’ve seen

Benj Cohen

Benj Cohen founded Proton.ai to help distributors harness cutting-edge artificial intelligence and dominate the digital age. He learned about distribution firsthand at Benco Dental, a business started by his great grandfather. While Benj was studying Applied Math and Data Science at Harvard University, he saw an opportunity to apply innovative technology to distribution, enabling distributors to sell more in modern markets.

AI in Inventory Management and Procurement

Legacy systems constrain supply chains, causing inconsistencies in your data preventing effective communication and relationship management with your customers.

Most organizations today have tried to tackle their inventory issues in one of two ways. Inflate their inventory to keep business moving regardless of cost, or continue business as usual and hope the existing strategy doesn’t increase risk and shut down the line… But with materials data being fuzzy at best and a pandemic that just won’t go away, the economic challenges are only growing – namely “The Great Resignation” and a “Demographic Drought”. These major global issues have challenged supply chain business leaders in 2022 to think differently about the way their supply chains work.

One path forward is AI human augmentation. By utilizing AI-driven tech, the supply chain industry can become more efficient, more intelligent, and capable of substantially reducing waste in the world. Leaning into AI will become a competitive advantage for you and a value add for your end-user customers. AI learning from data and humans, the integration of disparate material data across legacy systems and processes can be harmonized to allow you to do what you do best as a trusted partner and logistics expert with your customers.

Join this session and hear how this AI-first strategy is critical to fighting the exit of the baby boomer workforce while also future-proofing your place as a strategic partner, helping to build you and your customer’s reliant supply network.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand how AI and Human Augmentation can have an impact driving more resilient supply chains and material management —enabling you to become a strategic supplier with your customers.
2. Transition to a digital goods Distributor by understanding data and demand signals across your customer network to drive value add services.
3. Provide real-world case studies and methodologies for getting started with AI and Human Augmentation.

Paul Noble

As founder and CEO of Verusen, an innovator in supply chain data, inventory and procurement technology, Paul Noble oversees the company’s vision and strategic direction. He has extensive experience in the industrial supply chain and distribution space, as he was recognized as a Supply Chain Pros to Know by Supply and Demand Chain Executive in 2020, 2021 & 2022.

Prior to founding Verusen, Noble spent over a decade with The Sherwin-Williams Company, where he specialized in supply chain/manufacturing and led its Eastern U.S. Industrial Distribution business unit.

Noble graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management and Marketing from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.

A Day in the Life of an AI-Enabled Industrial Supply Business

In this session, we will explore how artificial intelligence is changing the game for industrial supply and distribution businesses. This presentation is designed to be accessible by those who don’t have a technical understanding of AI or automation; you’ll learn about ways to improve your everyday operations with help from artificial intelligence!

The future of sales is here! AI and Automation will help you provide the right price, faster than ever before. You can also get a better handle on delivery times so that your customers are delighted with your service performance and you can work with your suppliers to improve it.

We all know the struggle of managing cost/supply chain volatility. But with AI help, you can finally get back to what really matters – improving profitability or service levels!

Nelson Valderrama

With over 25 years of distribution experience, Nelson Valderrama has worked with GE Supply and Private Equity firms that evaluated distribution businesses. He learned data from the banking industry where it is not an option. He saw the opportunity to apply his banking data lessons to the distribution model and help distributors uncover the hidden gross margin in the data they already have.

Digital Transformation: Internal and External Strategies for Optimal Results

Digital transformation is inevitable for distributors to offer a truly multi-channel model to customers.

Online purchases increase at an accelerating rate, and the continuous generational shift only confirms the need to have a robust E-Commerce channel. The benefits are not only measured in terms of customer satisfaction and revenue growth, but also in terms of internal efficiencies. Building a solid strategy and roadmap for an optimal internal and external adoption is a must.

This session will outline the main challenges distributors are facing in a fast-accelerating B2B market. During the presentation, we will outline the main objectives a distributor should incorporate into their roadmap to digital transformation. From understanding the current state of the B2B market to identifying their customer’s needs to defining and implementing a successful digital strategy. We will also discuss how to establish some primary KPIs to track and measure digital success.

Arnaud Le Chatelier

Arnaud has spent his career at Dillon Supply in various roles in Sales & Operations, always aiming to understand customers’ needs and expectations. Businesses should constantly be looking for ways to re-invent themselves to adapt and innovate in an ever-changing environment. Digital transformation is at the center of Arnaud’s current mission at Dillon Supply.

When he is not working, Arnaud enjoys playing soccer with his wife Chelsea and tennis with his children (Eva, Thibault, Gisèle, and Elodie).