With a reception and dinner Tuesday, January 29, 2013, the National Association of Wholesaler‐Distributors (NAW) convenes its Executive Summit in Washington, DC, to help wholesaler‐distributors focus on "Unlocking Secrets of Success from the Best." The event concludes Thursday afternoon, January 31. Details and how to register information are available here.

The reverberations from the critical 2012 Presidential and Congressional elections, and a still struggling economy, make the NAW 2013 Executive Summit a must‐attend for wholesale distribution company executives and others tied to the distribution industry.

NAW Executive Summit attendees will hear and participate in in‐depth expert presentations, wholesaler‐distributor panel discussions, and peer‐to‐peer discussion roundtables. Our program will feature outstanding speakers from the wholesale distribution industry, the public policy sector, and the media. The program is geared to help distributors increase profits, improve performance, and provide quality service to their customers despite the slow‐growing economy.

Our 2013 business program, "Unlocking Secrets of Success from the Best," will focus on what's ahead in 2013–14 and how wholesaler‐distributors can prosper. Here are the confirmed presenters so far. Check back here often for updates as new sessions are added.

"NAW Economic Forecast, 2013–14"
Alan Beaulieu, President, ITR Economics, and an NAW Senior Economic Advisor 
Alan Beaulieu is back at the NAW Executive Summit to provide both a macro forecast for the U.S. economy and a more‐focused forecast for various parts of the wholesale distribution industry. NAW Executive Summit attendees will come away with a detailed economic forecast for the coming 24 months and a set of recommendations for profiting despite the tough economy.

"A Fighter Pilot's Secret to Business Success"
Patrick Houlahan, Afterburner, Inc. 
Patrick "Lips" Houlahan, former United States Marine Corps F/A‐18 Hornet Instructor Pilot, will show NAW Executive Summit attendees the close connection between mission‐focused military discipline and the achievement of business objectives at a wholesale distribution firm. The key to establishing and achieving business mission objectives is a thorough understanding of the Flawless Execution pyramid used by jet fighter pilots, including the concepts of Future Picture, Strategy, Leader's Intent, Standards, Training, and People. Attendees will also learn how to use the military's "Plan/Brief/Execute/Debrief" model and the Six‐Step Mission Planning Process to get everyone at the company involved, informed, and integrated. 

John Mansfield, Vice President–Business Development, Graybar Electric Company, Inc. 
The unique "fighter pilot" presentation will conclude with an interactive presentation by John Mansfield of leading wholesaler‐distributor Graybar. John and Graybar have employed the Flawless Execution principles to document increased levels of performance and customer satisfaction.

"Optimizing Channel Compensation Best Practices"
F. Barry Lawrence, Program Director–Industrial Distribution Program, Texas A&M University
The latest NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence/Texas A&M University wholesale distribution consortium, now nearing completion, is aimed at uncovering best practices in the all‐important area of channel compensation. This session, led by Barry Lawrence, will, for the first time, detail results from this groundbreaking study called "Optimizing Channel Compensation." Distributors and manufacturers have struggled for decades with how to compensate distributors under changing market conditions and customer relationships. The compensation mechanisms (gross margins, rebates, exclusivity, fees for services, etc.) are many and some (not all) are well understood. The changing conditions create new combinations for these compensation techniques, new customer requirements, and new negotiation models that must be responded to in a quick and accurate way. Best practices exist but have not been documented, and emerging ones are often sub‐optimized due to this lack of structure.

Barry will present a structured approach to distributor channel compensation based on identified best practices. Two best practice firms will present examples of best practice implementation. The session will be prescriptive, demonstrating the strategy and implementation of channel compensation best practices.

Networking
What we hear consistently from participants is that the NAW Executive Summit features the best in social networking as wholesaler‐distributors renew acquaintances and talk business with peers from a variety of wholesale distribution industry lines of trade. Distributors can add their own perspectives to the program during discussion roundtables (for wholesale distribution and manufacturer executives only). Here, participants network with peers from across the wholesale distribution industry and find out what's working and what isn't in distribution today.