Speakers

How do you differentiate and build a sustainable business model in the new normal of today’s business environment? Find out during this custom-built session by thought leader Ian Heller. What makes this keynote different? Heller and his team will survey IAPD members prior to the convention and will develop the presentation based on trends in the performance plastics industry and their vast experience working with wholesale distribution. You’ll leave with targeted advice you can use to improve your business.

About Ian Heller

Ian Heller is the founder and senior partner of Distribution Strategy Group, a research and consulting firm focused on the distribution industry. Heller has more than 30 years of experience executing marketing and e-business strategy in the wholesale distribution industry. He has written and spoken extensively on the impact of digital disruption on distributors. Heller entered the distribution industry as a truck unloader at a Grainger branch while in college. He eventually became vice president of marketing there and has since held senior executive roles at GE Capital, Corporate Express, Newark Electronics and HD Supply. Heller most recently served as president and COO for Modern Distribution Management, a specialized information and analytics firm serving the wholesale distribution industry.

Trust is a fundamental bottom-line issue. Without it, leaders lose teams, salespeople lose sales and organizations lose reputation, retention of good people, relationships and revenue. But with trust, individuals and organizations enjoy greater creativity, productivity, freedom and results. Through Horsager’s industry-leading research The Trust Outlook™ and first-hand experience working with the world’s highest performing organizations, he reveals how top leaders and organizations drive business results to become the most trusted in their industry.

Key Takeaways:

• The actionable framework you can use immediately to build trust and solve your biggest challenges
• The HOW-HOW-HOW process to spark momentum, see immediate results and inspire trust
• The newest research on how to develop trust individually, in your team and in your organization – or go extinct in the new economy

About David Horsager

David Horsager, MA, CSP, CPAE is CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute and a global authority on helping leaders and organizations become the most trusted in their industry. He is inventor of The Enterprise Trust Index™, director of the annual study The Trust Outlook™ and national bestselling author of The Trust Edge. With clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to professional sports teams and global governments, Horsager has taken his platform across the United States and on six continents.

Film synopsis:
In 1907, chemist Leo Baekeland changed the world forever. History and science come alive in this provocative film about the first plastic and its inventor. Reenactments, archival images, interviews with experts and satirical songs capture both the wonder and curse of plastic. The film celebrates Baekeland’s genius Bakelite and other plastics, and confronts plastic pollution. This award-winning documentary has been described as bold, honest and funny.

The primary source and inspiration for this film is one of the great grandsons of Baekeland himself, Hugh Karraker, who is also the film’s executive producer.

If you are not able to join us for this special screening, All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic is available to rent or buy on iTunes, AppleTV+, Google TV, YouTube TV and VUDU. For more information go to allthingsbakelite.com.

Movie run-time: 59 minutes

The U.S. freight transportation marketplace is a trillion-dollar industry that impacts:

• The global supply chain
• The U.S. economy
• Your customers
• Your bottom line

During this session, you will get a better understanding of how you can interpret North American freight transportation data to help you make better business decisions about the current and future U.S. economy.

About Brent Hutto

Brent Hutto joined Truckstop.com eight years ago and currently serves as the company’s chief relationship officer. He is responsible for ensuring the health of Truckstop.com’s external relationships with hundreds of transportation technology companies. In his 23 years in the transportation and logistics industry, he has developed expertise with carriers, brokers, shippers, industry suppliers, technology leaders, media companies and financial firms. 

Halfway into the first year of the Biden/Harris Administration and with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress by the most narrow of margins, IAPD’s government relations team will provide you with an update on the opportunities – and threats – this political landscape poses to you and your businesses. Join our team from Washington for a briefing on: 

• IAPD’s Legislative Agenda for 2021
• IAPD’s Action Plan to engage the Administration and Congress
• Potential regulatory/legislative action that could have a negative impact on your business
• Plans for the IAPD Plastics PAC and how it can bolster our case in Washington
• A look at potential new legislation and what it could mean for your business
• What YOU can do to make your voice heard

About Ari Storch

Ari Storch has more than 25 years of experience in domestic and international politics, grassroots campaigns, public affairs and marketing. Prior to joining The Madison Group, he spent 12 years as the co-founder and co-chairman of Artemis Strategies, a multi-faceted government affairs firm that managed clients before the United States Congress, multiple Presidential administrations, state governments and before foreign governments as well. In 2001, Storch was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Member of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad and also served as the Next Generation Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Performance plastics have numerous sustainability benefits when compared to materials such as metal and glass. Plus, we know that most performance plastics can be recycled. 

However, what are your options for reducing, reusing and recycling? Especially if the materials have left your facility, been used elsewhere and perhaps return in less-than-ideal condition … what do you do? 

In this session, you’ll hear from experts representing different ways in which companies are keeping waste materials out of landfills:

• Drew Martin, Business Development Manager, Return Polymers - specializing in rigid PVC and plastic recycling
• Jeff Gold, Founder, Nexus Fuels - economically converting waste plastics to high grade feedstock and fuels
• Chris St. Peters, VP Materials Acquisition & Plant Operations, NuCycle Energy - turning landfill waste into cost effective, clean alternative fuels 

Hear about real-world solutions that you can start implementing today that will help your company responsibly give waste materials a new life -- plus save some money on waste disposal – and maybe even find a new profit center in the process.

For many distributors, “marketing” means making sales collateral, maintaining an informational website or updating social media accounts. Activities like advertising, driving online sales or SEO simply do not generate measurable returns. If you think that your products and relationships are too complex to benefit from marketing, you’ll want to attend this session to hear how you can build marketing competencies and plans with clear, specific goals that drive sales and profits. 

In this session, Ian Heller, who has served as the vice president of marketing for four publicly held distribution companies, will teach you how your company can invest in marketing capabilities and plans that will help you grow your business. He’ll help you understand the systems, people and data you need so your marketing does more than creative tasks and becomes an important driver of improved financial returns. 

About Ian Heller

Ian Heller is the founder and senior partner of Distribution Strategy Group, a research and consulting firm focused on the distribution industry. Heller has more than 30 years of experience executing marketing and e-business strategy in the wholesale distribution industry. He has written and spoken extensively on the impact of digital disruption on distributors. Heller entered the distribution industry as a truck unloader at a Grainger branch while in college. He eventually became vice president of marketing there and has since held senior executive roles at GE Capital, Corporate Express, Newark Electronics and HD Supply. Heller most recently served as president and COO for Modern Distribution Management, a specialized information and analytics firm serving the wholesale distribution industry.

While some of today’s workforce is made up of deep-rooted, dependable staff, a larger number of positions are now a revolving door of employee turnover. Workforce thought leaders from Magnet Culture will share insight on why staffing is so challenging today and additional ways to gain greater staffing stability. Learn how to slow the revolving door, more effectively manage the impending shorter-term workforce and maximize the time you have with each employee.

• Discover current employee turnover trends and future staffing projections
• Uncover the real reasons employees leave most organizations and ways to encourage them to stay
• Learn ways to become a M.A.G.N.E.T. employer who attracts better applicants and keeps staff longer

About Cara Silletto

Workforce thought leader Cara Silletto, MBA, CSP, works with organizations of all sizes to reduce unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making managers more effective in their roles. Workforce Magazine in Chicago named Silletto a “Game Changer” for her innovative approach to solving generational issues in the workplace and Recruiter.com listed her in their “Top 10 Company Culture Experts to Watch” list. She is also the author of the book, Staying Power: Why Your Employees Leave & How to Keep Them Longer. Today, she’s a highly-sought-after national speaker conducting 50 to 100 engagements annually. Louisville Business First named her one of their 2018 Forty Under 40.