Washington D.C. – Registration is open for NAW’s 2015 Distribution Program for Rising Stars, June 1–5, at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio.

Wholesaler-distributors will save $200 when they register now during the early-bird discount period. Additional special discounts apply to companies that send groups. Full details, including how to register and make hotel accommodations, are available at http://www.naw.org/risingstars15.

Formerly the NAW Wholesale Distribution Manager’s Course or WDMC, this program is specially designed for high-potential distribution company leaders.

Participants will spend five career-changing days reaching their business potential while learning specific ways to improve their companies’ profitability. This week is an exciting educational experience for anyone who wants to contribute to the success of his or her distribution company at an even higher level!

Ranked #4 in the United States on the “2013 Best Business Schools for Supply Chain and Logistics” list by U.S. News & World Report, OSU’s Fisher College of Business boasts award-winning faculty with deep experience in teaching wholesale distribution industry rising stars. In addition to the valuable classroom teaching and exercises, participants will network with their peers from other lines of trade within distribution.

Networking with wholesale distribution industry peers is one of the greatest benefits of attending this program. The Monday late afternoon through mid-day Friday program combines classroom instruction and small-group teamwork all centered on a specially designed wholesale distribution industry case study.

Each day experienced instructors will lead classroom discussion. Participants will be assigned to teams. In the evenings, the teams will gather for brainstorming sessions to work on the case study. The emphasis of the teamwork will be on original and creative idea generation, and the ultimate goal will be on real world problem-solving. The program concludes with each team presenting to fellow participants and faculty.

NAW’s 2015 Distribution Program for Rising Stars is ideal for distributor personnel who are currently responsible for – or who aspire to be responsible for – a branch, region, area, division, territory or functional area of the business. Companies of all sizes are represented at this comprehensive program. Representatives of smaller companies to those with sales above $1 billion attended last year. Participants with these job levels and functions will benefit greatly by attending this program.

Job Levels:

• Manager

• General manager

• Branch manager

• Director

• Supervisor

• Vice president

• Regional vice president

• President

Presidents of wholesale distribution companies with sales up to $250 million are encouraged to attend NAW’s 2015 Distribution Program for Rising Stars. Presidents and CEOs of larger distribution companies are encouraged to enroll personnel with the job levels named above.

Job Functions:

• Sales

• Marketing

• Operations

• Finance (CFO/controller)

• Purchasing

• Logistics

• Warehouse/inventory

• Human resources/training

Customer markets:

Distributors selling to any of these customer markets will benefit from attending our program:

• OEM and MRO industrial

• Commercial institutions and facilities

• Contractor

• Retail

• Capital equipment

Each year program participants NAW about the synergy generated among co-workers who attend together from a company. Co-workers become teammates and they return to work not only with the same playbook, but also with a shared enthusiasm to implement the business strategies they learned during the program. That synergy is a key ingredient for creating a winning company.

Registrants are housed at the University’s four-star hotel, The Blackwell Inn. Classroom work takes place at the University’s Executive Education facilities, which are part of the hotel complex.

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