 Susan E. Aldrich
Senior Vice President, Patricia Seybold Group
As a Senior Consultant, Aldrich manages the development and implementation of the firm’s consulting methodologies and is also a senior analyst. Aldrich's experience includes commercial applications development, deployment, and implementation and operating systems development. She has provided information management, customer relationship, and distributed systems management consulting for such technology user companies as monster.com and John Hancock, and for technology vendors such as Symantec, HP, and Cisco.
 Robert Ashby
Industrial Practice Manager, Frank Lynn & Associates, Inc.
Ashby has worked on highly successful engagements with clients ranging from leading manufacturers to start-up companies in the electrical industry. Typical projects have included developing effective brand messages and positioning, aligning manufacturer’s channel compensation programs with their marketing strategy, and developing new product introduction strategies. Ashby has also worked extensively with a wide variety of electrical distributors and has significant experience managing channels, as a sales manager and as a product manager.
 Dr. Albert Bates
Chairman, Profit Planning Group
Chairman and founder of the Profit Planning Group, a research and executive education firm, Bates makes more than 100 presentations a year on profit-related topics. He currently directs the firm’s profitability research for over 100 different trade associations, including NAED, and writes quarterly Profit Improvement Reports for those associations. Bates has written for professional and trade journals including the Harvard Business Review, TED Magazine, the California Management Review and Business Horizons.
 Sarah Miller Caldicott
Founder, Power Patterns™ of Innovation, author of Innovate Like Edison
A great grandniece of Thomas Edison and his second wife Mina Miller Edison, Caldicott has been surrounded by creativity and innovation throughout her life. Co-author of a groundbreaking book on Thomas Edison’s innovation best practices, entitled Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor, Caldicott speaks to audiences across the country, and leads executive seminars on how to imbed Edison’s Five Competencies of Innovation in their organizations. Caldicott is capable of addressing business challenges from a diverse array of industries, in either a business-to-consumer or business-to-business environment.
 Christine Corelli
Author, Professional Speaker, Consultant
Corelli has written four books including the popular Wake Up and Smell the Competition and The Art of Influencing Customers to Buy from You. As founder and president of Christine Corelli & Associates, Inc., she is a frequent speaker to distributor groups. She has also been a consultant and facilitator for major organizations such as Caterpillar, Reynolds Aluminum, Grainger, Xerox, Marriott, Honda, GE, Ford, Acura, Chrysler, Harley-Davidson, and the Harvard Business School Alumni Association.
 Jean Francois Detaille
Action Painter and Performer
Detaille’s Extreme Art presentation removes painting from the realm of studios and galleries and transforms it into high-energy public entertainment that motivates, energizes and inspires audiences of all kinds. His tour de force combines comedy and art in a unique show choreographed to music and has been seen in Las Vegas productions at MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, and Bally’s. He has dazzled corporate events and conventions including Sun Micro Systems, Du Pont, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Verizon, and many more. He has also performed at private functions for Prince Charles, Pope John II, and the Sultan of Brunei. In 2000, Detaille was named the Spotlight Awards Entertainer of the Year for the special/corporate event market. See more here.
 Jeff Greene
Executive director of client services, Gold Group
Greene is executive director of client services at Gold Group, which specializes in emerging technology, social media, and integrated marketing working with nonprofits, new ventures, and Fortune 500 companies. He has addressed such organizations as the Insurance & Financial Communicators Association, the Association of Graphic Communications, the New Jersey Ad Club, and the Philadelphia chapter of the American Marketing Association. He is a member of the Advertising Club of New York and past president of the Jersey Shore Public Relations & Marketing Association.
 Brent R. Grover
Consultant
Grover is the managing partner of Evergreen Consulting which advises the wholesale distribution channel on strategy, acquisitions and profit improvement. Grover’s practice concentrates on management of distribution and manufacturing business. He advises a diverse range of clients, mostly privately held, on strategy, succession, customer profitability analysis, and management practices. Grover is the author of More to the Bottom Line, The Acquisitive Distributor, and The Official Guide to Distribution. He was named an NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellow in 2005.
 Jill Jonnes
Author, Historian
Jonnes is a writer whose titles include Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World and most recently Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels. She earned her Ph.D. in American history from the Johns Hopkins University. She has served as the 2006 nonfiction chair for the National Book Awards, been a National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar and received several grants from the Ford Foundation. Jonnes is finishing her current book, Eiffel’s Tower, about the Paris World’s Fair of 1889 and the building of the world’s most famous structure.
 John Kiso
Educational Program Manager, NAED
John Kiso directs current and future educational programs for the electrical industry including the Electrical Products Education Course (EPEC), NAED’s new HR & Training Conference, NAED’s upcoming industry certification, plus NAED’s participation in the University of Industrial Distribution (UID) and Association Education Alliance (AEA). He is the staff liaison for NAED’s Education and Development Council and the EPEC Reviewer group. Kiso has a Masters in Management and brings more than 20 years of experience in project management, adult education, course development, and process engineering to NAED.
 Michael Marks
Managing Partner, Indian River Consulting
Marks began his consulting practice after working in distribution management for more than 20 years and co-founded the Indian River Consulting Group in 1987. He is co-author of the books, Working at Cross-Purposes: How Distributors and Manufacturers Can Manage Conflict Successfully and What’s Your Plan? – Smart Salesforce Compensation in Wholesale Distribution. Marks is currently serving his second 4-year term as a fellow of NAW’s Distribution Research and Education Foundation. Prior to forming IRCG, Marks held the position of Executive Vice President at Lex Electronics, an $800 million vertically integrated electronics distributor in Stamford, CT. Before joining Lex, he was Director of Corporate Training and Development at Ducommon Inc., Los Angeles, a $400 million industrial distribution company.
 Orin C. Smith
Former Starbucks CEO
It is safe to say that Smith has been largely responsible for making the world wake up and smell the coffee! Business Week notes that while Chairman Howard Schultz is the inspiration behind Starbucks, Smith turned his vision into reality, turning Starbucks into a billion dollar organization. Originally, Starbucks comprised of three stores. There are now approximately 5,000 stores around the world, and three new locations open everyday. Smith helped to bring Starbucks global cache, by making coffee drinking an experience. Smith is currently a Director at the Walt Disney Company.
 Tammy Miller
CEO of Border States Electric Supply, NAED Chair
Miller became CEO of Border States Electric Supply, in January 2006, after serving as president in 2005. Headquartered in Fargo, ND, Border States Electric Supply is an independent electrical distributorship with locations in eight states along both the Canadian and Mexican borders, as well as a branch in Juarez, Mexico. Previously Miller was executive vice president, CFO, and general manager for the company’s southwest region. A CPA, she joined Border States in 1991, after working in public accounting for eight years. She has been a member of the NAED Board of Directors for the last 8 years and has chaired the NAED Finance Committee and Special Pricing Authorization (SPA) Distributor Task Force. Miller also serves on NAED’s Channel Advantage Partnership Council.
 Edward Orlet
Director of Development, NAED
Orlet has served as facilitator for diverse distributor and cross-industry groups, as well as moderator for several industry panels. Orlet also conducts on-site training sessions across the country for member companies, based on NAED’s courses: Maximize Your Profits, Counter Pro, and Warehouse Pro. Prior to joining NAED, Orlet worked as a distributor salesperson to mechanical contracting and OEM markets. He has more than 10 years experience in distribution and sales to construction, institutional, and industrial customers.
 Joe Salimando
Columnist, Publisher, Market Researcher
A frequent speaker for NAED, NECA, and other organizations, Joe Salimando is a web content provider, market researcher, and writer/editor specializing in the electrical, voice-data, and construction industries. He writes weekly columns for TEDMAG.com and is a contributing editor to TED Magazine. Salimando is also the former publisher of Electrical Contractor magazine and has been a writer and columnist for Electrical Distributor magazine and its web site, in addition to other industry sites.
 Bethany Sullivan
President, Profitability Analytics Unlimited
Once named one of Pennsylvania’s Top 50 Women in Business, Bethany Sullivan serves as Lead Topic Champion for NAED and is president of Profitability Analytics Unlimited. She offers strategic direction and marketing leadership to a variety of organizations. Most recently, at Promistar Financial Corporation, Sullivan was executive vice president and chief marketing officer. She has published more than 50 articles on strategic marketing. In 2001 and 2003, she served as an executive-in-residence for the University of Tennessee’s Master’s of Business Administration’s Honors Marketing Program.
International Panel Members:
 Christof Bonn
CEO, BTF & Co
Bonne is the CEO of BTF & Co, an independent distributorship that is headquartered in Coelbe, Germany, north of Frankfurt. The company has nine locations, one of them an acquired operation that is the oldest electrical wholesale company in Germany, founded in 1894. BTF serves primarily the contractor, industrial, and government markets. Bonn is also the president-elect of the European Union of Electrical Wholesalers (EUEW) and vice president of VEG, the German electrical distributors association.
 Gilles Deraison
Executive Vice President, Rexel S.A.
Deraison has been a member of the executive management team of Paris-headquartered Rexel S.A. since he joined the company in 1997. He has overseen the firm's global merger and acquisition efforts, and also assumed governance of its finance, legal, and audit operations. Currently he oversees multinational electrical industry liaisons for Rexel. He was elected president of FGMEE, the French Electrical Wholesalers Federation, in 2003 and is the current president of the European Union of Electrical Wholesalers (EUEW).
 Elaine Gerrie
COO, Gerrie Electric
Gerrie is the COO of Gerrie Electric, which was founded by her father, and is one of the largest independent electrical distributors in Canada and is headquartered in Burlington, Ontario. The company has 18 branch locations and their customer base includes industrial end-users, OEMs, contractors, and institutional operations. Gerrie is also Chair, Supply and Distribution, for Electro-Federation Canada, the country’s electrical industry association which represents the interests of manufacturers, distributors, and manufacturers' representatives of electrical equipment in Canada.
 Robin Norris
Chief Executive Office, Hagemeyer Australia-Asia Pacific
Norris has been in the electrical distribution business for nearly 35 years, 28 of those in senior operational positions within the Hagemeyer organization in Australia. The company has over 180 branches located throughout Australia and South East Asia. He is also the current Chairman of the Electrical Wholesalers Association of Australia (EWAA). In addition, he has worked with various industry committees on diverse programs, including addressing the current challenge of skill shortage in the workforce.
 Miguel Rubalcava
President, Asociación Nacional de Comerciantes de Material y Equipo Eléctrico
Rubalcava is president of Asociación Nacional de Comerciantes de Material y Equipo Eléctrico (ANCOMEE), the Mexican association headquartered in Mexico City, which represents the interests of manufacturers, distributors, and other independent businesses involved in the electrical sector. He has been active in the industry for 20 years and heads his own company, Electrica Miguel, also in Mexico City, which specializes in electrical supplies for the commercial market.
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