Wayne, PA – On October 6th thru 8th 2014, Affiliated Distributors’ (AD) Electrical Supply Division, hosted the largest North American Meeting in their history at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. This annual event attracted over 1,000 attendees, including 173 first time attendees and representatives from over 390 companies in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Ed Crawford, AD’s President of the Electrical Supply Division stated, “A key theme of our meeting was how AD will continue to accelerate growth and support our Members as they consistently outperform the industry year after year. Our Electrical Members sales will exceed $13 billion in 2014, up more than a third from 2010, with a compound growth rate of just over 8%. That’s nearly 4 times real GDP growth over the same period, which is truly inspiring. AD’s innovative programs such as AD Rewards, our Clean Energy Program: EnergyForce and our global expansion into Canada and Mexico help to deliver these growth-oriented results for our Members.”
The theme of this year’s meeting was, “Be Inspired.” Elements of inspiration were woven into all the meeting presentations and events.
AD Member, Maureen Barsema, Chairwoman of NAED and Vice President Business Administration at Revere Electric Supply spoke during the Affiliate Business Meeting about what inspires her and how she feels about AD’s role in the Electrical Industry. Maureen shared, “AD is the heart of the independent distributor channel.”
During the meeting’s keynote address, delivered by Bill Weisberg, AD’s Chairman and CEO, he talked about AD Market Leaders who inspire him. One of Bill’s heroes is Paul Vowels, Chairman of the Board and Owner of Main Electric, who took over Main Electric when he was 27 years old and has grown his company to the 42nd Electrical Distributor in the United States. Bill named Sandra Rosecrans, the President of City Electric Company, as one of his heroes. In 13 years, Sandra went from an administrative assistant to owner of City Electric Company. The list of heroes continues as Bill shared inspiring stories from AD Members, Martin Ranly, of Kendall Electric, Clarence Martin and John Spoor of State Electric, Walt Reynolds of Reynolds Electric and Tammy Miller of Border States Electric.
Bill Weisberg provided a clear call to action to the AD Membership in his speech, “We need a community that is united in its commitment to fight with our strategic competitors – to protect and preserve Independent Distributors. That community is Affiliated Distributors. We are growing AD in order to have the resources to help you fight that battle… Your part in this fight is significant… We need your voice through Networks, Committees and Boards, to help us navigate where we can deploy our resources to help you compete effectively in the market place not today, but in the future.”
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