Fall Convention Offers Captivating Speakers
& Many Networking Opportunities

The Fall Convention, held this year in St. Louis, October 26-29, will introduce you to some of the most captivating speakers the Fall Convention has ever hosted.

Please join us on Thursday, October 27 for the following speakers:

Colonel Mark Tillman:
The Zero Fail Mission

Colonel Mark Tillman is the meeting’s opening speaker at Thursday’s Joint Industry Opening Session & Breakfast, starting at 8:00 a.m.

Colonel Tillman will give you a chance to hear about remarkable moments in history as he speaks about his career that has spanned over 30 years in the U.S. Airforce. He served as commander of Air Force One for eight years under President George W. Bush and was responsible for “the flying White House” throughout both of Bush’s terms. Tillman’s edge-of-your-seat stories about his distinguished career are sure to captivate all those who attend.

Dr. Rick Johnson:
Making Distribution Work for All Partners

Also on Thursday, starting at 2:30 p.m., Dr. Rick Johnson will lead a panel of manufacturers and distributors. Dr. Johnson has over 40 years of experience in distribution sales and operations. The first ten years of his distribution career were spent with the largest steel-processing distributor in the world (Joseph T. Ryerson). He filled numerous roles at Ryerson including becoming the youngest General Manager in their history at that time.

The second ten years of his career began with Dr. Johnson starting his own processing distribution center from scratch. In the first year, sales reached $1 million and had grown to $25 million in its tenth year when he sold the business to one of the major national chains.

The third ten years of his career has been spent dealing with financially troubled turn-a-round (TAR) companies. During this decade of his career, he completed four TARs. The smallest company had annual revenues totaling $50 million and the largest TAR he completed had a revenue stream of $400 million. ◆