2009 Speakers

Mr. Brent R. Grover, Evergreen Consulting LLC

Brent Grover's practice concentrates on management of distribution and manufacturing businesses. He advises a diverse range of clients, mostly privately-held, on strategy, succession, customer profitability analysis and management practices. He also facilitates mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Grover serves as Director of several privately-owned corporations and charitable organizations.

He was educated at Northwestern University and Case Western Reserve University. Mr. Grover received the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Elijah Watt Sells certificate for achieving statewide and national honors on the Certified Public Accountant examination.

Mr. Grover served on the faculty of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and as a consultant at an international accounting firm. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of an innovative high-performance distributor, National Paper & Packaging Co., for over 20 years. Mr. Grover and his partner sold their distribution business to a private equity firm in 1999.

He was Chairman of the National Paper Trade Association in 1993.

Brent is the author of More to the Bottom Line (NAW, 2004), The Acquisitive Distributor (NAW, 2005) and The Official Guide to Wholesale Distributor Financial Management (NAW, 2007) as well as numerous articles in national publications. Brent was named an NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellow in 2005.

Brent is a frequent presenter to corporate groups, trade associations and other organizations each year. Brent, his wife and their four children live in Cleveland and Chautauqua, NY.

Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz, Jerry Teplitz, Enterprises
Field Manager, Inscape Publishing Company

Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz' background is as unique as the techniques and approaches he teaches. He is a graduate of Hunter College and Northwestern Law. He practiced as an attorney for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Later, Jerry's career changed dramatically. Jerry earned Master of Arts and Doctoral Degrees in Holistic Health Sciences. Additionally, he was on the faculty of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management for eight years.

Dr. Teplitz has been a field manager for Inscape Publishing Company since 1979 and President of his own speaking and consulting firm since 1974. Jerry conducts seminars in the areas of stress management, leadership and sales development.

The list of clients Dr. Teplitz has spoken and consulted for includes such organizations as the Foodservice Sales and Marketing Association, Manufacturers' Agents National Association, Manufacturers' Agents Association for the Food Service Industry and IBM, Motorola and EDS. In addition, he has presented to Century 21, Holiday Inns, the International Management Council, Sales and Marketing Executives International, the American Bankers Association, the American Society of Association Executives and more than four hundred colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada.

Jerry is the author of Managing Your Stress: How to Relax and Enjoy, Switched-On Living and Brain Gym for Business. Jerry has been profiled in Successful Meetings Magazine, Prevention Magazine, and Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine. He has also earned recognition from Who's Who in America.

Jerry has spoken to more than one million people. He has also been honored by his peers in the National Speakers Association as a "Certified Speaking Professional" and has been selected as "Top Rated Speaker" by the International Platform Association.

Steve Dunn, Professor, University of Wisconsin School of Business
Consultant, Ecolution

Steven Dunn is currently a Professor at the University of Wisconsin's School of Business. He has helped develop environmental projects with the US Agency for International Development, and The World Resources Institute. He is the Founder and Director of the Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Processes and Environmental Research. He has also held high-ranking positions at companies such as Heinz and Labatt. His work on corporate sustainability combines a rigorous, theoretical knowledge of green business trends with a nuts-and-bolts understanding of how a company can best put them to use.

In the tradition of the writings of Patrick Lencioni and Lyn Heward's The Spark, Dunn has authored a successful business novel, The Green Baron. The Green Baron tells the story of an old-school CEO who eventually transforms his thinking about the environment and later works to change the thinking of everyone in his organization. At only eighty-eight pages, the book is a tiny parable whose influence in boardrooms across the country has far exceeded its modest size.

Jack Keough, Editor, Industrial Distribution Magazine

Jack Keough has been editor of Industrial Distribution magazine for nearly 25 years. He also serves as Associate Publisher. Jack has been a keynote speaker at many industry events and at national sales meetings. Over the years, Jack has interviewed hundreds of distributors, manufacturers and consultants to detail trends occurring in the distribution channel. He has also moderated webcasts with some of the leading spokesmen in the industry and has also produced video casts. Prior to joining ID, Jack was a newspaper reporter and editor for his state's largest afternoon newspaper, covering politics and business. He interviewed several presidential and gubernatorial candidates and was a featured panelist and moderator on news and cable shows. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and makes his home in Foxboro, MA, home of the New England Patriots.

Paul E. Teague, Editor-In-Chief, Purchasing Magazine

Paul E. Teague is editor-in-chief of Purchasing Magazine and purchasing.com, the nation's largest magazine (and website) covering the supply chain. He is also editor-in-chief and co-anchor of Purchasing's weekly internet audiocast on commodities price, The Monday Midday Business Report.

A veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience on magazines and newspapers, Paul has covered a broad range of technology and manufacturing trends and has won numerous editorial awards, including a Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award, which has been called 'the Pulitzer Prize of the business press."

He also served as chief editor of Design News for seven years, and prior to that he served as the magazine's executive editor. He also was co-chair of the Reed Business Information Chief Editors Advisory Board.

Paul's travels also include a chief editor post at Fire Journal, the nation's largest fire protection magazine and at the Cambridge Chronicle, the weekly newspaper of record in Cambridge, Mass. He served also as a reporter for the Lowell Sun. Paul has frequently spoken at industry events and has developed and moderated webcasts on a variety of technology topics.

Brian Beaulieu, Economist, Institute for Trend Research

Brian Beaulieu has been an economist with the Institute for Trend Research since 1982, serving as its Executive Director since 1987. He has been engaged in applied research regarding business cycle trend analysis and its use at a practical business level.

Mr. Beaulieu's views have appeared in/on: the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Barron's, USA Today, CNBC, FOX Business, Knight Ridder News Services, Reuters, CBS Radio, The Washington Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, KERA TV, Canadian TV, and other media outlets. He is a regular columnist with industry publications and a contributing economist to national trade associations.

Mr. Beaulieu is Chief Economist for Vistage International and TEC, global organizations comprising some 13,000 CEOs.

Mr. Beaulieu has been providing workshops and economic analysis seminars across the US and Canada to thousands of business owners and executives for more than 25 years.

Ross Carpino, General Manager, Sandvik Coromant Canada

Ross Carpino has worked for Sandvik Coromant Canada in a number of capacities for more than a decade. He previously spent nearly two decades with Linamar Corporation, a manufacturer and designer and of precision components and systems for the automotive industry. Mr. Carpino has also undergone extensive career development training at Sandvik Coromant attending Mahler Business School and the Stockholm School of Economics' Business School. Mr. Carpino lives in Guelph, Ontario, Canada with his wife, Debra, and their two children, Kari and Kent.

Diane Thielfoldt, Learning Strategist and Co-Founder, The Learning Café

The Learning Café partners with clients to create custom learning solutions that produce business results and support personal growth. The Learning Café specializes in designing and developing training on the four generation workforce, leadership, and mentoring. Diane's corporate career encompassed leadership roles with McGraw-Hill, TRW, Bausch & Lomb, and Xerox in sales, marketing, communications, and learning design, development and delivery.

Diane holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Pennsylvania State University. She is qualified in administering the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and a wide variety of testing and assessment tools, including 360 degree feedback. Diane and her husband, Bill, live in Seattle, Washington.

Bill McCleave, President, W. R. McCleave & Associates

Bill McCleave is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer and president of W. R. McCleave & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in relationship management for industrial distributors, manufacturers and their customers. He is also a leading expert on Integrated Supply. He has over 25 years of industry experience in executive managerial roles and has served as an advisor and trainer to a wide variety of distributor and industrial clients.

As a former senior manager of a regional distribution company, past president of The Association of High Technology Distribution and a five-year faculty member of Texas A&M's Industrial Distribution Program, Bill brings a unique perspective to supply channel practices and distribution education. He received his undergraduate degree from Clemson University in mechanical engineering. While pursuing his masters and doctorate in industrial engineering at Texas A&M University, Bill served as Assistant Professor-Industrial Distribution. His teaching specialties included Purchasing & Materials Management, Manufacturer and Distributor Relationships and Integrated Supply.

Tom Gale, Publisher, Modern Distribution Management/mdm.com

Tom Gale, President of Gale Media Inc. and publisher of Modern Distribution Management, a specialized information service for wholesale distribution executives that includes the www.mdm.com Web site, weekly e-newsletters, Webcasts and special reports publishing, focuses on industry-specific strategy, operational best practices, mergers and acquisitions activity and trend analysis. MDM has also continuously published a print subscription newsletter since 1967.

Walter Scott Liptak, Vice President and Senior Security Analyst
Barrington Research Associates Inc.

Walter Scott Liptak is a vice president and senior security analyst at Barrington Research Associates Inc., Chicago. His focus is on niche product manufacturers with efficient operating strategies in industrial manufacturing, diversified manufacturing, components suppliers, capital goods, trucks and machines sectors. His coverage includes some ISA manufacturers as well as prominent customers of ISA distributors.

Liptak holds a BA and MBA of Business Administration from the Loyola University of Chicago and is a CPA and a member of the Association for Investment Management (AIMR), the Investment Analyst Society of Chicago and the Illinois CPA Society.

Holden Lewis, BB&T Capital Markets Equity Research

Holden Lewis, an Industrial Equipment analyst, joined BB&T Capital Markets Equity Research in August, 2002. He tracks manufacturing and distribution company trends in the Industrial Equipment sector. He previously served as Director of Industrial Equipment - Manufacturing and Distribution with CIBC World Markets. Mr. Lewis has also served as a Vice President at RBC Dain Rauscher, a global wealth management firm. In 2007 Lewis was named the #2 earnings estimator in the "Trading Companies and Distributors" sector by Financial Times/Starmine and the #3 stock picker in the "Business and Industrial Services" sector by the Wall Street Journal.