Momentum is building, and great things lie ahead for NCWA.  We have been having a great year with strong meetings, quarterly sales reporting and opportunities to network with many in our region.  In August our Young Executives group was invited to tour New Age Castings plant and Eastway Supply.  New Age Castings offered us the opportunity to see how scrap metal is transformed to molten metal and into products that are used all over the world.  Eastway showed us how their building footprint has expanded and how they manage their operations on a daily basis.  We truly appreciate their willingness to allow us to tour and see what they have worked so hard to create.  If you would be willing to let our group come and tour your facility, we would love to hear from you as we are always looking for opportunities to enhance our members knowledge of products and how they are made and distribution ideas that can improve how they do business.

In June we held our convention at Sawmill Creek and had a great group in attendance who really enjoyed getting together to do business and build stronger relationships.  While Sawmill Creek seems to be aging rapidly, we are stepping it up a big notch and headed to The Greenbrier in West Virginia next year.  We have a great plan as we move the event to a Monday meetings and Tuesday golf.  This is being done to encourage everyone to bring their spouses and stay the weekend at The Greenbrier.  The room block rate is available for the weekend and for those who wish on Sunday, we are going to set up a tour of the now “declassified” bunker which was created during the Cold War to house our government in the event of a nuclear war.  The golf courses are some of the finest in the world and so we expect large numbers in our golf tournament.  While it is an exciting and fun new venue for us, we will have opportunity to work and ideas for improving your business.  Alan Zimmerman is scheduled as our speaker in the morning and he is highly regarded as one of the leading authorities on communication.  He has been featured on CBS, CNN, CEO and Entrepreneur magazine as his positive communication strategies have helped many companies transform how they work with customers.  This event will cost a bit more than we typically charge each year, but I can assure you that the value will be there.  Registrations will open in December and we encourage you to get your hotel rooms early and register for the event, so we can make adequate plans for everyone.

In closing, I want to assure you that the board is committed to stepping up the NCWA event and all our offerings to first class and there is no better opportunity to do so than with a strong schedule of business meetings, education and The Greenbrier.  We always welcome suggestions and ideas for improving our services to you.  If you have any feedback for us, please take a minute to email me or give me a call.

Terry Shafer

Executive VP

North Central Wholesalers Association