ProSales 100 conference organizers revealed the names of the industry leaders participating in its annual executive panel. Hunter Lansing, president and CEO of Lansing Building Products and winner of ProSales magazine’s 2019 Dealer of the Year award; Mike Howell, director of operations at Parr Lumber Company; and James Drexinger, CEO of American Construction Source (ACS) will join David Myron, ProSales magazine editor-in-chief to talk about their LBM operations concerns and best practices.
Lansing Building Products landed in the No. 15 spot on the 2018 ProSales 100 list with more than $522 million in revenue. Parr Lumber immediately followed at the No. 16 spot with over $408 million in revenue. ACS is a newly formed portfolio company, created by investment firms Angeles Equity Partners and Clearlake Capital Group, which acquired Meek’s Lumber (No. 22 on the ProSales 100 list) last year.
According to conference organizers, the session will feature a “no-holds-barred discussion on business and leadership priorities and predictions. Among timely topics, these strategists will address how to be resilient in the face of an economic and construction market deceleration expected in the next 24 to 36 months.”
The panel will be held on Thursday, March 7 (9:15 am – 10:15 am), at the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio.
In addition to attending the executive panel, construction supply professionals can learn from and network with experts, senior leaders, and peers about a variety of key LBM topics. Some additional session topics offered at the event include the following:
Lean Operations
Prior to the event, preconference workshops on lean strategies to help LBM professionals cut costs and maximize efficiencies are available on March 6, from 1:30 pm to 4:45 pm. Sessions will cover lean strategies for millwork/door shop, truss/wall panel, and lumberyard/distribution center operations. Separate pricing applies for these sessions.
Transport
The keynote presentation will be delivered by Timothy Papandreou, founder of Emerging Transport Advisors. Papandreou provides strategic guidance to companies, investors, and governments on the active, shared, electric, connected and automated transport transition.
As the former strategic partnerships manager at Google X and Waymo, Papandreou collaborated with teams to prepare the commercialization of the company and launch the world's first fully self-driving ride hail service, while being fully immersed in automation technology and its implications for the broad economy. As Chief Innovation Officer for San Francisco’s transportation agency, Timothy led teams to deliver high profile initiatives including the U.S.
Smart City Challenge, the Strategic Work Plan which met its 50% sustainable mode share goal 3 years early, major multimodal and mixed-use redevelopment partnership projects, and launched the Mayor’s Vision Zero traffic safety program.Papandreou’s keynote presentation will focus on how the revolution in active, shared, electric and automated transport of people and things will remap the LBM channel’s future in construction’s value stream.
Other speakers at the event will offer strategies and solutions to help senior-level LBM professionals carve out a path for growth, as well. Some of the topics covered at the event include the following:
Off-site Construction
The second keynote, “Sudden Impact,” focuses on off-site manufacturing processes and their implications for the LBM channel (presented by Margaret Whelan, CEO and founder of Whelan Advisory; and George Casey, CEO of Stockbridge Associates).
Process Innovation
As labor challenges increase in severity, your business will depend on process innovation to create efficiencies, lower costs, and meet customers’ expectations. Learn from leaders in technology and supply chain dynamics on how to approach automation and how their operations will evolve in the session "How to Supercharge the Channel and Delight Customers" (speakers: Cody Behles, assistant director of innovation and research support at FedEx Institute of Technology, The University of Memphis; and Josh Shabtai, director of lab productions at Lowe’s Innovation Labs).
Tariffs
The session “Tariff Tactics” offers LBM leaders a look ahead for work-arounds, new deals, and restored predictability at both the product and sub-product level of pricing, supply capacity, options, and procurement expense (speaker: Marisa DiNatale, senior director of Moody’s Analytics).
Economic Outlook
Understand the residential construction’s current state and where it’s most likely heading, based on exclusive market-by-market valuation, supply, and demand predictive models in the session "Economic Outlook" (speaker: Mark Boud, senior vice president and chief economist at Metrostudy).
Additional Sessions
Additionally, an executive panel and an M&A panel will bring senior executives to the stage to address the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the LBM industry. And the session “60 Ideas in 60 Minutes” will offer a fast-paced collection of the best ideas in LBM operations, sales, marketing, technology, personnel, and leadership (speaker: Craig Webb, president of Webb Analytics).
Pricing and registration information can be found here. For more information about the event, visit ProSales 100 Conference.
