The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) has announced that registration is open for the NAW 2020 Distribution Leadership Program, June 15–19, at the Fisher College of Business on the campus of The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio.

The NAW Distribution Leadership Program (formerly NAW Distribution Program for Rising Stars) draws on the latest business practices, tailored to the distribution industry, and those business practices are delivered by award-winning faculty from OSU’s Fisher College of Business. This four-and-a-half-day course is geared to developing strategic thinkers and an agile team. Current or up-and-coming performance leaders and key managers who are, or will be, assuming greater department, branch or corporate responsibility will benefit significantly from this comprehensive learning experience. It’s not the title of the employee but the role they play in a distribution organization that should drive the selection process for this program.

Participants in the NAW Distribution Leadership Program will explore all aspects that make a distribution company successful: strategic planning, finance, supply chain management, sales and marketing, hiring and retention, team effectiveness and driving growth. They will gain an understanding of how to increase profits and reduce costs as they analyze the latest trends in supply chain management.

Every faculty member has deep experience in teaching current and up-and-coming leaders in the wholesale distribution industry. This concentrated and high-energy learning experience is anchored with a case study built specifically for distribution to ensure that participants can apply all that they learn throughout this program. Each day the faculty will lead classroom discussion. Participants will be assigned to teams. In the evenings, the teams will gather for brainstorming sessions to work on the case study. The emphasis of the teamwork will be on original and creative idea generation, and the ultimate goal will be on real-world problem solving. The program concludes with each team presenting to the other participants and the faculty its remedies for the troubled distribution company featured in the case study.

“The high-energy OSU instructors and the well-developed team project assignments combine to create a powerful learning experience for every student as they learn alongside their industry peers. The work is hard, but the payoff is great, because students will return to their companies with new knowledge, and they’ll be ready to improve the productivity and the profitability in their companies,” said Patricia A. Lilly, NAW’s chief thought leadership officer.

In addition to the valuable classroom teaching and exercises, participants will network throughout the week with their peers from other lines of trade within distribution. Networking with and learning from wholesale distribution industry professionals from across the industry is considered by attendees as one of the greatest benefits of attending this highly interactive program.

Participants will return to their companies with the competence and confidence to deliver the performance their companies expect. The NAW Distribution Leadership Program is an exciting educational experience for anyone who wants to contribute to the success of his or her distribution company at an even higher level.

To get more details, including how to register and make hotel accommodations, distributors should visit www.naw.org/dlp20/.