Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Providing forums to share your voice, develop a network of peers and learn valuable skills and new ideas to make your business thrive—that’s what the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) is all about.
And that’s exactly what the association will do when it kicks off its first Women’s Leadership Roundtable at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago on Wednesday, Dec. 7, the day before NRHA’s State of Independents Conference.
The Women’s Leadership Roundtable is the latest addition to NRHA’s successful roundtable series, joining the other seven roundtables the association already hosts as part of its Retail Leadership Institute. Women in leadership positions throughout the industry will come together to discuss best practices, current issues and new ideas about leadership and the independent home improvement industry.
NRHA’s roundtables are designed to bring together retailers from across affiliations, store types and locations to network and share ideas. However, the NRHA Women’s Leadership Roundtable will take this concept a step further, adding wholesaler/co-op executives and manufacturers to the group, along with retailers.
“As the number of female leaders in the industry continues to grow, we at NRHA feel it is important to create a forum for women to come together, regardless of affiliation, brand or business type,” says Allison DeWitt, NRHA director of member services and organizer of the Women’s Leadership Roundtable. “NRHA has the unique ability, unlike any other organization in the industry, to bring together representatives from throughout the channel for a common goal—discussing women’s leadership in our industry. I could not be more proud or excited to be part of it.”
Much like NRHA’s other roundtables, the program’s discussion topics will be determined by an agenda planning committee, which is a small group of roundtable attendees who volunteer to help set the agenda, and moderated by NRHA.
Roundtable attendees are also encouraged to stay for NRHA’s State of Independents Conference the next day, Thursday, Dec. 8, which is also at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago.
“Bringing these two events together makes a lot of sense for NRHA and for the industry as a whole,” says Dan Tratensek, vice president of publishing at NRHA and moderator of the State of Independents Conference. “Both programs are about bringing together various channel partners to learn from one another and provide a voice for retailers. We look forward to including this exciting and important discussion as a precursor to the conference.”
Special combo pricing packages will be available to women interested in attending both the roundtable and conference events: $300 per person for retailers and $500 per person for manufacturers and wholesaler employees.
For more information or to register, please contact Marci Taschler at 317-275-9421 or mtaschler@nrha.org.
About the State of Independents Conference
This one-day event provides an opportunity for the industry to gather Dec. 8 and specifically discuss and learn about the independent home improvement retail marketplace. Throughout the day, proprietary market research is presented and combined with live discussion panels with leading industry retailers. The State of Independents Conference is completely FREE for retailers to attend and breakfast, lunch and cocktails are provided. Seating is limited and preregistration is required. For more information or to register, please click here.
