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At last month’s NAW Executive Summit, it
was announced that the work of the Distribution Research and Education
Foundation (DREF) is now being carried out by a new organization: the
NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence.
“The NAW Institute Board of Directors decided to make this name change
to more clearly identify our research activities with NAW, which our
market research showed as having very high and positive brand awareness
among wholesaler-distributors and other interested parties,” said Byron
Potter, Chairman of the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence and
President and CEO of Dallas Wholesale Builders Supply Inc. “We’ve
created the NAW Institute to more clearly focus on the intended outcome
of our research — excellence in distribution.”
The NAW Institute combines the research-focused work of DREF with the
output of the NAW Publishing Program. The result will be a single,
focused unit that provides the highest level of industry-wide research
and education to complement and supplement the educational efforts of
NAW’s member associations.
While the name and some of the activities are changing, the mission of
the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence remains unchanged: “To
sponsor and disseminate research into strategic management issues
affecting the wholesale distribution industry. The NAW Institute for
Distribution Excellence aims to help merchant wholesaler-distributors
remain the most effective and efficient channel in distribution.”
The first study to be released by the new NAW Institute for Distribution
Excellence will be the 8th edition of the landmark trends report Facing
the Forces of Change®, which will be available in March. To learn more
about this publication and the NAW Institute and its other publications
and resources, go to www.nawpubs.org
or contact Vicky Walsh at 202.872.0885.
“Our goal in establishing the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence
is to provide a comprehensive and cohesive unit of strategic knowledge
for wholesaler-distributors across all lines of trade,” said Ron
Schreibman, Executive Director of the NAW Institute for Distribution
Excellence. “We’re not planning to throw everything away that DREF
built. We will retain all of the good work and industry connections that
DREF built over four decades and then add to it.”
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