“As this magazine makes its way across the country, I am optimistic that many of you are feeling the strong heat and humidity of summer. I want to encourage you not to lose focus on the bigger picture - growing and improving your business. The HARDI organization is as busy as ever making sure that the role we play is vital in helping you carve out your competitive advantage.”
Those are the words of Bud Mingledorff, HARDI president. What else does the association have planned for the rest of 2012?

As this magazine makes its way across the country, I am optimistic that many of you are feeling the strong heat and humidity of summer. Many HARDI members experienced solid growth throughout the spring, and I hope that trend is continuing throughout the cooling season. While for many of us the heat of summer keeps us extremely busy and zeroed in on daily operations; I want to encourage you not to lose focus on the bigger picture - growing and improving your business. The HARDI organization is as busy as ever making sure that the role we play is vital in helping you carve out your competitive advantage.

As I write this article, HARDI is closing the door on another successful year of regional meetings and the 2012 Congressional Fly-In. Judging from the feedback we received, we are reassured that HARDI is offering you the content you want and the format that meets your needs. I especially want to highlight this year's Fly-In, where we set a new attendance record. Jon Melchi, HARDI director of government affairs, and the rest of the HARDI staff did an excellent job of putting on this important event, and giving HARDI members a valuable opportunity to meet face-to-face with Washington policymakers.

Naturally my focus now shifts to HARDI's 2012 Annual Conference, an event which is sure to exceed the needs of all HARDI members, and incidentally, marks the final event in my tenure as HARDI's president. I am excited by this year's theme of Develop Demand, Success is Deliberate, as we will focus on the strategic and purposeful decisions and actions that we all take to drive demand in our industry. We'll be at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes on October 6-9. Visit www.developdemand2012.com for an excellent resource on our annual conference, including speaker lineups, schedules, and registration and accommodations information.

For 2012, we will again bring back our distributor-only town hall program, strong committee and council forums, as well as keynotes by Sam Richter of SBR Worldwide & ActFi, Nina Easton of Fortune magazine, Stephen Tusa of JP Morgan Equity Research, Rajan Rajendran of Emerson Climate Technologies, Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics, and Jason Bader of the Distribution Team.

This year HARDI is offering a strong program for our supplier members, featuring several supplier-focused speakers and the return of our booth program. Our conference booth program is designed to provide a forum for meaningful discussions between distributors and policy-level executives of supplier member firms. Over 200 supplier, service vendor, energy efficiency, and affiliate partner firms are expected to participate. In addition, we will again offer our Solutions Center Program, which is designed to showcase the offerings of HARDI Service Vendors and purchasing/marketing groups. Here you can quickly and easily find solution providers for your most urgent business needs.

Finally, the Orlando conference will see the biggest conference closing event in HARDI history, featuring Cirque Dreams presented by Distribution Center.

I hope to see all of you in Orlando in October; in the mean time, stay cool and busy.

Bud Mingledorff
HARDI President