Hello HARDI members. I hope all of you are enjoying the remaining weeks of summer. Isn’t it unbelievable how quickly the time flew by? Personally, I have had a summer full of great discussions, feedback and memories with my HARDI family. The year has been so outstanding thus far that I am even more determined to make the remainder of the year extra beneficial and valuable to our members.  HARDI has put forth a lot of hard work to keep you engaged in the rest of the events planned this year. I look forward to hearing how all of you enjoy them.

            Just around the corner is the Purchasing Optimization Conference Sept. 14-16 in Newport, Rhode Island. Speakers Robert Benedict, Karl Manrodt, Soheila R. Lunney and Jason Bader will strengthen members’ purchasing skills by improving their negotiation tactics, use of performance measurement tools, inventory management and development of supplier scorecards. I look forward to meeting with all of you once again and learning how all of you will use the content from this conference to increase purchasing effectiveness at your respective companies.

            Next, I would like to acknowledge some of the most recent HARDI highlights. So many wonderful milestones have taken place in the past two months that I am still brimming with pride and excitement. HARDI Education has had several noteworthy achievements.  July 31-Aug. 1, HARDI collaborated with Texas A&M University for the Optimizing Channel Compensation workshop. We addressed critical issues in the HVAC industry, for example, how members can better understand changing service models and best practices in manufacturer-distributor collaborations. I was thrilled to hear this workshop provided participants with a bounty of insight and information that will aid both manufacturers and distributors in finding ways to respond to ever-changing compensation models. Maintaining a competitive advantage is crucial, and this workshop was a great resource in discovering effective ways to do that.

            Of course, I can’t mention successful education events without discussing the highly anticipated Emerging Leaders Summer Conference, which took place July 20-22. A sold-out event, the in-depth conversations that took place in San Francisco filled me with high expectations and a strong sense of anticipation for what these brilliant minds have in store for the future of HVAC.  I would also like to take a moment to personally thank all of the wonderful HARDI members who took the time to be involved in round-table discussions with the Emerging Leaders and provide them with their personal experiences and wisdom into what can be a challenging (but worth it) industry.

            Thank you, Richard Cook, COO of Johnson Supply, Bud Mingledorff, chairman of the board at Mingledorff’s Inc., Ruth Ann Davis, senior vice president of sales & marketing at Williams Comfort Supply, Tom Roberts, president of cfm Distributors, Greg Trimbach, president at 2-J Supply, Greg Popma, vice president of operations at Johnstone Supply and Talbot Gee, executive vice president  & COO of HARDI, for so considerately sharing your time and imparting your knowledge to HVAC’s future power players. Additionally, speaker Randy Disharoon, director, Global Strategic Accounts, had wonderful content as well as suggestions on how to build leadership skills. I can hardly wait to see what the Emerging Leaders have in store for their next meeting, taking place at HARDI’s annual conference. Anyone interested in learning more about the Emerging Leaders program or any education initiatives can check out the HARDI education page at http://www.hardinet.org/educational-events.

            Have all of you previewed Distributor Performance Dashboards, our latest landmark benchmarking service? Members can now create customizable user performance analysis dashboards, have quarterly reporting of recent trends and observe cross industry benchmarking data in an effort to maintain a competitive advantage. HARDI is incredibly proud to now offer this service as a result of member demand, and we are eager for all of you to make it an incredibly useful tool in analyzing how you compete with distributors across the country. Did I mention that it’s free? Check out HARDI’s Distributor Performance Dashboards page to find more information, such as data submission dates and step by step tutorials on how the video works. This service is for distributors, by distributors, so I look forward to hearing all of your feedback on this next-generation benchmarking resource.

            It has been a remarkable summer, both for HARDI and all of our exceptional members. Believe it or not, it is already time to start thinking about this year’s annual conference, taking place Dec. 6-9 in gorgeous San Antonio, Texas. HARDI has dedicated our conference theme to “Shift Into Gear,” as we strongly expect 2015 to be a year where the economy will allow for important expansion opportunities. We want to make sure our members have the best strategic plan possible to invest effectively in their employees, internal  operations and technology. This is an incredibly exciting time to be a distributor, and we want to make sure the future is prosperous. Members can check out the conference website page, www.hardishift14.com, to learn more about the theme, speakers, schedule and registration information.  I highly suggest all of you check your calendars now and set aside space for the HARDI event of the year.

            Once again, I thank all of you for your support and dedication to the industry. This year has marked some commendable achievements for the association.  I can’t wait to see what will happen next.

Yours Truly,

Royce Henderson