Loews Portofino Bay Hotel  at Universal Orlando® 5601 Universal Boulevard Orlando, FL 32819 (866) 360-7395

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Meet the Speakers

		Dr. Al Bates, Chairman and President, is the founder of the Profit Planning Group, a research and executive education firm headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The firm works exclusively in the area of corporate financial planning. He makes approximately 100 presentations each year on topics such as Improving the Bottom Line, Getting Serious About Profit, Doing More with Less, and Pricing for Profit. He also provides strategic direction for the firm’s investigation into profitability research for over one hundred different trade associations.
		Brian Beaulieu - An economist with the Institute for Trend Research since 1982 and has served as the executive director since 1987. He has been primarily engaged in applied research in business cycle trend analysis, growth cycle trend analysis and the utilization of cyclical analysis at a practical business level. The applied research conducted by the institute includes domestic and international economic issues. He is also engaged in fundamental research focused on long-range quantitative forecasting of basic industrial and financial trends.
		Don Buttrey, President, Sales Professional Training, Inc., has worked over 22 years for a manufacturing company that was built and dependent on distributors. Buttrey is an expert in selling skills training. He has extensive sales and marketing expertise in inside/outside sales, international sales, industrial distribution, product engineering and manufacturing.
		Nancye M. Combs, AEP-SPHR, is President of HR Enterprise, Inc., a management consulting company in Louisville, KY. She is authoritative, interesting and entertaining. Her 35 years of experience in executive management are evident every minute of her presentation. She has presented hundreds of programs and consulted with more than 500 clients worldwide, with the single goal of helping each of them be better at what they do and reach the goals they want to reach.
		Sam Geist is no idle armchair philosopher. His insights stem from years of front-line business experience. He grew his single sporting goods store into a 15-store $40 million dollar a year national chain before he sold it to his competitor. He opened a marketing and consulting agency, based on the full-service customer concepts he had honed in the retail arena, and went on to learn an entirely new set of skills and experiences.
		Dave Griffith began his career at the IBM Corporation. Today he is the President and CEO of Modern Group Ltd., a 100% ESOP company listed by The PA Business Journal as one of best places to work in Pennsylvania. He is active on numerous boards, including serving as MHEDA's 2005 President. He is a national speaker and author on business motivation, leadership and technology.
		Steven S. Little is a much sought after expert on the subject of business growth and the future of opportunity. As a Senior Consultant for Inc. Magazine since 1998, and author of the new best-selling book "The Seven Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth" (Wiley, 2005) he speaks to thousands of owners and managers of growing organizations each year. His style has been described as "real-world", "highly credible" and "uniquely engaging." Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Steve was President of three fast growth companies. Both FAME, Inc. and Erb Industries, Inc. achieved profitable growth rates of over 500% during his tenure. As President of The Queensboro Shirt Company, Steve helped to build one of the country's most successful sites for internet commerce.
		Steve McClatchy is an international speaker, writer, consultant, trainer and founder of Alleer Training & Consulting. Steve has spoken before thousands of audiences on the topics of Time Management, Leadership and Sales and his client list includes the NFL, Merck, Microsoft, Disney, Comcast, State Farm, HP, Ikea, Wells Fargo and Nestle. He is best known for his passion, sense of humor and genuine personality. He leaves each and every audience with a wealth of knowledge delivered in a fun and interactive fashion. You will be captivated, motivated and truly inspired by his unique and practical approach to effectiveness and success.
		Peter Rice has spent extensive time in the electrical and material handling industries working on both sides of the vendor and distributor market channel. This unique experience provides Peter a distinct advantage identifying the specific challenges a company faces.
		Mark Scharenbroich will share core messages on how to build strong connections in the workplace that results in improved performance across the board. When individuals feel a stronger connection to their organization, loyalty, retention, and overall performance improves. Mark has spent his career working in both education and industry discovering how some of the best organizations and industry leaders build a climate that encourages people to perform at a higher level.
		John Sweeney is an author, corporate trainer, keynote speaker, improviser, comedic performer, and owner of the nation’s oldest satirical comedy theatre, the Brave New Workshop (BNW). His story begins in 1993, when John’s love for the art of improvisational theatre compelled him to leave a successful career in corporate real estate and become a full time actor and improviser. After buying the Brave New Workshop in 1997 he quickly combined his instinct for business with his understanding of improvisation to write Innovation at the Speed of Laughter and launch the company’s incredibly successful corporate services division.