Above: Matt Gesge, CEO of AIA (second left), with some of the Supplier Summit’s attendees, including (from left), Jennifer Mason, manager, national accounts at Sweda USA; Lori Bauer, vice president of sales, national accounts and special markets, BIC Graphics North America; Tim Andrews, president and CEO, ASI; and Tim Mason, national sales manager, strategic accounts, PCNA.
AIA Corporation held its inaugural two-day Supplier Summit event in Chicago last month, bringing together 18 attendees from the Neenah, Wisconsin, distributor’s supplier MVP community and AIA leadership for collaboration, education and idea sharing.
Matt Gresge, CEO of AIA, kicked off the Summit with an update on the state of the business, noting that AIA is on track to increase its 2018 sales of nearly $195 million by 18 percent in 2019. Gresge noted that a key contributor to this growth is the service the company provides its existing owners and efforts to recruit new owners.
“Maintaining strong supplier relationships is a critical component of achieving AIA’s sales goals and effectively supporting our owners,” says Gresge. “The Supplier Summit creates a setting where both AIA and suppliers can speak openly about who we are, our business objectives and how we can mutually support one another.”
Gresge was joined by ASI President Tim Andrews who shared an industry update, providing suppliers with the latest distributor sales growth data and market trends.
To build on the success of the Supplier Summit, AIA is also hosting a series of Regional Collaboration Meetings bringing together AIA Leadership, AIA owners and suppliers in select regions throughout 2019. The distributer expects these events—planned for Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta, in addition to locations in the Northeast and on the West Coast—to foster collaborative conversations around business topics that matter most to AIA owners and suppliers.
