Sunday, September 12
6:30 -9:00pm* Opportunities start with Dinner (optional) - Start networking and meeting your colleagues at our pre-event dinner! This informal event offers you a chance to start uncovering opportunities by networking with the top cooperative executives at six local Indianapolis restaurants.
Monday, September 13
7:00 -12:00 pm Registration
7:00 – 8:00 am Full Breakfast (in hotel dining area)
8:00 – 8:15 am Welcome to Cooperative Opportunities 2010
8:15 – 10:00 am Best Practices - Learning what is working for other co-ops is a great way to find great opportunities for your co-op to grow, reduce costs, and increase profits. Please come prepared to share your best practice and learn from others. Jack Bailey (Moderator),President and CEO, IDC-USA
10:00 – 10:15 am Break
10:15 - 12:00 am Reverse Best Practices - Opportunities often come from solving a problem. How about asking the best cooperative minds to help you turn your problem into a solution that will become an industry best practice? Bring your problems and your intelligence to this reverse best practice exercise. Lance Rantala (Moderator), President Blue Hawk Distribution Cooperative
12:00 am - 5:00 pm Networking Opportunities (Lunch will be provided)
- Golf Outing*- Take in 18 holes at the world famous Brickyard Crossing 18 holes in and out of the most famous race track in the world.
- Meet with NCBA President and CEO, Paul Hazen and your colleagues for an in depth discussion of your greatest challenges as a senior executive of a cooperative business.
- Co-op Tour - Visit a local purchasing co-op to get a first hand view of the operations and then see how co-ops in other sectors such as housing and food use the business model to the advantage of the members.
6:00 – 7:00 pm Registration
6:30 – 7:30 pm Networking Reception - Please be sure to join us for this informal reception to create some opportunities by meeting new colleagues or reconnecting with some old acquaintances.
Dinner on your own
NCBA will provide a list of local restaurants.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
7:00 - 5:00 pm Registration
7:00 – 8:00 am Full Breakfast
8:00 – 8:50 am Negotiation Opportunities - As a purchasing co-op negotiating the best deal is at the core of what you do for your members. With the shift in the economy, is there new opportunity in negotiating with your vendors? Do the old negotiating rules still apply? Is there more to leverage from your vendors and where is the value for your members and your coop?
Our panel will explore these subjects and you can evaluate if you are missing any opportunities. Pete Gallagher, IWDC Vice President Sales and Marketing
8:50 – 9:45 am Strategic Planning – Finding Cooperative Opportunities - When is the last time you have had a Strategic retreat? Was it successful in finding opportunities and moving your co-op forward? Have you or your board resisted spending the time and money on Strategic Planning? Our panel of cooperative CEOs will share the successes and failures they have experienced from Strategic planning and how they uncovered Cooperative Opportunities during the process. Scott Bebenek, President of IDI Independent Distributors Inc. and Kevin Higginbotham, President of The Evergreen Marketing Group
9:45- 10:00 am Break
10:00 – 11:30 am Think Tank Sessions Part I
11:30 am – 12:15 pm Equity Funding for Your Co-Op - Need investment capital for your co-op? Or perhaps you are looking to diversify your investments by investing in the business model that has served you well. The Calvert Foundation has a 22 year history of helping socially responsible businesses. This session will explore their history and current work with NCBA on creating an equity fund exclusively for cooperatives. Lori Scott, Vice President of Community Investment Partners, Calvert Foundation
12:15 – 1:15 pm Opportunity for Lunch & Networking
1:15 – 2:30 pm Tracking the Financial Health of Your Members - How many of your members are financially sound? What is the risk to your co-op if many go out of business? What can you do to help the co-op be financially healthy? Our panel will walk you through opportunities to collect and evaluate the financial health of your members and what you can do to help and protect your co-op. Kathy Jewell, Customer Care Manager, Coopmetrics and Carol Shackelford, CEO, Sphere1, Inc.
2:30 – 2:45pm Opportunity Break
2:45 – 4:15 pm Think Tank Sessions Part II
4:30– 5:15 pm Lessons From the Largest Purchasing Cooperative Serving the Quick-Service Restaurant Industry - Unified Foodservice Purchasing Co-op, LLC serves as the exclusive supply chain management organization for Yum! Brands KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, A&W, and Long John Silver’s. This session opens your eyes to the scale of the model and gives you ideas that can be applied to your co-op, no matter what your size. Daniel E. Woodside, President and CEO, Unified Foodservice Purchasing Co-op
Dinner on your own
NCBA will provide list of local restaurants.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
7:00 – 8:00 am Continental Breakfast
8:00 – 9:30 am An Opportunity to Explore Critical Legal Issues for Cooperatives - This popular session will allow you to explore legal issues that cooperatives need to address. When there is economic stress in the marketplace, some try to solve their economic problems with legal action. NCBA will bring to you the top cooperative attorneys to help you navigate your co-op legal questions. Michael A. Lindsay, Partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Suzanne A. Loonam, Associate, Haynes and Boone, LLP
9:30 – 9:45 am Opportunity Break
9:45 - 10:00 am A View From Down Under - Getting a view from the southern hemisphere on what's the same and what's different about purchasing co-ops in the United States versus Australia. Trent Bartlett, CEO, Capricorn Society, Ltd.
9:45 - 11:30 am Central Bill: Opportunity or Headache?--Point Counter Point - Should your co-op Central Bill (and central ordering)? This is one of the most talked about opportunities co-op leaders are investigating. Is there truly an advantage to the co-op or do the threats outweigh the advantages? Our panel of cooperative experts has deeply investigated this option, one moving ahead with central bill and other deciding against it. This Panel will provide you with all of the important questions you need to investigate, how you can overcome obstacles, and the ability to evaluate the risks and rewards of central bill. Colleen Leppert (Con Central Bill), Vice President, Blue Hawk Distribution Cooperative and Craig J. Malone (Pro Central Bill), Controller, TIM-BR-MARTS, Ltd.
11:30 am – 12:00 pm Wrap Up
This is your opportunity to tell NCBA what we did right, what can be improved and suggestions for next year’s conference. Hear about the exciting plans for the 2011 conference. Adam Schwartz (Moderator), Vice President, Public Affairs and Member Services, NCBA
* Events marked with an asterisk are additional fee.
