Among the highlights from the recent VIPAR Heavy Duty Annual Business Conference was the nearly 100 percent participation from VIPAR Heavy Duty stockholders and an increase over last year in supplier participation, the company said Tuesday.
Celebrating the theme “Vision, Innovation, Performance, Action and Results,” the VIPAR Heavy Duty Annual Business Conference was held Oct. 18-23 at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country in San Antonio, Texas.
The Annual Business Conference included a keynote speech on a “Game Plan for Success” by Lou Holtz, the popular former football coach and ESPN football studio analyst. A distributor educational session was led by Mark Dancer, vice president, global channel management at Henkel Corporation on “Becoming a Digital Distributor: Strategies and Tools That Create Value.”
A Young Leaders Forum and Lunch provided VIPAR Heavy Duty stockholders and suppliers who are 45 years old and younger the opportunity to network and collaborate with industry peers. The event included a presentation by Tanveer Naseer, an award-winning and internationally-acclaimed leadership writer and speaker.
This year at its annual business conference VIPAR Heavy Duty renamed its annual golf tournament the “Tony Pape Memorial Golf Tournament” to honor Pape’s memory, who died Aug. 3, 2015, and to provide a mechanism to raise funds for the Tony Pape Memorial Fund.
“Our industry lost a great friend in Tony Pape this past summer. Tony was a champion of the aftermarket, a devoted colleague, a great friend to many, and a man dedicated to his family whose passing came unexpectedly,” says VIPAR Heavy Duty president Steve Crowley. “Tony, like many, devoted so much time to his career and the heavy duty aftermarket. It is extremely gratifying to see our industry come together to help support one of our own through the donations made during the tournament and throughout the conference.”
A substantial contribution was raised as a result of this year’s event. Pape had a career in the commercial vehicle industry that spanned 27 years, most recently as director/aftermarket strategy and sales at Accuride Corporation.
