Industry Briefs
August 2009 CVSN INSIDER 22 INDUSTrY brIEFS bY TrUCK PArTS & SErVICE Following is a collection of news, personnel an-nouncements and other items of importance to the aftermarket and CVSN members as collected by Truck Parts & Service magazine. Top speakers, panelists announced for Aftermarket Distribution Summit General session speakers and a panel on product and branding integrity have been an-nounced for the first annual Aftermarket Dis-tribution Summit. The panel  Protecting Product and Brand Integrity  will focus on helping distributors build and protect their brand identity through the products they sell, the services they offer and the ways they conduct business. It will feature a diverse lineup of expert panel-ists and is part of the issue-driven, business-building content planned for the inaugural Aftermarket Distribution Summit. The new event combines the annual Commercial Vehi-cle Solutions Network meeting, the HDX Tech-nology Conference and Truck Parts & Service magazine's Truck Parts Seminar. Details for distributors and suppliers, including registra-tion information, is available at www.AftermarketDistributionSummit.org. The panelists for the Protecting Product and Brand Integrity session are: John Bzeta  , president of Fleet Brake based in Calgary, Alberta; Andy Cifranic  , brand manager, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems; Harold Krivan  , owner of the consulting firm Sawgrass Solutions and former senior partner and executive vice president at J.D. Power and Associates; Todd Manson  , vice president of sales, Webb Wheel Products; John Powers  , president of Florida Power-train & Hydraulics headquartered in Jack-sonville, Fla.; and Will Rodgers  , co-founder and director at SHR Perceptual Management, a branding strategy firm. The Protecting Product and Brand Integrity panel is one of three Truck Parts & Service sessions scheduled for the meeting. Panelists for the other two  What Customers Want and What the Channel Needs  will be announced soon. In addition to the panels, the Aftermarket Dis-tribution Summit will also feature marquee general session speakers, including a best-selling author and business growth expert, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and a distribution technology and stra-tegic planning specialist. Steven S. Little  : A much sought after ex-pert on the subject of business growth and the future of opportunity. His style has been described as real world, highly credible and uniquely engaging. He is the author of the best-selling books The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth and The Milkshake Moment: Overcom-ing Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth. Michael Bryan  : A vice president and se-nior economist in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is responsible for organizing the agency's monetary policy process. Bryan previously served as vice president in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland where he specialized in busi-ness analysis with an emphasis on measur-ing and tracking inflation trends. In 1986, he served as an economist in the research division of the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. Steve Deist  : The strategic planning and sales effectiveness specialist from the In-dian River Consulting Group. Diest will