2019 SLD Business Resource Meeting

Hilton Head

This past November the Southern Leadership Division (SLD) group headed to the Sonesta Resort in Hilton Head, South Carolina for their annual business resource meeting. We kicked off the 3-day meeting with “Advice from the Corner Office,” where Scott McPherson, President and CEO of Core-Mark and President of The Southern, shared with the group what it takes to deliver industry-leading category management solutions to retail partners. Following Scott, Spencer Taylor, with Lumen Group, walked us through how to optimize our workforces so that they lead to a substantial increase to our bottom lines.

After lunch, we partnered with Together We Rise to help them transform the way kids experience foster care in America. We rolled up our sleeves and put together skateboards, bicycles, birthday boxes and wrote personal letters for those kids in foster care. Thank you to our member Altria Group Distribution Company and Brandon Mohr, for organizing this great hands-on event. Immediately following, we got together in teams and competed in a resort-wide Scavenger Hunt. A great time was had by all. Thank you to all of the guests and employees of the Sonesta for participating.

On day two of the 3-day meeting, we invited Evan Carroll and Stan Phelps, presented a three-part workshop on delivering world-class customer service. They showed us that in a world where commoditization is the norm, differentiation is key. The kind of differentiation customers will notice doesn’t come from what you say, it comes more from what you do.

We ended the meeting on day three with our Round Table Discussion. Facilitated by Jake Stewart, SLD President, this popular session allows attendees to get together in an informal setting to discuss issues related to the industry or a specific business process while sharing best practices.