Alex Hendrie
Vice President of Government Relations, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
NAW Update: Tariff Impacts and Predictions
Wednesday, November 5 | 9:45 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.
Tariffs and trade policies are shifting at a rapid pace, and their ripple effects are being felt throughout distribution and supply chains across our industry. In this session, leading policy expert, Alex Hendrie, will provide timely insights into the evolving tariff landscape, the political forces driving these changes, and the potential regulatory actions on the horizon. Participants will walk away with a clearer understanding of how Washington’s policy decisions are shaping their business environment, and with practical strategies for anticipating and responding to the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the latest developments in U.S. tariff policy and how political dynamics in Washington, D.C. are influencing these changes.
- Evaluate the potential impacts of evolving trade and tariff policies on distribution networks and business operations within the industry.
- Develop strategies to proactively manage risks and seize opportunities created by shifts in tariffs, trade, and related regulatory issues.
Meet Alex Hendrie
Alex Hendrie is Vice President of Government Relations at the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, leading the organization’s lobbying and policy work on economic issues including tax, trade, budget, antitrust, and healthcare issues. Prior to joining NAW, Hendrie was Director of Tax Policy at Americans for Tax Reform, a free market advocacy organization, where he led outreach, policy, and lobbying on federal tax, healthcare, and economic issues and worked on key pieces of legislation including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the American Healthcare Act.
Robert "Cujo" Teschner
Speaker
Opening Keynote: Debrief to Win
Wednesday, November 5 | 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
So many teams miss out on becoming their best because they don't understand the fundamentals of teamwork. They get caught up in the "taskwork trap;" their members work hard-but on the wrong things, and at the end of the day the people who make up the team leave tired, but dissatisfied.
Through this uplifting, motivational and multi-media keynote speech, Cujo will teach what it is that allows a group of people to transform into a team. He'll teach the core tenets used by front-line high-performance teams to win through disruption. He'll also teach what it takes to apply positive, forward-focused accountability practiced by winning teams known as "Debriefing".
Cujo will do so by combining stories of military teams and personal experiences, including the audience in validating and verifying concepts along the way, and ending with a personal story of transformation, accountability and excellence where it matters most in a way that absolutely resonates with the audience! This keynote is meant for organizations looking for instruction and motivation on the path to achieving a new level of performance.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the importance of Team Purpose
- Recognize that Teamwork must be learned
- Appreciate the value of a Teamwork Operating System
- Embrace the theory of Debriefing
- Understand and apply these tenets in both business and life
Meet Robert "Cujo" Teschner
After spending decades on the front lines of real teamwork and the highest levels of team and personal accountability as an F-15 and F-22 fighter pilot, Weapons School Instructor and Squadron Commander, Cujo concluded that every team can become what he personally experienced and lived in front-line fighter squadrons. Cujo’s firm belief was that business teams just need to be shown the way. Cujo spent years perfecting how to teach that way in a manner appropriate to international business teams.
Cujo is now on a mission, one that’s especially critical in the present day: he’s actively helping organizations build teams that win in disruption. A huge part of that mission involves helping leaders drive buy-in and performance amid what’s known as “The Great Resignation”. Another huge part of that mission involves teaching teams how to build trust and achieve performance while the plan falls apart, when the odds begin to be stacked against the team. The most important part of that mission involves helping leaders and teams harness the upside of positive, forward-focused accountability to become the very best they can be. And this is the game-changing moment that delivers the most value—leaders and teams have never been taught how to properly practice team accountability in a way that drives buy-in, performance and trust, even on the heels of a failure…until now.
In support of his mission, Cujo has authored and co-authored two #1 bestselling books. He’s built an outstanding team of highly motivated former fighter pilots that has together delivered hundreds of workshops and keynotes, helping businesses of all sizes embrace real teamwork by practicing meaningful, effective, forward-focused accountability. Today Cujo is focused exclusively on teaching what he’s lived to the businesses that need it most: essentially ANY business that uses teams to advance their own missions.
Steve McClatchy
President and Founder, Growth Team Strategies
Lasting Relationships: Communicate Effectively, Resolve Conflict & Lead High Performance Relationships
Wednesday, November 5 | 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
The skills of building trust, communicating effectively, taking risks and resolving conflict can be the most important skills you will ever develop as a leader. In this presentation you will learn the keys to success in each of these areas and how to build relationships strong enough to handle the pressures and tensions inherent in creating, building, leading and sustaining a fast-changing, results-driven organization. If your success is determined by your ability to work successfully through others it’s time to take your relationships to the next level.
Learning Objectives:
- Build faster, more reliable, high performance relationships
- Resolve conflict when it happens so it doesn’t slow you down
- Better communicate, set expectations and drive superior results
Meet Steve McClatchy
Steve McClatchy is a keynote speaker, workshop leader and author of the New York Times Bestseller Decide: Work Smarter, Reduce Your Stress & Lead by Example. Steve has spoken before thousands of audiences on the topics of leadership, performance, personal growth, and work/life engagement. His client list includes the NFL, Google, Pfizer, Microsoft, Disney, NBC Universal, Accenture, John Deere, Under Armour, Wells Fargo and Campbell’s Soup. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard and Wharton. He has appeared on ABC, CBS, Fox News, NBC’s Today Show and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Entrepreneur and Investor’s Business Daily. Steve’s passion is for continual improvement and believes that when we stop learning, gaining experience and achieving goals we stop living. Steve is best known for his passion, sense of humor and energetic personality. You will be captivated, motivated and truly inspired by his unique and practical approach to effectiveness and success.
Grace Schatz
Economic Consulting Managing Director, ITR Economics
Setting Expectations for 2027 and Beyond
Thursday, November 5 | 1:15 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Uncertainty makes even the strongest businesses hesitate. When markets shift, leaders need more than forecasts – they need clarity, context, and a plan. This session will help business leaders understand what is coming next, how it will affect their industry, and where to focus when conditions change. Inflation, interest rate changes, and margin pressures can derail pre-existing plans. Having a broad view of business cycle changes and sector-level drivers will help you identify risks and opportunities, aligning strategy, budgeting, and investments with forward-looking economic insight.
While many markets improved this year, others experienced only muted growth and are at risk of hard landings in 2027. This session will delve into the key macroeconomic drivers that will take hold next year or carry over from 2026. We will focus especially on the top economic drivers impacting your business – such as inflation, interest rates, labor, and geopolitical uncertainty – and their implications for overall cost structure, workforce strategy, the risk of profitless prosperity, and the timing of resource allocation across an organization.
ITR Economics has a long and proven track record of “seeing the future first,” empowering our audiences to anticipate market shifts and prepare their strategies and tactics accordingly. ITR Economics’ forecasting expertise equips decision-makers with the knowledge needed to navigate often-turbulent markets. By leveraging these insights, business leaders can ensure their organizations remain resilient and thrive in the ever-changing market landscape.
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate macroeconomic drivers (inflation, interest rates, labor, geopolitics) and their business impact.
- Identify risks and opportunities across the business cycle using forward-looking insights.
- Align strategy and resources with economic forecasts to strengthen resilience and decision-making.
Meet Grace Schatz
Grace Schatz brings a strategist’s lens to economic insight, helping business leaders connect what is happening in the economy to what they should do next.
As Economic Consulting Managing Director at ITR Economics, Grace works with executives to interpret changing market conditions, identify risks and opportunities, and translate forecast data into practical decisions around growth, pricing, labor, margins, and long-term planning. Her strength lies not only in understanding economic trends, but in helping companies use those trends to make smarter, more confident decisions before market shifts fully show up in their financials.
With more than a decade at ITR Economics, Grace has helped shape the firm’s forecasting, consulting, and client advisory work through multiple business cycles. She is a trusted voice on issues that matter most to executive teams, including inflation, labor constraints, industrial activity, margin pressure, and strategic timing. Her work reflects ITR’s larger commitment to turning economic intelligence into competitive advantage, giving leaders the clarity they need to move decisively in an uncertain environment.