Distributor Forum Southwest (Formerly UID In-a-Day)

Tuesday, November 3

Formerly known as the University of Innovative Distribution (UID) In-a-Day, the Distributor Forum Southwest will be held on November 3 in conjunction with the 2026 NAFCD + NBMDA Annual Convention. This one-day workshop is dedicated to providing tailored education to those in management positions within wholesale distribution firms as well as their partner suppliers. While the specific curriculum changes each year, the focus is on helping managers develop their leadership skills which will indirectly facilitate growth in the business.

Who Should Attend?

Any manager working for a distributor or supplier who is interested in their individual growth as well as the contribution to their employer’s growth. The target audience includes operations, general, branch and sales managers along with anyone else within the company looking for continuing education and ideas to stimulate their growth.

Registration Fees

STANDARD RATE

TBD

*Note: There is no additional cost for participants in the 2026 Emerging Distribution Leaders Program. Utilize your discount code when registering for UID-in-a-Day.

Schedule of Events

Note: All times are listed in Central Time and are subject to change.

9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.	Opening Remarks
9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.	Artificial Intelligence in the Building Materials and Flooring Industries (Part 1)
10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Artificial Intelligence in the Building Materials and Flooring Industries (Part 2)
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Artificial Intelligence in the Building Materials and Flooring Industries (Part 3)
2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.	Break
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.	The Multiethnic Advantage: Leading Inclusive Change in Distribution
3:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.	Closing Remarks

Speaker

Jamie Turner

Author, Emory University Professor, and CNN Contributor

Stay tuned for session title

Tuesday, November 3 | 9:30 a.m. - 3:45 p.m.

Stay tuned for more information.

Learning Objectives:

Stay tuned for more information.

Meet Jamie Turner

Jamie Turner is a globally recognized author, professor, and CNN contributor who helps people transition from being "good" to being better.

As a regular contributor on CNN and a lecturer at Emory University, Jamie has spent decades decoding the mechanics of success for Fortune 500 companies like The Coca-Cola Company, Mercedes-Benz, and Verizon.

Jamie doesn’t rely on motivational fluff. Instead, he uses a science-based approach to help others perform at their peak.

He is the creator of The Unspoken Rules of Leadership, a battle-tested system that uses his "Four Ms" framework — Mindset, Mentoring, Management, and Marketing — to help people eliminate "sideways energy" and unlock hidden potential.

His latest book, Better: A Guidebook to a New and Improved You, was born from a profound moment of personal clarity. After realizing that professional "success" often comes at the cost of personal "presence," Jamie pivoted his research to focus on how we can leverage human behavior to enhance the human experience.

Jamie’s work has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider. Recognized as a Top 10 Speaker by Socialnomics, alongside icons like Brené Brown and Gary Vaynerchuk, Jamie delivers high-energy, action-oriented presentations that move audiences past inspiration and directly into action.

When he isn’t on a global stage, he is the driving force behind UnspokenRules.Live, a platform dedicated to mastering the mindset of peak performance

Mike Marks

Artificial Intelligence in the Building Materials and Flooring Industries

How can AI reduce costs and increase revenue for a distributor serving the construction industry? Much of the impact is about reducing friction in the contractors buying journey.

Familiarity with ChatGPT or other language model of their choice is preferred for optimal learning in this session. Please send AI-specific questions to Mike directly at mmarks@ircg.com. This will be used this input to tailor the content. Electronic copies of all materials, including links for further investigation, will be provided to every participant.

Meet Mike Marks

Mike Marks was an original investor in Floor & Décor Outlets of America, served as an outside director for Morgan Products, is still serving as a research fellow with the NAW Institute, and he is the Founding Partner of Indian River Consulting Group. He is currently supporting a very large distributor doing a major AI orchestration project in 2025.

Mike has taught the Artificial Intelligence Course at UID for several years.The content changes rapidly due to innovations in the field. The course attendance is usually maxed out and this session will be updated to reflect what has happened for distributors since March of 2025 when UID was conducted. Mike is also going to focus the content on content specifically applicable to our members in the building trades.

Kevin Heyne

The Multiethnic Advantage: Leading Inclusive Change in Distribution

Leaders in the building materials and floor coverings distribution industry are uniquely positioned to shape the future of their organizations. Yet many companies miss out on the full potential of racial and ethnic diversity—either due to uncertainty, fear of backlash, or reliance on divisive models.

In this session, Dr. Kevin Heyne, author of The Multiethnic Advantage, offers a clear, actionable blueprint for leaders ready to move beyond good intentions and toward lasting change. Grounded in a holistic, process-oriented approach, this session will equip participants with the tools to foster harmony, build resilient teams, and elevate organizational health through inclusive leadership.

Whether you're managing a warehouse team, leading a sales region, or preparing for executive roles, you'll learn how to embrace diversity as a strategic advantage—without compromising unity or values.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand the leadership imperative behind multiethnic transformation and its relevance to the distribution industry.
Recognize how racial and ethnic diversity contributes to a resilient, high-performing workplace culture.
Identify common barriers to inclusive change and how to overcome them with practical, non-divisive strategies.
Apply a step-by-step framework for initiating and sustaining diversity efforts across operational and leadership teams.

Meet Kevin Heyne

Kevin Heyne grew up in a variety of diverse settings on the East Coast (Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York City metropolitan areas), where he attended highly multiethnic schools and eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Over the last thirty years, Kevin has held a variety of leadership and executive positions in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Most recently, he held a high-level leadership role for a Fortune 1000 global company and was part of a global leadership team.

Currently, Kevin serves as an executive for a highly successful Midwest manufacturer and distributor of Building Materials products, where he’s implementing the ideas in this book.

Kevin recently earned a Doctorate of Transformational Leadership (DTL) with an emphasis on Entrepreneurial Organizational Transformation. Kevin is also an ordained associate teaching pastor of a local multiethnic church and co-founder of Transformational Executive Coaching (TEC). TEC is a consulting-training organization that brings people together from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds with the intent of developing better executives and transformational leaders who impact their organizations and communities for the common good.