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Stuart Varney Named Convention Keynote Speaker

Veteran business and financial journalist and anchor of Fox Business News, Stuart Varney, will be the featured general session speaker at STAFDA's Nov. 9-11 convention and trade show in Denver. His presentation, "21st Century America: A New Day in Politics, Culture, and Business," will be Monday, Nov. 10 — one week after the presidential election so his commentary will be topical and timely.

Educated at the London School of Economics, Varney is uniquely qualified to address the rapidly shifting domestic and global economic trends and their implications for business and investors. In order for businesses to grow and prosper, management needs to understand key economic issues impacting its ability to compete — both domestically and abroad. Businesses must consider the global political climate as well as the economic agenda of a "new" administration. Varney's assessment of worldwide politics as it relates to economic trends, opportunities and hazards will be fresh, insightful and comprehensive.

Prior to becoming an anchor on the Fox Business Network in 2007, Varney had been a contributor to a variety of Fox programs since 2004, including Your World with Neil Cavuto, Bulls & Bears, Cashin' In and Forbes on Fox. Before Fox, he was host of CNBC's The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney and co-host of CNN's MoneyLine News Hour. He was a founding member of CNN's award-winning business team and former host of Your Money, Business Day and Business Asia. He joined CNN upon its founding in 1980.

Varney's exceptional coverage and analysis of the stock market crash in 1987 helped earn CNN a Peabody Award for excellence in journalism.

Zinman to be Associate State-of-the-Industry Speaker

Mona Zinman, co-CEO, PrimeSource Building Products, will be STAFDA's Associate State-of-the-Industry speaker. She, too, will speak on Monday, Nov. 10.

Her career began in 1967, at the age of 15, working during the summer for Wilmod Co., a small importer/distributor of nails. Her work at Wilmod continued through her college years and upon graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Brooklyn College, she joined the company full time. In 1980, Mona married Norman Zinman, owner of Wilmod, and continued to work with him until his death in 1982. In 1984, Wilmod was acquired by Itochu Building Products, and she joined Itochu to help direct the new venture.

Over the next 14 years, her responsibilities there included purchasing, credit, personnel and operations management. In 1998, when Itochu acquired PrimeSource, she was promoted to president of Itochu Building Products and executive vice president of PrimeSource. Upon the passing of chairman Charlie Choi in 2007, she became co-CEO of PrimeSource along with Ken Fishbein.

Mona has more than 40 years of industry experience including hands-on experience in every aspect of the business, but her main focus has been purchasing. She has traveled extensively throughout the world visiting factories and developing vendor partners. Mona has been responsible for adding many new suppliers to PrimeSource's expanding GripRite family of brands. Her expertise was recently called upon by the industry to testify at the Department of Commerce hearings in Washington, D.C. as part of the Dumping Duty investigation on nails from China and the United Arab Emirates.

PrimeSource is the largest purveyor of fasteners in the world and one of the largest building material distributors in North America, maintaining 35 distribution centers throughout the United States and Canada. In 2007, PrimeSource had sales in excess of $1.2 billion.

STAFDA's Denver Convention & Trade Show is open to members only. Registration materials will mail to members in late June.

Young Distribution Professionals Conference Registration Opens

Through STAFDA's involvement in the Association for Education Alliance (AEA), its members have the opportunity to participate once again in the Young Distribution Professionals Conference, Aug. 3-6, at Eaglewood Resort & Spa, Itasca, IL. AEA is comprised of 40 distributor-based associations collectively sponsoring educational programs to serve the industry.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together young professionals who want to grow and expand their distribution careers in a team-building environment. The program will expose Gen X and Gen Y to a range of key distribution issues while giving them the tools to become more effective in their jobs. It will also provide networking opportunities with their peers from other distribution disciplines. The targeted audience is young sales managers, operations managers and marketing managers.

The conference is also open to supplier executives who want to gain a better understanding of distributor operations.

Attendance is limited to the first 150 registrants.

There are three career tracks to choose from: finance, human resources and sales. Instructors include Dr. Al Bates, Gary Moore, Jason Dorsey, Don Buttrey, Joe Ellers, Steve McClatchy, Mary Lynn Fayoumi, Meagan Johnson and Dave Griffith, all of whom are focused on the needs of those new to the distribution industry.

For more information

For membership or additional information on STAFDA, contact Catherine Usher, member services director, STAFDA, P.O. Box 44, Elm Grove, WI 53122; phone 262-784-4774 or 800-352-2981; e-mail cusher@stafda.org, or visit our website at www.stafda.org.

NEWS: Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association

CSDA Elects 2008 Officers, Directors

Elected to serve until 2010 are: Skip Aston, Ohio Concrete Sawing & Drilling, Inc. Sylvania, OH; Ron Culgin, Pro Cut, Inc., Waltham, MA; Patrick Harris, Concrete Renovation, Inc., San Antonio, TX; Mike Nelson, K2 Diamond, Torrance, CA; Chris Priest, Sanders Saws, Honey Brook, PA; and Jack Sondergard, Central Concrete Cutting, Inc., Edgar, WI.

Joining them as returning members whose terms expire in 2009 are: Steve Garrison, Diamond B, Inc., Santa Fe Springs, CA; Aaron Louisell, Diamond Concrete Sawing, Grand Rapids, MI; Lisa Mullen, Bluegrass Concrete Cutting, Inc., Greenville, AL; Rick Norland, Construction Solutions, LLC, Paola, KS; Mike Orzechowski, DITEQ Corporation, Lee's Summit, MO; and Ron Rapper, Husqvarna Construction Products, Olathe, KS.

"CSDA's emphasis on safety and training programs for the cutting industry will continue to be a strong focus for this new board," according to president Tom Stowell in his challenge to the board. "In addition, CSDA has initiated a program to create a company certification process for contractor members that will be introduced in 2008."

Returning CSDA officers are president Stowell, Norton Penhall Diamond, Fullerton, CA; vice president Doug Walker, Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc., Mt. Holly, NJ; secretary/treasurer Judith O'Day, Terra Diamond Industrial, Salt Lake City, UT; and past president Susan Hollingsworth, Holes Incorporated, Houston, TX. Patrick O'Brien is executive director of CSDA.

For more information about CSDA or upcoming CSDA events, call 727-577-5004.