Narveson Welcomes NACDS Total Store Expo Participants to "Powerful Cog in the Productive Machinery" of NACDS

PRESS RELEASE

August 11, 2013, Las Vegas, Nev. - National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Chairman of the Board Bob Narveson opened today’s NACDS Total Store Expo Business Program by congratulating attendees for their energetic and savvy response to the inaugural event, and by inviting them to capitalize on the strategic design of NACDS’ annual meetings calendar.

Narveson, president and CEO of Thrifty White Pharmacy, noted that the planning for the NACDS Total Store Expo spanned the terms of four NACDS chairmen. Plans to launch the new meeting were announced in April 2011.

“I speak for the entire NACDS Board of Directors in saying all of you deserve the credit for recognizing the opportunity and engaging in this first-ever, and first-of-its-kind, trade show and strategic exchange,” Narveson said, giving special recognition to the event’s sponsors.

“That doesn’t mean just signing up for the meeting,” he continued. “It means recognizing the opportunities to look to the future in new ways, to bring together people who haven’t always met in the same room before, and to think about meeting the public’s needs from the standpoint of consumer goods, the pharmacy, efficiency of the supply chain, technological applications, and more.”

He described the high-caliber engagement of more than 900 retail and supplier companies and more than 5,700 individuals in the NACDS Total Store Expo, and declared that “never before have more than 1,300 retailers gathered together under the NACDS banner.”

Demographics of the conference’s attendees include 18 chairmen-of-the-board, 475 presidents and CEOs, 225 COOs and EVPs, 6 CFOs, 1,300 SVPs and VPs, 525 directors, and 2,600 managers and buyers.

Narveson encouraged attendees to apply a strategic approach to their participation in all NACDS events.

“If you looked at this meeting as an opportunity for dynamic collaboration between diverse and interconnected teams, then you looked at it the right way,” he said. “But I invite you to take yet another step back and gain the even greater perspective. The NACDS Total Store Expo now stands as a powerful cog in the productive machinery of an annual calendar.

“These events are designed to build on each other. The Regional Chain Conference and the Annual Meeting each provide top-to-top dialogue for retailers and suppliers. The Total Store Expo now is ideally timed to ensure execution, and mid-course corrections. The year concludes with NACDS Week in New York and an opportunity to review and reload for the year ahead.”

Narveson also announced the opening of registrations for the sixth annual NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill, which will be held March 12-13, 2014.

“This is the event when NACDS members meet with their Senators and Representatives in Washington, D.C.,” Narveson explained. “As I said, I think we all recognize the value of the meetings we are having here this week. And I would propose that the meetings that we have in Washington, D.C. with elected officials rise to that level of importance as well. With over 30 million more Americans with health coverage, you want a seat at the table.”

The Sunday Business Program during the NACDS Total Store Expo also included remarks by NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, and author and business consultant Jim Collins — whose latest work is Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck — Why Some Thrive Despite Them All and whose international bestseller Good To Great has been translated into 35 languages.

Photos of Narveson’s remarks will be available on the NACDS Flickr website.