Jim spellos

AI is a Leadership Issue, not an IT Problem 

Generative AI is already shaping how organizations operate, make decisions, and manage risk, yet it is still often looked at as a technical initiative rather than a leadership responsibility. This session reframes AI as a shared priority for senior leaders, IT teams and staff, emphasizing how organizations can work collaboratively to guide AI decisions with clarity, trust, and accountability.

Using tools and real-world examples to illustrate current and near-future capabilities, the session explores leadership considerations including security, AI agents, automated workflows, and the critical role of staff education in successful adoption. Participants will also examine balancing productivity gains with security and risk.

Jim Spellos
President, Meeting U

Mark Rhodes

Mark Rhodes

The Leadership Advantage: Mindset, Skills, and Influence

Many leaders in the distribution industry rise into management roles through technical expertise and operational excellence. Yet few are given the opportunity to develop the leadership mindset, people skills, and communication capabilities that drive sustained team performance.

This session explores how effective leadership is less about authority and more about influence. Executives will gain insight into the often-underestimated impact leaders have—both positive and negative—on engagement, productivity, and results.

In this session, Mark will explore:
- Leadership mindset and presence — building confidence, self-awareness, and the distinction between leadership and management
- Communication that drives performance — using language effectively, navigating difficult conversations, and influencing outcomes
- Developing and empowering people — coaching and mentoring, delegation, and enabling accountability and growth
- Leading through change and complexity — aligning vision, values, and behaviors while guiding teams through uncertainty
- Modern leadership challenges — managing remote teams and maintaining engagement, alignment, and performance

Throughout the session, Mark will share real-world examples drawn from practical leadership experience, illustrating how these principles can be applied immediately to drive stronger performance and leadership impact.

Sara Weith

Leading Forward: Using Today's Tools to Build a Better Tomorrow 

In an era of constant change, the strongest leaders aren’t waiting for the perfect moment or the next big tool—they're leveraging what they already have: their people, their presence, and their ability to connect.

This live session is designed for executives who want to lead with intention and resilience. We’ll explore how to harness the often-overlooked tools already at your fingertips—emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and the ability to truly understand your people—to create stronger teams and more sustainable success.

Key Takeaways from this session:

• How to activate emotional intelligence to navigate uncertainty and inspire trust and engagement
• Practical strategies for resolving conflict with empathy and accountability
  The critical shift from control to connection in leading high-performing teams
• Why understanding the human side of work is the key to building and sustaining the future of work

Leadership isn’t about waiting for the right conditions—it’s about using what you have today to shape a better tomorrow.

Join us and start leading forward.

Sara Weith

COO, ASW Global Consulting

Steve Levy
VP Enterprise Architecture, Infor

Rick Rider
SVP Product Management, Infor

Steve Levy & Rick Rider

From Disruption to Dominance:

Strategies for the Next Era of Distribution

The distribution landscape is shifting faster than ever, and the leaders who thrive won't be the ones who react to change—they'll be the ones who see it coming. From the rise of digital-native competitors to seismic operational shifts driven by workforce dynamics, supply chain complexity, and evolving customer expectations, the pressures on today's distributors are real and relentless. This session cuts through the noise to identify the disruptions that matter most and equips you with a clear-eyed view of what's headed your way before it hits your bottom line.

But disruption doesn't have to mean damage. The most forward-thinking executives in distribution are already turning these challenges into a competitive advantage—and Infor is a critical part of how they're doing it. This session highlights the strategies, tools, and mindset shifts that separate companies that merely survive disruption from those that use it as a springboard. You'll see how peers across the industry are leveraging their Infor systems to move faster, operate smarter, and outperform competitors who are still playing catch-up.

Walk away with practical, actionable insights you can put to work immediately. Whether you're focused on strengthening operational resilience, accelerating growth in new markets, or simply making better decisions with the data you already have, this session delivers a roadmap built for the realities of modern distribution. The next era belongs to the leaders who prepare for it now—and this is where that preparation begins.

Who Should Attend?

from the Desk of David White

The  Value of Attending the Executive Summit

at TUG CONNECTS 2026

As business owners, we’ve invested a lot of capital into our ERP and the edge products that feed data into and consume data from our ERP. One on one time with Infor and other product executives is invaluable to know their direction and intention with the products we’re paying for.

The executive summit at TUG Connects reminds me every year to spend time on my strategic vision for Kyana Packaging Solutions; many other competent people are focused on the day-to-day tactical decisions.

When my company was moving from a legacy ERP to a new ERP, I attended the user conference from two other contenders to SXe. TUG and TUG Connects was by far the best user community and the best user conference versus the competitor’s user communities. We picked SXe because of the TUG Community experience. TUG focused on getting more value from the software we already owned, a user community mission that still rings true today.

Over the course of the years, I’ve bought two manufacturing companies. With the first, I was certain that I’d have to buy manufacturing software. Conversations at TUG Connects regarding how other people use SXe/CSD helped us to realize that the functionality we needed was already built into SXe, Savings us $90-100,000 annually in a new licensed manufacturing ERP. Infor has continued to refine CSD to make it even more compatible with the light manufacturing that we do.

I first learned about the Advanced Inventory Management (AIM) functions in SXe/CSD while attending a Grant Howards session at TUG Connects. I came back and tested some of the functionality that already exists in CSD, but that we weren’t using. After my purchasing team attended Grant Howards full training seminars, we implemented AIM across our warehouses and improved our inventory turns by 1.5 – 2 times based on the warehouse and improved our service levels by 3-4%. The inventory investment savings alone is more than $100,000 and the service level improvement is priceless.

Training for our teams is critical, not just to the continued success of our company but to the retention of the best employees. If people aren’t encouraged by new growth and education opportunities here (my company) they will seek them elsewhere.

A lot of our staff is heads down all day doing their work. It’s my responsibility as the business leader to look across the company and see what’s coming in one department that will affect another department and coordinate the change. TUG Connects gives me access and insight into technology that can change our business operations or sales processes, a change that my IT team may not see.

Distributors bring together the best our vendors have to offer and work to make our customers’ businesses better. Adding technology to our existing processes and operations will enhance our customers’ experience and improve our efficiency. TUG Connects is the premier showcase for distribution technology and a can’t miss event.

Entrepreneurs are curious about everything. TUG Connects is a smorgasbord of networking opportunities that allow the business owner to ask open questions in a non-competitive environment to see how business may deal with the day-to-day problems that we struggle to solve alone.

The keynote speakers at TUG Connects are always thought provoking and on point. I wish I could bottle their presentations and present them to my whole team. They are worth the price of admission.