Presented by Thomas F. Glenn President of Petroleum Trends Intl. and Publisher of Jobbers World

Tom Glenn, president of Petroleum Trends International, Inc., is a well-known industry thought leader who is published monthly in columns with Lubes 'n' Greases magazine and Jobbers World. In addition, his papers and articles have been published in Gas-to-Liquids News, NLGI Spokesman, and other lubricant-related trade journals. Glenn has also presented and moderator at NPRA, ILMA, STLE, ICIS- LOR and other industry trade meetings and conferences.

Tom will present a talk on The State of the US Lubricants Business - Threats and Opportunities and provide and an independent analysis of supply and demand dynamics in the US lubricants business. Includes a demand forecast, and outlook for lubricant manufacturers and marketers (majors, independents, distributors), and insights and information on growth opportunities.

Presented by Tom Mangano President of Rax Inc.

Tom Mangano will present a focused look at how lubricant marketers achieve transactional excellence in warehousing, truck maintenance, human resources, and back-office hardware and software management. Such issue as retiring assets vs. constant repairs on trucks, part- time, overtime, and seasonal employment, warehousing, and other operational issues will be discussed. In addition, there will be time available for Q&A to discuss the specific needs of individual lubricant marketers.

Tom has been writing software for the Petroleum industry since 1982. He has developed software for lubes, lights, home heating oil, and card lock companies. In 1997 he was hired as a consultant to purchase software for a local lubes distributor. After an extensive search, and the release of MS Window, he determined that he could "build a better mouse trap". He worked closely with 3 local companies to develop Visual Supplier. After two and a half years, his first client went live. Since then, his company, Rax Inc. has added over 70 accounts.

Presented by: Ken Gunn President Caliber Consulting

Ken will address several critical issues in lubricant distribution; starting with defining your costs. Because, what gets measured, gets done-managed! In addition he will address how lubricant marketers can utilize existing software applications completely-not just the single problem area, and the savings in effective inventory mgt: Cycle, monitoring, repackaging, reordering and your customer's inventory. Ken will also present practices and principles on the best way to take an order to save time and also get add on sales. Ken says, "It's about Swinging the bat!! Increase your odds for greater success!!"

Ken is a 20-year-plus veteran of the petroleum industry and consults as an "operational and organizational internist" assessing a distributor's cost- effective use of three assets: people, time and technology. Diligent management of all three assets in day-to-day business is becoming more important in the evolving marketplace of super jobbers, industry consolidation, increasing customer expectations, shrinking margins and technology advances.

Presented by Kevin Fiala, Principal at Bywater Inc.

As petroleum marketers approach the year 2006, many continue to look for ways to expand their businesses and improve their bottom line. Proactive marketers are formulating strategies for growth that will keep them competitive for the years to come. One key strategy to consider is growth through acquisition. For companies with good financial resources, growth through acquisition offers several advantages, including increasing gross profits, gaining market share, supporting activities of other divisions in the company, and adding top management to the company team.

Mr. Fiala will provide insights on how to develop an acquisition strategy and then overview the process to execute on that strategy.

Kevin Fiala is a Principal at Bywater Inc. and leads Bywater's Corporate Development Services (CDS) practice, which advises clients on merger and acquisition activities. Bywater CDS specializes in providing manufacturers and distributors of lubricants, fuels, and related products and potential investors with the services they need to complete small- to mid-sized acquisitions, divestitures, alliances and private equity financings.

Kevin also authors the Acquisitions Corner column in Jobbers World.

Presented by Ed Runner, founder and president of E. C. Runner & Associates,

Ed is known nationally for his expertise in sales channel performance and improving customer loyalty. For the last twenty-one years, Ed has led a three day seminar for manufacturers on managing the industrial distributor sales network. Over the years, more than 4,000 sales managers have attended these popular sessions.

Ed will discuss such important issues as:

How does distributor channel success in the lubes industry compare with other industries? What critical decision do lube distributors have to make today? Do suppliers need more pages in their playbook? Should distributors be more accountable and pro-active to survive? What do suppliers and distributors need to know today about selling "multi-channel" to be successful?