Posted June 15, 2018

Every June, the Members, Champions and Suppliers in the Packaging Distributors of America community come together to identify business opportunities, share best practices and celebrate success.

Packaging Distributors of America’s 12th annual meeting took place at the Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida on Sunday June 10th to Wednesday June 13th. Our member distributors and preferred suppliers joined together to review the year to date progress, welcome new members and suppliers, raise money for charity, and celebrate achievements.

The Welcome Reception kicked off on Sunday evening with a dinner and raffle drawing. Greg Cowsert (Sharp Systems by Pregis), Curt Whiting (Precision Poly), and Steven Clements (Tach-It/Ben Clements & Sons) were among the raffle drawing winners and the money raised went to The Chapman Partnership.

On Monday, the general session began with a few words from PDA’s founder and CEO, George Strobel, PDA’s chairman of the board, Derrick Murdock, and a representative from PDA’s marketing team, Stephanie Roland. Derrick handed off the position of chairman of the board to Ken Wong, Crownhill Packaging.

Following the opening comments, guest speaker, John Cashion, Ritz Carlton Leadership Center, spoke about providing a top-of-line customer service experience. John opened by talking about creating a memorable experience and shared other unique perspectives on the customer journey. The remainder of the week included our traditional supplier-distributor meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to explore new ways to work together, introduce new technologies, and bring an overall focus to growth strategies.

On Tuesday afternoon, over 40 of our members and suppliers took a break from conference rooms to participate in our annual charity golf tournament, held at Crandon Golf Course on Key Biscayne.

All of the money that was raised during the Welcome Reception raffle and the charity golf tournament went to The Chapman Partnership, a non-profit organization that raises money to help the homeless population in south Florida.

At Chapman Partnership we empower homeless men, women and children to build a positive future by providing the resources and assistance critical to growth and independence. We help the homeless by providing a comprehensive support program that includes emergency housing, meals, health, dental and psychiatric care, day care, job training, job placement and assistance with securing stable housing.

On the final evening of the meeting, all attendees and family members came together for an awards dinner. Our president, George Strobel, introduced our annual charity contribution, the highest amount yet, and the 2018 annual award winners: