ISA 25 last week (March 31- April 2nd) in Nashville brought together close to 700 Industrial Channel Leaders to the annual meeting to meet in person.
I really enjoy this ISA industry event as it brings together Manufacturers, Distributors and Manufacturer Representative Firms at one meeting together. For other key B2B channels like electrical, HVACR, Automation, Power Transmission, and many more that we get to attend their events are more defined by the channel partner. For example: David from our team was at a National Electrical Manufacturer Representatives (NEMRA) meeting the rest of last week, that was reps only with no manufacturers or distributors present.
The timing of ISA25 this year landed right during the Tariff announcements, so the impact of that news and the potential impact was the hot topic at ISA 25.
National Association of Wholesalers (NAW) leader Brian Wild -Chief Government Officer (2) Brian Wild | LinkedIn and ISA CEO – Brendan Breen took a deep dive into tariffs (on April 2nd) which was one of the best discussions on tariff impact on the channel and was very informative. The number of channel leaders asking questions of Brian and Brendan was very interesting to watch and hear. Of course, they ran out of time to answer every question that the attendees had, but the message was clear for ISA members. Uncertainty is here for a while and the negotiations will now begin between nations, but it was clear that the NAW team is very involved and active on Capitol Hill and with the administration.
I would encourage you to follow closely the work of NAW in Modern Distribution Management www.mdm.com and on www.naw.org closely. The value that NAW brings the Industrial channel in terms of government advocacy is probably at an all-time high point. NAW is intimately plugged in at the federal government level and actively advocating for our channel in partnership with ISA. They understand the impact of what happens in Washington D.C. (NAW HQ has been in Washington D.C. ) because their leaders are experienced Washington professionals who are plugged into all the executive orders that affect the Industrial Channel.
This fireside chat at ISA25 was one of the best-timed and best-presented sessions that I have been at in many years, in a schedule packed with industry events. A special shout out to INFOR for sponsoring this session – it is important for the channel to have sessions like this sponsored so ISA can provide this content to the ISA team and INFOR and all the ISA sponsors provide the support to make that happen.
In conversations with attendees, speakers, and presenters, we captured some iSA25 sound bites that stood out:
Key ISA25 Sound Bites –
Tommy Thompson from Turner Supply was awarded with the 2025 John J. Buckley Lifetime Achievement Award from ISA. What jumped out about his acceptance speech to me was the term he used “Relationships Count”. Tommy’s direct message on the morning of the first day encouraging reps, manufacturers, distributors to make the time that everyone at the event to build relationships was excellent. In times of uncertainty the power of those relationships truly due count, and 2025 is a year to work together closely as channel partners
Brendan Breen CEO of ISA – Had a couple of key messages about the role of ISA as “Leading the Channel Forward”. The second key message about how ISA is focused on “powering your next move”. The ISA event had sessions and booths for ISA programs for Emerging Leader Channel Certification (ELCC), Veterans Empowerment Network (VEN), and Women in Industry (WII) and ISA outlined the current and upcoming enhancements for each ISA anchor program. Building on these three programs which are led by channel partners (Manufacturers, Reps, and Distributors) is a great way to lead the channel forward and help power your next move.
Joyce Lansdale – Vallen Vice President Enterprise Business Development & Chairman Industrial Supply Association had a great presentation on how the Industrial Channel and sales have changed over her career. Joyce shared her story about becoming an account manager in the Industrial Channel in the mid 1990’s as a Woman in the channel. She was given a territory, a green bar of accounts with no contact names or sales data, and a handshake from the company who hired her wishing best of luck. For those of us in the crowd who remember those days it was fun to look at her photos of an Atlas, maps, an early bag phone, and pay phones (the best kind Joyce shared were the gas station pay phones you could pull up to and roll down the window to make a call). It was an informative presentation that had the perfect mix of humor and content. Joyce provided a history of how things in the channel have improved beyond technology, by relating how she was part of the original ISA WISE program that has now grown to become ISA Women in Industry. When Joyce asked the crowd to look around the room and she reminded us how the attendee mix has changed. I was struck by how the Channel has improved for the better with more women leaders than ever in the room at this year’s ISA25.
ITR Economics’ Taylor St. Germain gave the Closing Keynote: Challenges and Opportunities in 2025–2026–2027. Taylor did an excellent job taking over from the recently retired Alan Beaulieu. I think I have seen Alan at least once a year for the past 15 years at industry events and he has the delivered the ITR economics current industry and forecast trends with great data and humor for all that time. Taylor did an excellent job filling those shoes and delivering once again very impactful and detailed information. I would encourage you to follow ISA’s work with ITR Economics. As ISA members have access to specific information from ITR, I don’t want to share any specific information in this column that was shared just for ISA members.
What I feel I can share is Taylor’s message was excellent, and that the underlying fundamentals of the Industrial Channel are strong.
The theme of ISA25 overall was one of being ready to take advantage of opportunities. Tariffs news that drive economic uncertainty will likely be news cycle for who knows how long, but that uncertainty can create opportunities.
ISA25 was filled with reps, manufacturers, and distributors who were heading back to their businesses this week to go out and take share in a strong industrial market.
A big thank you to the ISA team for putting on a great event for the channel and continuing to lead the channel forward.
As always, we appreciate the feedback and comments. So, feel free to reach out at jgunderson@channelmkt.com
Good summary John!