Find out more about CORE:
Join CORE!
Meet the CORE Group Facilitators
Testimonials: Our CORE Members Say It Best
CORE Agenda Highlights
CORE Guest Presentations

For further information, contact:
Judy Colitz at jcolitz@housewares.org or
847-692-0126.

Daniel Raftery
CORE Chicago, Chicago2, West

Raftery Resource Network, Inc.
800 North Main Street
Antioch, IL 60002
phone: 847-838-1177
fax: 847-838-1188
email: Dan@RafteryNet.com
Web: www.RafteryNet.com

Dan has been a management and research consultant since 1986. He started his first consulting firm, Prime Consulting Group, in 1996 and turned it over to his partner in 2003 when he launched Raftery Resource Network.

R2N is a diverse team of independent professionals from consumer goods production and distribution industries, who solve business problems for clients in any segment of the supply chain. R2N functions as a change agent for innovative solutions tailored to the individual client.

Dan has authored over three-dozen reports on a variety of leading-edge subjects for food, drug and housewares industry associations. For individual companies, he and his network team deliver custom assignments for manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and service providers to the consumer goods industry. Dan is a regular columnist and featured writer for Advantage magazine.

Since 2002, Dan has developed the IHA State of the Industry Report and the annual Compensation Report. Dan also authored the Reverse Auctions White Paper for IHA. He is one of the facilitators for IHA's CORE groups.

"Each CORE meeting takes on a character of its own. Attendees come prepared to use this brain trust for business, professional and personal topics. They dive deeply into these topics, sharing ideas and experiences with each other. They leave enthused about what they learned.”

Paul Mayer CORE Minneapolis PCM Global Solutions LLC 1461 Wood Duck Lane New Richmond, WI 54017 phone: 715-246-3705 fax: N/A email: pmayer@pcmglobalsolutions.com Web: www.pcmglobalsolutions.com
Paul is President of PCM Global Solutions LLC, a management consulting firm that specializes in generating growth for their clients through innovative product design, sourcing, market development, and acquisitions. He has over 30 years of managerial experience in all aspects of business operations including start-ups, growing existing companies, and turn around situations, with the last 20 years at senior management levels. He recently retired from Chaney Instrument Company where he grew annual volume over 900% in 14 years. Paul has worked for such companies as Fiskars, SPS Inc, Watlow Gordon, and Wisconsin Furniture. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of SourceCut Inc, Shady Lady Lighting, and Harper Brush Works. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the New Richmond Area Community Foundation. "Somewhere, there is someone who has solved your problem. This is the idea behind networking and is the real advantage of CORE. When experts in our indutry get together to share ideas, the results are spectacular. No one running a housewares supplier company today should miss these meetings”
Chuck Rosner CORE East Coast CIR Assoc LLC 5 Taylor Road Huntington, NY 11743 phone: 631-271-8149 fax: 631-424-8440 email: cros117@optonline.net Chuck Rosner has more than 20 years of experience in the housewares industry, serving as president and chief executive of several manufacturing companies, including Robinson Knife Manufacturing Company, EKCO Housewares and GemcoWare Inc. He currently is president of CIR Associates LLC in Huntington Bay, N.Y. His jobs outside the industry included group vice president of Cole National Corporation and vice president of marketing for American Greeting Corporation. Chuck is a charter member of CORE, and over the years has served on boards and committees for several industry associations, including GMDC’s General Merchandise Advisory Board, IHA’s Education Committee and the Board of Directors of the American Cutlery Manufacturer’s Association. “The biggest benefit of belonging to a CORE group is the camaraderie that one feels with industry peers after the discussions, socializing and networking that takes place at the quarterly meetings.”

Testimonials: Our CORE Members Say It Best

Listen to these testimonials (.wav format)
Rick Martz, President, STYLETTE
Barry Harper, CEO, Harper Brush Works, Inc.
James Glenn, President/CEO, Whitney Design, Inc.
Marilyn Beckham, Chairman, Cadillac Shoe Products, Inc.
John Roberts, President, Kitchen Supply Co.
Lynn Conway, President/CEO, Terra Coasters
Bob Sachs, President, Arden Companies
Don Switzer, Executive Director, Westgate Center, Inc.

Some additional comments from your industry colleagues:

“The information and relationships I have gotten from my CORE group are of a higher quality, interest and value than any other forum I have participated in during my career.”

“CORE gives me the opportunity to take off the blinders…I walk away from each meeting energized and with ideas on how to improve my business.”

“It’s always hard to give up a day, but missing a meeting costs both me and my company a great deal more.”

“After a CORE meeting, I feel revitalized and ready to conquer the issues.”

“I’m able to acquire knowledge from a four-hour meeting that would take years of experience to learn by trial and error.”

“CORE gives me a reality check on my business as well as tips and inspiration for improving it.”

“The cross-fertilization of ideas has been invaluable.”

“CORE has fulfilled a long-standing professional and personal need to discuss industry conditions and company-level challenges within a forum of my peers.”

“It’s like having a private consulting service available to you.”

CORE Agenda Highlights
The agendas at each session are always relevant as they reflect the input of group members.

Agenda highlights—See what issues your colleagues are addressing:

• Reverse Auctions, “Shoot-outs” and Sealed Bids
• Developing Private Label Programs with Retailers: Pros and Cons
• Warehouse Inventory Shrink Management
• Supplier Sourcing in Asia
• Targeting Small Independents for New Business Growth
• How to Outsource
• Review of the International Housewares Show
• The Internet: What works and what doesn’t?
• Cybermarketing: What are the opportunities and problems of marketing on the internet?
• Web Share: Web site demonstrations and review by members with online capabilities
• POS Data: What to do with it?
• Rep Selection, Motivation, Management and Contracts
• Incentives: What do we measure; what do we offer?
• Staffing: Finding, attracting, compensating and keeping good people
• Policy Manuals: How much and when?
• Supplier Survival: Dealing with a market where there are fewer, larger, and more demanding customers
• Five Imperative Steps for Successful Merger and Acquisition Management
• Unauthorized Deductions and Claims Dilemmas
• The Challenges of Chargebacks and Credits
• “What have you done in the last 90 days to make your company/business better?”

CORE Guest Presentations
Guest presentations, also selected by the group, enhance each agenda. Here are some of the critical topics addressed at recent meetings.

• Minimum Advertised Pricing Agreements & the Robinson-Patman Act
  Vedder, Price
• Insurance Negotiation, Timing & Coverage
  Insurance Consulting Associates
• Housewares Packaging: The Power of Packaging
  Tulino Design
• Expense Reduction
  Arlene Kahn
• Intellectual Property: Copyright, Patent & Trade Dress Infringement
  Kirkland & Ellis Law Firm
• Branding & Brand-building
  Adrienne Weiss Corporation
• Design Dynamics: It’s Value & Importance in New Product Launch
  Cousins Design
• Freight Program: How to Secure the Best Rates
  Transport Players Alliance
• Growing Your Business
  Dick Albu
• The Internet
  Impact Communications
• Trade and Tariffs
  Economic Consulting Services, Inc.
• The Maquiladora Program in Mexico
  American Industries International Corp.