IHA News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Deborah A.Teschke
Manager, Media Relations & Communications
847-692-0110

Gen. Colin L.  Powell Speaks At Industry Breakfast, Housewares Mavens Dish On Trends

Dr. Andrew Weil Defines the Healthy Kitchen; Lee Eiseman on Color/Design Trends; Global Retailing: It’s a Small World After All

ROSEMONT, Ill (January 2007) – Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), one of the most admired men in America has been at the forefront of global leadership for two decades. Powell will headline the Annual Industry Breakfast at the 2007 International Home & Housewares Show.

He will discuss strategies for “Leadership: Taking Charge,” based on his long experience on the world stage and his up close and personal involvement in many of the world’s most pressing issues as a military and diplomatic guidepost. The presentation will begin at 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, March 13 in Room S100/Grand Ballroom, Level 1 of the South Building at McCormick Place in Chicago. Powell will demonstrate how to remain focused, take responsibility and work towards improving processes, organizations and people, particularly during times of great change and crisis.

He was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during his long military career, later becoming Secretary of State during the first four year’s of the current Bush administration. In his diplomatic role, Powell was at the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS and led the State Department in efforts to resolve civil conflicts in several global hotspots including the Balkans, Northern Ireland and Iraq. Since returning to private life, he has become a strategic limited partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Eat Right, Be Healthy

Andrew Weil, M.D., has spent years preaching the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and its impact on business and daily activities. Through books, articles, television appearances and products, he has become an internationally noted expert on integrative medicine, medicinal plans, mind-body interactions and the future of medicine and health care.

In his keynote address, “The Healthy Kitchen,” Dr. Weil will talk about the ingredients for a healthy kitchen, how consumers can take advantage of nutritional information in everyday cooking and the increasing impact of organic foods on consumer lifestyles. His presentation begins at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday,March 11, in Room S100/Grand Ballroom, Level 1 in the South Building of McCormick Place.

Dr. Weil also is a clinical professor of medicine and the founder and director of the Program in integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He is the author of the popular “Self Healing” newsletter, a columnist for Prevention magazine and the editorial director of DrWeil.com, a leading online resource for healthy living.

Color and Design: Cornerstones of the Housewares Industry

The Show would be incomplete without the unparalleled insights of Leatrice (Lee) Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and director of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training. No one knows more about color and its application to housewares than Lee Eiseman, period.

This year, she will lead two powerful sessions on color and design. The first, on Monday, March 12, will begin at noon in RoomS100/Grand Ballroom, Level 1 in the South Building. In this session, “Future Color/Design Trends: Fulfilling Consumers’ Needs,” Eiseman will shed light on the most important influences in design and color trends that entice customers and drive sales.

On Tuesday, Eiseman is joined by Ken Mesnick, a specialty retailing expert, for a discussion of color and visual merchandising.  Their presentation, “The Impact of Color & Visual Merchandising,” will begin at noon in Room S100/Grand Ballroom, Level 1 in the South Building. Topics will include the psychological, often subliminal, impact of color on customers’ choices and the skill that lies at the heart of retail operations everywhere: unique, personal and knowledgeable customer service.

Mesnick is vice president of Gracious Home, a New York City specialty retailer known for it synergy between assortment, visual merchandising and customer service in creating an optimal shopping experience.

Specialty Foods Are Big and Getting Bigger

Specialty retailers are the fastest growing segment of the housewares industry and specialty foods are a large chunk of the sales pie. Specialty food consumers tend to be young, affluent and active, with an eye toward the new and different.

A special panel presentation on Monday, March 12 will examine that growing market segment, with a focus on who buys specialty foods, how they entertain, what they do with their leisure time and what housewares categories appeal to them. The presentation, “Specialty Foods & Housewares: Crafting a Winning Combination,” begins at 7:30 a.m. in Room S100/Grand Ballroom, Level 1 in the South Building.

Moderator is Ron Tanner of the National Association for the Specialty Foods Trade (NAFST) and  panel members include Laurie Semons from Olive’s Gourmet Grocer in Long Beach, Calif., and Willard Doxey from A Southern Season in Chapel Hill, N.C.

For more information about the Industry Breakfast and educational seminars at the Show, please visit www.housewares.org