Young Professionals gathered for a Leadership Forum during last month’s BrandSource Convention in Nashville.
Networking group had full agenda at Convention
By Alan Wolf, YSN
The dealers, vendors and AVB staffers that comprise the Young Professionals (YP), BrandSource’s 20- to 40-something networking group, were kept pretty busy at last month’s Convention 2023 in Nashville.
Besides their regular Convention duties, the next-generation of industry leaders had a full agenda of YP events, as the group piggybacked its Leadership Forum with the annual BrandSource show. The Forum, which carried the theme “The Power of Connections,” kicked off on the third night of Convention with a dinner reception and keynote presentation on “Creating a Limitless Culture” by Ben Whiting. Whiting is a corporate entertainer who teaches audiences to apply his on-stage strategies to their communications with colleagues and clients.
YP kicked it into high gear the following day with an open-forum discussion featuring AVB Marketing’s Tim Hatfield, VP of Technology & Development; Eric Hunter, GM of Marketing; Grant Hancock, GM of Digital Success; and Kate Morris, GM of Product.

The meeting was followed by a team-building scavenger hunt that took the group into the streets of Nashville. The winning team was comprised of Kerri Ann O’Connor, Don’s Appliances; Melissa Castro, Howard Hughes Appliance; Alicia DeRosa, Northern Home Essentials; Carson Foley, Weir’s Appliances; Jake Drees, Drees Electric; Paige Kusel, Kusel’s Enterprises; Wyatt Minor, Kubin’s Furniture & Mattress; and BrandSource Region Manager Brian Lawrence, who also serves as YP Ambassador.
YP ended the day with a Power of Connections dinner reception, before heading back to home bases across the country.
YP was created in 2014 to serve as a breeding ground for future leaders in the appliance, furniture, bedding and CE industries. To date it has helped allay succession concerns and is set to steer the AVB through its second half-century, based on its mix of young, highly motivated dealers, sales representatives, buyers, sales managers, vendor partners and AVB staffers, all looking to share new ideas and grow their businesses.
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.