F4SS Announces Emerging Trends Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

LONGMONT, Colo., Jan. 2, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The F4SS (Foundation for Strategic Sourcing), a non-profit organization serving the upstream Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) supply chain, has announced member registration opens today, January 2, 2013, for its next conference to be held February 25-27, 2013, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

The conference theme is Emerging Trends. Presenters will share their insight into emerging trends which may impact the upstream CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) Supply Chain. The F4SS spring conference is open and beneficial to all executives in the CM&P industry and will offer presentations from industry leaders, benchmarking sessions, industry table discussions, and a panel discussion on "Emerging Industry Trends." The event is open to F4SS Members; non-F4SS Members are welcome to audit this event.

The Keynote Speaker will be David Radeke, Vice President, Procurement for the Enterprise Supply Chain at Johnson & Johnson. David's presentation "Johnson & Johnson's Journey in Supply Chain Re-design" will frame the reason for moving from their historically de-centralized management of their supply chain to a "Center Led Model." He will provide a brief overview of why a step change transformation was needed, some context around the Strategic Framework, Change Management, and Lessons Learned from their journey.

Attendees will also benefit from insightful presentations from such reputable speakers as David Acheson, Partner and Managing Director, Food and Import Safety, Leavitt Partners; Mark Burgett, Managing Director, Wind Point Partners; Russ Stewart, Vice President Commercial, Mars Petcare, NA; Chad Kerlin, Vice President, External Supply Chain, General Mills; Anoop Nathwani, former Senior Alliances Professional, Nokia Corporation; and Erik Peterson, Managing Director, Global Business Policy Council, A.T. Kearney.

The conference, which will take place at Renaissance Plantation Hotel, will again feature the popular Benchmarking Discussions, a unique opportunity for customers and suppliers to participate in small group discussions to better understand how their organizations compare to other leading CPG companies.

"F4SS chose 'Emerging Trends' as the F4SS Spring Conference theme in response to the rapidly emerging trends driving the evolution of the CPG supply chain," stated Lisa Shambro, Executive Director of F4SS. "The conference will deliver practical, insightful, and thought-leading content delivered by experts in our industry or parallel industries."

F4SS is again offering special early registration discounts, as well as discounts to F4SS Initiative Team Leaders and active Initiative Team participants. All non-members who join F4SS within 30 days of attending the conference will receive a rebate for the difference between the member and non-member conference rate toward their first year of membership dues. Conference registration opens January 2, 2013 at f4ss.org/conference1.php.

For full conference information, please visit f4ss.org/conference1.php. For more information on F4SS, please visit the organization's website at www.f4ss.org. Conference registration closes February 8, 2013.

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