Blog Post: Recap of the CEO Success Stories Dinner: The “Warren Buffets” Of This Market

Over 1,100 visionary CEOs and Presidents from the Phoenix-Scottsdale area were invited to a luncheon-dinner moderated by Jackie Bassett, CEO of BT Industrials, Inc and sponsored by the regional offices of Salesgenie, Citrix, Babson College and the Phoenix CEO-CFO Group on March 27, 2008.  

Like the oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, only the most visionary leaders of the region who recognize that this economy is a time of great opportunity, came out to share their successes and insights. Each of these thought leaders are getting to Ka-Ching: not in spite of this economy but because of it!  

At a time when Isuzu, once the leader in the SUV market, has officially abandoned the US market, these CEOs shared actual details on how their own US headquartered companies are thriving by turning problems into profits.  

Jackie Bassett, CEO of BT Industrials, Inc provided a myriad of ways the CEOs she works with are able to turn IT into a profit center. “The CEOs that are thriving understand they need to leverage technology and innovation to grow their business, to do more with less and to gain a competitive advantage.” Bassett says.  

Christophe Fabre, CEO of Axway, provided details on how he successfully managed the merger of Axway and Phoenix-based Cyclone Commerce. He enthusiastically spoke of how the demand for collaborative business solutions will continue to grow across all industries for a longtime to come.  

Karen Riordan, President of Arnold DC, shared how successfully managing creative people has helped Arnold grow to become the largest, most award-winning advertising agency in New England and one of the top 15 agencies in the U.S  

Stewart Cramer, President of LAI International, provided insights on how his company is able to design and leverage disruptive processes and business models to deliver superior results to his contract manufacturing customers.  

Doug Bruhnke, CEO of Growth Nation, demonstrated his companies marketing process that has created over $1billion of new revenue from globally-thinking, tech and manufacturing companies..  

David Miller, President of Lighting Parts, shared how his company has been able to use its supply chain expertise to deliver unparalleled efficiency to the lighting and electrical industry at a time when global markets are investing in more green products.  

Bob Hobbi, CEO of Service Elements, explained with great passion the dramatic results that great customer service can have in differentiating a company and how it can add profits to every company’s bottom-line.  

Scott Ferguson, CEO of Inilex, described his company’s specialized expertise in intelligent telemetry and how “the power of knowing” where a company’s mobile assets are is making a bankable difference across multiple industry verticals.

Michael Swiszcz, President of the Phoenix CEO-CFO group, expounded on the business value getting great business thinkers together and recommended continuing the new connections made at the luncheon-dinner by joining the Phoenix CEO-CFO group. www.phoenixceocfo.com

So where are the high growth areas and what are are the specific actions that a CEO can do to capitalize on the current economy?

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