Sep 30, 2014

Two New Speakers & Five Additional Sponsors Confirmed for Third Annual CEO Summit

International Market Centers (IMC) and Eller Enterprises announced today that two new speakers and five additional sponsors are confirmed for the third annual CEO Summit, scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, and Wednesday, January 21, 2015. This high-profile executive forum for the gift and home furnishings industry, which will address business issues that are critical to industry executives, including presentations on financial, operational and global topics by some of the nation’s leading business experts, will be presented at the winter 2015 Las Vegas Market, which runs Sunday January 18, to Thursday, January 22.

Consumer behavior expert Dr. Andreas Weigend, director of Social Data Lab and former chief scientist for Amazon will present a keynote address on the second day of the Summit; and marketing and sales expert Kent Panther, senior vice president of Wray Ward Creative Marketing Communications, also has been confirmed as a speaker for the event. The five newly-named sponsors include trendsetting home décor supplier Creative Co-Op; DesignWorks Investments, a financial holding company for leading candle companies Paddywax, Olivina and Vineyard Hill Naturals; Enesco, a global leader in the giftware and home and garden décor industries; Ganz, a leader supplier of huggable plush, giftware and fashionable home décor; and Puttin’ Out (Socially Accepted,) an acclaimed marketing and social media company.

The two previous Las Vegas Market CEO Summits have been extremely thought provoking, and conference organizer Randy Eller said the 2015 event is taking this platform to the next level. “We can report tremendous progress in making the CEO Summit a five-star forum for the gift and home furnishings industry, creating the foremost gathering of strategic thinkers and visionary industry leaders,” Eller stated. “We expect the third annual CEO Summit to be the best one yet, and the industry is showing it support through sponsorship. In fact, we already have doubled the number of confirmed sponsors since last year’s event.”

The past two CEO Summits have featured a wide range of speakers, including economists and financial experts, technology gurus and innovators, media and consumer trends experts. The 2015 CEO Summit will continue in this direction, addressing a wide range of important subjects, including financial, operational and global issues.

Keynote speaker Dr. Andreas Weigend, for instance, is an expert on the future of big data, social-mobile technologies and consumer behavior. As Amazon’s chief scientist, he helped create the firm’s data strategy and customer-centric culture. Dr. Weigend founded the Social Data Lab, which connects faculty and students with companies looking to find new forms of engagement with their customers; he teaches at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and China’s Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. Dr. Weigend also advises innovative startups and regularly consults for large corporations including Alibaba, GE, Lufthansa, and MasterCard on how to leverage the social data revolution.

For more than 25 years, speaker Kent Panther has cultivated expertise in how to measure the results of marketing tactics and expenditures and, more important, how to tie marketing to sales. In his strategic planning and business development work at Wray Ward Creative Marketing Communications, he has focused on bringing the right measurement tools to the home and building categories. Panther works closely with teams responsible for developing marketing and communications plans with built-in metrics for tracking progress and demonstrating effectiveness. In addressing industry audiences, he shares ways to improve marketing ROI by identifying targets’ most significant activities, and he identifies the top tools with which to measure results.

The CEO Summit is co-produced by International Market Centers (IMC) and Eller Enterprises, and sponsored by leading sales agencies, key industry service providers and top suppliers. Sponsors for the 2015 event include premier sponsor Surya, gold sponsor Global Views and summit sponsors Brandwise, Creative Co-Op, DEMDACO, DesignWorks Investments, Enesco, Evergreen Enterprises, Ganz, Giftcraft, Grace Management Group, Ivystone, OneCoast, Puttin’ Out (Socially Accepted,) The Fisher Group-UBS, UMA Enterprises, Uttermost, VRA Partners, and WHEREOWARE.

Information and registration is available at www.lasvegasmarket.com/ceosummit. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Randy Eller at 615-771-1112, x10 or reller@ellerent.com.

ABOUT LAS VEGAS MARKET AND INTERNATIONAL MARKET CENTERS, L.P.

Las Vegas Market is the most comprehensive furniture, home décor and gift market in the United States, presenting a unique cross-section of 2,200+ resources in an unrivaled market destination. With two markets each year, retailers and designers can shop a broad assortment of product from thousands of manufacturers of furniture, mattress, lighting, decorative accessories, floor coverings, home textiles, tabletop, general gift and more – delivering the most complete, cross-category wholesale tradeshow for the furniture, home décor and gift industries in the United States. For more information, visit www.lasvegasmarket.com. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Las Vegas Market is produced by International Market Centers, L.P. (IMC), the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for the furnishings, home décor and gift industries. International Market Centers owns and operates 11.4 million square feet of world-class exhibition space in High Point, N.C. and Las Vegas. IMC’s mission is to build and operate an innovative, sustainable, profitable and scalable platform for the furnishings, home décor and gift industries. For more information on IMC, visit http://imcenters.com/.

ABOUT ELLER ENTERPRISES:

Eller Enterprises, of Mt. Juliet, TN, was founded in 2004 by Randy Eller as a consulting firm serving companies and individuals primarily within the home accent, furniture and giftware industries. These businesses include wholesalers, product designers, merchandise trade marts, marketing, public relations and advertising firms. Eller Enterprises also offers personal executive coaching and professional speaking to customers in a variety of industries. For information, visit www.ellerent.com.