The Starnet Board of Directors recently convened for a hybrid live and virtual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. During the session, the board provided a business conditions update from around the country disclosing cautious optimism with softness in the first half of 2021 and continued strength to pre-pandemic levels in some states and segments by year end. The Starnet staff shared progress on key initiatives to advance the interests of the membership and its partners, metrics from Starnet’s annual financial benchmarking survey and Partnering For Success programs for the membership and Starnet Preferred Vendor partners.

On day two, Starnet vice presidents of business development, Eric Boender and Bruce Campos, hosted strategic planning sessions with the executive teams from ARDEX Americas, Armstrong Flooring, Daltile, J+J Flooring, MAPEI, Roppe Holdings, HPS Schönox, and Uzin Utz North America. Highlights of the meeting included leveraging 325+ Starnet Member locations throughout the United States and Canada to market their innovative flooring solutions.  In the coming weeks strategic planning sessions will be held virtually with additional Starnet Preferred Vendor partners.

“The traditional January meetings in Atlanta are important to Starnet as they set the expectations for the coming year with partners,” said Mark Bischoff, Starnet president and CEO. “The Preferred Vendor Partners take advantage of the sessions to share their plans and ask directly for support from the entire cooperative. Manufacturers that have clarity in their strategy really benefit from these sessions because the Starnet Board and staff incorporate the requests from these meetings into all upcoming communication, training, programs, events, and committee efforts. The Partnering For Success concept is something we take very seriously. In addition, we had not been together with these great friends for many months. Although we were cautious of the safety guidelines, it did not reduce the excitement to share time together. Normally we would be in a conference room, and to support social distancing, we were in a ballroom. Everyone had missed each other as friends. It was a great way to start the enthusiasm for the hard work ahead of all of us.”

For more information on Starnet, visit starnetflooring.com.