Owens & Minor kicks off 2020 with Americas Sales Conference
By Victoria Rickman Taylor
Owens & Minor recently hosted its annual Americas Sales Conference in Dallas, Texas. The theme of the conference, “Let’s Go, O&M,” was inspired by the new strategic focus of leadership on One Company, One Direction. This meeting was unique for the Fortune 500 healthcare solutions company, bringing together the entire portfolio of solutions, which includes medical distribution, Byram home healthcare, global products – including the proprietary HALYARD brand, and services. It was also the first sales conference since O&M launched its enterprise sales structure, designed to harness the power of combining its unique healthcare offering of three strategic pillars – distribution, products, and services. The enterprise structure is a result of the company uniting under O&M’s new mission of empowering its customers to advance healthcare.
The conference began with a motivational opening session featuring updates from the company’s senior leadership about momentum built in 2019 and how their teams will enable the sales organization in 2020. Attendees were then surprised by a visit from a pending wish recipient of the North Texas Make-A-Wish® Foundation chapter. She and her family accepted a donation from O&M, during which time she was informed that her wish to go to Paris was being granted.
“We believe in Owens & Minor, and we believe in our sales team,” said Mark Zacur, executive vice president, chief commercial officer of Owens & Minor. “Our senior leadership team wanted to start the conference by showing our confidence in this team and what we will accomplish together in 2020. Wrapping up the opening session with the Make-A-Wish presentation was our way of reinforcing to attendees why we do what we do. Our mission compels us to leverage our skills, talents, and other resources to advance healthcare. Giving back to our communities is part of who we are and how we accomplish our mission.”
Another main highlight from the event was the time teammates spent celebrating and engaging valued supplier partners, including an awards celebration, strategy session, and exhibit fair. Each year, O&M invites its top suppliers to attend a strategy session with leadership, followed by an exhibit fair to provide teammates and suppliers with opportunities to create new relationships and strengthen existing ones. This year’s focus was aligning and advancing supplier partnerships through excellence.
Award recipients include:
- Supply Chain Improvement: Stryker Sage Products
- Field Engagement: 3M Products
- Manufacturer Partnership: B. Braun Medical Inc.
- Owens & Minor Values (Supplier Representative of the Year): Mike Carver, GOJO Industries, Inc.
The conference concluded with remarks from Mark Zacur, along with a closing video featuring teammate and supplier interviews and healthcare provider customer quotes about the exciting direction O&M is going in 2020.
“Healthcare is constantly changing, and Owens & Minor is remaining agile to the needs of our customers,” said Edward Pesicka, president & CEO of Owens & Minor. “This is evidenced by our proactive response to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our nation. O&M teammates are truly living our mission to empower healthcare, and our preparedness in this pandemic is what has enabled us to continue to serve those on the front lines of this crisis. This sales conference was a reflection of who we are and our priorities moving forward.”
Photo caption:
Mark Zacur delivered welcome remarks during the sales awards ceremony.
Mark Zacur congratulated the Make-A-Wish recipient and her family during the conference’s open session.
The Owens & Minor Values (Supplier Representative of the Year) Award was presented to Mike Carver, GOJO Industries, Inc.