8/22/2023

Driving with Jim Bishop

The NLBMDA chair makes some great points about Kansas City.

Jim Bishop runs Vesta Lee Lumber in Bonner Springs.

Bonner Springs, Kansas, is the home of Vesta Lee Lumber, owned and operated by Jim Bishop, the current chairman of the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association.

Jim recently let me drive his all-terrain vehicle.

I’m going to return the favor and let him drive this editorial feature.

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We're driving home a point about the ProDealer Industry Summit. (From left: Bishop, HBSDealer’s Amy Grant, and Clark.)

“First thing is, who wouldn’t want to come to Kansas City?” he said.

Jim is talking about the upcoming ProDealer Industry Summit, Oct. 4-6 in the City of Fountains, not far from Bonner Springs.

He could also mention Kansas City is home to the magnificent World War One Memorial, happening neighborhoods like Brookside and Westport, the Oregon Trail and the charming homes along Ward Parkway.

But those are just gravy. The real meal is served in the PDIS program.

“One of the highlights is the McCray Lumber and Millwork tour, we’ll be going both to the mill, and to the lumberyard. That will an exciting kick off.”

There’s more.

“The education that has been put together is tremendous,” he said. “The speakers that we have are going to be on point for our industry. We’ll have the director of research of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. We’ll have experts coming in to talk about what’s going on in Washington, D.C.”

Click on the image to join us in Kansas City.

He could also mention the education around game-changing technology, recruiting the next generation of leaders, and a panel of dealers sharing insights on how to handle a tough economy.

“It’s all really important. But I also think that a lot of the value of the Summit is the comradery with other dealers,” he said. “When you meet someone at the Summit, you have lunch with them, or you have a drink with them, then you feel like you have a connection to call him whenever, and say, ‘Hey, how are things going in Texas,’ or wherever. And that can be so helpful.”

There’s a shared experience with the vendors, too.

“We have a lot of great vendors that are going to be there, and you want to talk to those guys. You want to get to know who they are. They’re the right people. They know their product. they’re the guys to talk to.”

In Bonner Springs, I asked Jim how we could promote the event to the industry.

“Whatever article you write, and however you want to write it, at the end, I would include the words: ‘It’s the right thing to do.’ Supporting the ProDealer Industry Summit is the right thing to do.”

Couldn’t have driven home the point better myself.