From the unsteady and, at times, difficult economy and an eventful presidential election to continued industry consolidation through big mergers and acquisitions and not to mention those high gas prices, the major trends in 2008 kept wholesaler-distributors guessing what would come next. For its part, NAW worked hard to represent the interests of wholesaler-distributors on legislation that would have an impact on the industry, including labor issues, health care reform and taxes.

Conferences and meetings this year took NAW members to Chicago for the Billion Dollar Company Roundtables and for the Large Company Conferences and Roundtables, to The Ohio State University for the Wholesale Distribution Manager's Course, as well as to Washington, D.C., for the NAW Executive Summit. All said, it's been a busy and exciting year!