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The 2025 Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) Financial/HR Symposium wrapped up in Charlotte, delivering two days of learning, networking and strategy-sharing for dealership leaders, HR professionals and finance executives across North America.

The 2025 Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) Financial/HR Symposium wrapped up in Charlotte, delivering two days of learning, networking and strategy-sharing for dealership leaders, HR professionals and finance executives across North America.

"Our members are walking away with real tools to lead their teams and businesses into 2025 with confidence," said AED President and CEO Brian P. McGuire.

Attendees earned up to 9 CPE credits and 9.5 SHRM PDCs while diving into some of the most urgent and transformative issues facing the equipment industry.

"The value that I find as a CFO is being here with peers and being exposed to things that some of my peers are doing that we're not, said Vice President & CFO of Kirby-Smith Machinery JD Young. "It's invaluable to meet people that can help you out, and vice versa; the networking is key."

Program Highlights included:

• Marisa Thalberg, former CMO of Taco Bell and Lowe's, on modern leadership, breaking silos and driving innovation;
• Wells Fargo's 2025 Economic Outlook, forecasting what's ahead under a new presidential administration;
• Bank of America's cybersecurity session, focused on defending against increasingly sophisticated fraud;
• AI strategies from Susan Frew on driving ROI in finance and HR operations;
• tax and compliance insights from Pinion and Airdo Werwas, helping financial leaders navigate regulatory risk;
• retention, turnover and employee benefits sessions, reframing HR as a strategic profit driver;
• service profitability, KPIs and dashboards, giving attendees tools to boost margins and visibility; and
• A strong focus on apprenticeship pipelines and workforce development from The AED Foundation.

AED's next events will be the Leadership Conference, set to take place Aug. 5-7, 2025 in Las Vegas and the Women in Equipment Conference Sept. 17-19, 2025, in Chicago. The 2026 AED Summit is scheduled for Jan. 19-21, 2025, in Dallas, Texas.

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