Where The Top VAR Stars Come Out

Join Everything Channel June 3 for the annual VARBusiness 500 Conference and Awards event. The event will honor the top-placed firms in North America that help corporations and institutions best apply IT strategies and systems.

The daytime event, to be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York, will include executive briefings, roundtables and networking sessions. It is a one-day executive conference and awards event that provides valuable content and networking opportunities for those top-level executives in attendance.

Keynote
The day begins with a keynote breakfast featuring Todd Bucholtz, economist and author of numerous books used in universities such as Harvard, Brigham Young and Princeton. Bucholtz is a contributing editor at Worth magazine, where he writes the "Global Markets" column, and he has written articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Reader's Digest. In addition, he has spoken at the White House, delivering a lecture titled "Clarity, Honesty and Modesty in Economics."

Meet-And-Greet
The executive briefings are 40-minute "Executive Think Tanks," during which time each Executive Platinum vendor sponsor will discuss a topic of importance to VARBusiness 500 executives. Small, intimate discussion groups will examine topics that have been predetermined to be of interest to attendees. Potential themes include: an overview of the economy as it relates to VARs; the relevance of embracing "green" initiatives; improving operational efficiencies; courting the 21st century workforce; retaining your workforce; figuring out how to expand wisely; and supporting customers in a global economy.

Awards
After the Editorial Roundtable discussions, the day concludes with an awards celebration at Gotham Hall that will honor the top solution providers among this elite group. In addition to the educational sessions held during the day, the awards event provides an opportunity for key executives from the solution provider community to network with each other, as well as with IT vendor sponsors.

Straight From The Court
Keynoting the dinner will be Rick Pitino, head coach of the University of Louisville men's basketball team.

In 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach at four different schools, Pitino has compiled a 470-172 record, a .732 winning percentage that ranks him 12th among active coaches and 30th all time entering the 2006-07 season. His current contract ties him with the University of Louisville Cardinals through the 2009-2010 season. Pitino has a knack for instilling the desire to succeed and driving his players to overachieve. Pitino's actions have indicated that caring for his players goes beyond just enhancing their basketball skills.

To qualify and register for the event, go to www.crn.com/var/var500awards.jhtml.