Hello MDM readers,

As you hopefully saw from Tom Gale’s post on Friday, I have joined the team here at Modern Distribution Management as its new executive editor as of March 29. I wanted my first content contribution to be an introduction to my background and how I got here, as well as a look ahead to what we have planned for the next couple of weeks.

I’m guessing a fair amount of you recognize my name from my tenure at fellow B2B trade publication Industrial Distribution, a tangential competitor of MDM’s. I spent the past two-and-a-half years and 2014 to 2018 as ID’s managing editor. While there, I handled the publication’s day-to-day editorial duties, which included writing and curating market news, scheduling daily newsletters, producing a print magazine six times a year, coordinating and writing major research reports, interviewing industry executives and subject matter experts and serving as the face of the brand.

I’ll perform a lot of those same duties here at MDM, but with more of a focus on the analysis side of things. Ever since I began covering the wholesale distribution sector, my favorite content to produce is blogs and articles that take a deeper dive into industry topics, news or executive commentary beyond what companies provide in press releases. At MDM, we want to be the top source of such analysis for our readers and Premium subscribers, and I’m excited to begin doing that.

MDM has provided these insights, operational best practices and valuable market data to an audience of distributors since 1967. It didn’t take much convincing from Tom for me to join. I’ve always had great respect for the content that MDM has produced and the editorial staff here, and I’m happy to lead these efforts going forward with the rich content that this audience expects.

I’m still a young person in this industry, but I feel I’ve gained sufficient experience reporting and analyzing distribution market developments over the past eight years to become a respected name and voice in it. At the industry events I’ve attended coming out of the pandemic, I’ve certainly noticed more attendees that look around my age, which has helped me relate to a growing demographic of this industry that now comprises the majority of its workforce.

Speaking of industry events, I’m excited to be traveling again, as I hope many of you are. While the associations, buying groups and companies themselves have shown the ability to do an incredible amount of virtual networking over these past two years, the value of the in-person format is just irreplaceable. I say this despite doing this job remotely myself. I work out of my home in Madison, Wisconsin, which gives me all the more reason to get out and see this industry in person whenever I can. I’m looking forward to meeting many of you at these events, including MDM’s own summits.

I’ll be at the Industrial Supply Association’s ISA22 event April 11-13 in Houston, and at Fastenal’s Expo a week later in Nashville. Expect to see plenty of MDM analysis out of those shows in the ensuing weeks, and NAHAD’s 2022 Convention on May 15-17 is also rapidly approaching. If you’re also attending any of these, feel free to say hello.

On the personal side, I’m a sports nut and a die-hard fan of my Green Bay Packers, Wisconsin Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks, as well as Iowa State sports teams (since my wife is an ISU alumni). I have a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and have lived the vast majority of my life in the Badger State. After college, I spent four years in local sportswriting/reporting before taking the Industrial Distribution job in 2014. Our home includes two greyhounds, three cats, a rabbit and a flock of chickens. My wife and I are avid gardeners — she’s the mastermind and I’m the guy who moves stuff around. We’re basically urban homesteaders.

Anyone looking to contact me can do so at mike@mdm.com, message me on LinkedIn, and you can give me a follow on Twitter at @MDMEditorMike. 

I’ll see you out there!