January 28, 2004  at the UT-Dallas new School of Management building
5:00 pm - Reception with wine and light buffet
6:15 - 8:00 pm - Program presentation
Admission with $25 donation ($15 for MIT Club of DFW members, $10 for students) . 
For reservations call Mary Langford at 972-377-4554, or email to mitforum@juno.com

Listening to Your Customers: How bTrade Weathered the Storm

Presenter:

• Kevin Stadler, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing at bTrade

Panelists

• Shane Hartman, CIO of Phoenix Group, former CTO of Perot Systems

• Mike Short, Principal of Short and Associates, former Vice President of Corporate Development, New Business Development & i2 Ventures at i2 Technologies

• Jack Rubarth, CIO of Bell Sports

Moderator:

• Neil Kaden, Principal of circleNK, Chairman of the MIT Forum

Program

On January 28, 2004, the M.I.T. Enterprise Forum of Dallas-Fort Worth, Inc. will present Listening to Your Customers: How bTrade Weathered the Storm at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) School of Management Building. The program begins with networking at 5:00 p.m. and the program at 6:15 p.m. The cost to attend is a $25 donation, or $10 for students. Reservations can be made by eMailing mitforum@juno.com, or 972-377-4554. More information and directions to the new management building are at www.mitforum.com.

The presenter will be Kevin Stadler, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing at bTrade. A panel of experts, including a CIO (Shane Hartman of Phoenix Group, former CTO of Perot Systems), a consultant (Mike Short of Short and Associates, former Vice President of Corporate Development, New Business Development & i2 Ventures at i2 Technologies), and a customer (Jack Rubarth, CIO at Bell Sports) will give feedback on the issues and challenges facing the company as it continues to carve out a leadership position in the B2B business software market. Neil Kaden, principal consultant of circleNK, will be the moderator.

bTrade’s success during the economic downturn that adversely affected so many software companies comes from its commitment to listening to customers. As a result of keeping its "ear to the ground," bTrade not only weathered the recent economic storm, but emerged with one-of-a-kind leadership in B2B technology sales.

The Irving, Texas-based company delivers e-commerce systems that reduce cost, accelerate business processes and offer scalable infrastructure for Fortune 500 companies and more than 200,000 sizable businesses since it was founded in 1990.

bTrade’s one-of-a-kind marketing leadership is exemplified by the recent mandate of large retailers such as Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Food Lion and Ace Hardware, which required all suppliers to use a standards-based, certified software. bTrade is one of only a handful of companies in the world with this capability.

Mr. Stadler will outline the path to success with anecdotes and case studies.