Renowned Speakers Challenge Business Leaders at the AmeriQuest Symposium to Think Differently

    CHERRY HILL, NJ, February 26, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The 2015 AmeriQuest Symposium, held February 11-13 in Orlando, FL, gathered executives and business leaders from across the country for two days of networking, thought leadership, and inspirational speakers who challenged attendees to explore new ways to transform their businesses.

"Each year, the Symposium challenges those in attendance to embrace change and to look at their businesses and their lives from a new perspective. We hope our roster of speakers this year has once again persuaded these business leaders to think differently," said Douglas W. Clark, Founder, President, and CEO of AmeriQuest Business Services.

The 2015 AmeriQuest Symposium covered the economy with three highly influential speakers. Well-known personality, presidential speechwriter, commentator, actor, and game show host, Ben Stein gave the keynote speech. Regaling the audience with humorous stories, Stein pivoted to finish his presentation with a serious discussion on the economic and political challenges facing the country and the world. Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief at Forbes Media, offered his assessment of the economy, specifically monetary policy and its effect on the overall economy and on growth. Completing the trio of economic experts, Dr. Scott Brown, Chief Economist for Raymond James, pointed out promising statistics and reporting on the most job growth in history, more people entering the job market, lower oil prices, and credit beginning to loosen up for SMBs.

Offering inspiration were motivational speakers Eric Greitens and Paul Alofs. Eric Greitens, former Navy SEAL, best-selling author, and Founder of The Mission Continues, used videos of injured combat veterans, who have been helped by his organization, as well as videos of the intense training that Navy SEALs go through to show how breaking through fear, pain, and suffering can lead to incredible changes in a person's life. Paul Alofs, author of Passion Capital and President and CEO of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, commented on "passion capital," which he calls the world's most valuable asset. He went through the building blocks of passion capital, as well as the rules that create a company's culture.

The transportation industry was represented by Friedrich Baumann, Senior Vice President Aftermarket Daimler Trucks North America, who gave an overview on the recent trends and changes within the trucking and truck leasing industry. A panel of trucking industry experts, moderated by Terry Young of Advantage Truck Leasing, discussed the major issues facing the industry today, including the CSA and leasing regulations. All on the panel agreed, however, that the most dire issue facing the industry is the extreme shortage of qualified truck drivers.

A sobering reflection on the state of hacking was presented by international cybersecurity expert, Keren Elazari, who focused on the alarming change in hacker targets; from hacking secrets to hacking things, including medical devices, automobiles, and business processes. She made clear to all business leaders that they needed to develop a clear cybersecurity strategy and learn to think like the hackers do.

Chris Westfall, U.S. Elevator Pitch Champion, encouraged the gathering to focus less on their message and more on whom the target of the message may be, while Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet and author of The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism, spoke on the need for companies to foster innovation, even when it looks like a bad idea.

In conjunction with the Symposium, Corcentric, a provider of cloud-based financial automation solutions and a wholly-owned subsidiary of AmeriQuest, held the second annual Corcentric Summit. This two-day event, attended by customers of Corcentric's accounts payable automation solution, COR360, detailed the latest upgrades, new features and benefits, customer case studies presented by the customers themselves, and a Q&A with Corcentric executives.

About AmeriQuest Business Services, Inc.

AmeriQuest is a technology-enabled solutions provider serving more than 1,500 customers throughout North America. Combining unmatched expertise and comprehensive services in financial process automation, procurement, and asset management, AmeriQuest Business Services helps customers move forward in every part of their business. For more information, visit ameriquestcorp.com.

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