For Immediate Release

February 7, 2007

LANSING -Richard Gibbs, of Gibbs Wealth Management Group in Southfield, and Dennis Blender, of Blender Consulting Group in Troy, will present “The Procrastinator's Guide to Succession Planning” at the Michigan Retail Education Conference March 5. The conference is given by the Michigan Retailers Association and will be held at the Soaring Eagle Resort in Mount Pleasant.

The seminar will offer practical suggestions on how to avoid the costly and emotional errors associated with transitioning a business to the next generation of management.

A successful business succession plan requires an understanding not only of the financial and legal issues, but also of the emotional issue associated with “letting go,” say Gibbs and Blender.

The presentation is one of six seminars at MRA's 5th Annual Retail Education Conference. Other topics include:

“Give Customers a Mini-Vacation,” “Would You Do Business with You?” “How To Develop a Whizbang Staff” and “Internet Marketing Secrets Techies Don't Tell You.”

The fee for the one-day conference is $109 for MRA members, $129 for non-members. To register, contact MRA's Kammy Johns at 800.366.3699 or kjohns@retailers.com. Conference information is available at the 2007 Conference webpage.

The Michigan Retailers Association is the unified voice of retailing in Michigan and the nation's largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers. MRA's nearly 5,500 retail business members operate more than 13,000 stores across the state.