> Announcing Nikolas Badminton and Melissa Dailey Fairbanks as 2025 ERA Conference General Session Speakers
The 2025 ERA Conference Committee is pleased to announce that Nikolas Badminton and Melissa Dailey Fairbanks will present as General Session speakers at the annual ERA Conference on Feb. 23-25, in Austin, Texas.
Nikolas Badminton
A futurist speaker who has mentored top executives and government officials, Nikolas Badminton has spent 30-plus years working with leadership at more than 400 corporations including NASA, Disney, Google, Microsoft, Intel, JP Morgan, the U.S. Department of State and more.
His best-selling book, “Facing our Futures: How Foresight, Futures Design and Strategy Creates Prosperity and Growth” was named a Top-50 Business Book of 2023 by The Next Big Idea Club and JP Morgan’s “Next Gen Pick” for their 2023 summer reading list.
In his Conference general session, “Facing our Futures: Looking to 2030 and Beyond,” Badminton will teach us how to embrace “futures thinking” to understand and anticipate the trends challenging our world. Attendees will learn how to supercharge strategic thinking through signals and trends identification, and unlock growth by shifting our mindset from “what is” to “what if.”
The session will also touch on: Global and domestic megatrends such as population growth, renewable energy shifts, metals and minerals, microchips and waste; the impacts and effects of AI/GenAI and data center growth; how smart cities and offices, smart homes and consumer electronics adoption are changing industries and consumer behavior; and how sustainability practices—reduce, reuse and recycle—will build a burgeoning new economy and change how we design products.
“Nikolas’s presentation will encourage us as attendees to elevate and expand our thinking from present day to what’s on the horizon,” said Tom Wichert, co-chair of the 2025 Conference Keynote/General Sessions Committee. “The better prepared we are for the future and the more knowledge we have of emerging trends, the better equipped we’ll be to serve our customers successfully.”
Melissa Dailey Fairbanks
Melissa Dailey Fairbanks is vice president of equity research at Raymond James, and a financial analyst covering the semiconductor and IT supply chain sectors. She graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
In her general session, she will speak to issues that directly impact the electronics components industry, such as tariffs, inventory, sales trends and specific geopolitical issues in China, Taiwan and Europe.
“We look forward to gaining valuable perspective from Melissa on where companies are directing investments to drive future growth in our industries,” said Mark Wachtel, co-chair of the 2025 Conference Keynote/General Sessions Committee. “Additionally, we are keen to learn about the geopolitical risks and the economic outlook for the coming years. Her insight will be especially valuable as she is familiar with OEMs contract manufacturers, global distribution sales models and the various ways we are all trying to manage through these challenges.”
About the 2025 ERA Conference
The 2025 ERA Conference is an educational and networking event that offers the only opportunity for electronics industry reps, manufacturers and distributors to learn together from many experts in an environment dedicated to sharing proven best practices in field sales and marketing. Complete with keynote speakers, breakout sessions and networking events, this do-not-miss event offers a collaborative and energetic environment where all attendees can learn, connect and grow. Read more information about the conference.
About ERA
The 89-year-old Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) is the international trade organization for professional field sales companies in the global electronics industries, manufacturers who go to market through representative firms and global distributors. It is the mission of ERA to support the professional field sales function through programs and activities that educate, inform and advocate for manufacturers’ representatives, the principals they represent and the distributors who are reps’ partners in local territories. Visit era.org.