Good Company

Leadership Summit 2027: Three Keynotes, Seven Pitchfest Slots and a November 9 Deadline

The 12th annual Pet Industry Leadership Summit runs February 1 to 3, 2027 at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, and the $1,495 early registration rate expires November 9.

By Good Company Editorial Desk

Pet Industry Leadership Summit logo

The News

Registration is open for the 12th annual Pet Industry Leadership Summit, set for February 1 to 3, 2027 at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The summit is hosted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA), the Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA) and the World Pet Association (WPA), and the hosts describe it as the industry's only high-level event that brings together top executives from every segment of the pet care channel.

The 2027 program is built around three keynotes. Juan Bendaña, a leadership expert and performance coach, delivers the leadership keynote, "Make Confidence Your Competitive Advantage," on Tuesday, February 2. Shama Hyder follows the same day with the technology keynote, "Leadership in the Age of AI." Connor Lokar, a senior forecaster at ITR Economics, closes the keynote slate Wednesday morning with an economic outlook session that includes an extended question and answer period. Lokar is a returning draw: the official schedule bills him as last year's favorite speaker, back by popular demand.

Around the keynotes sit two industry update sessions (topics still listed as to be announced), a golf tournament at Jacaranda Golf Club and a mangrove kayaking tour on Monday, a welcome dinner that evening, and a closing celebration on Wednesday night. Wednesday afternoon is reserved for the PIDA Executive Conferences, scheduled one-on-one meetings with PIDA distributor members that are open only to PIDA members, alongside the PIDA distributor breakfast and annual meeting that morning.

Pitchfest, the summit's emerging brand showcase, returns with higher stakes. According to the hosts, only seven companies will earn a slot to pitch a new product to an intimate audience of top distributors in 2027, judged on commercial viability and product-market fit. PETS+ is partnering on the program again and will film 60 to 90 second show and tell videos with participants on site. The application deadline for presentations is November 13, 2026.

New for 2027, the hosts are pushing the summit as a development opportunity, not just an executive retreat. A discounted Emerging Leaders rate lets each company register one first-time, up-and-coming attendee at a reduced price, an explicit invitation to bring high-potential staff into rooms that are usually reserved for the C-suite.

Why It Matters

Most pet industry events are built for scale: exhibit halls, buyer appointments, product discovery. The Leadership Summit is built for concentration. More than 275 of the industry's top leaders registered for the 2026 edition in Phoenix, according to PIDA, which makes the 2027 room small enough that a founder or operator can plausibly meet a large share of the decision makers in it across three days.

That matters more in a consolidating channel. Distribution is where independent brands win or lose shelf space, and PIDA's membership sits at the center of that map. The summit is one of the few settings where manufacturers, distributors and retailers meet as peers rather than across a negotiating table, and where the distributor side of the business, often the least visible part of the channel, sets the agenda. The Executive Conferences formalize that access for PIDA members; Pitchfest does the same for emerging brands that need distribution to grow.

The keynote mix also tells you where the hosts think executive attention is going: personal leadership, AI adoption, and the economic cycle. None of the three keynotes is a pet industry insider session. The bet is that senior operators want outside perspective on the forces hitting their businesses, plus the industry's own data in the update sessions in between.

The Numbers

  • Edition: 12th annual Pet Industry Leadership Summit
  • Dates: February 1 to 3, 2027 (registration opens Sunday, January 31)
  • Venue: The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
  • Hosts: APPA, PIDA and WPA
  • 2026 attendance benchmark: more than 275 top leaders registered for the 2026 summit in Phoenix, according to PIDA
  • Early registration: $1,495 per attendee, September 28 through November 9, 2026
  • Regular registration: $1,695 per attendee, November 10, 2026 through January 4, 2027
  • Final registration: $1,795 per attendee, January 5, 2027 through on site
  • Emerging Leaders and First-Time Companies rates: $1,225 early, $1,425 regular, $1,525 final
  • Spouse or guest rate: $425
  • Pitchfest: 7 company slots for 2027; presentation applications due November 13, 2026
  • Cancellation policy: no refunds after January 4, 2027
  • Sponsorships: tiers from $500 (Friends of The Leadership Summit) to $9,000 (Elite), sold first come, first served

What It Means For You

Run the math against your calendar first. At $1,495 early versus $1,795 final, registering by November 9 saves $300 a head, and the savings compound if you send a team. If you have a rising manager you want to expose to senior rooms, the Emerging Leaders rate at $1,225 early is the cheapest ticket in, but it is limited to one per company and, like the First-Time Companies rate, has to be booked by contacting PIDA's Nina Bull directly rather than through the standard registration link.

Know which attendee you are. If you are a distributor or a manufacturer who sells through PIDA distributors, the Wednesday Executive Conferences are the highest value hours of the week, and they are members only. If you are an emerging brand, the real deadline is not registration at all: it is the November 13 Pitchfest application, because only seven slots exist and the audience is exactly the distributors a young brand needs. If you are a retailer or a marketer without a distribution agenda, weigh the keynotes and the networking honestly against the ticket, travel and three days out of the office.

Finally, treat the room as the product. With a few hundred senior attendees rather than a few thousand exhibitors, the return comes from conversations, not booth traffic. Arrive with a short list of people you want to meet, use the published attendee list the hosts promote, and book the social anchors (the golf tournament, the welcome dinner, the closing celebration) as working time.

What To Watch

Watch the two industry update sessions. Both are still listed as "Stay Tuned" on the official schedule, and who presents the industry's data story, and what it says about the year ahead, is usually the most quoted content to come out of this event.

Watch the Pitchfest class of 2027. Seven slots, picked on commercial viability and product-market fit, with distributors in the room and media coverage attached, makes the selected brands a useful early signal of what the channel thinks can sell next.

Watch whether the Emerging Leaders push changes the room. If companies take the hosts up on bringing first-time, high-potential staff at the discounted rate, the summit gets younger and more operational, and its value as a succession and retention tool grows with it.

And watch the early registration numbers after November 9. A summit this size lives on the strength of its attendee list, and a fast early sell-through would say something about how confident the channel's leadership feels heading into 2027.

Sources

  • PIDA, Summit 2027 (event overview, hosts, program highlights, Emerging Leaders): https://www.pida.org/summit-2027/
  • PIDA, Summit 2027 Registration (rates, deadlines, discount categories, cancellation policy): https://www.pida.org/summit-2027/registration/
  • PIDA, 2027 Leadership Summit Schedule At A Glance (keynote times, sessions, Pitchfest, Executive Conferences), PDF dated September 22, 2026: https://www.pida.org/pidaorg/assets/File/public/2027%20Leadership%20Summit/2027%20Schedule%20At%20A%20Glance%209_22_2026.pdf
  • PIDA, Summit 2027 Sponsors (sponsorship tiers and prices): https://www.pida.org/summit-2027/sponsors/
  • PIDA, Summit 2026 highlights (2026 registration count and Phoenix location): https://www.pida.org/summit-2026/
  • PETS+, "Registration Is Under Way for the 2027 Pet Industry Leadership Summit," October 21, 2026 (hosts' announcement; Pitchfest seven slots and November 13 application deadline): https://petsplusmag.com/registration-is-under-way-for-the-2027-pet-industry-leadership-summit/
  • Pet Age, "Registration Opens for the 2027 Pet Industry Leadership Summit in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida," October 20, 2026 (keynote lineup and topics): https://www.petage.com/registration-opens-for-the-2027-pet-industry-leadership-summit-in-ft-lauderdale-florida/