Stephen Odzer

With over 30 years of distribution business experience, Stephen Odzer is the current CEO and founder of YBT Industries of Henderson, NV. Instead of getting ready for retirement, Stephen Odzer decided to launch a new company. It has been a long road for Stephen Odzer since he started his first company. “I started my first company at age 18 out of my parents’ basement. I went to Yeshiva of Flatbush High School and then to the Brooklyn College Scholars program,” he says. Building a company from the ground up gave Stephen Odzer the skills to succeed in the industry. In 2000, he was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the area of distribution. With such a robust portfolio, he has seen many trends in the distribution industry come and go.

Stephen Odzer acknowledges that with the rise of internet shopping, distributors now face shorter delivery windows. Consumers now expect to receive their products within only a few days, which has forced distributors to change the way they handle shipping. To not lose customers and meet their expectations, businesses are expecting shorter delivery windows.

With the rise of technology, many distribution companies need to look at software that will help them improve productivity. Stephen Odzer points out that many distribution companies see the value of investing in transport management software (TMS). TMS can not only help distributors increase productivity, but it can also help them cut down costs.

Stephen Odzer also points out that eCommerce and TMS will also change the way distributors conduct business. With the merging of both technologies, customers will have more tools to decide which carriers and systems they utilize. This will also give them the opportunity to demand more transparency with each of their orders. They will be able to track their order from the moment the distributor receives it, to the moment someone buys the product. Customers will also get notifications every step of the way.

Stephen Odzer enjoys spending his free time with his seven children and nine grandchildren. When he’s not chasing after his grandchildren, he’s cheering on the New York Yankees or the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Stephen Odzer and his family also like to give back to the community. They support causes such as both Jewish and non-Jewish causes, the AHRC, and Bris Avrohom, a large non-profit that helps Jewish immigrants from Russia integrate into life in the U.S.