The Climb: Our 2026 Leadership Summit
Store leaders from across our 12 states spent two days in Manchester, NH, learning, giving back and celebrating each other.
On November 9 and 10, store leaders from across our 12 states joined our Support Center team in Manchester, NH, for our 2026 Leadership Summit. The theme was The Climb: own the rope, practice the move, offer the handhold.
Ty Bennett kicked it off with a Ninja Warrior course on stage and his research on high performance. The best performers work deeper, not harder. Preparation, the work nobody claps for, drives it. Fear of failure gets in the way.
Then we put trust to work. Blindfolded leaders found their way through a maze by following one voice and a cheering team, and we used that trust to give back to Girls at Work in Manchester, with help from DEWALT, Milwaukee Tool, Diablo, 3M, Midwest Fastener, Toysmith, Shurtape, Wooster and Titebond, and a $10,000 gift from the Aubuchon Foundation.
Day two brought breakouts on what great leadership looks like in our stores, and the Summit Marketplace, where 11 Support Center departments built booths and every leader carried a trail passport. We handed out our Top 10 Awards: 51 nominations for 42 leaders, and the room cheered for every one of them. And on Monday night, New Hampshire’s own Juston McKinney had the whole room in tears. Turns out he shops our Newmarket store.
“As leaders, we spend most days spread out across the Company, each of us in our own store or department,” said William E. Aubuchon, IV, President & CEO. “This is the one time all year we’re all in the same room, and those connections matter. It’s how we stay small while we grow.”
We’re growing, and we’re always looking for leaders who want to grow with us. See open roles at careers.aubuchon.com.
