Binson’s Sherry Krug launches ‘mission driven’ women’s retreat

CENTER LINE, Mich. – Sherry Krug had never given much thought to whether being a woman in HME – or any industry – informed much of her experience but after attending a few events for women in business, including the inaugural Elevate at the Summit in 2023, she was inspired to launch her own retreat for women leaders at Binson’s Medical Equipment & Supplies. 

“I'm not someone that ever belonged to a sorority, but it was fun to have just women to share those nuances of how being in that particular role, and maybe even with parenting or other issues, that was super familiar and I thought this is just so neat and so comfortable,” said Krug, vice president of business development for Binson’s, and the 2022 HME Woman of the Year. “I have a young group of leaders at the company who’ve never had any formalized training or management or leadership experience and it helped me realize I don't need something really expensive and very formal to do this.” 

In January, Krug will bring about a dozen team members to her family-owned motel in Rose City, Mich., about 2.5 hours north of Detroit, for the second annual retreat. 

The retreat will feature two days of learning, shared experiences, socializing and “good food,” says Krug. 

“There’s an element of fun, but you also have to be pretty disciplined about the schedule because it can get off course quite easily, especially among people that know each other really well, so setting that agenda and expectation (is important),” she said. “We do have activities and team building exercises, like which team can build the best fire with just matches within a certain amount of time.” 

Krug is working on expanding professional development to all levels of the company. Last year’s event inspired monthly calls with employees right down to the customer service level to discuss takeaways from books or public speaking.  

While the benefit to employees has been noticeable, there’s also a measurable benefit to Binson’s, says Krug. 

“In January of last year, we set goals, with the expectation of, ‘What are we going to do different, how are we going to get there and how is it going to be measured?’” she said. “We came up with these together and we reached our goals that we set out. Everyone was mission driven because they knew what the mission was. I think a lot of times you lose momentum and success when people don't know what the mission is, so I found that super successful.”