Associations

Executives from Sprouts and Albertson’s/Safeway are among the newly appointed board members at the Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC).

The Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC) elected four new board members during its annual January meeting in LaQuinta, Calif. The newly elected directors are:

Photo: Marvin Ellison, CEO, J.C. Penney

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is now accepting applications for its Retail Asset Protection Innovation awards ahead of its annual conference this spring.

National Retail Federation president and CEO Matt Shay shared a message of inspiration and transformation to mark the beginning of the trade group’s annual Big Show, which again drew a record number of attendees to New York.

The good works of the NRF Foundation will continue another year under the leadership of HSNi CEO Mindy Grossman and be complemented by the insights of four newly elected board members.

Ahead of the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York, the trade group’s non-profit arm said HSNi CEO Mindy Grossman would serve for another year as board chair and named four other retail industry executives to two-year board terms.

The National Retail Federation confirmed what many retailers already knew and made a downward revision to a holiday forecast that initially called for 3.7% growth.

Citing what it called “unforeseen events,” the National Retail Federation (NRF) said sales during November and December increased 3% to $626 billion, down from an earlier forecast which envisioned growth of 3.7%.

QVC chief information officer Linda Dillman has joined the board of the GS1 US supply chain information standard organization.

GS1 US is a supply chain information standards organization.

Dillman will help guide the GS1 US strategy for driving the adoption and usage of the GS1 System of Standards in e-commerce. The standards uniquely identify products, services and locations globally. They are designed to assist in enhancing the consumer shopping experience while boosting online retailer efficiency, revenue and loyalty.

The leading retail associations — including the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Retail Federation — gave a mixed reaction to new waste management proposals by the Environmental Protection Agency.

While the associations called the proposed regulations a “step forward,” they also expressed concern about how the rules would impact the disposal of unsold consumer products and pharmaceuticals by stores.