Katherine Lugar

B.A., University of Colorado – Boulder

(1991-1992, Student Body President, College of Arts and Sciences)

·      Serves as RILA’s top government relations executive and manages a staff of 10.

·      Works with staff to position RILA as a “go-to” organization on core public policy priorities – including workforce, healthcare, tax, trade, supply chain issues, asset protection, and credit and finance issues. 

·      Has doubled the size of RILA’s Political Action Committee.

Government Affairs Committee

Interchange Working Group

With more than 17 years experience in the retail industry and on Capitol Hill, Katherine Lugar leads RILA’s federal government affairs team and political outreach program.  Lugar works with staff to position RILA as the premier organization on core public policy priorities facing the industry – including workforce, healthcare, tax, trade, supply chain issues, asset protection, and credit and finance issues. She is the principal contact for the association’s government affairs committee, as well as the Retail Leaders PAC.

Prior to joining RILA in 2007, Lugar was vice president of federal government relations for Travelers Insurance, where she represented the company in Congress and before the administration.  Before joining Travelers, Lugar served as vice president of legislative and political affairs at the National Retail Federation, where she led efforts to update decades-old overtime regulations, championed bankruptcy reform legislation into law and supervised the association’s political and grassroots outreach programs.  Early in her career, Lugar worked for Congressman Tim Roemer.