Today, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) concluded day two of the 2015 Retail Asset Protection Conference. Attended by asset protection executives from leading retailers and solution providers, the Retail Asset Protection Conference addresses emerging trends and challenges across the full spectrum of asset protection.
Day two opened with an inspiring talk on leadership from Retired Brigadier General Rebecca Halstead. In addition to being the first female graduate of West Point to be promoted to General Officer and the first female Commanding General at a strategic level of leadership in Iraq, Halstead is also the author of 24/7: The First Person You Must Lead is YOU.
Breakout sessions covered a broad range of important topics, including false confession litigation, using real time data to drive safe work practices, the power of productive conflict, leveraging EAS to maximize customer experience, leveraging partnerships to tackle ORC, and more.
"Today's program showcased why there is such great value in having open dialogue among retail industry peers," said Lisa LaBruno, RILA's senior vice president, retail operations. "There's a lot of brain power here and it's an unprecedented opportunity to leverage the industry's collective thought leadership to advance teams, organizations and the entire industry."
The AP executive panel was back on the general stage by popular demand. This year's panel of AP pyramid heads featuring, Macy's Group Vice President of Asset Protection Kevin Colman, Meijer's Vice President of Asset Protection Charles Delgado, and Helzberg Diamond's Divisional Vice President of Loss Prevention Nate Frazier, discussed emerging asset protection challenges, keys to their organizational and personal success and the future of asset protection.
Jeremiah Hart of Force Training Institute moderated a panel discussion addressing retailers' approaches to active shooter training. Dick's Sporting Goods, Game Stop, Gap, Inc., and REI shared their cutting edge strategies for protecting their people and the challenges they overcame during the development process. The day ended with VF Corp.'s David McLeod, chief information security officer, and Gap Inc.'s Keith White, senior vice president, loss prevention and corporate administration sharing their keen insight on the expanding role of asset protection in mitigating their company's risk to harmful data breaches.
"Each year this group gets together, I am so impressed with the attendees' experience, their spirit of collaboration and their commitment to getting better at everything they do. I am proud that RILA is uniquely positioned to serve as a platform for the industry to advance," said LaBruno.
RILA is the trade association of the world's largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.
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