Schedule & Agenda

Convention Center Registration and Information Desk Open

Pick up your conference badge here, along with answers to all your questions. To pick up your attendee badge, you must present a government-issued photo ID.

Breakfast

Please join us for breakfast and networking before the day begins.

Welcome to RILA Retail Asset Protection Conference

RAP 2026 begins with a grounded look at the realities defining asset protection today—from investigations and safety to operations and enterprise risk. Join us to begin the most important conversation in retail asset protection this year.

The Reality of Risk: What’s True in Retail Now

A candid, data-grounded look at what’s really happening across retail risk today—from store violence and fraud to organized retail crime and operational vulnerabilities. Retail leaders and analysts reveal where perception diverges from field reality.

Inside the Gift Card Fraud Fight

Gift card fraud has become a rapidly evolving, organized threat impacting retailers, consumers, and law enforcement alike. In this bipartisan conversation, state attorneys general share what they are seeing on the ground- from ORC task force coordination to emerging fraud schemes - and where public-private collaboration is making a measurable difference.

Business Break

Enjoy a business break to grab some snacks and refreshments.

The Evolving Gift Card Fraud Threat Landscape

Gift card fraud is evolving rapidly, fueled by organized criminal networks, social engineering, and increasingly sophisticated digital tactics. This presentation explores the changing threat landscape through real-world investigation case studies that illustrate how these schemes are executed, monetized, and scaled. Attendees will leave with practical insights into investigative techniques, indicators of compromise, and strategies for disrupting gift card fraud operations.

The Compliance Crossroads: Rethinking OSHA Readiness in a Fragmented Regulatory Era

In light of the ongoing federal silence, states are stepping forward with their own safety mandates – from California’s SB553 to new requirements in New York and beyond. This evolving patchwork of regulations introduces new challenges but also creates an opportunity for organizations to lead with proactive, people-first compliance strategies. You’ll hear how Best Buy is building adaptable, people-centered programs to meet the demands of state-specific OSHA rules at scale – and how close collaboration with Conn Maciel Carey, a national leader in OSHA compliance, is helping them stay ahead of the curve. Together, they’ll share how legal counsel provides both real-time interpretation of evolving mandates and a forward-looking perspective on the growing influence of state enforcement under the Trump administration. Whether you’re building programs in-house or shaping your strategy with outside counsel, this session offers operational tactics and legal foresight to help you stay compliant, aligned, and future-ready.

From Silos to Synergy: It’s Not (Just) LP Technology, It’s an Enterprise Solution

Discover how retailers are driving innovation through partnerships and creating enterprise solution propositions—from AI and analytics to camera vision and protection solutions. This session dives into the diverse strategies retailers use to implement new technology, whether through dedicated LP tech teams, cross-functional collaboration, third-party providers or internal development. Learn what makes these approaches successful, who their key partners are, and how to build the relationships that power transformation.

Advancing Asset Protection: Training and Structuring Teams for Modern Technology

Explore how asset protection teams can evolve their skill sets to meet the demands of a tech-driven retail environment. Attendees will learn how to assess talent gaps, retrain legacy staff, and restructure teams to effectively leverage AI analytics, remote monitoring, and modern security tools.

Business Break

Enjoy a business break to grab some snacks and refreshments.

Inside the Prosecutor’s Playbook: Getting ORC Cases Adopted

What really drives an Organized Retail Crime case from referral to prosecution? Retail in-house counsel and prosecutors come together on this panel to tell you firsthand. Retailers will hear about evidentiary thresholds, financial loss considerations, and pain points, and how to tailor referrals for greater success. The discussion also provides prosecutors and law enforcement with a front-row view of how retailers can shape referral practices to better support investigative and prosecutorial needs.

Beyond the Numbers: Building a Culture of Care in Safety

Safety isn’t just about scorecards – it’s about people. When organizations focus solely on metrics, they risk fostering fear-based behaviors that undermine long-term safety and trust. This powerful panel brings together leaders who believe that true safety excellence is found at the intersection of data discipline and genuine human care. We’ll explore how creating a culture of care can drive meaningful safety outcomes, support accountability, and build trust at every level of the organization. Importantly, we’ll also tackle one of the most challenging leadership responsibilities: conducting high-risk employee separations. Learn how to navigate these sensitive situations with compassion, clarity, and a deep commitment to physical and psychological safety – for everyone involved.

Risk Ranking Stores: The Data Behind Smarter Protection

PetSmart utilizes a data-driven methodology rather than an emotional, reactionary process that identifies at-risk stores based on potential impact to the business versus probability of an incident occurring. By using consistent data tracking, this has helped to establish a weighted and predictive threat assessment “Risk Score” for enterprise locations.

Protecting Profit Upstream: Game-Changing Strategy for Early Loss Prevention

Retailers lose millions each year to operational losses long before products hit the sales floor—from vendor discrepancies to markdown execution gaps. Hear from leading retailers who are redefining profit protection by embedding Loss Prevention early in the product lifecycle, aligning buyers and LP leaders through shared data, exception reporting, and mutual accountability. This cross-functional approach drives inventory accuracy, safeguards margins, and reduces loss across departments. Join us to explore actionable strategies that shift LP from reactive to proactive, turning potential loss into opportunity.

Lunch in the Expo Experience

Join us for lunch and networking in the Expo Experience.​​​​

Expo Experience Open

The Expo Experience opens now! Join us to network with and learn from the service providers helping retailers meet their asset protection challenges and improve their results! The Expo Experience runs from 12:15 - 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. today.

Workplace Safety Committee & Lunch - Invite Only

Open only to RILA Workplace Safety Committee members and strategic partners. If your company is a RILA member retailer and you do not have representation on the Committee, please reach out to Khris Hamlin at khris.hamlin@rila.org to learn how to get engaged. Lunch is provided.

Philadelphia: A Proving Ground for Retail Crime Reform

The greater Philadelphia market has become a real-world test case for how organized retail crime, violent theft, and post-pandemic disruption can escalate enterprise risk. This candid conversation examines what changed, what worked, and the inflection points that led to measurable improvements in theft, violence, and offender accountability—grounded in the operational realities retailers face every day.

The Business of Protection

Leading retailers discuss how they are quantifying and reducing loss across the enterprise—connecting asset protection metrics to finance, operations, and customer experience. Accountability—grounded in the operational realities retailers face every day.

Expo Experience Reception

Join other conference attendees for this great networking opportunity.

Convention Center Registration and Information Desk Open

Pick up your conference badge here, along with answers to all your questions. To pick up your attendee badge, you must present a government-issued photo ID.

Breakfast

Please join us for breakfast and networking before the day begins.

Veterans Recognition Breakfast Featuring Lieutenant General (Ret.) Milford H. Beagle, Jr.

Join us for a special breakfast recognizing veterans in the retail asset protection community. This gathering offers an opportunity for those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces to connect with peers, share experiences, and be recognized for their service. Lieutenant General (Ret.) Milford H. Beagle, Jr. will attend the breakfast for an informal meet and greet with attendees ahead of his keynote, Clarity Under Pressure. All attendees who identified as veterans during registration are invited to participate.

Clarity Under Pressure

When conditions are uncertain, leaders are tested not by plans, but by judgment. Drawing on decades of military and enterprise leadership, this address examines what clarity under pressure demands - grounded values, disciplined decision-making, and leading with confidence when the map runs out.

The New Network Effect in Retail Crime: Community + Practical AI

Retail crime is increasingly organized, yet responses are often fragmented. As offenders operate in networks, retailers and law enforcement must do the same. This session brings together senior leaders from retail, law enforcement, and public safety technology to examine how shared intelligence and practical AI are transforming siloed data into coordinated action. Through real-world examples, they will explore how network-level visibility, cross-jurisdiction collaboration, and enterprise-grade analytics are strengthening prevention, accelerating investigations, and delivering measurable impact.

Business Break

Enjoy a business break to grab some snacks and refreshments.

Stopping the 10%: A Smarter Approach to Retail Crime

Retailer data shows that 10% of offenders are responsible for 70% of US retail losses and in-store violence. But most retailers can't see who those offenders are because their data is isolated, fragmented, and after the fact. Join leading retail practitioners as they share how they use Retail Crime Intelligence to connect prolific offenders across their stores, their industry, and law enforcement. Walk away with the knowledge you need to shift from reactive incident reporting to proactive targeting of the offenders causing the most harm in your stores.

Decoding Shrink: What Inventory and RFID Data Reveals

How much of retail shrink is theft versus operational complexity? Using large-scale inventory and RFID data, this collaborative capstone project between the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Master of Science Business Analytics, Lululemon, and Zebra Retail Solutions, examines how logistics, assortment breadth, and operational strain shape loss trends. The session offers a fresh perspective on how data can reshape traditional shrink narratives and inform more targeted strategy.

The Strategic Security Director: How GenAI Transforms Your Cost Center into a Revenue-Generating Goldmine

The emergence of Vision Language Models and AI Agents represents the opportunity of a decade to transform your security/LP department from a reactive cost center into a strategic revenue enabler. Join our panelists as they take you step-by-step through mining their existing sensor grids for hidden operational gold. Attendees will walk away with a 90-day playbook to leverage these powerful GenAI tools, secure cross-functional buy-in, and turn unstructured visual data into actionable business intelligence that the rest of the organization will fight to fund.

Business Break

Enjoy a business break to grab some snacks and refreshments.

Crimes Against Business Committee Meeting - Invite Only

Open only to RILA Crimes Against Business Committee members and strategic partners. If your company is a RILA member retailer and you do not have representation on the Committee, please reach out to Khris Hamlin at khris.hamlin@rila.org to learn how to get engaged.

When Clicks Meet Bricks: How to Enhance Omnichannel Investigations

Fraud schemes today rarely stop at the checkout line – they move seamlessly between ‘clicks’ and ‘bricks.’ Join this session to learn how retailers are breaking down walls between online and in-store teams to investigate faster, uncover bigger cases, and strengthen prosecutions. Through real-world examples, we’ll highlight collaboration methods, intelligence sharing practices, and investigative tools that drive measurable impact.

Using EBR to Gain a Seat at the Table

Discover how leading retailers across diverse verticals are leveraging Executive Business Reviews (EBR) to drive strategic impact. This session highlights innovative uses of EBR beyond traditional reporting and provides real-world examples of how companies are maximizing the platform’s value. Attendees will also engage in an interactive discussion to explore strategies and tactics for making EBRs more actionable and influential within their organizations.

Behavioral Intelligence: Building a Speak-Up Culture That Works

Encouraging employees to speak up when something feels off requires more than anonymous hotlines or awareness campaigns. It requires an environment where trust is reinforced through consistent leadership and where employees see, through action, that the information they share is valued and taken seriously This session explores how organizations can create an environment where sharing concerns is natural, safe, and expected. Drawing on research in trust formation, psychological safety, and prosocial behavior, we’ll examine why employees often hesitate to come forward and what strategies meaningfully increase voluntary reporting. Attendees will gain insight into how leadership alignment, fair and timely decision-making, and structured engagement approaches can work together to transform everyday observations into reliable, actionable intelligence.

Retailer-Only Roundtable: Processes, Policies and Technology for Safeguarding the Supply Chain

Retail supply chain operations continue to evolve along with shopper preferences, and asset protection leaders work closely to address changing circumstances and ensure that people are safe and products are safeguarded. Connect with fellow retailers to discuss your questions and share leading practices on topics in the supply chain space—including cargo security, DC safety, ecommerce fulfillment challenges, inventory control and much more. Roundtables will be conducted under the Chatham House Rule and moderated by a retailer to facilitate a meaningful conversation on an important topic. This session is only available to retail and consumer product manufacturer attendees and is sponsored by RILA’s Supply Chain Asset Protection Working Group. Attend to learn more and join retailer peers in this space! Limited to 50 eligible attendees.

Lunch in the Expo Experience

Join us for lunch and networking in the Expo Experience.​​​​

Expo Experience Open

The Expo Experience opens now! Join us to network with and learn from the service providers helping retailers meet their asset protection challenges and improve their results! The Expo Experience runs from 12:15 - 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. today.

Asset Protection Leaders Council Meeting - Invite Only

Open only to RILA Asset Protection Leaders Council members and strategic partners. If your company is a RILA member retailer and you do not have representation on the Committee, please reach out to Khris Hamlin at Khris.Hamlin@rila.org to learn how to get engaged. Lunch will be provided.

Safer Stores, Stronger Teams: The Human Side of Protection

How leaders are balancing workforce safety, mental health, and operational demands in today’s environment. Practical strategies for protecting associates and customers while sustaining morale and performance.

Ground Truth in Action

Two respected asset protection executives share reflections on what “ground truth” means in their organizations and how they’ll apply insights from RAP 2026 to real-world leadership.

Expo Experience Reception

Join other conference attendees for this great networking opportunity.

Convention Center Registration and Information Desk Open

Pick up your conference badge here, along with answers to all your questions. To pick up your attendee badge, you must present a government-issued photo ID.

Breakfast

Please join us for breakfast and networking before the day begins.

Anatomy of Strategic Cargo Theft: A Real-World Case Study

Strategic cargo theft continues to grow in sophistication and financial impact. Through a detailed case study of a multi-million-dollar cargo theft investigation, this session examines how organized theft operations function and how they can be disrupted. Beginning with a high-level overview of the cargo theft landscape, presenters will share investigative tactics, coordination efforts, and lessons learned from a $17M case.

Asset Protection of the Future: Building a Virtual Command Center for Real Time Crime Management

Retail crime is evolving; faster, smarter, and more organized. Asset Protection leaders are being challenged to do more with less, driving a shift from traditional in-store staffing to centralized, real-time intelligence operations modeled after Real-Time Crime Centers (RTCCs). This session explores how retailers are building RTCC-style command centers to detect, assess, and respond to threats across multiple locations. Using Lululemon’s LINC program as a case study, we’ll demonstrate how AP teams can integrate technology, share intelligence, and strengthen collaboration with peers and law enforcement.

Post-Conference Workshop: Developing Your Personal Leadership Commitments and Why It Matters sponsored by RILA's Women in Asset Protection Network

Join Amy Barnes, Founder and Chief Heart Officer, with ELEVEN-B Consulting for this interactive and hand-on post-conference workshop brought to you by RILA's Women in Asset Protection Network. Participants will explore the importance of personal leadership commitments, understand how these commitments can enhance team performance, and leave the workshop with their very own unique leadership documents. Come prepared to engage, connect, and participate! (This complimentary workshop is limited to 50 participants and pre-registration is required.)

Post-Conference Workshop: Beyond the Confession -- Using Evidence-Based Interviewing to Build a Credible Case

Getting a confession isn't the finish line, it’s just one part of a much larger investigative story. In this workshop attendees will learn how evidence-based interviewing techniques strengthen case credibility by aligning subject accounts with physical and digital evidence. The session will cover how to apply behavioral science insights—such as memory reliability, trauma impact, and strategic questioning—to avoid tunnel vision, improve rapport, and elicit more accurate information. Participants will leave with practical frameworks to conduct interviews that go beyond admissions and support clear, defensible investigative outcomes. (This complimentary workshop is limited to 50 participants and pre-registration is required.)