NRF president, ceo Mullin to retire late this year

-- Home Textiles Today, 4/22/2009 1:52:00 PM

Washington – National Retail Federation’s longtime president and ceo Tracy Mullin, who has spent the past 30 years working for the trade organization, announced today that she is retiring from her position late this year.

In a letter sent to NRF members today, she said her decision to retire was difficult but timely. It comes on the heels of an announcement earlier today of plans for the NRF and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) to merge into a single entity.

“I will never lose my love of retailing, and it’s bittersweet to move on,” she wrote. “After assisting NRF through this transition period, I look forward to tackling some new projects and embarking on new adventures.”

In her three decades with NRF, Mullin held various posts of increasing responsibility before her election in 1993 as ceo.

Earlier in her career, she served as senior legislative advisor to the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

During her 16 years as president and ceo, Mullin is credited with leading NRF through “a period of great change and impressive growth,” the organization said.

The changes included: relocating NRF’s headquarters in 1993 here from New York City; repositioning the organization from a department store-focused group to one that today represents all retail formats and sectors in the United States and abroad; tripling the annual budget to $35 million from $12 million; restructuring and growing NRF’s foundation to expand beyond research to include training, certification and e-learning in the United States and abroad.