It’s not goodbye but a sincere thank you.

Today I announced my resignation as CEO of the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).?

It has been an honour and privilege to lead the Australian retail industry and the ARA team through the most challenging five-year period in the history of the sector.?

As the ARA progresses to amalgamate with the National Retail Association (NRA), a professional goal I have long advocated for, I now believe I have completed what I set out to do for the sector.???

I have done my bit for the industry that has been so generous to me, and it’s now time for me to reset and refresh for new challenges and handover the baton to a successor.?

During the past five years, I have worked hard with the team to build the ARA and the retail sector brand to a strong position of profile, power and political influence.?

To achieve this required the ARA to stabilise its financial position - turning it around from a financial risk to a position of historic financial security. I am deeply proud that the ARA now stands as the largest, powerful and most diverse industry body for retail.

The ARA’s efforts alongside our members through the pandemic years helped ensure the resilience of the sector. It would be true to say this has been the most disrupted decade for retail in recent history – navigating the pandemic and global cost of living crunch, intense labour shortages, an unprecedented retail crime wave, supply chain disruption and the most intense set of industrial relations changes in decades.

We have worked diligently to unify the sector, bringing most of Australia’s top retailers and employers into the ARA membership for the first time, alongside SMB members. Membership income has more than doubled in the past five years .?

With my amazing team, we also strengthened the retail community with a strong line up of retail leader’s events including cornerstone events - the ARA Retail Leaders Forum, ARA CEO Lunch and soon to launch ARA Retail Awards all of which have been designed to be a permanent fixture on the retail leader’s calendar.?

We are stronger united and there have been many historic moments including successfully merging several smaller retail associations under the umbrella of the ARA- Hair and Beauty Industry Association (HBIA), National Footwear Retailers Association (NFRA) and the Australian Floral Designers Association (AFDA).?

Where retail was once overlooked by our political leaders, across the past five years many influential political outcomes have been achieved for the sector. These include critical Covid retail protocols including the national leasing code of conduct, significant financial and business supports and incentives under the Federal and State budgets, and improvements to workplace relations legislation. The political pinnacle has been the forming of the ARA Friends of Parliament group in Canberra.?

DE&I has been a passionate focus for me within and outside the ARA and I am so pleased we have been able to strongly influence DE&I outcomes for the sector including the appointment of the first female ARA President in 2022 and establishing a powerfully diverse ARA Council, a gender equity position statement for the sector and establishing an annual Chief Executive Women (CEW) scholarship. Signing up retailers to the LGBTIQ+ equity statement and advocating for First Nations peoples have also been initiatives I have proudly championed for our sector.

I am deeply proud of leading our pioneering efforts in sustainability initiatives including the first Australian retail roadmap to sustainability, advocating for important circular economy outcomes and aligned with global counterparts to deliver best practice information to our Australian retail community.

These achievements could not have been possible without an inspirational team of champions and supporters.? I haven’t achieved any of this on my own.?

My sincere gratitude goes to my dedicated team both past and present, ARA growing list of partners for sharing the vision and investing in us, our loyal members who have been with us through thick and thin, our dedicated pro-bono Council who act as our Board- both past and present, government at all levels- local, state and federal, the SDA union, other industry and employer groups.Last but not least my biggest supporter- my life partner and husband who has been more than forgiving for at times, placing him second to my professional obligations.

I will be continuing in the role until the end of this year to ensure a smooth leadership transition, and I look forward to updating friends and our community on my plans towards the end of that period.

This is not goodbye but a thank you.?