2013 Retail Merchandising & Marketing Conference

Welcome from Ron Apel, 2013 Conference Chair

Dear Fellow Members, Participants and Guests,

 It gives us great pleasure to invite each of you to the 2013 Retail Merchandising and Marketing Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. As we prepare for our Annual Conference, I reflect on the speed at which time passes by, and think about the changes the industry has gone through and the challenges we face as an industry moving ahead. It seems completely appropriate that our theme for this year's  conference should be "Learn. Change. Grow".

We come together to learn from each other and collaborate with experts in different fields in an effort to foresee the future and gain insight into how we can be ready for whatever comes our way. It is our goal to present to each of you the opportunity to define where your company will stand in the future and to provide you with the tools that will help you get there.

Change is hard – it means seeing our weaknesses, owning our responsibility as leaders to improve and consciously seek out solutions that will enable our teams, our companies and our industry to grow.