News

President Bill Clinton to keynote National Retail Federation 101st annual convention

October 11, 2011

The National Retail Federation has announced that President Bill Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd president of the United States, will keynote its 101st Annual Convention, January 15-18, 2012 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. President Clinton's keynote, titled, "Embracing our Common Humanity," is scheduled for Monday, January 16 at 11:00 a.m.

President Bill Clinton was the first Democratic president in six decades to be elected twice — first in 1992 and then in 1996. Under his leadership, the country enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs.

"As one of the most prominent, brilliant and philanthropic leaders of our time, we are honored to welcome President Clinton to NRF's 2012 Annual Convention," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. "President Clinton is sure to inspire and enlighten the thousands of retailers from around the world who will attend the conference."

President Clinton is a powerful global voice for progress. His public speeches describe the challenge of globalization, emphasize our growing interdependence and point the way toward a common future based on shared goals and values.

NRF's Annual Convention and EXPO serves as the world's leading retail event, bringing 22,000 retail executives and vendors from more than 65 countries together for educational and networking opportunities. NRF's EXPO floor, open on Monday and Tuesday of the convention, hosts more than 500 exhibiting companies and features special sessions produced by NRF covering a wide range of topics, such as sustainability, visual merchandising and the global economy. NRF's convention has been ranked as one of the Top 200 events in North America, as well as one of the 50 fastest-growing events.

As the world's largest retail trade association and the voice of retail worldwide, NRF's global membership includes retailers of all sizes, formats and channels of distribution as well as chain restaurants and industry partners from the United States and more than 45 countries abroad. In the United States, NRF represents an industry that includes more than 3.6 million establishments and which directly and indirectly accounts for 42 million jobs — one in four U.S. jobs.