Sandy Kennedy

Sandy Kennedy is president for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). She has been with RILA since December 30, 2002, after two and a half years at Accenture, a global management consulting and technology services company. Since joining RILA, Kennedy has reinvigorated the 33-year old association, changing its name and incorporating new service offerings with a new approach to education, innovation and advocacy. While at Accenture, Kennedy was the Leadership Dialogue Series director, a program that targeted C-suite executives in the retail and consumer goods and services industries. The Leadership Dialogue Series was a world-class learning series that encouraged openness and a willingness to share and explore new strategies for growth. In addition, she created and launched the inaugural Women’s Forum for Leadership in May 2002. From 1993-2000, Kennedy was senior vice president of membership services for the National Retail Federation. During her tenure, she directed and managed the revenue generating businesses for the National Retail Federation, including membership, conferences and the NRF Annual Convention. She also directed the activities of retail operational committees including loss prevention, internal audit, credit management, financial executives, financial reporting, independent stores, supply chain, human resources, information technology and Internet retailing. Kennedy received her B.A. in Communications with a minor in Economics from the University of Iowa.