Susan Newman is senior vice president of conferences at the National Retail Federation. Newman is a member of NRF’s executive staff, which is responsible for the execution of NRF’s strategic mission.
Newman became NRF’s senior vice president of conferences in 2010. In this role, she oversees the conference departments, boasting an event portfolio of more than six events per year. From small meetings with key NRF community groups to NRF’s annual convention and expo, Newman continues to raise the bar for NRF educational and networking events for the retail industry. NRF’s 108th annual convention in New York City welcomed more than 38,000 retail professionals, and total attendee numbers for Retail’s Big Show have grown 79 percent since Newman was named senior vice president.
As the head of conferences, Newman is also tasked with serving as a spokesperson for NRF and relevant industry events and trends and is frequently quoted by industry and national media. In 2017, she was featured on the cover of Trade Show Execliutive as a leader of the industry.
Under her tenure, NRF's events have been recognized 30 times as Trade Show Executive's Fastest 50, Gold 100 and Next 50, and recognized seven times by TSNN as one of its Top 25 events. In 2014, Newman was recognized as Show Manager of the Year by The Expo Group
Newman joined NRF as vice president of conferences in 2003. She has more than 25 years of trade show and conference experience including three years at PBI Media (now Access Intelligence) and 10 years at E.J. Krause & Associates.