The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) announced leadership changes determined at FDRA’s board meeting in Washington, D.C. on May 6.
Rick Muskat, principal of Deer Stags Concepts, has been elected Chairman of FDRA, effective June 1. Muskat has served in various leadership positions with the association for several years, including as FDRA vice chairman. Steve Madden CEO Ed Rosenfeld will now serve as FDRA vice chairman. Mike Jeppsen, Wolverine Worldwide president of global operations, was voted in as FDRA treasurer.
Muskat said he looks forward to expanding FDRA’s membership ranks and services in the next two years. “We are delivering fantastic sourcing, compliance and product development data, analysis and support to our members and we will focus on continuing to build them up,” he said. “We are also very close to eliminating duties on footwear from Vietnam through TPP and we will keep that momentum strong in D.C. by engaging policymakers in more innovative and aggressive advocacy campaigns.”
FDRA president Matt Priest said, “Today, almost all of the footwear industry’s leading executives are on FDRA’s board to help guide the industry’s association.”
FDRA’s most recent past chairman Greg Tunney, president and CEO of RG Barry Corporation, will serve as an ex-officio member of the FDRA executive committee. Under Tunney’s leadership, FDRA president Matt Priest said the organization has enhanced its brand and has developed into a more robust organization that can better address challenges.
“I’m excited that Rick Muskat is now taking the reins as chairman,” Priest said. “Rick has been active with FDRA for nearly a decade, and he is well known as a person who lives and breathes the footwear industry. When he talks to people about the business–they listen. I am confident Rick will use his experience to help sharpen our services and efforts to make us more efficient and effective for the industry. I’m also pleased that Ed Rosenfeld will continue to serve in our leadership team, now as Vice Chairman. Ed brings a great perspective to how we should operate and was key to our financial transformation to help us grow over the past two years.”