Day two of the RILA Asset Protection Conference began with a General Session with retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Rebecca Stephens Halstead who shared with the audience several inspiring stories from her 27-year career in the U.S. Army. As the first the first female graduate of West Point to be promoted to General Officer and the first female Commanding General at a strategic level of leadership in Iraq, she provided us with many lessons from her service leading tens of thousands of soldiers. General Halstead later participated in a Breakout Session on “The New Relevant in AP” with a panel of industry experts, offering further insights into the life of an amazing person and extraordinary leader. She is also the author of 24/7: The First Person You Must Lead is YOU.
Following another round of Breakout Sessions was one of the more popular sessions each year, which was a Panel Discussion featuring a conversation with industry leaders from across the retail spectrum who shared their insights, lessons learned, and challenges faced in Asset Protection Strategies for Today & Tomorrow. Questions from the audience were a basis for much of the discussion as responses were gathered from others who face similar challenges.
The afternoon round of Breakout Sessions for each of the Conference Tracks was followed by the final General Session of the day, which featured Keith White, Vice President of Loss Prevention for Gap, Inc. and David McLeod, Chief Information Security Officer with VF Corporation leading a discussion on Cybersecurity: What’s Asset Protection Got To Do With It? In this session industry colleagues discussed the current retail cyber threat landscape, its impact on AP and why AP needs to have a seat at the table to be part of their company’s cybersecurity threat mitigation strategy.
Following a long but productive day, attendees then met in the exhibition hall to relax, meet with fellow practitioners, and service providers.