What do you get when you put Loss Prevention Foundation Board members, Retail Industry Leaders Association Asset Protection Leaders Council members, loss prevention leaders, and solution providers in one room? One-of-a-kind networking, brainstorming, and enough inspiration to last for the next year, to name just a few things.
This year’s event kicked off with an opening reception on Monday evening where attendees were able to mix and mingle while getting a taste of the best that the Big Easy has to offer. Beads were flying as hors d’oeuvres and drinks were shared and a live jazz band played. There was also a tarot card reader offering fortunes, and attendees were taught how to roll their own cigars.
Highlighting Resilience
Day two of the meeting began with a networking breakfast before LPF President Caroline Kochman welcomed attendees, noting that New Orleans is the perfect destination for this event because, like New Orleans, LP professionals embody a spirit of resilience and community. This theme was further emphasized as Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Chad Porter took the stage to share his inspiring (and even at times humorous!) story of resilience.
Porter was a lifelong athlete and had already been recruited to play college football when he was in a horrific boating accident at 15. Though there were times throughout his recovery that he wanted to give up, he stayed resilient, and credits nurses, doctors, and family with inspiring him to keep going.
“Every single day of our lives we have the opportunity to make an impact on someone’s world,” Porter said.
Next, RILA APLC members split off for their own meeting as LPM Vice President and Editor-in-Chief Stefanie Hoover, CFI led the LPM Solution Provider Board Meeting, sharing the many things the magazine has accomplished in the past year and highlighting what we are looking forward to in 2025.
Everyone was then treated to a break featuring beignets and coffee from the famous Café du Monde before coming back together for a panel discussion about getting to a “yes!” featuring Paul Jones, LPC; Mike Limauro, LPC; Oscar Arango, LPC; and David Lund, CFI, LPC, MBA.
“Our fundamental value is that we are not driven by sales and the bottom line,” Kochman said. “We are driven by beneficial stakeholder outcomes for our practitioners, our partners, our candidates, and the industry as a whole. The industry will continue to thrive through the engagement of industry leaders who believe in and prioritize the use of education and certification to light the way and pass the torch to the next generation of leaders.”
Specifically, some of the improvements the LPF accomplished in the past year were:
- Operational Excellence: Investing in systems, technology, and infrastructure; increasing operational efficiency to better serve students and partners; strengthening data integrity; and recreating how people engage with the Foundation.
- Student Engagement and Success: Implementing a formal onboarding process; creating a formal student management protocol; enhancing engagement, delivery, content, and cadence of cohorts; and preparing to modernize certifications for today’s learning style.
- Value-Driven Partnerships and Collaborations: Increasing awareness and use of benefits included in LPF partnerships; seeking to expand benefits; developing joint LPM/LPF partnership opportunities; and expanding reach with external collaborations.
Just one example of all of these improvements in action is the fact that registering one LPC or LPQ student used to take 15 minutes, and now it only takes 30 seconds.
David Lund, CFI, LPC, MBA; Carmen DuBose, CFI, LPC; Mark Stinde, LPC; and Kevin McMenimen, LPC then discussed the purpose and value of certification with Rhett Asher and Julie Lawson, LPC, MBA moderating.
McMenimen shared that the LPF was born in 2005 as the Loss Prevention Professional LLC with the idea he and Industry Icon Jim Lee had for the LP industry to create a certification and the credibility that other industries had.
“It’s exciting to know where it started and see where it is today, and how many people are getting certified,” Asher said. “I think that’s amazing.”
“When I went through the coursework, it was amazing how much I did not know,” Stinde shared. “Most practitioners might think they can take the exam and then pass it, but I can tell you there’s no way . . . As I got through that, I became a much more well-rounded leader, and in future roles, if I hadn’t been certified, I wouldn’t have been prepared to touch some of the parts of the business that I did.”
“I had the experience of learning on the job, but I still didn’t feel that I had the foundation for credibility, so in 2011 I was introduced to the LPC and thought this was maybe the opportunity to get that level of education and foundation,” DuBose added. “The modules were great—there was a lot I hadn’t been exposed to, even at my level of experience at that time, so for me, when I was able to take that exam and pass it and add that LPC behind my name, it really gave me that foundation that I personally felt I needed, and I set the example for my team too to go take the LPC and get that credibility as well.”
“When you earn that designation, not only do you get that credibility, but you’re then a part of that community that raises the bar,” Lund said. “The more of us in the industry that have those designations, it creates opportunities—and a sense of community that is really important to me.”
Following the panel, Lawson shared how the Foundation has returned to the basics and is putting PRIDE into action:
- Partner with retailers and solution providers to continue cultivating an active and informed LP community
- Raise awareness for LP as a profession
- Integrate certification into a consistent requirement for candidates to create a professional standard for the industry
- Deliver unparalleled education for all levels of LP, from store agent to C-suite leader
- Engage with retailers and solution providers to educate and recruit high quality, diversified candidates
Lawson also talked about ways to get involved in helping to empower the LPF, including engaging in social media posts; making certification preferred or required on job postings; attending and speaking on webinars; building a training budget to continue elevating the industry; and proudly displaying the LPF partner logo on your company website and elsewhere. She finished by emphasizing that it is essential to pass the torch and leave our legacy by supporting individuals to reach the next level in their LP careers.
LPF Board members then broke off for their own meeting while corn dogs, soft pretzels, fresh smoothies, and more were served during a business break at the Superdome Café inside of the event space.
After the Board meeting concluded, attendees met back in the conference room for a fascinating session on the six types of working geniuses from Kathy Gilmore. Everyone had taken a test to determine which type of genius they were before the meeting, and here, Gilmore walked everyone through what the different types excel and struggle at, and how to empower team members with different genius powers.
US Coast Guard Chief Resilience Officer Jim Palmer closed out the day’s sessions with a look at how he created the chief resilience officer role from the ground-up, and how other LP professionals might want to do the same in their own organizations.
“We’ve spent all these years focused on strengthening our brand, our profession, everything we do—to me it all ties back to being resilient,” Palmer concluded.
Read more about Palmer’s journey to CRO and why this may be the next opportunity for LP executives in this story from our Spring Issue.
Dynamic Discussions Continue
The final day of the meeting started with another networking breakfast before Meredith Plaxco, CFI, led an inspiring town hall.
Next, Stefanie Hoover took the stage once more to share a quick update on LPM, and to show off the new Fall Issue of the magazine, which features a unique ORC pull-out we hope will serve as a resource for LP teams.
After the last business break of the event, Mark Stinde, LPC, VP of AP at Casey’s, spoke about total retail loss, and how to get your entire company committed to the mission.
In this session, Stinde provided a glimpse into Casey’s as a company, an overview of how total retail loss works, and how to move the conversation within your company from simply shrink to total retail loss.
After getting senior leadership on-board with the new plan for total retail loss that he had created, his team built a total retail loss matrix and risk assessment of all stores. A big win for him was that, for the first time in his career, he took the board of directors out to a Casey’s store where a manager showed how this new reporting is utilized to drive business and the impacts on controllable profits.
“The proof is always in the pudding,” Stinde said. “We made a commitment to the organization for a ten percent reduction this year in total loss, and year-to-date we’re trending at a 15 percent reduction. The team has really embraced this.”
Learn more about total retail loss in this LPM feature from Dr. Adrian Beck.
Paul Jones, LPC then moderated another town hall featuring Target Senior Director of Assets Protection Field Operations Gary Smith, LPC, and Meijer Director of Asset Protection Operations and Investigations Melissa Wacha, LPQ, where they discussed how the election, civil unrest, and global events are impacting loss prevention.
One topic they touched on was how they prevent political conflicts from erupting in stores during such a divisive election:
“We’ve done a lot of leadership training preparing for divisive conversations in the workplace,” Smith said. “Sensitivity, along with making sure our leaders are equipped to engage and resolve or de-escalate incidents that could happen between team members or even with guests is a very critical piece of the preparation strategy for us.”
“We’ve followed a similar path in what we see as a very strategic and deliberative approach to training in the past year,” Wacha added. “We did the same thing around communication with different levels of leadership in the field in regard to team member safety and making sure we’re creating an environment that’s not just physically safe, but mentally and emotionally safe.”
Before attendees left for the airport, Caroline Kochman took the stage once more to thank the sponsors of the event, and all of the attendees.
“Thank you so much for coming to the Big Easy, and most of all, thank you for your incredible enthusiasm and passion for elevating the loss prevention industry,” she concluded.
