WASHINGTON The National Restaurant Association is searching for a new chief to succeed Steve Anderson, who will step down as president and chief executive on Feb. 23 to assume the same posts at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
NRA chairman Ed Tinsley said a search committee was formed by the association’s board on the night of Jan. 22, the day Anderson tendered his resignation, and conferred by phone the next morning to jumpstart the hunt. “The job of heading an association of our size and influence continues to evolve, and we defined the skill set a candidate would need to lead a group like ours forward,” he said. “We’ll be looking for someone with more than an association executive has typically been known to have.”
Tinsley did not divulge details, but noted that strong political connections would “absolutely” have to be high on the list of a candidate’s strengths. “We do not want to diminish that at all,” he said.
Anderson has led the trade group since 1999. He is widely credited with upgrading the caliber of its staff personnel, increasing its influence on Capitol Hill, and forging stronger ties to the White House, culminating in an appearance by President Bush at the NRA’s convention last May.
He also focused on such nuts-and-bolts matters as switching the organization to a calendar fiscal year so that its annual convention, the largest source of the group’s funding, no longer fell at the very end of the group’s 12-month reporting period. And he spearheaded a multi-million-dollar renovation of the association’s headquarters here, along with fundamental changes in its communications efforts and upgrades in its technology.
But Anderson’s tenure was not without its controversies. Last year the NRA negotiated an agreement to purchase certain assets from its educational affiliate, the Chicago-based National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, for $41.9 million. The Washington group wanted to buy the EF’s ServSafe certification programs, which generate tens of millions of dollars annually, or considerably more than the EF spends in pursuit of its educational agenda. The NRA planned to buy the revenue stream and use it to embellish its lobbying efforts and fund new business ventures.
But the transaction was derailed after further analysis led directors of both groups to wonder if the deal would shortchange the EF in its educational efforts. Some asserted that Anderson was pushing too hard to promote lobbying and under-appreciating the value to the industry of the EF’s mission.
Anderson disputes the characterization. He contends that the friction came between the organizations’ boards and officers, not between him and any of the individual directors.
He said empathically that the situation had nothing to do with his decision. "It's a great opportunity that came along," hesaid.
Tinsley agreed that the matter had nothing to do with Anderson’s decision to resign. “A man of his caliber is constantly going to be recruited by other associations or head-hunters,” he said. “From what Steve told me, that’s exactly what happened.”
"The Association's officers thanks Steve for his leadership over the past eight years and for his contributions to our Association and the restaurant industry," Tinsley is quoted as saying in a statement announcing Anderson’s resignation.