Washington, D.C. – The National Restaurant Association today announced that Liz Garner has joined the policy and government affairs team as Director of Commerce and Entrepreneurship. In this position, she will help advance the Association’s tax and profitability priorities, working with member companies, policymakers, and other stakeholders as an advocate for the restaurant industry, the nation’s second-largest private sector employer with nearly 13 million workers nationwide.
“Liz’s strong credentials within the retail community are of tremendous value to the Association’s policy agenda, particularly our ongoing efforts to enhance the recently enacted debit card swipe fee reforms and increase the transparency of credit card fees for merchants and consumers,” said Scott DeFife, Executive Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs for the National Restaurant Association. “In addition, she will play a key role in our advocacy for new payment systems that would improve data security measures for consumers and protections for restaurants.”
“Liz’s legislative experience in a broad area of subjects will serve the restaurant industry well as we continue to work for permanent extension of both 15-year depreciation for restaurants and the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, as well as the upcoming debate on tax reform,” said David Koenig, the Association’s Vice President of Tax and Profitability.
Garner previously served as Director of Government Relations for the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) representing the supermarket industry. In that role, she helped coordinated legislative efforts of the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), a group of more than 20 national retail trade associations, including the National Restaurant Association, representing millions of card-accepting merchants. She will continue in this position in her new role at the Association.
Garner holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Arts in Government from Johns Hopkins University.
Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 960,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of nearly 13 million employees. Together with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the Association works to lead America’s restaurant industry into a new era of prosperity, prominence, and participation, enhancing the quality of life for all we serve. For more information, visit our Web site at www.restaurant.org.
Source: National Restaurant Association