With 2025 facing up to be a tough year for retailers in Australia with general elections set to be held and the inflationary pressures continuing to be a worry as the RBA refuses to cut the cash rate, an executive has now been appointed to head up the Australian Retail Council (ARC).

Chris Rodwell will commence in the role as the inaugural CEO of the ARC from March 2025.

The ARC is the newly formed entity arising from the merger of the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and the National Retail Association (NRA).

A seasoned CEO and Board Director with experience working across Australia and internationally, Rodwell is currently CEO of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Western Australia (CCIWA).

Prior to CCIWA, Rodwell served in trade and investment roles for the Australian and Queensland governments.

 

“The Australian Retail Council will be the unified home for retailers across the country. The sector is critically exposed to the major risks that are faced more broadly by businesses across the economy. Our role will be to help our members stare down those risks and, wherever we can, flip them into opportunities,” said Rodwell in a statement confirming his appointment.

“Whether it’s managing shifts in geopolitics and supply chains, acting on AI or broader digital opportunities, responding to sustainability and energy challenges, managing a complex regulatory environment, winning the war for talent or building trust, we’re determined to flex with Australian retailers in every way we can,” added Rodwell.

Once Rodwell commences in his role at the ARC in March, he will be based in Sydney. The ARC will have offices across the country.

“We are thrilled to have secured Chris to lead the future amalgamated entity, the Australian Retail Council as we enter this next critical growth phase for our $430 billion dollar retail sector. The opportunities and the challenges have never been greater for our sector which contributes 18% of the country’s gross domestic product and employs one in ten Australians,” said ARA President Nicole Sheffield.

 

“Chris is a strategic and transformational leader with an outstanding set of commercial and advocacy achievements within associations and working with and within government and the private sector.

NRA Chair Antony Moore added that Rodwell’s experience across both the private and government sector will help strengthen his role at the head of the ARC which will need to work across both sectors in order to rally the retail industry.

“Chris has been powerfully supporting Australia’s business and economic growth for decades. In his current role, Chris secured significant advocacy outcomes for some of the country’s largest businesses alongside small-to-medium size businesses. We look forward to drawing on Chris’s acumen and strategic skill set to ensure a strong retail recovery for our retail sector and the sustainable growth and expansion of the Australian Retail Council,” said Moore.