Sacramento, CA – June 17, 2019 – The California Retailers Association (CRA) announced today that Jacob (Jake) Asare became the newest member of the team. Jacob will serve as Legislative Advocate and play an important role in the development and implementation of the Association’s state and local policy agenda.
“Working with policy and legislative affairs is a passion of mine,” said Asare. “I cannot wait to get started and dive into the number of important policy committees and public affairs meetings that have been underway since the start of this year’s legislative session.”
Asare will work under Steve McCarthy, CRA’s new Vice President of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs and collaboratively with CRA staff and member company representatives. Asare’s chief responsibility will be supporting the association’s government affairs internal and external communications to enhance CRA’s brand reputation and advance the Association’s public policy advocacy agenda.
“Jacob is a great addition to our team,” said Rachel Michelin, President of CRA. “He is a bright, energetic and fast learner with an instinct for politics.”
Asare previously served as policy advocate for the California Head Start Association, program manager for BREATH CA, policy and project coordinator for various local public health initiatives and managed a CA State Senate campaign.
CRA continues to build its team as the association ramps up its efforts to protect consumers, jobs and the economy in the fifth largest economy in the world with retail making up a quarter of the state’s employment.
Asare will begin on July 1, 2019.
About the California Retailers Association
The California Retailers Association is the only statewide trade association representing all segments of the retail industry including general merchandise, department stores, mass merchandisers, restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets and grocery stores, chain drug, and specialty retail such as auto, vision, jewelry, hardware and home stores. CRA works on behalf of California’s retail industry, which currently operates over 418,840 retail establishments with a gross domestic product of $330 billion annually and employs 3,211,805 people—one fourth of California’s total employment. At the end of fiscal year 2014 the state of California collected $48.5 billion in revenue from retail sales and use taxes, representing more than 25% of the state revenue.
