Lundgren: Top Hirings Are Key to Retail's Future

NEW YORK CITY-The hiring of talented candidates is a major key to the future success of the retail industry, said Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc., speaking here at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & Expo. Lundgren spoke as the recipient of the organization’s highest yearly honor, the gold medal award.

“We lost focus on recruiting our best kids,” he said. “That was short-sighted on our part.” In the 1980s, retailers stopped offering once-popular training programs for college graduates and the brightest former students went on into other profession, in the tech sector, consulting or on Wall Street.

Macy’s has reinstated its training programs for potential executives, and Lundgren said he personally recruits at college campuses and encouraged other top retail leaders to do so. “You need to take a personal level of responsibility,” he said.