2009 – 2011 FIRAE Officers

Chairman – Diane J. Brisebois

President & Chief Executive Officer
Retail Council of Canada

Diane J. Brisebois, CAE, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Retail Council of Canada (RCC) in January 1995. RCC is the largest retail association in Canada serving over 40,000 retail establishments.

Prior to joining RCC, Ms. Brisebois was Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Office Products Association.

Diane is also the Chairman of the Forum for International Retail Association Executives and Chair of Fair Factory Clearinghouse. Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Board of Ryerson University's School of Retail Management, the University of Alberta’s School of Retail, the Advisory Board of Canada Post, the Board of Stewardship Ontario (Ontario Blue Box Program) and Waste Diversion Ontario.

She has also served on the Board of Covenant House Toronto for 6 years and on the Board of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation and served as its chair for three years.

In 2002, Ms. Brisebois received the Pinnacle Award from the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE), which is the most prestigious designation for an Association Executive. In addition, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award from her previous organization, the Canadian Office Products Association.

Ms. Brisebois is a native of Montreal and studied at Concordia University, and St-Laurent College. She has a degree in Social Sciences and Modern Languages as well as her certification in Association Management.

Vice Chairman – Thomas Eulau

Director and Head of Stockholm Region
Swedish Trade Federation / Svensk Handel

In February 2007, Thomas Eulau was appointed Head of the Stockholm Region at the Swedish Trade Federation (STF). STF is the largest trade association in Sweden representing roughly 13.000 retailers, wholesalers and importers.

Mr. Eulau has been involved with the Forum for International Retail Association Executives (FIRAE) since January 2007 and was elected FIRAE Vice Chairman in 2009.

Earlier at the STF, Mr. Eulau was responsible for developing relations with trade organisations in Eastern European countries—mainly around the Baltic Sea—and then later for European Union relations. Following that, he became Director of Educational Issues and worked to improve public vocational training programmes. In particular, he focused on retail in higher education and chaired a working group that later became the Nordic Retail College Foundation, where he currently serves on its board of directors. This high-profile programme is currently part of the Stockholm School of Economics.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Eulau was responsible for payment issues, focusing on lowering card- & cash-handling costs for STF members. As such, he served as a member of EuroCommerce’s Payment Systems Committee.

Before joining the STF in 1996 (at that time, the Swedish Retail Federation), Mr. Eulau held executive positions within the banking sector as well as with a Swedish consultancy focused on international trade financing.

A native of Stockholm, Mr Eulau has studied economics and business administration at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and international marketing with a concentration on the EU market at Stockholm University (SU). On behalf of SU, he produced reports on the privatisation of state-owned companies and company valuation methodologies.

Thomas is married to Louise. They have three children – Greta, William and Henrik.

Secretary – Steven E. Glover

Director, Member Relations, National Retail Federation
Director and Secretary, Forum for International Retail Association Executives

Steven E. Glover joined the National Retail Federation (NRF) in March 2007 as Director, Member Relations, where he collaborates with NRF's members to ensure they receive the greatest value from their membership. NRF is the world's largest retail trade association.

Concurrently, Mr. Glover serves as Director for the Forum for International Retail Association Executives (FIRAE), an organization of retail trade association CEOs from more than 30 countries, whose goal is to exchange information and ideas to advance the global retail industry. In 2009 he was appointed as FIRAE Secretary for the 2009-2011 term.

Prior to NRF, Mr. Glover was Director of International Marketing for the Life Underwriter Training Council (LUTC), where he led the organization's international operations and managed its 15 country affiliates. He has presented and published for the American Society of Association Executives, of which he is currently a member, on topics such as globalization strategy for associations, international marketing, and cross-cultural communication.

Mr. Glover holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and political science from Towson University, is fluent in Spanish, and has a working knowledge of French and Portuguese.