Retail Council of New York State management team, (L to R) Rebecca Marion Flach, Jim Sherin, Ted Potrikus and Rob Leonard
The Council is led by an experienced team of professionals, each with a unique area of expertise. Together, they share a common mission – to inform, guide and advocate for the retailers of New York.
James Sherin manages the daily operation of the Council, including its government relations, member services programs, and business affairs. He first joined the Council in 1984 as the director of government relations and was promoted to senior vice president in 1990. In 1997, he was appointed to the Council’s Executive Committee and elected to serve as one of three Council vice chairmen. He was named chief operating officer in 2000 and became president and chief executive officer in 2003.
Mr. Sherin is also chairman of the Council’s Workers’ Compensation Safety Group Executive Committee. In addition, he serves as chairman of the board and president of Retail Council Services Corp., the wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary of the Retail Council of New York State.
Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Sherin was an editor and legislative writer for the New York State Assembly. He also served as director of communications for the New York State Association of Realtors.
Mr. Sherin serves on the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance’s Taxpayer Advisory Council and was appointed by Governor Paterson as a member of the New York State Small Business Task Force. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Renaissance Life and Health Insurance Company of New York, and is past chairman of the board of the national Council of State Retail Associations (CSRA).
Mr. Sherin holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Villanova University.
Ted Potrikus manages the Council’s government relations program. In this role, he serves as the voice for the retail industry by taking members’ concerns and ideas directly to New York State’s Governor, Attorney General, Legislature, and regulatory agencies, frequently testifying at public hearings and appearing on media outlets throughout the state on behalf of retailers large and small.
He joined the Retail Council of New York State in 1989 as director of public affairs and was promoted to vice president in 1996. He was promoted in 2000 to senior vice president and director of government relations and again in 2003 to executive vice president and director of government relations. In 2008, the Council elected Mr. Potrikus to its Board of Directors and as vice chairman of the council. He also is a member of the Board of Directors of Retail Council Services Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Council.
Mr. Potrikus served as chief writer and legislative analyst for the New York State Senate Education Committee from 1986 – 1989 and worked as an editor for Wolfe Publications, a suburban newspaper chain in Rochester, N.Y., from 1985 – 1986.
Mr. Potrikus is an avid music fan and collector, as well as an active supporter of and participant in the arts community of the Capital District, serving as past president of the Board of Directors of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (www.troymusichall.org) and as past president of Albany Pro Musica (www.albanypromusica.org). He also is a volunteer in the education program at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Schenectady, N.Y., where he and his family are members.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in communication/journalism from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., and is a native of Cooperstown, N.Y. He and his wife, Angela, and their daughters reside in Niskayuna, N.Y.
Rebecca Marion Flach oversees all internal and external communication that supports the Council’s government relations, sales and marketing and membership functions. She is also charged with the development of new membership benefit programs and services for the association.
Ms. Flach joined the Retail Council of New York State as Director of Public Affairs in 2002 and was promoted to vice president in November 2008. Prior to joining the Council, she was a senior account executive in the Albany office of Eric Mower and Associates, a marketing communication firm, where she developed and implemented integrated marketing communication programs for a variety of business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients. Formerly, she was employed by the Onondaga Convention Center Complex in Syracuse, N.Y. as an account executive in the sales and marketing department.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the State University of New York College at Fredonia and a master’s degree in public relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Ms. Flach currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Empire State Society of Association Executive’s (ESSAE), and as chair of ESSAE’s Special Interest Group on Communication. She is a 2010 graduate of the ESSAE Leadership Academy.
Robert Leonard supervises all aspects of the Council’s finances and program operations, most notably the various membership insurance products and the merchant services/credit card processing program. Mr. Leonard is licensed by the New York State Department of Insurance in Property & Casualty and Life, Accident and Health.
Joining the Council in 2001 as director of sales and marketing with more than a decade of sales, retail and insurance experience, Mr. Leonard supervised member recruitment and other marketing activities that feature the Retail Council’s money-saving programs. He was promoted to vice president in November 2008.
Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Leonard worked in claim services for Allstate Insurance Company and Enterprise Rent-a-Car. In addition to his responsibilities for the Council, Mr. Leonard is vice president of RCSC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Retail Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Clarkson University.