About Us

Virginia Retail Federation is a statewide organization that protects members’ legislative interests, ensuring their voice is heard in the legislative process and keeps them informed on issues impacting their business on the local, state, and Federal levels. We take a pro-business approach to legislative issues to ensure there is representation for retailers that serve the Commonwealth.

Pro-Business Legislative Policy

VRF’s legislative policy guides our positions on issues at the General Assembly and is centered around a pro-business approach. You will see that the majority of the bills in this report are opposed by the VRF, which is typical for every year at the General Assembly.

View Legislative Policy

We Fight Against

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Additional Mandates on Business

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Opening Employers up to Private Cause of Action

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Additional Industry-Specific Taxes

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Additional Reporting Requirements for Business

Mission

WE PROACTIVELY PRESENT AND SUPPORT THE LEGISLATIVE INTERESTS OF VIRGINIA RETAILERS AT FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LEVELS.

Vision

BUILDING A COLLECTIVE VOICE OF, AND FOR, VIRGINIA RETAILERS.

Core Values

WE ARE APPROACHABLE AND TRANSPARENT.

WE ACT WITH INTEGRITY, FAIRNESS, AND PROFESSIONALISM.

WE ARE RESPECTFUL, COLLABORATIVE, AND NON-PARTISAN.

Our Lobbyists

In-House Lobbysits

Jodi Roth

Director, Government Affairs

Jodi has over 25 years experience in government affairs in the Commonwealth of Virginia as well as on the federal level.

Jodi has represented a wide array of clients in front of the General Assembly and the Executive Branch during her career, including spending the last several years specifically on retail issues. During that time, Jodi worked to bridge a coalition of retail representatives throughout the state to ensure a unified voice on behalf of Virginia’s retail industry.

Jennifer Crittenden

CEO, Retail Alliance

Jennifer Crittenden (Jenny) was appointed as CEO of Retail Alliance in February 2023, having joined the organization as Senior Vice President in 2022. With a background of sixteen years in leading the nationally accredited Main Street Preservation Trust, she was recognized with the Main Street Forward Award for her recovery efforts and development of an E-Commerce Platform for Gloucester downtown businesses.

During the pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Crittenden to represent small brick and mortar retail on the Governor’s COVID-19 Business Task Force with the goal of assisting the developing reopening guidelines for businesses in Virginia. In 2021, Jenny was recognized as one of the top twenty women in business by Inside Business.

Nancy Thomas

President & CEO, InUnison

Nancy is the President/CEO of InUnison of Central Virginia. Prior to her current role, Nancy was involved in retail for 27 years and held multiple management positions with This End Up Furniture; as the owner of Arcade on Grove; and as a partner with Turn Key Interiors.

Nancy has four years of lobbying experience at the General Assembly and has testified before numerous committees on various retail industry legislation.

Nancy serves on several boards, including Richmond Region Tourism, Henrico Police Foundation, Valor RVA, the Governing Board of the Greater Richmond Convention Center Authority, and CrossOver Healthcare Ministry.

Contract Lobbyists

Andrew T. Lamar

Principal

Andrew brings more than 15 years of political and legislative experience to Lamar Consulting. Since founding the company in 2012, he has represented a wide variety of clients before the Governor’s office, state agencies, the Virginia General Assembly, and some local governments. full bio here.

Brittany A. Whitley

Senior Vice President

Prior to joining the company, Brittany served two terms in the Virginia Attorney General’s office as the Chief of External Affairs and Policy for Attorney General Mark Herring. In this role, one of her main responsibilities was to develop the policy agenda for the Attorney General and to work with state agencies and the state legislature to advance those policy initiatives on behalf of the office. full bio here.

Bills Tracked

Businesses Represented

Action Alerts

Diversity Statement

To embrace diversity the Virginia Retail Federation (VRF) promotes an inclusive and supportive environment that enables all members, staff, and stakeholders to achieve their full potential.

VRF maintains diversity by:

Working to achieve the participation of diverse persons within our areas of expertise and service.
Treating all persons and their interests with fairness and respect.
Respecting the rights of all persons to participate in all aspects of our organization.

This policy is applicable regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religious or political beliefs, age, sexual orientation, domestic circumstances or disability.