National Restaurant Association Names James Balda Chief Marketing And Communications Officer

To support its efforts to strengthen communications outreach, the National Restaurant Association today announced that James Balda has been promoted to chief marketing and communications officer. He will be responsible for brand stewardship, enhancing the restaurant industry's public image, and growing and improving membership outreach. Balda was previously senior vice president of membership for the Association.


"We are confident that James will do an outstanding job in his new role, and that it will benefit the Association, our more than 400,000 member restaurant locations, and the industry at large," said Dawn Sweeney, National Restaurant Association president and CEO. "He will lead a collaborative effort across the Association and its Educational Foundation to identify and develop the necessary communications requirements to support the goals and initiatives of the total enterprise."


Balda joined the National Restaurant Association in 2008 with the task of growing membership recruitment, retention, and service, and to improve membership value propositions to create loyalty among the organization's diverse and involved membership base.

Before joining the Association, Balda served as senior vice president of membership and professional development at America's Health Insurance Plans. In this position, he was responsible for the association's member services, professional training, customer service, and online publishing programs. Before that, he held positions at the Health Insurance Association of America and the Newspaper Association of America.
###

Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of nearly 13 million employees. Together with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the Association works to lead America's restaurant industry into a new era of prosperity, prominence, and participation, enhancing the quality of life for all we serve. For more information, visit our Web site at www.restaurant.org.