On April 10, the board of directors of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) determined that it would be in the best interest of its membership to focus all of the organizations staff and resources on legislative and regulatory issues on the local, state, and federal levels. NATO will now concentrate its expertise in assisting retail members with their responses to all of the tobacco restrictions proposed by government officials across the nation. The organization will align with other regional, state, and national organizations as they continue efforts to expand their current retail membership of 51,000 retail stores, plan new educational seminars for NATO members, offer tobacco legislative and regulatory seminars to other trade associations, and urge the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as other state and local lawmakers to work with NATO and the industry in efforts to deter use of tobacco products by under-aged youth through adult educational programs.
As a result of the new organizational direction, the NATO board of directors also made a critical business decision that the 2016 NATO Show, scheduled for April 20-21 in Las Vegas, NV, will be the association’s last. There was a consensus among board members that given the many trade shows available to tobacco retailers, this is the right time to focus on NATO’s core expertise in battling onerous tobacco restrictions.
The entire NATO board of directors is excited about the future as NATO expands upon its expertise in local, state and federal tobacco issues for the benefit of the association’s members.