Ms Sheffield, who has been on the ARA council for three years, said retailers needed to keep focusing on improving the customer experience in stores and online. Online sales were up more than 20 per cent late last year compared to the previous year.
Retailers including David Jones, Farmers, Hordern Brothers and Grace Brothers were among businesses that founded the ARA, previously known as the Master Retailers Association, in 1903.
ARA chief executive officer Paul Zahra, a former David Jones CEO, said he could not explain why it had taken so long to appoint a woman as the head of its board.
“The ARA is the oldest retailer industry association in the country, and it’s embarrassing that this is the first time that a woman has been appointed,” he said.
Mr Zahra said when he joined the organisation two years ago the ARA council was dominated by men and it now had equal representation.
“There was only one female member on the council that serves as our board. I was determined to turn that around,” he said. “Women are fundamental to the success of Australian retail.
“It was important that our board or council reflected the industry which is why [the appointment of Ms Sheffield] was such a significant change.”
Ms Sheffield’s first job was in retail working for Target in Parramatta from the age of 14 until she was 20.
The mother of four teenagers aged 14 to 19 is married to fund manager Michael Sheffield and an “avid shopper” who describes herself on Twitter as a “lover of shoes and handbags”.
She thinks there is nothing better than retail to connect people to friends and family and to help people feel better about themselves.
“I do love to shop,” she says. “It’s not just about the purchase, it’s about the experience and the fact that it is something you can do with friends and your kids.”
Ms Sheffield left her previous job at Australia Post where she ran the network of 4400 post offices with a focus on customer service and digital until last year – in the months after Christine Holgate resigned as its first female CEO. Ms Sheffield had sat through Senate hearings in which Ms Holgate disclosed that she had bought $20,000 Cartier watches as bonuses for four senior employees for landing a major banking deal in 2018.
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Ms Sheffield had joined Australia Post that year after quitting her job as News Corp Australia’s chief digital officer.
In 2016, she took on the role of managing director of News Digital Networks Australia, known as News DNA and less than a year later, was promoted to the role of chief digital officer to increase revenue, audience and subscriptions.
Ms Sheffield, who is married to fund manager Michael Sheffield, joined News Corp in 2012 after working at Foxtel as general manager of the LifeStyle Channels group. She previously worked at Seven West Media and Telstra which she joined as part of a graduate program. She graduated from Macquarie University with an Arts/Law degree before getting a master’s of business from the University of Technology Sydney.
