LRA Worldwide CEO Rob Rush Invited to Address the Historic Hotels of America Annual Meeting

HORSHAM, Pennsylvania; October 11, 2006 – Rob Rush, CEO of LRA Worldwide, Inc., has been invited to address the attendees at the Historic Hotels of American Annual Meeting, October 24-26 at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Rush will address the gathering Wednesday, October 25th at 11:30 AM on Customer Experience Management or CEM.

Rush, one of the pioneers in the rapidly-growing field of CEM, will focus his presentation specifically on how certain companies attain a competitive advantage via the design and implementation of enhanced experiences that speak directly to customer needs and wants. The resulting formation of an emotional bond between the company and the customer yields a profitable, long-term relationship.

“Rob has been widely published in industry trades and general business publications over the years, and I have always been a big fan of his writing and point-of-view,” explained Thierry Roch, Executive Director of Historic Hotels of America. “When I read his recent article on emotional branding, it occurred to me that he would be a natural fit to speak at our annual meeting. All of our members are trying to gain as much insight as possible on how to create an emotional bridge to the guest, so Rob’s message will be of great interest.”

Rush has been a featured speaker at a number of corporate events and industry conferences in the past year. Rush has delivered the CEM message at annual meetings for Farm Credit Canada, InfoGenesis, the Delaware North Companies and Colorado Ski Country USA, among others; he has also presented at the North American Conference on Customer Management (Orlando, FL) and the Internal Branding Conference (New York, NY). Following his address to the Historic Hotels of America group in Michigan, Rush will travel to Rome to address the ESOMAR Leisure 2006 Conference on November 6th.

“This is an exciting opportunity to talk about Customer Experience Management and emotionally engaging the customer with a group that really gets it,” Rush said. “As CEM grows in acceptance and importance in the marketplace, we are working with more companies in financial services, healthcare, B2B and other sectors where being ‘customer-centric’ has traditionally been an afterthought. Our roots – both as a company and for me personally - are in the hospitality industry, so this feels like a homecoming of sorts.”

The annual meeting is one of the Historic Hotels of America membership benefits. Conducted within the leisurely, relaxed confines of historic Mackinac Island, members will receive information on brand and membership initiatives, new members, a small trade show and vendor presentations, and insights from various experts in and around the customer experience and customer feedback disciplines.

About Historic Hotels of America:
National Trust Historic Hotels of America (HHA) is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. HHA has identified more than 200 quality hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic architecture and ambience. To be selected for this program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old, listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or recognized locally as having historic significance. To learn more, visit the HHA Web site at www.historichotels.org.

About LRA Worldwide:
LRA Worldwide, Inc., is a leading consulting, organizational development and research company that specializes in Customer Experience Management (CEM). LRA helps companies and brands design and deliver the optimal customer experience across all key touch points using an integrated suite of services that measure and improve service quality, customer satisfaction, employee performance, loyalty, customer advocacy and profitability. LRA specializes in “operationalizing the brand” – turning brand promise and customer strategy into operational reality. LRA’s tactical CEM practice areas include Customer Experience Strategy Design, Standards Development & Content Management, Organizational Development & Training, Customer and Employee Research and Quality Assurance & Mystery Shopping; these are either deployed together in a strategic manner to continually monitor and improve the customer experience or deployed individually to address a specific client tactical need.

LRA’s clients include some of the world’s leading companies and brands in the hospitality industry and beyond, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Hard Rock, the PGA TOUR, Albertsons Supermarkets, the NBA and MGM MIRAGE. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.LRAworldwide.com.
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