LPRC Welcomes New Research Scientist

Please join us in welcoming Jenn Jarrett to the LPRC Team! As our newest research scientist, Jenn will be designing, conducting, analyzing and reporting many of the projects on the LPRC’s research agenda.  Her added skill set to the team will aid our capabilities in combating theft, fraud, and violence through evidence-based practice.

Jenn was born and raised in Blue Ridge mountains of both WV and NC. She went to Appalachian State University in Boone, NC for her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Experimental Psychology. In between her undergrad and masters, Jenn worked as a LPA and LPM at Sears. For the past five years, Jenn left the mountains of NC to come to Florida to work on her doctorate in Criminology and Law. At UF, Jenn’s research focused on risk perception– shoplifting/employee theft offenders perception of risk being caught and community members perception of risk for becoming a victim of crime. As an avid outdoors person, Jenn takes her dog on hikes. She also enjoys any activity on the water whether that means kayaking, rafting, fishing, or just swimming.

 

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6th Annual IMPACT Golf Outing: Southern Slam 2019

Join us at IMPACT’s 6th Annual Golf Outing this fall!

When: September 30, 8:00 am
Where: Ironwood Golf Course
Address: 2100 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32609

Proceeds to Benefit: BOLD “Brave Overt Leaders of Distinction”
The Brave Overt Leaders of Distinction (B.O.L.D) Program was started in 2010 to provide assistance to young men between the ages of 16-24 who needed professional guidance in addressing their life situations and circumstances. The focus of B.O.L.D is to implement comprehensive “re-entry” and intervention activities that address the full range of challenges involved in helping young adult males make a successful transition into the community.

All proceeds from the golf outing will go towards the B.O.L.D program, and will be accepted day-of.

Attendees must register for the Golf Outing and the IMPACT conference separately.

 

Register for Golf Outing Register for IMPACT
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LPRC Collision Recap & Takeaways

Last Wednesday, June 26, LPRC members arrived at the LPRC Collision Summit in the NextRetail Research Center with one goal in mind: crafting and building on the new LPRC Innovate program.

LPRC Innovate was stood up to provide the people, places, and process to support major retailers as they ideate, simulate, and test new digital, people, and design options.

Collision brought together retail executives, solution providers, LPRC team members, and University of Florida faculty to plan the program’s next steps.

After some light breakfast and an introduction to the day’s agenda, Dr. Read Hayes, LPRC Director, gave an overview on the importance of LPRC Innovate. Attendees were all in agreement:  retailers must constantly evolve, evaluate emerging technologies and processes, forecast their impact, and be ready for new opportunities to succeed. To ensure that the program succeeds in its mission, the core advisory team for LPRC Innovate was formed.

LPRC Innovation Specialist Jordan Burchell presented on design thinking, the process of creative problem solving to produce innovative solutions to prototype and test. To make a dent in the issues surrounding the retail industry, human centered design thinking must be applied, and what better way than through the LPRC Innovate Ideation and Simulation Lab (ISL), a space created to provide world-class, problem-solving and immersive training tools to LPRC members and their partners.

Collision attendees toured the updated ISL, which will use state of the art VR/AR/XR technologies that can be connected to an organization’s corporate and field locations. Organizations will use the ISL to simulate solutions and future design options for their retail locations. This means that LPRC retailers and solution partners will be able to:

  • Rapidly simulate different scenarios to see how it affects sales and crime
  • Utilize the ISL to train their associates on best practices based on our research

These unique capabilities will enable members to grow their businesses by leveraging our research process in a new, high-impact, lower-cost way.

The LPRC Collision meeting generated many key takeaways and important next steps for both the LPRC team and its members:

 

 

  • Many projects were conceptualized for the ISL, one of which will be showcased during IMPACT 2019
  • The Digital StoreLab library will be created so members can explore stores and technologies on our website and in VR/AR
  • Our simulation space will focus on integrating augmented reality so that retailers can visualize 3d modeled content in their simulated store environment

We would like to thank our community for attending this event, and for their feedback on the LPRC Innovate program. The LPRC team is excited to show you even more in the upcoming months leading to IMPACT 2019.

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New LPRC Team Member: Sam Auer

We are excited to welcome our newest team member, Sam Auer! He is joining the LPRC as a Research Analyst on the Research Team.

Sam is a Florida native hailing from the small beach town of Bonita Springs. He is a double gator with a BA in Sociology and a MAMC in Audience Analytics, a specialization of Mass Communication. He comes to us from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, where he worked within the Office of Advancement. Outside of professional life, Sam is an animal lover, having a dog and three cats. He enjoys exploring the outdoors and reading, combining them whenever possible. He is an avid traveler, loves learning everything he can about the world and those that inhabit it.

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Introducing our Marketing & Development Manager

Please welcome Kevin Tran into his new role as Marketing & Development Manager at the LPRC.

Kevin joined the team in July 2017 as our Marketing Specialist, and has played a significant role in our growth by orchestrating our marketing initiatives. In his new role, Kevin will lead his team in all marketing efforts while playing a role in strategizing key development opportunities for the LPRC. Kevin is responsible for overall brand management, preparing and implementing marketing strategies and promotional campaigns, and delivering essential information to current and non-members through the LPRC’s communications platforms.

We are thankful for Kevin’s continued hard work and look forward to all of the marketing initiatives in store!

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5 Steps To Get Involved with LPRC at NRF PROTECT

With NRF PROTECT quickly approaching, the LPRC team is making final preparations for next week’s west coast trip! We look forward to sharing our latest research, projects, and much more with members and non-members alike. Here are 5 easy ways for the LPRC community to get involved with our team at NRF PROTECT:

1) View our Research Agenda
Learn about our current research initiatives by visiting the 2019 Research Agenda on our website. This interactive page gives a quick overview of the projects for this year, and you can further explore the content by linking to our improved Knowledge Center.

2) Opening Party
Our team will be at this year’s Opening Party Tuesday night donning the most vibrant Hawaiian shirts (with a hint of Floridian inspiration to boot). Meet us at the Grand Plaza in the Anaheim Convention Center for both work and play.

3) Visit our Booth
Join our team at Booth #945 to discuss our ongoing research projects, new initiatives, and upcoming IMPACT conference. Many of our BOA members will also be in attendance. They will be visiting our booth to greet attendees, and answer any questions regarding the LPRC and why they are a part of our research and results community. Those joining us include:

 

 

Brian Bazer,  Rue21

 

 

 

 

John Voytilla, Party City

 

 

 

 

Rick Peck, Marmaxx

 

 

 

 

Ken Peschier, Dollar General

 

 

 

 

Scott Ziter, Price Chopper Supermarkets

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Coll, Macy’s

 

 

4) Attend our sessions

Our team has two sessions in store:

LPRC Director Read Hayes, PhD will lead a session on facial recognition alongside Robert Oberosler, LP professional. They will explore how matching real time images to previous images using computer vision and deep learning could be a new, powerful tool for retailers.

Director of Research, Mike Giblin will direct a session with Laura Lasko, Senior Corporate Investigator of Retail Asset Protection at Wakefern Food Corp. They will discuss technology’s welcomed impact on labor cost and the most effective ways to use technology to advance the labor force.

5) Product Protection Working Group Summit

Our Product Protection Working Group will host its annual summit for members June 13th, at NRF Protect. Join us to learn more about our research agenda and future initiatives at our breakout sessions and project discussions.

Registration is now open to both retail members and solution partners!

Due to limited space, only 1 attendee per solution partner member may register for the Summit.

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NRF PROTECT: LPRC Sessions

NRF Protect is less than two weeks away! Join us in Anaheim, California to discuss our ongoing research projects, new initiatives, and upcoming IMPACT conference.

Our team will also be hosting sessions at the conference:

LPRC Director Read Hayes, PhD

Read will lead a session on facial recognition alongside Robert Oberosler, LP professional. They will explore how matching real time images to previous images using computer vision and deep learning could be a new, powerful tool for retailers.

 

 

 

 

Director of Research, Mike Giblin

Mike will direct a session with Laura Lasko, Senior Corporate Investigator of Retail Asset Protection at Wakefern Food Corp. They will discuss technology’s welcomed impact on labor cost and the most effective ways to use technology to advance the labor force.

 

 

 

View Agenda
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New LPRC Team Member: Kenna Carlsen

Please extend a warm welcome to our new team member, Kenna Carlsen! Kenna is joining the LPRC as a Research Scientist on the Research Team.

Kenna was born and raised in Port Saint Lucie, FL. She moved to Gainesville in 2012 to attend the University of Florida. Kenna holds a BS in Psychology, a BA in Criminology, and a Master’s in Criminology. Prior to working with the LPRC, she specialized in victimology and fear of crime. In her spare time, Kenna enjoys spending time outdoors and relaxing with her friends and family.

Welcome to the team, Kenna!

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IMPACT Early Bird Special

It pays to register early! Today is the final day to take advantage of our Early Bird Special: register for IMPACT to be entered to win a $200 Visa Gift Card.

Register
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Recapping RILA 2019

RILA’s Retail Asset Protection Conference took place last week in Denver, Colorado. Our team had the opportunity to attend, participate in various sessions, and network with other LP/AP professionals.

Stephanie Lin, LPRC Research Scientist, led a session on Self-Checkout technologies alongside Paul Jaeckle and Adrian Beck. The session recapped the most important takeaways from the extensive research conducted on over 140 million scan and go technologies, as well as the ways to mitigate the risks associated with these systems.

Throughout the conference, our booth provided a space to review our research agenda, current research initiatives, and all things IMPACT with attendees. We loved the opportunity to speak with our members one on one to determine the value we are providing as well as the opportunities for growth.

In addition, the Expo Experience was an immersive, interactive component of the conference; the space allowed attendees to experience over 100 innovative solutions.

The RILA Conference should be on every LP/AP professional’s list. Through interactive elements, it’s an opportunity to learn, network and share experiences and solutions. We will be integrating all of our learnings into our research and operational work, and look forward to what next year’s conference will bring.

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