For Immediate Release
September 30, 2004

LANSING — Retailers Fund, the self-insured workers’ compensation program of the Michigan Retailers Association (MRA), has elected officers for the 2004-05 fiscal year.

Ray Rau, of Oscar Rau’s Fine Furniture and Interiors in Frankenmuth, was elected chair of the Board of Trustees. He succeeds Dan Marshall, of Marshall Music in Lansing.

Trustees also elected Rod Phillips, of Country Casuals in Petoskey, as vice chair. Other continuing Retailers Fund officers from MRA are Chairman and CEO Larry Meyer, Chief Operating Officer and Fund Administrator James Hallan and Jean Sarasin, secretary and treasurer.

In addition, at the Fund’s Annual Meeting, Hallan and three other members were re-elected to serve three-year terms on the Board of Trustees: Joseph Kay, co-owner of Northland Tire and Service, Inc., in Southfield; Dan Marshall, president of Marshall Music Company in Lansing; and Barb Tronstein, vice president of finances and operations for Warren-based Gardner-White Furniture.

Retailers Fund was founded in 1981 by retailers, for retailers. It has returned more than $19 million in dividends to members since its inception.

The Michigan Retailers Association is the unified voice of retailing in Michigan and the nation’s largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers. MRA’s nearly 6,000 retail business members operate more than 13,000 stores across the state.