Jon B. Hurst
President

JON HURST WAS NAMED PRESIDENT OF THE RETAILERS ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS (RAM) IN DECEMBER 1990. As the chief executive officer of the 3,200-member statewide trade association, Hurst manages the staff, business affairs, member services and education, public affairs, and governmental affairs of the organization.  RAM was organized as the “Voice of Retailing” in 1918, and today represents all types and sizes of stores and restaurants in the retail employer sector across the state.

Hurst also serves as Chairman of the Board of the MA Retail Merchants Workers Compensation Group, Inc., a not-for-profit, self-insurance group regulated by the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.  The Group was organized by RAM in 1991.  The RAM workers compensation group is the largest in the state, serving over 3,000 mom and pop companies.

Hurst served as Chairman of the National Association of State Retail Association Executives from 1989-2001, as well as a Director on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the National Retail Federation.  He has served on various former state advisory Boards including, the state Unemployment Insurance Special Commission, the Attorney General’s Child Labor Task Force, the Attorney General’s Task Force on Organized Theft, the Governor’s Advisory Council on Travel and Tourism, and the Workforce Competitive Trust Fund Advisory Committee.  He has served in leadership roles for four successful state ballot campaign committees, first as Secretary of the No on 3 Committee concerning re-packaging in 1992; then as Chairman in 1994 of the Yes on 5 Committee which reformed the Blue Laws; again as Chairman in 1998 of the Yes on 4 Coalition, which retained the state’s new electric utility restructuring law; and finally, as Treasurer of the No on 5 Coalition, the 2000 managed health care campaign.  Hurst has served on the Board of Directors of WasteCap of MA, the New England Society of Association Executives, and the Beverly Regional YMCA.   

From 1986 until joining RAM, Hurst served as Manager of State Government Relations for the Hershey Foods Corporation in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Earlier he served three years as Public Affairs Director of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, as well as three years as a Legislative Aide in the Ohio House of Representatives.  Hurst graduated from the Ohio State University in 1981.

Hurst and his wife Jan have three sons, and reside in Beverly, Massachusetts.