Founded with the mission of advancing public policies that serve restaurant businesses and the millions of Americans employed by restaurants nationwide, The National Council of Chain Restaurants recently announced the new Chairman for its Board of Directors, Craig Prusher of Church's Chicken. Prusher previously served as Vice Chair for the Board, which is an invitation-only governing body for the organization, made up of senior executives from the nation's leading chain restaurant companies.

The NCCR is a division of the National Retail Federation, which includes councils on food safety, supply chain, digital retail, finance, human resources, and more. As a whole, the NRF seeks to provide resources, industry insight, and trend reporting for the state of all retail business in the United States, including fashion and apparel, home goods, electronics, and other products in addition to restaurants. The NCCR's specific focus over the past few years has been to advocate in Washington for chain restaurant businesses on such topics as food commodity costs, credit/debit card transaction fees, immigration reform, tax reform, and labor/management policies. Prusher was also the most recent recipient of NCCR's 2017 Grassroots Award as recognition for his work inspiring franchisees and corporate executives to become more politically involved.

"I am honored to have been selected for this important role with NCCR," said Prusher, who also serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Church's. "NCCR has been part of the National Retail Federation for many years now but the relationship has become even closer with the naming of David French, the NRF's SVP of Government Relations as the new Executive Director of NCCR. The tighter integration of NCCR within NRF will definitely benefit all of our chain restaurant members. I have been involved in NCCR for 15 years now and I could not be more excited about the future."

Along with his previous years of experience within the NCCR, Prusher also brings a wealth of hands-on expertise in domestic and international franchise matters, corporate legal affairs, regulatory compliance, and industry relations – which are among his daily responsibilities as Chief Legal Officer for one of the world's largest chicken restaurant chains. Prusher also formerly served as Assistant General Counsel at Burger King Corporation, and as an associate in the corporate department of two Boston law firms – Nutter McClennen & Fish, and Warner & Stackpole.