The National Restaurant Association issued the following statement regarding its decision to renew the contract for association president and CEO Dawn Sweeney:

"We are pleased to report that at last week's joint NRA board of directors/National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation trustees meeting, we announced that Association and Educational Foundation president and CEO Dawn Sweeney's contract is being extended for five years, beginning in January 2015," says Jack Crawford, NRA chairman of the board.

"Dawn has been an outstanding CEO for the past seven years, and we know that she will continue to provide vision and impactful leadership on behalf of the industry for the foreseeable future."

"I am honored to lead the National Restaurant Association and its Educational Foundation, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Association's Board, the Foundation's Trustees, members and stakeholders," Sweeney says.  "It is a privilege to work on behalf of industry that touches and positively impacts so many lives,and provides such tremendous opportunities for individuals to succeed.  We will continue to find ways to advocate and help the industry continue to thrive and grow, as a critical part of the fabric of communities across the country, and a significant component of our nation's economy."

Since becoming CEO in late 2007, Sweeney has increased the advocacy profile and success of the organization in an extraordinarily challenging political and business environment and built the industry's high school ProStart program to include more than 100,000 students. Under her leadership, revenues have grown by more than 40 percent, bolstered in part by the continued success of the ServSafe program which recently hit a milestone with its six millionth food safety manager certification.  The Association and Foundation have recently embarked on a new multi-year strategy to increase industry impact, strengthen industry image, and build industry engagement.