April Washburn Elected President of the Board of Directors for the New England Buying Consortium The director of the University Store is in the middle of a two-year term as NEBC vice president and will serve a two-year term as president beginning in March 2027.

By Brian Laubscher
July 6, 2026

April Washburn, director of the University Store at Washington and Lee University, has been elected to serve as president of the New England Buying Consortium (NEBC) beginning in March 2027.

Washburn first joined the NEBC Board of Directors in 2023 and is currently in the middle of a two-year term as vice president. As president, Washburn will be responsible for oversight of the annual budgeting process as well as planning and administration of the organization’s annual meeting and trade show. She will also lead the board of directors in strategic work to enhance institutional store membership while working to expand the collective’s partner vendors.

W&L first joined the NEBC in 2018 after the dissolution of its previous buying group. Since joining the consortium, the university’s association has produced nearly $10,000 in savings annually through trade shows and special terms with the consortium’s 93 current vendors.

“It’s fulfilling to know that our hard work and special vendor arrangements through the NEBC affiliation can help the store’s bottom line and thereby directly increase our contribution back to W&L each year,” said Washburn.

Washburn has been a member of the W&L staff since joining as an instructional technology lab assistant in 2004. She also served as administrative assistant for Elrod Commons and Campus Activities, before joining the University Store in 2008. She was promoted to associate director in 2018 and director in 2023.

The W&L University Store is institutionally owned and operated, with every dollar generated helping to support the university’s operating budget and educational mission.

Founded in 1992, NEBC began as a collection of 13 institutional bookstores throughout New England that saw the potential benefits of working together to secure better buying agreements with a variety of vendors. The organization expanded to include additional stores outside of New England, and today the organization is comprised of 240 members from 30 states and the District of Columbia. The NEBC charter requires the organization to support the educational purposes of each institution through the acquisition of merchandise on terms designed to improve the potential financial contribution to each respective school.

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