Niraj is the CEO and co-founder of Wayfair, formerly known as CSN Stores, a leading home goods online retailer with 2011 sales in excess of $500 Million. Wayfair, founded in 2002, is the largest online home retailer with a selection of over 5 million items from 5,000 brands. Wayfair services customers in the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and Australia thru its three brands - Wayfair.com, All Modern.com and Joss & Main. Wayfair is headquartered in Boston and has over 1,000 employees in its seven locations in the US and abroad. Wayfair is the second largest home retailer in the United States, behind Williams Sonoma, and has been twice honored in the Inc. 500 list, by the Boston Business Journal as the 4th fastest growing private company in Massachusetts, and by Internet Retailer Magazine as the 50th largest online retailer in the US. Before Wayfair, Niraj was CEO and co-founder of Simplify Mobile, an enterprise software company which was sold in 2001. Prior, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at Greylock Partners, COO and a member of the Board of Directors at iXL, a publicly traded global technology consulting firm, and the CEO and co-founder of Spinners, which was sold to iXL in 1998. Niraj has been included in the Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, and has won the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Stephanie Pike is Vice President, e-Commerce for Office Depot. She is responsible for the strategic direction and operations of the Company’s e-Commerce website and mobile channels.
Prior to joining Office Depot, Stephanie served in a variety of online marketing leadership roles at Dell, Sears and Circuit City where she was instrumental at driving both innovation and sustained revenue and margin growth through digital channels. She has more than 10 years of e-Commerce strategy, product, merchandising, marketing and analytics experience.
Scott K. Williams has served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and E-Commerce Officer of Cabela’s, Inc. since October 2011. Mr. Williams joined Cabela’s after serving as President of Fanatics, Inc., a vertically integrated online retailer of team and league licensed sports apparel and collectibles, from June 2010 to February 2011. Mr. Williams was the Corporate Vice President of Wal Mart Stores, Inc., from 2006 to May 2010, serving as General Manager of Samsclub.com. From 1996 to 2006, Mr. Williams was an executive with OfficeMax Incorporated, where he held a series of key leadership positions, including Senior Vice President, OfficeMax Direct Business Segment and Senior Vice President, Marketing.
Christina Callas is the Senior Vice President of eCommerce & Digital Marketing for the Hudson’s Bay Company where she manages the company’s on-line businesses. In 2008 she re-launched www.lordandtaylor.com. Since that time she drove significant top and bottom-line growth by revamping all aspects of the business including site operations, marketing and fulfillment. In 2010 she re-launched www.thebay.com; rebuilding the business from the ground up. In addition to managing eCommerce, Christina has responsibility for digital marketing and web-initiatives for all HBC banners including Lord & Taylor, the Bay and Home Outfitters. Prior to Lord & Taylor, Christina was the VP, eCommerce for Aéropostale, a national teen retailer. Since it’s inception in May 2005, www.aeropostale.com has successfully catered to the growing and demanding teen market. As the VP of eCommerce, Christina oversaw the launch and early growth phase of the business. Christina earned an MBA in General Management from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Denison University. Prior to attending business school, Christina spent ten years in Boston managing various fiduciary support functions for Bank of America’s private wealth management group.
Bryon Colby joined Cornerstone Brands Inc. as the SVP of Digital Commerce in May 2011. Cornerstone Brands is comprised of seven leading home and apparel lifestyle companies, including Frontgate, Ballard Designs, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road, Chasing Fireflies, Improvements, and TravelSmith. Over $600 million in sales were generated from Cornerstone’s digital operations last year. Bryon was most recently the VP of eCommerce for global fashion and lifestyle company Marc Ecko Enterprises. Prior roles include the US Founder of a mobile commerce company and Managing Director at Fry Inc. where he provided e-commerce services to leading brands including Ann Taylor, Godiva Chocolate, Canon USA, Kraft Foods, The Children’s Place, Waterford, and Circuit City. Cornerstone is a business unit of HSN, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSNI), a $3 billion interactive multi-channel retailer.
Steve Hartman is the Managing Director of Urban Outfitters Direct and Marketing with responsibility for the urbanoutfitters.com ecommerce business and marketing for the Urban Outfitters business in North America. Prior to Urban Outfitters, Steve was Sr. Vice President of Marketing for CubeSmart, a national self-‐storage company where he oversaw the company’s web presence and all aspects of their marketing efforts. Steve spent nine years of his career at eBay where he held numerous leadership roles in the technology and internet marketing organizations, including responsibility for all advertising on the ebay.com site and running eBay Partner Network, eBay’s global in-‐house affiliate network. Early in his career Steve worked in technology consulting for Accenture.
David Wachter launched JimmyJazz.com in the fall of 2009, long after the retailer began their first specialty clothing & shoe store in 1989 in NYC. Today, with over 200 stores and three eCommerce sites, the multi-channel retailer has experienced triple digit growth online in the last couple of years. In just its second full year of operation, Mr. Wachter has been recognized for leading Jimmy Jazz to remarkable growth & profitability and ranked IR #511 in Internet Retailer’s Second 500 Guide. JimmyJazz.com was the #1 fastest-growing retail chain for online sales in the 2012 edition. David attributes this explosive growth to “fanatical” customer service, engaging customers through all marketing channels, and gaining loyalty one customer at a time. Wachter began his career in eCommerce after a long career in B2B sales and marketing with two Fortune 200 companies, Office Depot Business Solutions and Cardinal Health. After leaving Cardinal Health in 2005 as Director of Sales, he launched a dancewear & shoe site based in Los Angeles before relocating to the east coast to add retail stores to the business. After selling the multi-channel business in 2008, Wachter was recruited to build the first eCommerce site for Jimmy Jazz. Today, he’s responsibilities include technology, direct marketing, creative, merchandising, warehouse & fulfillment, and call center operations.
Russell Blain has 18 years of experience in a variety Senior Financial and Operational roles. Immediately prior to joining Bag Borrow or Steal, Russ ran a successful consulting practice serving as an independent CFO and turnaround specialist for clients in the technology, consumer and manufacturing industries. In addition to his time as a consultant Russ also served and GM & CFO for Cold Standard a Seattle based consumer product startup. Russ started his career at PWC before moving into industry and has a Technology MBA from the University of Washington.
David has been an ecommerce executive for over 13 years. He is currently President & Co-Founder of Little Black Bag, a unique social commerce business inspired by Japan’s Fukubukuro sales. In this role, he oversees operations, merchandising, business development, finance, legal, & HR. Prior to LBB and from 2001-2011, David worked for GSI Commerce as VP Client Services and Strategy where he oversaw the west coast region and managed a $300M merchandising sales business. From 1999-2001, he was Director/VP of eCommerce for WHN, a start up ecommerce services firm helping clients such as ABC, NBC, Playboy, Salt Lake City Olympics build direct to consumer ecommerce businesses.
Leigh Rawdon is the co-Founder of Tea along with a seasoned designer with experience at Gymboree, Esprit and Ralph Lauren. They started Tea in 2002 to offer children’s fashions that celebrate the beauty found in cultures around the world. The collection is available in hundreds of retailers including Nordstrom and online at TeaCollection.com. Tea has been featured for the last six years in Inc Magazine’s “Inc 5000” list of America’s 5000 fastest growing private companies. Tea has also been recognized for innovation in technology including the use of Facebook’s Open Graph and a best-in-class ipad app that is used by consumers and retailers alike.
Arthur K. Lachman, CPA is the Executive Vice President of E-Moret, the e-commerce arm of The Moret Group, a large wholesaler and brand builder which emerged into the e-commerce sector with brands that include Danskin.com, 2xist.com and Boymeetsgirlusa.com. Arthur is responsible for growing the business through the company’s interactive, social, multichannel, and direct-to-consumer operations. Prior to joining Moret, Arthur acquired extensive knowledge in the financial consulting environment, working with a large public accounting firm specializing in the apparel and fashion industry. Arthur’s combined experiences and industry knowledge allow him to support the growth and scale required in today’s expanding online retail and wholesale market.
David Sasson is the co-founder and president of overstockArt.com. In this role, he focuses on all aspects of growing overstockArt.com and establishing its dominance in the online wall décor market. Since founding overstockArt.com in 2002, Sasson has grown the company from its modest start to an international organization with offices located in three countries. Sasson came from modest roots himself; he was born in Kibbutz Ein-Shemer, a small town close to the center of Israel, and moved to the United States when his family relocated to Newton, Mass. when he was 16 years-old. From a young age, Sasson learned how to adapt to a different environment, and how to navigate the uncharted waters of American high school life. At age 24, after serving 3 years in the Israeli military, Sasson came back to the United Sates in order to study Business Administration at Wichita State University. In 1997, he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor degree in Business Administration specializing in Entrepreneurship. After graduation, Sasson took a position with Integrated Solutions Group selling technology solutions in the Wichita area. His passion to become an entrepreneur and a business leader led him to next role at Apollon Computers, Inc., where he was a part owner and the vice president of sales. Sasson’ drive and superior selling skills allowed him to grow the company by 30% in his first year. In 2001, Sasson became the Chief Financial Officer of Apollon Computers, Inc. In 2002, he became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Apollon Computers, Inc. and led the organization to great success for a few years. It was during this time that Sasson had the opportunity to found overstockArt.com. The company started from his home, and his wife Stacy was the only employee in the first year of the business. overstockArt.com quickly began to grow and in less than a decade has established itself as the most significant retailer of hand painted oil paintings on the web. In 2011, Sasson launched Artist Become (ArtistBe.com), the new online community for creating, selling and buying artwork online. The site provides a unique means for emerging artists to be discovered, and to assist established professionals in finding new clients without relying on agents. ArtistBe.com is owned and operated by overstockArt.com. Sasson lives with his wife Stacy and their two children in Wichita, Kan.
Amitai Sasson is the vice president of marketing and technology of overstockArt.com. In this role, he focuses on all aspects of growing and marketing overstockArt.com to establish its dominance in the online wall décor market. He designed and developed not only the company online store, with annual sales of over $2 million, but also the enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and supply chain management systems that overstockArt.com employs every day. Sasson came from modest roots himself; he was born in Kibbutz Ein-Shemer, a small social society close to the center of Israel, and moved to the United States when his family relocated to Newton, Mass. when he was only six years-old. At age 21, after finishing his Israeli Air Force service, Sasson came back to the United Sates to pursue his life-long dream of playing Division 1 Men’s Volleyball. He earned an athletic scholarship to Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and was a four time letter winner who was instrumental in the success of the university’s volleyball program that reached the 2002 NCAA Final-Four and made it to the cover of Volleyball Magazine in May of 2003. Sasson graduated from Ball State in 2005 with a master’s degree in computer science and earned his MBA from Tel-Aviv University in 2009. Prior to attending Ball State, Sasson was introduced to hand painted art through a friend and saw the amazing opportunities of this decorative product. He started selling oil paintings door-to-door, and after a month he saved enough money to sustain himself through the first year of college. Through Sasson’s experience overstockArt.com was born. He introduced the product to his brother David, an experienced drop-ship vendor for various big-box retailers, and in 2002, they joined forces with Amit Yaari and formed overstockArt.com. The company started from David’s home, and in less than a decade has established itself as the most significant retailer of hand painted oil paintings on the Internet. In 2011, Sasson played a leading role in the launch of Artist Become (ArtistBe.com), the new online community for creating, selling and buying artwork online. The site provides a unique means for emerging artists to be discovered, and to assist established professionals in finding new clients without relying on agents. ArtistBe.com is owned and operated by overstockArt.com. Sasson also led the efforts to implement a mobile strategy for the online art gallery. He has overseen the release of an iPad app, iPhone app, Android app and the company’s mobile website. Sasson lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and manages the overstockArt.com Israel office.
Jared Blank oversees the U.S. online retail business of Tommy Hilfiger. He re-joined the company in 2009, after launching Tripmela.com, a website focusing on deals for travel in India. Prior to joining Tommy Hilfiger as the Senior Director of E-Commerce Marketing in 2004, he was the Senior Travel Analyst at Jupiter Research. Previously, he was a senior consultant at Deloitte Consulting, focusing on supply chain management and strategic marketing.
Elissa brings 25 years of Retail Marketing experience to her role at Disney. Elissa has worked for many different retailers to guide their direct marketing and CRM strategies and provided insight and analytics to retailers such as TJX, Children’s Place, American Eagle Outfitters and Casual Corner while working for Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing. In her role with the Walt Disney Company, Elissa leads the digital and Ecommerce efforts for Disney Store and helps guide the strategy for their Omni-Channel vision.
Chris Amenechi is the Former Vice President eCommerce and Merchandising for United, the world’s leading airline. He is responsible for leading, developing, and managing United’s eCommerce platforms, direct to consumer, and ancillary revenue business. Amenechi started his airline career with Continental in 1993 as a Senior Analyst in the Domestic Revenue Management group and held various positions of increasing authority. His former positions include Director of Pricing and Revenue Management of Continental Micronesia, Director of Asia-Pacific Pricing and Revenue Management and Reservations, and Managing Director of Asia –Pacific/Latin Pricing and Revenue Management. He led the efforts to introduce Africa to the Continental map as the Managing Director of Nigeria/Africa based in Lagos and returned to Houston to focus on International eCommerce and Distribution. He went on to establish and lead the Merchandising and eCommerce practice at Continental. Prior to joining Continental, Amenechi was a Lecturer with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He has a bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering and an MBA specializing in Aviation Management from Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Judy Ransford oversees development of the insights and analytics that drive the Redbox customer strategy. She also manages multi-channel marketing executions for the brand including kiosk, email, mobile, social, and interactive. Judy has been with Redbox for four years leading the strategy and analytics team. During her tenure at the company she has played an integral role in optimizing product distribution and driving overall growth for the Redbox business. To date, Redbox has more than 31,000 kiosk locations, 311 million impressions at retail each month and 43 million email subscribers. Prior to Redbox, Judy was the director of marketing analytics and product management for the UAL business at RR Donnelly, and a strategy consultant at Marakon Associates. Judy began her career as a software developer and technology project manager for Accenture and Perot Systems. She earned her masters of business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor of science in statistics from the University of Iowa.
As an e-commerce and operations leader, Katherine Bahamonde has demonstrated her ability to create order from chaos, over-achieve financial targets, uncover new profit opportunities, streamline operations, and build talented teams. Katherine leverages her broad experience base that includes consumer brand / retail experience, marketing, merchandising, technology, and investment banking / financial expertise. She is an agile thinker and comfortably challenges the status quo to build strong and sustaining businesses. Katherine currently serves as the EVP Global E-commerce and Operations for C. Wonder (http://www.cwonder.com). In her role, Katherine is responsible for the e-commerce P&L, including online marketing, and is the strategic architect for all things digital. Earlier in her career, Katherine has worked at a variety of world-class companies that include Citibank, Nike, PepsiCo, Sears, LuluLemon Athletica, and Juicy Couture.
Katherine Brodie was hired by Burch Creative Capital to launch e-commerce sites for C. Wonder and Monika Chiang. Prior to joining BCC, Brodie managed digital marketing for the kate spade and JACK SPADE websites. Through creative cross-channel marketing initiatives and an innovative approach to the online sample sale model, Brodie and her team doubled the katespade.com business year over year until eclipsing the brand’s retail sales in 2011. Later that year Brodie oversaw the site launches of both C. Wonder and Monika Chiang in their first year and is currently focusing on online marketing programs, including affiliates, paid search, email, display and SEO. Digital marketing isn’t Brodie’s only passion -- she also really digs golf.
Kevin Ertell is Vice President of Ecommerce at Sur La Table, where he is responsible for ensuring the company’s direct to consumer business delivers a top notch experience to its customers. Ertell has worked exclusively in retail for more than 27 years, and has focused his expertise on e-commerce since 1997. He was Senior Vice President and Managing Director of TowerRecords.com and subsequently served as Senior Vice-President of E-Business with Borders, where he re-launched Borders.com as an e-commerce site and led the team that built Borders Rewards. More recently he was Vice President of Retail Strategy at ForeSee Results, where he collaborated with the product, delivery, client services and marketing teams to maximize the company's value to more than 100 top retailers and Chief Marketing Office at OnlineShoes.com, , where he was responsible for the e-commerce storefront and all marketing efforts. A well-known and respected figure in the online retail industry, Ertell is regularly called upon to share his knowledge. He has been a featured speaker at numerous e-retail conferences, including Shop.org, eTail and Internet Retailer, in addition to having been featured and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and The Detroit Free Press, among other prestigious publications. He is a member of Shop.org's Board of Directors and the NRF Foundation Board of Directors. Ertell regularly catalogues his thoughts and wisdom about retail and online commerce on his insightful blog, Retail: Shaken Not Stirred.
Bryan Lively is the Vice President of Retail for Moosejaw Mountaineering. He has spent the last 10 plus years with Moosejaw cultivating a customer experience that is like no other that has proven long term customer loyalty. Bryan has been an instrumental part in the every aspect of Moosejaw’s growth, while focused on brick and mortar but also leading in the vision and strategy of a full multi-channel concept. He is currently executing an aggressive brick and mortar expansion that spreads across the country. Having fun is a must at Moosejaw and Bryan believes that this has philosophy has allowed Moosejaw to be where it is today. Prior to Moosejaw, Bryan spent time with J.Crew, Gap Inc., American Eagle and Eddie Bauer. He has always played a key role in developing teams, accelerating growth in both large and small retailers, building strong brands and creating customer loyalty. Bryan is innovative, strategic, customer minded and goal orientated.
Brett Trent has over 15 years of experience encompassing e-commerce in conjunction with retail, catalog and direct selling. He recently completed his 7th brand launch within specialty retail. He is currently Vice President of E-Commerce with the ascena retail group, with a 9 figure portfolio, and end-to-end oversight of the dressbarn and maurices brands.
Dmitri Siegel is currently the Vice President of Global E-Commerce for the outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia. Patagonia's mission is to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Dmitri was formerly the Executive Director of Marketing for Urban Outfitters where he oversaw Direct-to-Consumer business as well as all Marketing and Creative for the brand in North America. Dmitri has published and lectured widely on the topics of Design, technology and digital culture. He recently published his first book "Green Patriot Posters: Images for a new Activism" with co-editor Edward Morris.
After several years working in fashion, Nina decided to take a break from being an entrepreneur, get her MBA, and focus on building her expertise in digital marketing and e-commerce. While in school she worked at Yahoo! Entertainment, focusing on social media strategy. After graduating in 2008, she went to work for Guthy-Renker in Santa Monica. She worked as a Director of Digital Marketing for their top 4 beauty brands, Proactiv, Meaningful Beauty, Wen Haircare, and Sheer Cover. She left her position at Guthy-Renker for a new fashion startup and online shoe brand, Sole Society, which was launched by HauteLook in March, 2011. In December 2011, Sole Society spun out as an independent company, funded by Nordstrom, Vince Camuto, and Insight Venture Partners. Sole Society is based in Culver City, California, and Nina Tooley is VP of Marketing.
Erick Barney is currently in his eleventh year at Motorcycle Superstore. As the VP of Marketing, his responsibilities include all aspects of the company's marketing efforts, online and offline. Erick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Marketing with a minor in Marketing Enriched Communications from Southern Oregon University. His personal e-commerce strengths include SEO, Analytics and Email Marketing. Erick currently sits on several boards including the Aberdeen E-Commerce Research Advisory Board and Webtrends Customer Advisory Board.
Shari Rudolph is a co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Bonfaire, the only place in the world where you get exclusive first access to next season’s designer shoes, handbags and accessories for pre-order. At Bonfaire, Shari drives all user acquisition, marketing, branding, partnering, and social media strategies and initiatives. Prior to starting Bonfaire, Shari was VP, E-Commerce of The Wet Seal, a national specialty retailer, where she led a team responsible for the growth, development and profitability of the company’s online operations for two divisions, Wet Seal and Arden B. Before joining The Wet Seal, Shari was Chief Marketing Officer for Kaboodle, the web’s largest social shopping site and a unit of Hearst Corporation, where she was responsible for attaining top-line growth in both revenue and audience share. Shari’s previous experience includes various executive and leadership roles at both start-ups and large media companies in Southern California, New York and Silicon Valley.
Scott Cohn is Director of Merchandising and Sales for BakersShoes.com. Over the last 20 years, Scott has held leadership positions in specialty and department store merchandising, planning and analysis. He brings this depth of knowledge to the online space and has developed and implemented a successful e-commerce strategy for Bakers Footwear Group, including an award-wining mobile site which launched the summer of 2010. He is regularly asked to share his knowledge as a panelist and speaker at e-commerce and technology conferences.
Alan is currently VP Internet Marketing and eCommerce for Coolibar, an online apparel retailer specializing in Sun Protective Clothing. Since joining the company in 2005, Coolibar has achieved “Inc 500” level growth from $3 to $17.5 Million annual revenue with 90% of sales through the online channel. Alan started his career with eight years at Leo Burnett, Chicago working on assignments for Allstate Insurance and Procter & Gamble. After Leo Burnett, Alan was a Group Media Strategist at Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis for six years where he managed a variety of clients with emphasis on financial and technology accounts. Alan won Mediaweek’s Plan of the Year award for Best Use of Newspaper, and Mediaweek’s Plan of the Year award for Best Use of Outdoor. After 14 years in the brand agency business, and after negotiating over $1 Billion in paid media, Alan left the full time agency world in 2001 to start a company specializing in marketing strategy, media planning/buying, and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Alan currently serves on the Board for the SunAWARE Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the detection and prevention of skin cancer, and also serves on the Board for the Stay Out of the Sun (SOS) Foundation, a non-profit whose annual 5K run serves to promote awareness of the dangers of sun exposure and to support melanoma research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
After more than 12 years of customer focused work at companies like Amazon and Microsoft, Samantha Starmer is currently the Director of eCommerce Customer Experience at REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.). At REI, Samantha led the teams focused on cross-channel experience strategy, digital design and architecture best practices, content management and information architecture, and eCommerce production. Samantha is passionate about creating and evangelizing for holistic customer experiences that are seamless and provide delight across channels, time, and devices. Samantha is active in customer experience and experience design communities and co-chaired the 2011 and 2012 Information Architecture Summit. Samantha regularly teaches graduate courses at the University of Washington, is asked to speak at many conferences and events, and has served on the boards of the Information Architecture Institute and Content Management Professionals.
Andrew lead the Analytics organization for HPDirect, HP's WW B2C eCommerce organization, which is #17 on the Internet Retailer Top500. He's spent the past four years building a multi-disciplinary Analytics team with locations in both the US and India. HPDirect is a fully integrated Manufacturer direct online website and is the only place where customers can buy custom configured HP PCs to their exact specifications. Previously, Andrew has worked in Sales, Marketing, Channels, Business Development, Strategy & Planning, as well as Online & Retail Merchandising for HP. With his extensive business background Andrew drives a very pragmatic approach to Analytics that always starts with a clear understanding of the business problem and ends with actionable insights that drive tangible business results.
A former sports writer who began his first newspaper job at age 17 (in the pre-laptop era), Emery’s entry into eCommerce came as an online copywriter for HSN in St. Petersburg, Fla. He spent four years at HSN, eventually leading the Digital Content team, launching the company’s social media program and becoming an expert in online video and interactive content. In July 2011, he joined The Body Shop, where he serves as Sr. Director of eCommerce for North America, managing web businesses in the U.S. and Canada and an emerging digital presence in Mexico. At The Body Shop, he oversaw all online marketing efforts, while spearheading the company’s digital strategy and the creation and distribution of content across all properties and platforms. He has spoken at several industry events, including eTail East, Social Commerce Strategies, Dreamforce and Internet Retailer. He digs Instagram and uses Twitter as his primary news source.
Kirit Sarvaiya leads Malabar Hill Ventures, a firm that advises to e-commerce and multichannel commerce companies on practical strategies to increase earnings. He was instrumental in Guitar Center being awarded for Best Cross Channel Experience in 2012 by Retail Touchpoints, and debuting on the Internet Retailer Social Media 300 at #118. His firm has consulted to prestigious firms such as McKinsey, MySpace, eBay, Fox Interactive Media, and others. He has previously held leadership roles at Microsoft, Yahoo! and MTV.
Maryssa Miller is currently the Head of Digital Commerce for JetBlue Airways Corp. She previously has had over 15 years of digital experience working for other strong brands such as 1-800-FLOWERS and Scholastic. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration/Marketing from the State University of New York at Albany and a Master of Science in Direct and Interactive Marketing from NYU, where she has also served as an adjunct professor. After completing her graduate degree, Maryssa moved to Lacoste where as Director of E-Commerce she was tasked with building the first ever E-Commerce site for the internationally recognized brand and had full P&L responsibility for the channel. She was also responsible for the e-mail program, paid search, search engine optimization, customer database, social media and other online marketing efforts. Most recently, Maryssa was Vice President of E-commerce for Create the Group, where she provided strategic digital consulting services for high profile clients, including David Yurman, Nars, Alexander Wang and several LVMH companies. In addition, Maryssa has served on several industry advisory boards for Shop.org, Luxury Interactive and the Direct Marketing Association Echo Board of Governors. She was nominated as a “Rising Star Under 40” by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation and is a frequent industry speaker. Maryssa is a life-long New Yorker and currently resides in Manhattan.
With AccessoryGeeks.com since its inception, Karen has moved through several departments that include supervising customer service, working with the purchasing department, and aiding in promotional marketing before reaching her present position as Vice President. She thrives on hard work and helping others whether it’s in the office or the community; anything to better those around her. Her role at AccessoryGeeks.com involves working closely with partner organizations as well as monitoring workflow so that all the geeks are continuously on the same page. Karen also has a love affair with Zappos.com in her ever-constant quest to expand her shoe collection.
Matthew Carlson is Director of Engineering at Shutterfly, where he is responsible for mobile architecture across Shutterfly brands such as Shutterfly, TinyPrints and Treat. In addition to overseeing technical strategy and architecture around mobile, he is also responsible for the end-to-end architecture around Shutterfly's photo books creation paths, including content design systems, online creation paths and print rendering and fidelity. Previously, he worked as a Web Architect at Adobe and spent several years at Williams-Sonoma working on e-commerce systems. He started his career at Retek, which was acquired by Oracle as part of Oracle Retail.
David Gudai heads up marketing initiatives at Storkie, a leading online source for custom-printed personalized invitations and cards. His expertise comes from hands-on experience building and optimizing both SEM and SEO initiatives, in addition to SMM and brand development. From game theory to stochastic modeling, David leverages multiple disciplines to successfully position and grow market share.
As Vice President of Product, Sumant oversees product management at CafePress as well as the development of its emerging businesses. Preceding his work at CafePress, Sumant held executive level roles in general management and marketing at Vantage Media and Oversee.net, where he managed the firm's travel and social networking businesses. Over the last 15 years, Sumant has held leadership positions in online marketing, product management, and technology at leading consumer Internet companies Yahoo! and idealab!. Sumant began his career in management consulting, leading large-scale systems implementations.
Jean-Paul Isson recently co-authored a 2012 book : Win With Advanced Business Analytics : Creating Business Value from your Data. You can purchase a copy of his book here:
www.wiley.com/buy/9781118370605. He is an internationally recognized speaker and an expert in advanced business analytics. Mr. Isson is global vice president of business intelligence and predictive analytics at Monster Worldwide, Inc..Where he has built his global business intelligence team from the ground up and successfully conceived and implemented global customer scoring/segmentation, predictive modeling, and Web mining applications building across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Prior to joining Monster, Isson led the global customer behavior modeling team at Rogers Wireless. He is a guest lectured at MBA programs including McGill Concordia Universities. Isson has been a speaker for IDC Forbes TDWI (The Data Warehousing Institute), SAS® data mining conferences, the Premier Business Leadership Series, Measure Up, Predictive Analytics World, BusinessAnalyticsNews.com, IT World Canada, IT Business, 1to1 Media, IQCP, eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit/SMX, and at The Institute for International Research other SAS and IDC events. He has over eighteen years of experience in advanced business analytics focusing on customer behavior modeling scoring and market segmentation. He has several articles related to his successful implementation of BI solutions and he gave interviews on business news magazines and TV to cover Business Intelligence and Monster Employment Index.
Tonie Shin is a 13 year marketing veteran and currently the Vice President of Marketing for NYX, a color cosmetics company based in Los Angeles. She has been an integral part of elevating the brand from a modest, urban brand to an international global leader. Working within limited budgets, she was one of the first to sample to YouTube Beauty Gurus, thereby solidifying the brand as one of the all-time most popular beauty brands online. Tonie's highly successful marketing efforts combined with the brand’s sell-out status in social media have helped the brand secure high profile national and international retailers. Tonie also oversees all digital marketing, professional trade show and event efforts, film and television integration, advertising, and public relations for the brand. Tonie is a graduate of UCLA and is a member of Cosmetic Executive Women.
Rita Spangler is a seasoned marketing executive in charge of the Allrecipes’ retention marketing program which ensures the user experience and site content delivers on the brand promise; driving visitors through the membership continuum; promoting retention, engagement and satisfaction and providing research to inform site-wide decisions. In this role she is responsible for strategic direction and leadership of the retention marketing and content teams, including all email and newsletter programs, customer service, consumer market research, promotions, content development and member marketing programs. Rita spearheads customer segmentation for the Allrecipes’ user base and leads implementation of segment strategy across the company.
Before joining Allrecipes, Rita served as vice president of consumer marketing at Classmates.com, sr. director of Marketing at Wizards of the Coast (now part of Hasbro Toys & Games), Paragon Trade Brands, and Weyerhauser.
Jeff McRitchie is the VP of Marketing for MyBinding.com in Hillsboro Oregon. He launched the MyBinding.com ecommerce store in 2003 and has helped to build their business into one of the fastest growing private companies in the USA. Jeff specializes in internet marketing and search engine optimization and is a regular speaker at conferences and tradeshows on topics related to ecommerce, content marketing and Video SEO. An entrepreneur at heart, he is passionate about finding effective and inexpensive ways to do marketing using the internet. In 2011 Jeff helped Mybinding launch an in house video marketing initiative. As part of the initiative MyBinding produced and promoted more than 1000 videos in a period of just 8 months. Today, MyBinding continues to produce an average of 10 videos per week and Jeff has established himself as an expert in video SEO and YouTube optimization. Jeff spoke on video creation at Mozcon 2012 in Seattle and has been featured twice on the SEOmoz blog on topics related to video SEO.
Scott Savitz is the Founder and Managing Partner of Data Point Capital, an investment fund focused on the internet. Scott is a strong advocate of entrepreneurship and innovation, especially where it aims to raise the bar on the consumer experience. Scott is also the founder and former CEO of Shoebuy.com. Scott founded Shoebuy in 1999, and served as its CEO through its sale to IAC. Under his guidance, Shoebuy grew on average over 55% a year becoming one of the largest online retailers in the country, with over 1 million products and $3.5 billion in inventory available for sale, serving over 8 million visitors a month. Between the sale of Shoebuy in 2006 and Scott retiring from the company in 2011, Shoebuy tripled revenues and grew bottom line faster than top-line. Scott owns and is Chairman of Smart Lunches (www.smartlunches.com), a fast growing internet meal service for schools, daycare and camps. He also serves on the boards of Bluestem Brands, SimpleTuition, Two Ten, and MITX, and serves as an Advisor for Olejo Stores and On The Spot Systems, Inc. He also serves on several committees focused on fostering growth and a more robust economy including the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and Co-Chair of 12 X 12. He is a frequent industry speaker and has received numerous awards and accolades including Ernst & Young's New England Entrepreneur of the Year.
In her current role as Senior Director of Mobile & Digital Strategy, Wendy is responsible for setting the vision for Walmart’s mobile and digital entertainment strategies globally as well as driving cross-functional alignment and execution of these strategies. She is accountable for strategy, competitive insights, planning, analytics, business development, and multi-channel integration. Before her role as Senior Director of Mobile & Digital Strategy, Wendy served as Director & Senior Merchandise Manager for Walmart.com’s Entertainment business with ownership of the Photo, Movies and Books businesses.
Wendy came to Walmart from Gap, Inc. where she was on the Company Planning team responsible for Gap Brand’s seasonal and long-range planning for Gap Women’s and Men’s businesses.
Melissa Matross is currently Senior Director of Product for Hotwire. Leading the new mobile business and team, she drives all mobile initiatives and strategy, including mobile and tablet web channels and native app innovation. In her previous product leadership roles, Melissa leveraged customer insights and business knowledge to develop revenue-building subscriber acquisition and media solutions, including an innovative comparison shopping/advertising product that became highly profitable for the Hotwire business. Melissa has a background in User Experience and many years of UX management experience. Prior to building and directing the UX team at Hotwire, her most recent clients included: Royal Caribbean, American Legacy Foundation (Truth), Children’s Hospital Boston, Fidelity Investments, Timberland, Lycos, and SAP, among others. Melissa studied Human Computer Interaction and Psychology at Stanford University. Melissa regularly speaks at industry events and advises executives on product and user experience strategy.
Tari Huddleston leads the Ecommerce business for Brighton Collectibles. Her responsibilities range from digital marketing to the company’s websites and customer contact through fulfillment. With over 20 years experience with many famous and well-loved brands from The Home Depot to Hallmark to M&M’s Chocolate Candies, she has led and developed direct to consumer business from start-up, survival, turnaround and growth. With a strong knowledge of both customer focused businesses and online developments, Tari has been responsible for launching more than a dozen websites, new catalogs and establishing complete direct to consumer infrastructures from the ground up.
Mark S. Mahaney was the Managing Director covering the Internet sector at RBC Capital. Mark has been ranked #1 in the Institutional Investor Poll for the Internet Sector (2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011). He has also been ranked #1 in the Greenwich Institutional Investor Poll for the Internet sector, as well as the #1 Earnings Estimator and the #1 Stock Picker in the Internet Retail segment by the Financial Times and StarMine. Mark has been covering Internet stocks since 1998. Prior to Citigroup, he worked on both the sell-side and the buy-side, including with American Technology Research and Morgan Stanley. Mark holds an MBA from Wharton Business School (1996), an MA from Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies (1990), and a BA from Amherst College (1987). Prior to Wall Street, Mark worked in management consulting with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Senate, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In another life, Mark was the bassist for Monkey Funk.
Since joining Trinity Ventures in 1999, Patricia Nakache has focused on funding companies launching innovative Internet services around fundamental business or consumer needs. Her passion is partnering with entrepreneurs to nail their value proposition and develop a scalable business model. Patricia has active investments in BeachMint, Care.com, Kixeye, PayScale, Ruby Ribbon, and ThredUp, and was previously involved with Affinity Labs (acquired by Monster Worldwide), LoopNet (LOOP), MyNewPlace (acquired by RealPage) and Sabrix (acquired by Thomson Reuters, TRI). Prior to Trinity Ventures, Patricia worked at McKinsey & Company, helping enterprises in technology, financial services and retailing identify and address their strategic and operational issues. Previously, she also contributed to FORTUNE magazine and other publications on management best practices in technology companies. Patricia is a member of the Stanford Business School Trust Investment Committee. Patricia received her M.B.A from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and her A.B. in Physics and Chemistry from Harvard University.
James Slavet’s primary areas of investment focus are e-commerce, online advertising and Web-enabled business services. James has been a founder and early employee of several startups, as well as a senior executive leading business units with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.James’ investments include Cardspring, creativeLIVE, Coupons.com, High Gear Media, One Kings Lane, Redfin, and TellApart. He previously represented Greylock in its investments in Auditude (acquired by Adobe), Farecast (acquired by Microsoft), Groupon (IPO in 2011), Kongregate (acquired by Gamestop), and Revision3 (acquired by Discovery Communications). Prior to Greylock, James was a VP/GM in the Search & Marketplace business unit at Yahoo!, where he managed large commerce and advertising-based businesses. He’s also worked in product development and operations roles in several early stage consumer technology companies, including Guru (acquired by Unicru), Drugstore.com (acquired by Walgreens), and Wired (acquired by Conde Nast and Lycos).
Chris Fralic is a Partner at First Round Capital and based in their New York office. He joined the firm in 2006 and has focused on a number of the firm's investments in areas such as Advertising Technology including Invite Media (acquired by Google) and Demdex (acquired by Adobe), Social Media including CoTweet (acquired by ExactTarget) and myYearbook (acquired by QuePasa), eCommerce, Gaming, Mobile and more. Chris has 25 years of technology industry experience, with significant Internet business development roles since 1996. Chris was VP of Business Development at social bookmarking and tagging company del.icio.us through the Yahoo! acquisition. Chris was also one of the early employees and VP of Business Development at Half.com starting in 1999, and after the eBay acquisition spent six years with eBay in a variety of entertainment, business development and media roles.
Brian serves eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals and specializes in how businesses can best use technology to drive results. Brian is a leading worldwide expert in eCommerce platforms, multichannel commerce and marketing technology, and mobile commerce. Brian has experience with a wide range of eBusiness technologies, ranging from eCommerce platforms and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, mobile commerce solutions, analytics, rich imaging, search, personalization, and content management, among others. Brian has specific expertise within retail, B2B, and online travel, and his interests focus on multichannel strategies and technology solutions that support a wide range of business goals. Brian has more than 15 years of experience in eCommerce and online marketing, serving senior roles for large, established online retailers and web marketers such as Amazon.com, Classmates Online, Eddie Bauer, Expedia.com, and The Spiegel Group and providing solutions for the online retailers and web marketers while at Amazon Enterprise Solutions and his own firms. Brian's roles span both business and technology leadership, including web marketing, online merchandising, product management, solution architecture, customer experience design, and technology leadership.
Joanna serves Interactive Marketing Professionals and covers display marketing, ad targeting, optimization, and measurement. She focuses specifically on marketer and vendor best practices in using display and measurement technologies and tactics, as well as how to optimize results over time. Joanna joined Forrester in July 2010. Joanna has more than 10 years of experience in the interactive marketing industry. She started at Avenue A in New York and was a founding member of Razorfish's ATOM Systems agency trading desk. Most recently, she ran brand relations for the Audience on Demand practice at VivaKi, helping advertising clients target and optimize broad-reaching interactive campaigns. Joanna has been a frequent panelist at industry events including OMMA AdNets and BlueKai, TARGUSInfo, and Nielsen data summits.
Brandon Proctor is a data driven individual, who has a background in marketing and analytics. He has been instrumental in adding new metrics and business processes to Build.com's marketing team, and has been a strategic player for Build.com's marketing initiatives. Brandon currently serves on Adobe's/Omniture's customer advisory board. He continues to be a strong voice in the marketing and analytics community, and has been instrumental in developing strategic partnerships with new and innovative technologies, empowering Build.com's growth and marketing development. Brandon is a regular speaker at many industry events
Josh Himwich, VP of Product at Refinery29, is leading the growth of the business from being solely a media company focusing on women’s fashion to one that offers rich and new forms of eCommerce to its nearly 4 million unique readers. Josh heads up the Product Management and User Experience teams and is responsible for formulating the strategy and creating the platforms to support the front-end experience of Refinery29’s readers, customers, and advertisers. Before joining Refinery29 in July of this year, Josh was VP of eCommerce Solutions and employee number 4 at Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com, Soap.com, Wag.com and many other sites, which were acquired in by Amazon in 2010 for $550M.
Jay Basnight is PUMA's Head of Digital Strategy, with joint responsibilities to International Brand Marketing and Global E-Commerce. Jay oversees PUMA's design and development approaches to PUMA.com, mobile, and social media. Jay is tasked with creating optimized solutions for global and local digital marketing management, while supporting online and offline retail initiatives. Jay was formerly a Business Analyst at CSN Stores.
Eric Shea is an experienced technical architect focused on designing enterprise solutions for large organizations. Working with PUMA, he has been a key contributor to the design and implementation of enterprise systems that support PUMA.com, Facebook, YouTube, and other channels and agencies leveraged by the Global Marketing team. Previously Eric was a Technical Architect working with companies such as Activision and Victoria’s Secret to implement custom enterprise systems solutions.
Andrew Wong has over a decade of experience working with retailers in eCommerce and digital systems. He has worked with PUMA’s Global Brand & Retail Marketing teams to implement systems and processes that support the advance of digital marketing initiatives across multiple channels with a particular focus on interactive and mobile experiences. Previously Andrew was the Director of Client Services for an eCommerce agency where he managed solution implementations for brands such as Coach and Victoria’s Secret.
Stephanie Bottner is the General Manager at Pear Tree Greetings, a rapidly growing online boutique offering personalized photo cards, stationery, and storybooks. In a market crowded with one-off card shops, as well as giants like Shutterfly and Hallmark, Stephanie’s push to keep the user experience at the forefront of every business decision has led to double digit growth in the past year. By focusing on innovative product designs, improving web user experience, expanding social media engagement, streamlining their fulfillment process, and delivering outstanding customer service, Pear Tree’s small team has kept up with the big guys. Prior to working at Pear Tree, Stephanie was Compliance Manager at Zipcar, the world’s leading car sharing network, where she managed a multi-million dollar division and took the lead in improving the member experience and operational efficiencies during a period of rapid growth.
Will Swales oversees traffic channels and manages the customer acquisition team at evo. Will and his team are responsible for driving qualified traffic to evo.com, generally raising awareness of evo, and maximizing the return of their advertising dollars. A nine year veteran of the company, Will has spent plenty of time ‘in the trenches’ and in recent years has focused on search marketing – both paid and natural. A leading multi-channel action sports retailer, evo serves the ski, snowboard, wakeboard and skateboard communities by providing the best product and service - and a place for people to connect with others that share their passion. A firm believer in the power of powder, Will has no problem taking meetings to the chairlift on big snow days.
Nicole Delma is a recognized expert in the email marketing space, with over 10 years of experience leading the email and data programs for companies including J.Crew, Conde Nast Publications, Getty Images and RCRDLBL. Delma’s hands-on approach to data management and customer contact strategy has built her a reputation as a pioneer in the digital marketing space, bringing innovative marketing tactics to life for major brands with proven success. Delma’s vocal advocacy of the unconventional ‘Data Minimalism’ approach to CRM has put her in high demand as a speaker in the email and cross-channel marketing space. Delma is also the founder of the NY based creative and media group, The Usual Crew, as well as an avid marathoner and triathlete racing for Champion Systems Athletic Team.
Dave Barrowman is Senior Director of Product Management at Gap Inc. Dave is responsible for leading mobile and ecommerce platform initiatives for all five Gap Inc. sites: Gap.com, BananaRepublic.com, OldNavy.com, Piperlime.com and Athleta.com. Since joining the company in 2004, Dave launched Gap’s mobile web platform and has overseen a variety of projects including the web integration of Athleta.com and the implementation of one of the industry's first cross-brand online shopping experiences, giving customers one shopping cart, one checkout, and one flat shipping rate. Prior to joining Gap, he spent eight years at Netscape and AOL, working on web browser, personalization, and ecommerce products.
Rachel considered herself amongst the digerati since the moment she became an eBay power user at 13. As Director of Global Digital & Social Media at Gap, she oversees strategy, implementation and measurement. Previously, Rachel was Strategist at Undercurrent, a digital strategy firm based in NYC, working with clients such as PepsiCo, Levi’s, GE and Disney. Rachel is a graduate of NYU where she studied Entertainment Business and New Media.
Ryan Villiers leads Brand Engagement and Usability Design for Guitar Center, the global leader in MI Retail. In this role, he directs the strategic vision for creating customer engagement across Guitar Center’s enterprise of brands while leading usability and visual design efforts. Managing this unique cross-section of strategy, innovation and execution, Ryan has been successful in reinventing creative process and perception by building world-class teams that drive progress and imagine new revenue streams through design and engagement. Previously, Ryan has served as Global Digital Creative Director for Live Nation and House of Blues. He has also led creative teams and strategies for Disney, MGA and other entertainment giants.
Bradford Johnson is Senior Director of Customer Retention at Overstock.com, Inc. In this role, he leads strategy to drive existing customers to additional purchases across all product verticals. Bradford works closely with email, direct mail, retargeting, website, and promotional events programs to test and execute retention strategies, while also actively collaborating with CRM, data warehouse, and IT teams to ensure the availability and continuity of customer data essential to improved customer retention. Bradford has managed and directed Overstock.com’s email and direct mail programs, as well as directed website development and product management. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Email Insider Summit. Previously, Bradford worked in political direct messaging and micro-targeting for campaigns throughout the country.
Nathan Decker is the Senior Manager of Ecommerce at www.evo.com. He engages in all aspects of online marketing, primarily responsible for improving the customer experience. An original member of the evo crew, he has helped evo grow from a three man eBay operation out of a garage in Seattle to a top multi-channel Top 500 Internet Retailer. Nathan lives in Seattle, where he enjoys exploring the Alpental backcountry with his wife and two daughters.
Jennifer Cisney has been with Eastman Kodak for fourteen years, resulting in a broad knowledge of the various Kodak businesses and in-depth experience with internet marketing. She developed and launched Kodak's social media initiatives on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the corporate blogs. She now manages the Kodak social media program and outlines the social media strategy worldwide for the company. Jennifer has been a speaker at such social media conferences as BlogWorld, BlogHer, Evo Conference, Marketing to Women, 140 Characters Conference and The Inbound Marketing Summit. Jennifer was also recognized as one of Advertising Age's 2009 Women to Watch.
Susan Blue is the FordDirect’s Director of Product Strategy. Ms. Blue led the team that developed and implemented the texting program that Ford currently uses in their National advertising campaign designed to drive in-market consumer to Ford dealers through SMS. In her current role, Ms. Blue is currently responsible for managing FordDirect’s Lead Acquisition and Lead Generation activities, including maintaining the lead partner network and setting FordDirect’s strategy for adjusting to the changing marketplace for online customer referrals. Prior to joining FordDirect, Ms. Blue was a Vice President at JWT advertising, managing the regional advertising for Ford in the mid-Atlantic. She was responsible for ensuring that all advertising plans were driving retail sales for the Ford Dealers in Southern Virginia, Baltimore and Washington area. Ms. Blue earned a B.A. degree from Davidson College and an M.B.A. from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Diana has more than 12 years of experience in communications and joins Zazzle after 6 years leading communications for Google's advertising business. In her role there, she drove PR strategy for corporate, product, and consumer campaigns. She dreamed up creative initiatives to highlight key narratives, placed feature stories and executive profiles, and handled many crisis and litigation issues. A tenacious media expert who turns pitches into stories that persuade and inspire, she's passionate about media relations and social media. She's currently helping catapult Zazzle into the spotlight for the next phase of growth using an integrated approach that combines social media and communications.
Renee leads digital customer experience (CX) for Indigo Books, Canada’s largest books, entertainment and gift retailer. Her focus is on delivering against the customer’s expectation of a simple, enjoyable digital shopping experience. By delivering insight into customer perspectives, she has helped to establish and grow leading internet properties, communities and a variety of successful digital programs across many verticals including retail ecommerce, financial, CPG, travel/tourism and entertainment. Renee has had the honour of working with many notable brands (and their agencies) prior to joining Indigo including Aeroplan, BMO, CBC, Clairol, Crest, Delta Hotels, Foresters, Hilton, HSBC, Lavalife, Olay and others.
Erica Webb-Belzer is a seasoned online marketer with over 13 years of experience. Erica joined Schwan's Home Service in 2009 and now oversees a team of email/SMS and print managers who execute all consumer facing and internal training communications along with photography. She and her team have increased email penetration, performance, RPE and ROI year-over-year and are considered a level 4 marketer with Responsys. Erica has had great success integrating online and offline channels, developing new strategies and utilizing new technologies to improve program performance.
Bill Keen is Director of Mobile Solutions for InterContinental Hotels Group (LON: IHG; NYSE: IHG [ADRs]), the world's largest and most global hotel company. In his role, Mr. Keen has responsibility for mobile channel product strategy and marketing programs which generated over $140M in gross revenues during 2011; up from $2M in 2009. Before focusing solely on mobile solutions, Mr. Keen concurrently held responsibility for all branded web products that contributed more than $3 billion annually to IHG. Prior to joining IHG in 2007, Bill spent more than 15 years in the online and ecommerce space; first as Director of Internet Services for BellSouth where he managed product management and marketing and later with CheckFree Corporation where he worked as Director of Product Marketing focusing on the development of ecommerce payment strategies. Mr. Keen holds a Master in Business Administration from Emory University’s Gouizeta Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Tennessee.
Monique Trulson is the Director of Ecommerce at Dover Saddlery, Inc., a leading multichannel retailer of equestrian products in the United States. In this role, Monique identifies, implements and manages the marketing programs for three different brands, supporting all sales channels. Since joining, Monique has focused on improving not only the online marketing programs, but also the overall brand experience for visitors to all Dover online properties, no matter the device used to access those sites. Monique’s internet related background goes back to 1995, when she combined a 6 year career as a meteorologist with a passion for the latest technology to help build one of the first weather websites, INTELLicast.com. From there, she moved into roles that helped her build up her technical expertise as webmaster, inhouse trainer and sales support for various companies developing online content management systems and other ecommerce related tools. In 2003, Monique combined her technical background with the marketing side of ecommerce when she joined the not-for-profit organization Elderhostel, reworking the brand’s existing online presence into one more easily embraced by the unique audience of the company. She continued to strengthen her online marketing at companies such as Hello Direct and Brady Corporation, where she took on the online management of 9 different brands, and worked to incorporate new tools and sources of revenue into the corporation’s B2B and B2C channels, finding and maintaining a balance between the two sides of the business.
As director of Dell’s global mobile team Brandon has responsibility for developing and implementing a comprehensive mobile strategy for a Fortune 50 company with annual revenues exceeding $16 billion. Dell’s mobile strategy consists of commerce, support and content for each of the four primary business units: Consumer, Small-Medium Business, Public/Large Enterprise (PLE) and Channel; and, was developed to encompass the global nature of Dell.com which currently operates in 160 countries worldwide. Prior to joining Dell in 2010, Brandon was the Vice President of Mobile Banking at Huntington Bank and founded the industry leading Mobile Banking blog www.brandonmcgee.blogspot.com. Brandon has a BS from Purdue University and an MBA from Butler University.
Paula is the testing lead for global strategic tests at Dell.com. Her team tests the new functionalities and customer experience that will shape Dell.com future state. She has a proven record using web analytics, testing and customer segmentation to drive upside for large and global e-commerce web sites including Dell.com, Nokia.com, ProFlowers.com and RedEnvelope.com. A highly regarded industry leader, with prior speaking notes at the Omniture Summit in Salt Lake City, Omniture Summit in Paris and eMetrics New York.
Richard is currently Director of E-Commerce for one of Canada’s leading fashion retailers: Browns Shoes. In less than a year, Richard was able to carry-on his track record of driving double-digit sales growth, while dealing with international brands such as Lacoste, Puma, Adidas and Michael Kors, as well as Browns’ own private labels. Most recently Richard led the re-launch of BrownsShoes.com: a multi-store, multi-lingual fashion destination, developed using responsive design. Previously, Richard led all aspects of North American digital strategy for high-end brands Biotherm, Biotherm Homme and shu uemura within L’Oreal’s Luxury Products Division, and consulted on a number of additional, ad-hoc projects for the Canadian market involving rich-media production and the creation of social media communities for brands like Lancôme and Giorgio Armani. Richard is also an avid learner with a passion for consumer psychology.
Edmunds.com Director of Mobile Web Products Michael Woods is a certified Agile ScrumMaster who led large-scale projects in Fortune 500 companies for over 15 years before joining Edmunds.com in 2010. Combining his experience in strategy and Big 5 consulting with a passion for technology and cars, Mr. Woods has helped develop Edmunds.com’s mobile strategy, including the company’s five-star iPhone/iPad app which is rated a "Best Car App" by CNN.
Mr. Woods earned a BS from UCLA.
Adra brings extensive knowledge of landing page optimization and deep understanding of customer behavior through web analytics. Having spent seven years on the front lines of e-commerce, first within search engine marketing (SEM) and then in business analytics, she’s spent her career focused on tracking and managing user interaction on the web. Adra lives and breathes data and analytics, and has had the opportunity to develop her expertise across a range of consumer-facing sites.
Launching her career at Shopzilla/BizRate–a group of sites which empower consumers with online comparison shopping–she managed SEM portfolios of millions of keywords, fighting for traffic against established brick-and-mortar retailers across a range of consumer goods. Landing page selection and design, creative messaging, and bidding strategies were all key drivers of top- and bottom-line revenue, and A/B testing was essential to learning and optimizing within each area.
She now works in business analytics at Edmunds.com, a resource for all things car-purchase-related, where she is part of the team responsible for providing the analytical insight needed to drive enhanced and informed decision-making throughout the company. Working with product owners and developers, she oversees the structure of A/B tests from end-to-end, involved with planning, execution and reporting. Being at Edmunds has given her an appreciation for the intricacies of customer interactions with a content-rich site, and the measurement thereof.
Adra has a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Southern California, and a master's in Integrated Marketing Communication from Northwestern
James is the Director of Business Development & Retail for Ballard Designs, a multi-channel retailer of competitively priced, classically inspired home furnishings. In his role, James’ leads the company’s Advertising, PR, Social Media, Partnerships, and Brand Awareness functional areas, while also heading up Ballard’s retail division. James has spent over 19 years working in the retail sector. Prior to joining Ballard Designs, James worked in marketing for Storehouse, a multi-channel furniture retailer with over 70 stores. Before Storehouse, James worked for Atlanta-based Impact Consulting Services, where his work focused on consulting with furniture retailers and manufacturers on a variety of marketing projects. James is an avid runner and cyclist and in his spare time he competes in triathlons. He holds an MBA in marketing from Georgia State University and a B.A. in English Literature from The University of Georgia.
Edmund is Director of Digital Strategy and Marketing for ServiceMaster, a residential driven home services company. ServiceMaster is the parent company for such brands as Terminix, TruGreen, American Home Shield (AHS) and Merry Maids. Edmund leads a team of strategic partners to the brands, responsible for the end-to-end digital strategy and customer experience from acquisition to renewal. Edmund joined ServiceMaster in 2006. Prior to joining ServiceMaster, he worked as a Business Development Analyst at Fitness Holdings Worldwide, where he managed and coordinated cross-functional teams such as Strategy, Market Research, Planning and Analysis, and Product Management teams.
Arnold Sookram has 15 years of experience in business strategy, customer marketing, and e-commerce. He was a strategy consultant for PwC and iXL/Scient and subsequently led marketing teams at AT&T, Backcountry.com, and GameHouse.com. Arnold has experience in online traffic generation (free & paid), conversion (merchandising, product development, UI/UX), retention & loyalty marketing, and CRM & business intelligence development and execution.
An experienced web marketer with an in-depth knowledge of the strategic, technical and creative aspects of digital marketing, Dave leads marketing and communications for Social Media, SEO, Mobile and product development at Ice. He's passionate about driving ecommerce results through community, content and commerce, and has lead the strategic development of the Ice social media platform.
Zach Morrison is the Director of Digital Strategy at CoffeeForLess.com, one of Internet Retailer's Top 500 e-tailers. Zach has over 7 years of experience in internet marketing with his core expertise in search engine marketing. He is an Adjunct Instructor of Search Engine Marketing at New York University and a featured contributor for Grovo Online' s expert series. Originally from South Florida, Zach took his talents up the east coast of Florida to receive his Bachelors in Business Administration & Finance at the University of Central Florida. He continued along up the coast to New York and for the past 7 years Zach has grown with CoffeeForLess.com, fine tuning the ins and outs of CoffeeForLess.com's Paid Search, Display, Retargeting & CSE campaigns.
As Senior Manager of Analytics at Sony Electronics, Brandon provides strategy, analysis and insight across multiple digital disciplines including online marketing, e-commerce, brand (content) sites, and social networking. Previous to Sony, Brandon was Senior Web Analyst at Nike. Brandon has held a variety of positions with the Department of Defense, including Web Analytics Team Leader and Web Analyst.
Jason is an online marketing professional focused on revenue-driving email campaigns, online communities, customer acquisition and retention programs, and strategic planning. Prior to joining Freshpair, Jason managed the email programs at Southwest Airlines and multiple eCRM programs for clients including Nestlé, GlaxoSmithKline, Premier Health Partners, Education Management Corporation and Galderma Laboratories while at imc2.
Aaron works for Vistaprint. Vistaprint empowers more than 14 million micro businesses and consumer annually with affordable, professional options to make a marketing impression. Vistaprint has standardized, automated and integrated the entire graphic design and print process, from design conceptualization to product shipment. Customers can use Vistaprint’s website to easily create and order full-color, personalized, professional-looking printed products, without any prior graphic design training or experience. Customers have access to graphic designs, content suggestions, logo design services, design templates. Vistaprint’s Mobile and Tablet challenge is relatively unique as every product requires customization by the customer. In Aaron’s role as the Global Manager of Mobile and Tablet Strategy, making the ordering process elegant on Mobile and Tablet devices is part of Aaron’s team’s responsibility. For the last 3.5 years he has championed the strategic need behind a robust Mobile and API strategy. Prior to taking on the role managing Vistaprint’s Mobile and Tablet strategy, Aaron worked as an internal consultant identifying, vetting, scoping and nurturing new market opportunities for Vistaprint. In addition to his work for Vistaprint, Aaron is an Adjunct Faculty at Babson College where he enjoys pestering freshman into learning Financial Accounting.
Brad Hileman has more than 12 years of experience in web design and content development. For the last seven years, Brad has been with Meijer, a Midwest retail and grocery chain with more than 190 stores. He currently manages the creative team for Meijer’s e-commerce site, which includes web design, copywriting, and front-end web development. Brad was a key leader in launching Meijer’s e-commerce site in 2007 and helping it grow into an award-winning online retailer. Prior to joining Meijer, Brad was an art director, working with clients such as Sprint, RE/MAX, Motorola, and US Robotics.
As senior manager of Consumer Direct at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters specialty coffee business, Tom leads a team in online advertising, SEO, email, continuity program, and other initiatives for a fast-growing $100M+ ecommerce business. Tom’s third book Advanced Social Media Marketing is coming soon from Apress. He also wrote Social Media Playbook for Business (ABC-CLIO) and Web 2.0 and Beyond (Praeger). Prior to joining Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Tom was VP of Marketing at Timberline Interactive, whose clients included Wine of the Month Club, Terry Bicycles, and Lake Champlain Chocolates. For six years, he managed the websites of Vermont Teddy Bear Company, and sister brands PajamaGram and Calyx Flowers.
David Sinatra went to USC and has taken Stussy.com from a revenue-destroying flash website through a full rebuild to triple digit growth. Besides managing the ecommerce divison he is actively involved in every aspect of Stussy inc. from branding to design.
Wes Woolbright is National Pricing Director at Safeway. Wes has been with Safeway for more than 25 years and has spent more than a dozen years in roles associated with Pricing. He has held many positions in the Corporate offices and Retail Stores. Wes currently leads a team responsible for balancing competitiveness and financial success. Wes has a B.A. from Willamette University with a double major in Economics and History. He also earned an M.B.A. and J.D. from Willamette. Wes and his wife have nine kids. In their free time, they enjoy traveling and the outdoors. Wes also has achieved the Certified Pricing Professional designation from the Professional Pricing Society.
Nicolas Franchet joined Facebook in 2012 as Head of e-Commerce on the Global Vertical Marketing team. At Facebook, Nicolas is responsible for developing category-level marketing strategies that benefit ecommerce businesses of all sizes around the world. Prior to Facebook, Nicolas spent over 7 years at eBay, the world's largest online marketplace. At eBay, he led the Marketplaces Strategy team, and later was a General Manager for eBay Motors and more recently eBay Fashion. Nicolas started his career in Paris as a consultant for Arthur Andersen, and later worked for the boutique consulting firm Mars & Co. in San Francisco, where he helped Fortune 100 companies with strategic planning.
Richard Alfonsi is Twitter’s Vice President of Global Online Sales, responsible for sales and operations within Twitter's small and medium-sized advertiser channels globally.
Formerly, he was Google’s Vice President of Global Display Sales & Strategy where he was responsible for driving sales and business strategy across Google’s full Display Ads product set including the Google Display Network, buy-side advertiser platforms, sell-side publisher platforms, and the DoubleClick Ad Exchange.
Richard was also Vice President of Global Online Media Sales at Google, responsible for sales and operations in their online sales channel with respect to advertising solutions “beyond search.” These areas included the Google Display Network, YouTube, Mobile, Affiliate Marketing and TV Ads.
Prior to joining Google in 2007, Richard held senior roles with a number of venture-backed technology startups. He spent four years at Tellme Networks, now a subsidiary of Microsoft, where he served as Vice President of their Enterprise Business Unit. He also served as VP of Marketing & Business Development at supply-chain software company Velant and VP of Product Marketing at Internet software and services company Zaplet. Richard spent much of his early career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he helped clients solve their most critical business problems.
Richard holds an MBA from the Stanford GSB and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Duke University.
Lisa Archambault is a leading interactive marketing and media professional based in Las Vegas, spanning over 10 years of digital experience with well-known brands in hospitality, entertainment and technology. Lisa began her digital career at Genealogyc.om in the San Francisco bay area, where she was responsible for content development and performance marketing. Upon moving to Las Vegas in early 2002, she oversaw the display channel for Vegas.com. Currently she oversees the digital display marketing channel for Zappos.com, as well as their 6pm.com and ZapposCouture.com sites. Lisa and her team are responsible for all display advertising, including web and mobile devices, for the entire purchase funnel – from brand awareness, through mid-funnel prospecting, to lower funnel retargeting.
As Online Marketing Manager, Khanh manages the email marketing program at Chico’s FAS, Inc. She oversees testing & segmentation strategy as well as day-to-day production for Chico’s, White House l Black Market, and Soma Intimates. Prior to joining Chico’s FAS, Khanh held online marketing positions at Ann Taylor and Conversion Partners.
Theresa has over 5 years of experience in the online customer acquisition space, with the last 3 years spent overseeing the search marketing program at ModCloth.com. In this role, Theresa leverages her expertise in paid search to bring innovation to over 20 engine accounts and deliver top-performing results. Theresa is responsible for the development and execution of the traffic acquisition strategies, as it relates to paid search, display, retargeting, and shopping engines. In her time at ModCloth, the channels she has managed have experienced exponential revenue growth, as well as notable improvements in conversion rate and overall brand awareness coverage. Prior to working on the client side, Theresa was working for a full-service SEM agency in Pittsburgh, PA. In her role as an account manager, she worked with Fortune 500 clients to increase brand awareness, build successful lead generation programs, implement creative pulsing strategies and maximize profit for brands spanning the retail, auto, CPG, and telecom verticals. The client accounts that Theresa managed required complex data mining and cross-channel media measurement. In addition to employing an analytical approach, Theresa contributed to the strategic management of both SEO and paid search campaigns for both domestic and international accounts.
Dan Barnes graduated from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University with an emphasis in Marketing Management. He started his career running the marketing for a consulting firm, Targeted Learning, focused on B2B branding and sales. After which he decided to follow his entrepreneurial upbringing to join Zappos.com as a Senior Paid Search Coordinator. At Zappos he managed the shoes paid search profile and learned the ins-and-outs of online marketing for a large retailer. He worked closely across channels and business partners to ensure paid search efficiencies. Dan is currently the Online Marketing Manager at American Eagle Outfitters managing the measured media channels and their influence online and offline. At American Eagle Outfitters he manages the performance and teams focused on paid search, SEO, display, CSE, social, affiliate and other measured media channels. He also focuses across business partners on onsite performance and testing.
Alyson Raymond graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a double major in Marketing and Finance from the University of Pittsburgh in March 2009. Immediately following graduation, she took a freelance position with American Eagle Outfitters as a Web Production Associate responsible for photo shoot coordination, budgeting, and assisting with the production process of weekly web launches for the Martin+Osa brand. She was then recruited by the Marketing department and hired full time as an Online Marketing Coordinator to route digital assets and communicate marketing lease-line changes to vendors. Currently, as the Associate Marketing Manager, her role expanded to day to day management and ownership of online advertising, performance-based display operations and multi-channel communications.
Tim Katz is responsible for day to day e-commerce operations and digital technical direction for Pacific Sunwear, a leading specialty retailer rooted in the action sports, fashion and music influences of the California lifestyle. He has a background in graphic design and web development as well as marketing and advertising. He has over 10 years of experience in developing online business and technical strategy within the e-commerce space.
After more than 15 years of eCommerce focused work with companies like PETCO, Proxima Projectors, San Diego Chargers, Hang Ten, and University California San Diego, Jason Zimmerman is currently the Director of Information Technology at Blindsgalore. At Blindsgalore, Jason’s roles span both business and technology leadership, including web marketing, online merchandising, product management, solution architecture, customer experience design, and technology leadership.
Jason brings over 10 years of experience in web management, web design, ecommerce marketing & merchandising, site analytics, relationship management, account management at Cooking.com, and other key ecommerce sites. As Director of Account Management at Cooking.com, Jason oversees our partner relationships at Cooking.com. Key accounts are General Mills, Food Network, Ball, Calphalon, Rachael Ray and Paula Deen etc. Jason handles paid media marketing programs, membership growth and works closely with cross-functional teams, including merchandising, product management, newsletter, finance, customer service, and content management to deliver exceptional service and results to our Powered by Partners.
Kristen has seven years of retail marketing and media experience. Launched career after graduation from Indiana State University in 2006 at Shoe Carnival. Started as a support arm for brick and mortar stores; eventually managed marketing campaigns and media planning as well as production of print and broadcast. Transitioned into eCommerce team to manage the launch of eCommerce for company in Spring 2011. Manage content team as well as online marketing initiatives, with the majority of scope for 2013 planned for breaking down our email program and making it more profitable, especially in the area of the retargeting email program.
Amar Narain began working for Pizza Pizza in November of 2000 as a systems
administrator. His calm, intelligent ability to strategically and effectively integrate
technology into the company’s business goals, allowed him to climb the
company’s ranks. Today, Amar oversees Canada’s largest pizza chain’s entire IT
department. As Pizza Pizza’s Director of IT, Amar works alongside other
executives to build the company’s, aligning the IT department with Pizza Pizza’s
ambitions.
A part of this has been the company’s recent initiative to reconnect with their
mobile savvy demographic through an iPhone app. The application has proven
so successful that he and his team are now working on a number of new mobile
initiatives to continue enhancing the customer's Pizza Pizza experience and
order convenience. Pizza Pizza is continuing on their path of digital forward
thinking under Amar’s leadership, and Pizza Pizza fans using Android, iPad and
mobile web, will soon have the same tremendous advantages as the iPhone
users.
Prat leads cross-channel mobile initiatives for Staples.com and Staples stores to drive revenue growth and enhance the cross-channel customer experience. He is additionally charged with leading Staples Cambridge, Massachusetts e-commerce innovation center and global mobile growth initiatives. Under Prat’s direction, the Staples mobile team has recently launched several assets including a mobile website, smart phone applications and a tablet site.
Prat has over 15 years of experience leading mobile and online innovation as well as product development efforts for companies in the healthcare, finance, insurance and defense industries. He is passionate about online and e-commerce innovations and interested in learning more about cutting edge interactive and mobile technologies.
Beth is an integral part of the team at Staples Velocity Lab, an e-commerce innovation center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She leads global mobile product development for Staples mobile website, tablet site, and smartphone apps. Beth is passionate about using mobile as a channel to create innovative tools and positive on-the-go experiences for customers. Prior to leading mobile initiatives for Staples, she held several product marketing roles in the engineering, pharmaceutical and retail industries.
Luke Jackson has been at working with Spreadshirt since June of 2006. As the Director of Innovation and Operations, his current responsibilities include managing operations in Henderson and developing Spreadshirt’s continuing development of printing technologies. Luke’s background in IT, programming, and digital printing serve him well in his Quality and R&D position at Spreadshirt.
Neil Gandhi is a Senior Engineer at sneakpeeq, a social shopping company that leverages social networks to bring the benefits of the in-store shopping experience to the online world. Neil currently leads the design and development of gamification and marketing tools. He has also been instrumental in thought leadership and execution of sneakpeeq's new SaaS e-commerce platform that was released in January.
Tracy Benson is the former Chief Marketing Officer and Global Vice President of Monster Products, a consumer electronics and audio product company (most notably for its cable and headphone lines including Beats by Dre), residing in San Francisco, CA. Tracy is widely respected as an expert in the consumer technology industry, digital and online customer markets, and multi-channel retailing. Her extensive experience in building and leading innovative marketing teams to profitable, growth oriented success is complimented by her 13 plus years of strategic digital and brand marketing capabilities and business acumen across mass and specialty retail, etail and consumer technology products.
In her most recent role, Tracy was accountable as the Global Chief Marketing Officer of all key consumer brand, retail, product marketing, event marketing, public relations, lifestyle marketing, social media, advertising, and POS retail merchandising strategies, campaign initiatives and execution.
Prior to Monster Products, Tracy came from Best Buy where she served two different roles including Sr. Director / Chief Marketer for the Portable Business Group where she helped pave the dramatic growth of Beats by Dre headphones - and the Head of Digital Marketing & Emerging Technologies where several new innovations were born including Twelpforce and Best Buy’s leadership in the social and mobile space.
As President and CEO of ForeSee, Larry is responsible for managing the company's strategy and growth. Since the company's founding in 2001, he has overseen significant growth in its client base, revenues and staff. Larry brings more than 20 years experience in senior management and in directing e-commerce and technology initiatives to ForeSee.
An expert on web customer satisfaction, Larry speaks extensively on the topic at private and public sector industry events and has been quoted in numerous publications and media, including CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Investor's Business Weekly, Internet Retailer, Multichannel Merchant, DM News, Computerworld, Federal Computer Week and Government Executive, among many others. Larry is the author of a new book on customer satisfaction released in 2011, Managing Forward: How to Move from Measuring the Past to Managing the Future.
Previously, Larry held several senior executive positions at Compuware Corporation, leading a variety of e-commerce and professional services programs. Most recently, he served as Vice President of e-Business, where he was responsible for directing the national e-Business practice and for the design, development and implementation of e-Business strategies for numerous companies.
Before joining Compuware, Larry held various positions including Chief Technology Officer at Bank One (formerly First Chicago NBD and NBD Bank).
Larry is currently on the Board of Directors and the executive committee of the Ann Arbor IT Zone, and previously held leadership positions at ASC X12, a national EDI standards group, and various other industry groups.
Larry holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Wayne State University.
Dr. Tom Leighton co-founded Akamai Technologies in 1998, and served as Akamai’s Chief Scientist for 14 years before becoming Chief Executive. Dr. Leighton is Akamai's technology visionary and leads the senior management team in setting the company's strategic direction, while engaging directly with customers and partners from around the globe. He is also a member of the Board of Directors.
As one of the world's preeminent authorities on algorithms for network applications, Dr. Leighton's work behind establishing Akamai was based on recognizing that a solution to freeing up Web congestion could be found in applied mathematics and algorithms. Akamai has demonstrated this through the creation of the world's largest distributed computing platform that dynamically routes content and applications across a network of over 100,000 servers. Dr. Leighton's technology achievements at Akamai earned him recognition as one of the Top 10 Technology Innovators in U.S. News & World Report.
Prior to his role as CEO of Akamai, Dr. Leighton was also a Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
Meyar Sheik, CEO & Co-Founder of Certona is a seasoned software industry executive with over 25 years of experience. Since 2000, Meyar has been a web analytics pioneer working with some of the largest sites on the Internet such as ESPN, Fox, Sony, Best Buy, Disney, CBS and many other leading retail brands, in the areas of web analytics, personalization and real-time content optimization. Since co-founding Certona in 2004, Meyar and the Certona team of predictive analytics experts have been focused on applying Certona’s innovative, real-time behavioral targeting, optimization and adaptive personalization technologies to generate more revenue and higher conversion rates for online and multi-channel retailers. Prior to co-founding Certona, Meyar was the CMO and COO of web analytics leader, WebSideStory (now part of Omniture). Before joining WebSideStory, Meyar was the Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Strategic Alliances for the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) software vendor SuperNova, Inc., where he orchestrated the sale of the company to Seattle-based WRQ, an established enterprise software company.
Jag Bath has more than 15 years of global e-commerce experience with a focus on technology, product, marketing and international expansion. As the senior vice president of product at WhaleShark Media, Jag sets the product vision and strategy, primarily for the company's flagship U.S. brand, RetailMeNot, and oversees the company's product road map and execution. Prior to WhaleShark Media, Jag held several executive positions at the luxury retailer Gilt Groupe, Inc., including vice president of strategy and new business, vice president of product management and engineering, and acting CIO. Jag focused on the end-to-end customer experience, the expansion of Gilt into new categories, the launch of Gilt’s mobile e-commerce business and the drive toward personalization. Before joining Gilt, Jag’s eight-year tenure at WeightWatchers.com included various positions overseeing global business development, product development, marketing and international expansion.
Jeremy Swift helped form BlueHornet’s founding team in 2000 and has been a successful email marketing advisor and overall relationship manager since the company’s inception. Jeremy is an industry thought leader who is known for his ability to match toolsets with digital marketing needs and for bringing the right people and resources to the table for his clients. Prior to his work with strategic accounts, Jeremy was instrumental in building an industry-leading client services team and he continues to act as an advisor to the company’s product development team.
As a proven leader in performance marketing and attribution, Dustin Engel has been developing digital brand strategies for 15 years. As the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Innovation, Dustin is building out innovation labs that focus on product venturing to better serve the growing digital technology demands of iProspect’s clients. With the range of strategic options available to brands, and an increased pressure to drive bottom-line results, Dustin helps clients align and measure strategy across channels to improve their business results.
Prior to this role, he served as iProspect’s Executive Vice President of the Western Region, providing leadership to 250 employees in the delivery of digital services. Previously, he served as ClearSaleing’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer. Throughout his career, Dustin has led strategy and business development for big-name brands such as Blockbuster, Match.com, Stamps.com and American Greetings Interactive.
Dustin is a regular contributor to MediaPost, Adotas, iMedia Connection and DM News, as well as a frequent speaker at conferences including Shop.org, SMX, eTail, Digital Hollywood and CitiFinancial’s Entertainment, Media and Technology Conference.
Rick Chavie is Vice President, OmniCommerce for hybris. He is responsible for creating the OmniCommerce vision and technology platform that enables seamless customer experiences across digital and physical touchpoints for global and mid-market companies in all major industry verticals.
Chavie brings more than 25 years of industry experience including leadership roles at retailers such as The Home Depot and C&A, where he led transformation and growth programs. He has also held executive roles in technology, which include leading the global retail and wholesale business at SAP and leading global marketing and solution deployment for the retail and hospitality business at NCR. He has also served clients across the major retail and wholesale verticals, including hardlines, softlines, and food, and branded consumer manufacturers in his partner and leadership roles at Deloitte and Accenture.
Chavie holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, studied International Trade as a Fulbright Scholar at Germany’s Saarland University and the University of Cologne, and has a B.A. in German and Accounting, summa cum laude, from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.
Raj founded BloomReach with 10 years of enterprise and entrepreneurial experience behind him. Most recently, he was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Mohr-Davidow Ventures. Previously, he was a Director of Product Marketing at Cisco. Prior to that, he was part of the founding team at telecom company FirstMark / LambdaNet, which grew to $80M in run-rate revenues. Raj also worked in technology investment banking at Lazard Freres. He holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering from Princeton and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Raj was recently awarded Silicon Valley’s 40 under 40 award.
Richard Kosinski joined Quantcast as Senior Vice President, Sales in March 2011, responsible for scaling Quantcast’s targeting advertising business in the US and internationally. A seasoned executive with more than twenty years of media and sales experience, Kosinski has provided strategic direction for some of the world’s largest marketers and agencies in the US, Asia and Europe, making him a valuable asset as the company expands its product in the US and abroad. Recognized for being an industry sales leader, Kosinski previously held the position of VP, Political Advertising at Yahoo!, Chief Digital Officer at Westwood One and senior executive roles at both Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. Under his leadership, Yahoo! became the world’s largest online display media platform for paid political communications in the 2008 election. He holds a BA from the University of Arizona and completed management education programs at the Harvard Business School and Columbia University.
Steen is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company during an undergrad engineering class. Steen has co-founded a number of digital marketing start ups including: Realnet Access, Faxscape, Multiplay and 5th Finger, the most recent of which was acquired by Microsoft.
5th Finger is a leading mobile solutions company, and Steen is responsible for building its profile and attracting and retaining pillar clients such as Victoria's Secret and Safeway. Steen leads a team of mobile experts who provide industry defining mobile solutions to marketers and advertisers, specializing in tools & techniques such as Mobile Adsense, rich mobile media, mobility planning and mobile behavior segmentation.
All of Steen's companies have opened up new and unique opportunities in digital marketing, with 5th Finger being the natural evolution into mobile. Steen has now been on the forefront of mobile for over 11 years and works with the worlds largest brands and publishers to ensure their mobile strategies deliver compelling experiences to consumers which maximize utility, value, entertainment and of course, ROI.
Robert Cell is an expert in retail, advertising, and consumer products. Most recently, Robert was Chief Executive Officer of AdSpace Networks, where he led the company through rapid growth and strategic restructuring to focus on becoming a mall advertising network while also growing, and subsequently, divesting its CoolSign video merchandising enterprise business. Under his leadership as Chief Operating Officer at Blue Martini Software, a pioneer in e-commerce solutions, the market capitalization tripled, license revenue doubled, and net results increased by $40M. Prior to Blue Martini, Robert served as the Vice President of Corporate Development for Kellogg Company and as General Manager for its Lender’s Bagel Division. In addition to leading Kellogg’s external growth and acquisitions, he led the turnaround of the Lender’s Bagel Division, tripled its value, and divested the unit for nearly $300M. Preceding his tenure with the Kellogg Company, he was Managing Director and co-founder of Deloitte and Touche LLP’s Midwest Corporate Finance practice responsible for advising the region’s clients on acquisitions and joint ventures.
Paul Dunay is an award-winning B2B marketing expert with more than 20 years’ success in generating demand and creating buzz for leading technology, consumer products, financial services and professional services organizations.
Paul is the Global Vice President of Marketing for Maxymiser, a leader in web optimization and analytics, and author of five “Dummies” books: Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley 2009), Social Media and the Contact Center for Dummies (Wiley Custom Publishing 2010), Facebook Advertising for Dummies (Wiley 2010), Facebook Marketing for Dummies 2nd Edition (Wiley 2011) and Facebook Marketing for Dummies 3rd Edition (Wiley 2012).
His unique approach to marketing has led to recognition of Paul as a BtoB Magazine Top 25 B2B Marketer of the Year for 2010 and 2009 and winner of the DemandGen Award for Utilizing Marketing Automation to Fuel Corporate Growth in 2008. He is also a finalist for the last six years in a row in the Marketing Excellence Awards competition of the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), and is a 2010 and 2005 gold award winner in Driving Demand.
Marketing Darwinism, Paul’s blog, has been recognized as a Top 20 Marketing Blog for 2009 and 2008, a Top Blog to Watch for 2009 and 2008, and an Advertising Age Power 150 blog in the “Daily Ranking of Marketing Blogs.”
Paul has shared his marketing thought leadership as a featured speaker for the American Marketing Association, BtoB Magazine, CMO Club, MarketingProfs, Marketing Sherpa, Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), and ITSMA. He has appeared on Fox News, and his articles have been featured in BusinessWeek, The New York Times, BtoB Magazine, MarketingProfs and MarketingSherpa.
As Sr. Director of Product Marketing, Michael drives product strategy and direction for Webtrends Conversion Optimization solutions. He brings 20 years experience in enterprise software, behavioral targeting, customer experience optimization, and conversion marketing. Prior to joining Webtrends, Michael founded a mainframe integration company focused on delivering customer data to digital marketers. He switched gears to work with Vignette, RichRelevance, and TouchCommerce to establish product teams and build solutions to help organizations create better customer experiences that drive revenue and retention.
Dave Reed, SVP of Strategic Solutions, oversees custom client solutions, platform professional services and client & partner integrations at MediaMath. He has over 10 years of experience in online marketing, e-commerce and software development, building out technical and marketing solutions for Fortune 500 marketers. Dave is a frequent speaker at online marketing events.
Eli Katz was an early pioneer in the e-commerce and Internet Retail industry. He has successfully led three companies to the coveted ranks of the “IR 500.” Katz is an e-commerce pioneer who founded and has been involved in many Internet ventures. In 1995, when Katz founded iBeauty.com, e-commerce simply did not exist and the idea of selling perfumes online seemed completely preposterous. In 2000, Katz brought his business acumen to HomeClick.com. As CEO, he transformed it from a bankrupt post dot-com boom retailer of toilets and kitchen sinks –with less than a million dollars in revenue—into a premier Web destination with more than $25 million in revenue by 2003. In 2007 he led an acquisition of Ashford.com, one of the earliest online retailers of luxury watches and jewelry, and served as its President until April 2011. Katz is currently the “Godfather” (aka CEO) of “The Emob” a non-profit organization that seeks to empower mid-sized etailers by leveraging their collective knowledge, know-how and experience. He is a frequent speaker at internet industry events and has been quoted and profiled widely in media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BusinessWeek, and CNBC.
Greg is a mobile industry veteran and the President of Mad Mobile. Greg is actively involved with driving sales and strategic partnerships for Mad Mobile.
For nearly 10 years, Greg has implemented strategic mobile initiatives for some of the biggest brands and agencies in the United States and Europe including AT&T, Target, HP, Philip Morris, Time Inc., American Idol, Motorola, Citi, Leo Burnett, Arc Worldwide and BBDO. Greg was largely responsible for building the Flytxt U.S. business that was acquired by Italian mobile giant Buongiorno in March 2007. Greg served as VP Sales for Buongiorno until 2010, the start of Mad Mobile. Greg is an active member of the MMA’s Mobile Web and Apps committee.
Al McClain is a co-founder of RetailWire.com, the online community for the retailing and CPG industries. He has spent 30+ years in the retail, tech, and CPG spaces. Al's career highlights include sales and management stints with Luzianne-Blue Plate Foods, Bestfoods, Red Rose Tea, and Progressive Grocer (Trade Dimensions and Retail Insights divisions).
Al has also spoken extensively at industry events for the National Grocers Association, the Institute for International Research, the Magazine Publishers Association, and the Category Management Association. He has written for publications such as Nielsen Wire, Loyalty Management, and Forbes.com. He is a member of the Luxury Marketing Council and lives in Florida.
Dan is an experienced software industry marketer with a strong background in marketing automation, online optimization, and analytics. He is currently the Vice President of Product and Marketing at Baynote. Prior to Baynote, Dan was the Director of Marketing for both Adchemy, a digital advertising technology company, and Interwoven Optimost, a multivariable testing and targeting platform, where he focused on product and company messaging, public relations, analyst relations and marketing programs. Before that, Dan was a Director of Product and Solutions marketing at Oracle and Siebel where he drove innovative projects for the marketing automation and analytics products.
David is an ecommerce leader with over 15 years of experience in product development, customer research and usability practices. He is currently the Director of Retail Experience at Hayneedle, the 4th largest retailer of home goods online, where he led the launch of Hayneedle’s brand and flagship store hayneedle.com. He is a technology advocate working to build transformative experiences that change the way people communicate, shop and live. Prior to his work at Hayneedle, David co-founded Optical Innovations where he directed the development of online augmented reality applications. He has also worked on B2B and B2C ecommerce projects with HP, Compaq, IBM, and others.
Mark Evans serves as the Director of Content Publishing and Technology Applications at United Stationers, a leading North American wholesale distributor of business products, with 2010 net sales of $4.8 billion. The company stocks over 250,000 items from over 1,500 manufacturers and distributes products and marketing services to over 30,000 reseller customers. United Stationers is the 7th largest multichannel merchant in the US. In his role, Mark oversees teams in marketing, ideation and creative services, content management, and cross-media publishing. He has an extensive background in digital and electronic prepress, print production, interactive new media and production management. Mark has also served in IT management capacities. He has been a speaker at SAP Sapphire, The Digital Smart Factory, IPA, Web Offset and Seybold Seminars. He has authored two books on cross-media publishing and has written numerous articles. Follow mark on twitter @markfevans or check out his blog at crossmediamatters.com.
Daniel Neukomm is the EVP of Strategy at the La Jolla Group (LJG), parent company of iconic action sports apparel brands in the US and globally including O'Neill, Metal Mulisha, Rusty and FMF Racing. In addition Daniel leads private equity and institutional investing for a family office in Silicon Valley and holds a number of advisory roles in the technology and non-profit sectors. Prior to LJG, Daniel was Founder and Managing Partner of Mountain Oxygen based in Aspen, CO. La Jolla Group, Inc. ("LJG") is the world's premier multi-brand apparel licensing company, with a portfolio of prominent brands including O'Neill Clothing USA, Metal Mulisha Clothing, Rusty Clothing, and FMF Clothing. Since its launch, LJG has been offering innovative, market-leading products to consumers, sell-thru and margin-building sales programs, and on-time deliveries to retailers across the globe. The company has also established a solid track record of designing a variety of high-quality performance products, including the #1 selling boardshort on the market, O'Neill's Hyperfreak.
Gina has the pleasure of working with Janrain customers to share their stories of success while she manages our brand, messaging and strategy to communicate our story as well. With almost 20 years of marketing success delivery results for leading brands like McDonald's, JCPenney, Whole Foods, and more, she is a brand engagement specialist who seeks out creative solutions for every marketing challenge.
He has been with US-Mattress for the last five years, starting with a role in the web department. Now the Marketing Manager, he manages paid search, social media, analytics, display ads, email marketing, and developing strategic partnerships with new and innovative technologies to help growth.
With nearly 20 years of marketing and brand experience, 15 of those in the digital space, Dan leads digital and social media marketing for Under Armour. At Under Armour, he is responsible for the overall strategy and execution of brand programs across the digital landscape. Dan has worked on both sides of the agency and client table. At TrueAction, a GSI Commerce/eBay Company, Dan led ecommerce marketing strategies for clients such as Dick's Sporting Goods, The Sports Authority, Mattel, NFL Shop, Modell's and others. On the client side, he has led brand and digital marketing efforts for top brands such as Discovery Communications, Travel Channel and the PGA TOUR.
Stephanie Pertuit is a marketing and public relations professional who has built her career working for thriving Internet companies. She calls Blinds.com her current home and holds the responsibility of Online Marketing Manager. Here, Stephanie is charged with creating outstanding online content and design, crafting usable interfaces and championing modern channels to drive customers to the fabulous Blinds.com experience.
Katie Laird is the PR and Social Media Manager for Blinds.com, America’s #1 online blinds store.
She oversees internal and external communications, media/ blogger relations and public relations efforts with the gusto that only a home design obsessed Web geek can.
You’ll find Katie leading the charge in online community building for Blinds.com, blogging on The Finishing Touch interior decorating blog (http://blog.blinds.com) and connecting everyday decorators to brilliant home ideas on the coolest Social Media channels out there.
With an extensive background in Web marketing, technology and Social Strategy, Katie is a champion of connecting online do-it-yourself-ers with products and experiences that count.
Katie’s extensive public speaking history includes South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi), the Mom 2.0 Summit, the American Marketing Association (AMA) and many more. You may have also seen her guest lecturing at Rice University or being featured in the NY Times, CNN.com, Dublin Public Radio and elsewhere across the globe.
Ever the online and offline active community member, Katie is an active participant in nonprofit, hoop dancing, crafting and parenting networks. Visit her blog at happykatie.com, listen to her entrepreneur radio show at thebusinessmakers.com and draw your heart out with her life drawing club houstonsketchy.com.
Josh is responsible for strategic revenue projects, data science and R&D. He is responsible for driving Kontagent's world class proprietary data processing, analysis platform and algorithms into new verticals and markets. A serial entrepreneur, Josh has led two successful start-ups to two large exits — the first as CTO at an early big data firm in automated real-time financial securities analysis which was acquired in 2003, and the second as CEO and CTO at a leading game technology company which was acquired in early 2007. Josh is an investor and loves helping other entrepreneurs however he can. In his personal time, he… well, mostly just works more, much to his lovely wife's bemusement and occasional chagrin.
With over 20 years of experience in domestic and international supply chain solutions, Paul Gettings leads NGL’s business development team as the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Prior to joining NGL, Mr. Gettings was the President of Solutions for Data Exchange Corporation leading their global sales and marketing efforts, resulting in several new international locations and the successful launch of a new supply chain software division.
Mr. Gettings also spent a combined 20 years at UPS Supply Chain Solutions and SonicAir which UPS acquired in 1995. He joined SonicAir as the first dedicated sales representative for SonicAir’s logistics business and was promoted to EVP of Sales and Marketing after UPS acquired SonicAir. In 1996, he received the Association for Services Management International (AFSMI) “Management Creativity Award” for developing the system using couriers to perform technical repairs faster and more efficiently than field engineers. He currently is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and co-chair of the Sustainability Committee for the Reverse Logistics Association.
Mr. Gettings is considered an industry expert in the areas of supply chain fulfillment, service parts logistics and sameday distribution.
Mr. Gettings graduated from Grand Canyon University with a degree in business administration, and also studied at Harvard University and the Universidad de Sonora in Hermosillo, Mexico. Mr. Gettings is recognized as an industry leader and frequent speaker at conferences and events in the supply chain industry. He currently lives in Agoura Hills, CA with his wife and family.
Kevin Knowles is a product owner within First Data’s Advanced Solutions and Innovation team. He has 19 years of product development and systems consulting experience in the loyalty and relationship management industry.
Knowles was vice president of Professional Services for SIZE Technologies where he was responsible for product development and client services of SIZE’s Intelligent Processing Platform until SIZE’s acquisition by First Data in January of 2007.
Prior to First Data, Knowles was a senior development manager at Blue Martini Software responsible for development of Blue Martini's Contact Center and Relationship Marketing solutions. He also held multiple positions within Accenture's Communications and High-Tech practice, focusing on customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for Internet and Telecommunications clients.
Knowles received a bachelor's degree in management information systems from the University of Arizona.
Christopher Mason is co-founder and CEO of Branding Brand, a mobile commerce platform used by leading retailers, including American Eagle Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, Ralph Lauren, and Sephora. Founded in 2008, the company quickly evolved from an interactive firm into the largest and fastest-growing provider of mobile commerce sites and apps to the Internet Retailer 500. @brandingbrand www.brandingbrand.com
As Vice President of Technical Services, Justin Stayrook leads the implementation of standards of practice, talent management, and team building for Siteworx’ technical service professionals. He is accountable for ensuring these professionals have the right approach, process, and technology to effectively engage Siteworx’ clients.
Justin is an expert in multiple content management systems (CMS), enterprise search solutions, and all major web analytics tools. His solutions have been integrated with CRM, association management, e-commerce systems and CDNs. His experience includes software development, systems integration, quality assurance, IT security, and systems architecture, including work for clients such as Nationwide Insurance, NASDAQ, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Affinion Group, CARFAX, The Heritage Foundation, iDirect, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and many others. His CMS implementation on behalf of The Heritage Foundation was one of only two sites recognized by Sitecore in 2010 for technical sophistication and innovation.
Prior to Siteworx, Justin served as an Application Development Manager and Systems Architect at New Target, Inc. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Justin also held prior roles at CTIA-The Wireless Association and the U.S. Department of State.
Richard is passionate about the power of social engagement to drive sales and customer loyalty for brands, whilst helping consumers make better choices. Prior to founding Reevoo with Ben Griffiths and Guy Logan, Richard was a senior strategy consultant at KPMG covering the technology, media and telecoms space; interim Head of Group Planning at Orange, covering 22 countries; and part of the small deals team managing investments of up to £5 million at 3i. He has a PhD and MBA from the Cranfield School of Management.
Tom launched Shutl in ‘09 to solve delivery for ecommerce. Shutl is a branded fulfillment option offered to shoppers within a retailer’s online customer experience. Think of Shutl like Paypal, but for awesome delivery.
Shoppers can choose to have their orders shutl’d to them either within minutes of purchase or at a time of their choice. Shutl delivers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and can be offered to customers for a comparable price to standard delivery, often even for free.
The service has been live in the UK for 2+ years and now operates across 50+ towns and cities, serving many of the UK’s major high street retailers. Shutl launches in North America in Q1 2013.
Prior to Shutl, Tom founded eCourier.co.uk in '03, exiting in '08 when TNT Express acquired a majority stake in the business.
Bob Moul serves as CEO of Artisan, the creator of the industry’s first Mobile Experience Management platform. He joined the company as CEO in 2012 because he recognized that there is a huge untapped potential in the mobile applications software market.
With over 30 years of experience in the high-tech industry, Moul has held leadership positions within technology companies across all stages and sizes. Previously, he was CEO of Boomi, the pioneer of middleware for cloud computing that Dell acquired in November 2010. At Systems and Computer Technology, Moul ran the company’s $100mm outsourcing business and later the $300mm education solutions business. Here, he led the company to 10 consecutive record quarters of growth prior to being acquired by SunGard. Moul also held senior management positions at EDS, including Director of Operations for EDS Hong Kong and China, and Executive Director of Federal Government Operations for EDS Australia.
Moul graduated from the University of Maryland, University College, with a Master of Science degree in Technology Management. He also completed executive programs at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT. An active advocate for driving tech innovation and entrepreneurship in the Philadelphia region, Moul is President of Philly Startup Leaders and serves on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the Philadelphia Alliance of Capital and Technology, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania. He is a 2007 alumnus of DC-based Mindshare and was named a 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in Philadelphia.
Moul has spoken at numerous industry and educational events for his insights on technology trends and driving business growth. Some of these events include the Cloud Computing World Forum, MIT Entrepreneur’s Forum, Always On, Pacific Crest Technology Conference, and Mobile Monday.
As Founder & CEO of July Systems Rajesh has been instrumental in creating a global mobile experience platform company with a service footprint in over 150 countries, reaching over hundred million users and driving billions of transactions annually. July’s platform powers the mobile business of some of the largest brands in the world including Toys R Us, Unilever, ESPN, CNN, Intel, NBA, NFL, NBC Universal and CBS.
Formerly he was Founder & CEO of Unimobile Inc. which developed the world’s first mobile internet messaging platform and was later acquired by VeriSign. During his tenure the company conceptualized and created the world’s first global internet messaging network across 500 mobile operators in 130 countries and was deployed by enterprises such as Motorola, Citibank, and Cisco.
He was named among MIT – Technology Review’s Global TR 100 innovators and was the winner of the Golden Mouse award for contributions to the Internet.
Peter Vogel is co-founder and CEO of Plink, an online-to-offline loyalty program that rewards members for dining and shopping at their favorite national restaurants and offline stores. He has more than a decade of executive-level, online sales and marketing experience specializing in performance-based marketing, media buying and monetization of social media. Most recently, Peter was senior director of marketing and industry scout at Adperio, an interactive agency specializing in affiliate marketing, in-game advertising, social gaming monetization, virtual currency and Facebook Credits monetization. At Adperio, he incubated the idea of Plink, co-founded the company, spun it out of the interactive agency in 2011 and, in the summer of 2012, raised a $3 million Series A investment round from Grotech Ventures. Peter was previously co-founder of Memolink.com and led the company’s sales team from 1997 through the mid 2000s. He received a BA from Washington University in St. Louis in economics.
Cassie Troiano is Director of eCommerce at XO Group Inc. (NYSE: XOXO; www.xogroupinc.com), formerly The Knot Inc., a global media & technology leader devoted to weddings, nesting and first-time parenthood. Troiano is responsible for eCommerce activities for all brands, including The Knot, The Bump and WeddingChannel.com. She oversees all merchandising, purchasing, product development and design, and marketing for the company’s eCommerce stores. She also works with brands to launch partnerships and new business development initiatives in the wedding and baby space for XO Group Inc.
As Senior Director of Mobile, Media & Entertainment, Eric provides leadership to ForeSee’s mobile solutions as well as solutions related to the media and entertainment industries. He is responsible for working with product, delivery, sales, and marketing teams to ensure that ForeSee continues to bring innovation and operational excellence to its mobile offerings. Since joining ForeSee in 2004, Eric has been contributing to the strategic growth of the organization. He brings 15 years of customer-focused experience to the team, and is a frequent presenter at conferences in the U.S. and UK.
Eric is currently on the Board of Directors for the Digital Analytics Association (DAA), formerly the Web Analytics Association, and serves as an instructor for various trade groups on the importance and application of attitudinal analytics. Previously, he has held positions that include web analyst, multichannel strategy consultant, usability specialist and focus group moderator. His goal is to best understand and motivate multi-channel consumers on behalf of his clients.
Eric is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Artem Mytnikov, Head of IBD of SPSR-EXPRESS, has profound knowledge in express delivery business. Artem has previously served at DHL, and then transferred to the leading Russian operator SPSR-EXPRESS. He was heading product development and market research, where he figured out that there is a huge demand on the Russian market for international cross-border solution. He is directly responsible for nurturing and heading the international development.
David is the SVP of Mobile for ePrize and the founder and former president of Cellit. Previously, Wachs worked as a financial analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston. Wachs also spent several years as a management consultant for DiamondCluster International. Wachs is a dual cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a B.S. in Economics and a B.S.E. in Computer Science Engineering. David frequently speaks on mobile technology and has presented for the National Restaurant Association, Direct Marketing Association and Advertising Research Foundation. David has also been interviewed by and quoted in multiple news outlets, including FOX News, Bloomberg Radio, and The Wall Street Journal.
Jason Roussos oversees all marketing and merchandising operations at Living Direct. With over 12 years of experience in e-commerce and business development, Jason Roussos has been leveraging the digital medium to grow businesses rapidly throughout his career.
Prior to joining BrightTag, Mike was part of the original Orbitz management team and held the positions of CMO and COO. While at Orbitz, Mike helped take the business from start-up to IPO, then through two acquisitions (Cendant and Blackstone). After Orbitz, Mike joined The Pritzker Group as a partner on their private equity team. Mike also has held management roles at General Motors Corporation and Leo Burnett. His work at General Motors led him to be named a “Marketer of the Next Generation” by Brandweek magazine. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Northwestern University and a Masters in Management degree from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management. Mike also sits on the BrightTag board.
Chris Lobdell heads up DataXu sales in the Central region, where he manages some of DataXu's strongest partnerships with leading consumer packaged goods and retail brands. His areas of expertise include: the influence of digital on shopper marketing initiatives, and the impact of real-time consumer intelligence on digital marketing campaigns.
Prior to joining DataXu, Chris spent four years with Google, focused on selling display advertising solutions to large brand CPG advertisers including the Google Display Network and YouTube. While at Google, Chris also collaborated with large Google search advertisers on how to integrate Google technologies into their marketing initiatives including Google Maps and Earth, among others. Before Google, Chris functioned in a sales engineer capacity with a number of enterprise technology startups and consulting firms including InStranet (now part of Salesforce), Stratasource (now part of Oracle), and Lante Corporation (now part of Razorfish).
Bryan Allison knows VEGAS.com as well as anyone. He is the first employee of the company, and has worked for The Greenspun Corporation for nearly 19 years in a variety of roles.
Before assuming the role of Chief Marketing Officer of VEGAS.com, he served for two years as Chief Operating Officer of sister company Greenspun Media Group. Prior to that position, he was VEGAS.com’s vice president of marketing and played a key role in developing the site. Allison started working online in 1995, after a career as a print journalist that included working as a senior editor at the Las Vegas Sun and as managing editor of two other newspapers.
Prior to joining VEGAS.com, Allison spent 10 years in both print and online management roles at newspapers. He served as assistant managing editor of the Las Vegas Sun and managing editor of both the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Daily Sparks Tribune. He first worked for a Greenspun Media Group company in 1990, when he joined the staff of the Las Vegas Sun as a copy editor.
Strategic, results-driven Online Executive with 12 year track record of Ecommerce success for major multi-channel retailers. Passionate leader adept at motivating and empowering a complex team towards common goals leading a cross-functional effort with internal and external resources spanning merchandising, marketing, creative, development, customer service, fulfillment, and SEM. Proven ability to leverage internet industry insights and knowledge to mine new business opportunities.
Nikhil Behl is CEO of ZooStores.com, an online specialty retailer. Customers don’t have time to research the hundreds, no thousands, of webpages to find exactly what they're looking for. We’ve done the homework for them and have become experts in specialty products. With over 250 stores in place, we can help customers find the right product—and make sure they feel great about their purchase. Each of our specialty stores offers hundreds of items to give customers the widest selection. Our Category Experts study the industry to gather the best products from today’s leading manufacturers.
Mr Behl has more than 15 years of technology and e-commerce experience recently serving as CEO of Mercantila, a subsidiary of Infospace Inc. Prior to Mercantila, he served at Hewlett-Packard (HP) where he was vice president of Sales and Operations for HPShopping.com. Prior to that Behl served as Vice President of Strategy and Development for HPShopping.com where he led the integration team that merged CompaqAtHome into HPShopping. Mr. Behl earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Menlo College.
Corey Capasso is an inventor and 4x serial entrepreneur with a knack for consumer products and technology. Leveraging flavored plastic technology, Corey also co-founded MoGo Sport, a sporting goods company. MoGo products today are in over 5,000 retail locations and are distributed in over 15 countries. At 20 years old, Corey co-founded Exchangehut, a student-to-student ticketing platform, which was acquired by CDI American in 2008. Leveraging flavored plastic technology, Corey also co-founded MoGo Sport, a sporting goods company. MoGo products today are in over 5,000 retail locations and are distributed in over 15 countries. In late 2010, Corey co-founded Spinback, a social commerce and analytics platform for product sharing with two former university classmates. Thirteen months after its creation, Spinback was acquired by Buddy Media in 2011. Corey joined Buddy Media as Director of Sales for leading the Spinback integration efforts for 14 months until Buddy Media was acquired by Salesforce.com in August of 2012. In September of 2012, Corey co-founded Nomi, an omni channel engagement platfrom, that is providing a software solution that helps retailers measure shopping behavior in their stores and tie it to e-commerce data so that they can have one 360 degree view of their customer and then engage them accordingly.
Corey is a Bloomberg Businessweek America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs Finalist and has been featured in Bloomberg News, BusinessInsider and FoxNews.com.
As the Vice President of Marketing, Ryan is responsible for expanding RKG’s brand awareness and communicating thought leadership throughout the industries where they work. His team is responsible for the production of popular online marketing content through presentations and publications like RKG blog, the RKG Dossier and the quarterly RKG Digital Marketing Update.
Ryan joined RKG over seven years ago as a Paid Search Analyst and has managed multi-million dollar paid search programs for both internet-only and multichannel advertisers. In his current role, Ryan has helped RKG to grow and become one of the largest and most respected privately held online marketing agencies.
Prior to joining RKG, Ryan held management positions at Capital One Financial where he was responsible for processes that ensured Capital One remained in compliance with Federal regulations. Ryan’s passion for Marketing was rekindled at Capital One when he became involved in the company’s initial testing of secured email messaging in 2000.
Ryan has been a speaker at many industry events, including SMX Advanced, SES, eTail, PhoCusWright and several DMA events. Ryan also speaks at local universities, writes for RKGblog and RKG Dossier and has been interviewed by eMarketer, Shop.org Blog, and others for his thoughts on the changing landscape of online marketing.
As Segment Marketing Director at Silverpop, Stephen Dumas leads marketing strategy and operations for Silverpop’s enterprise sales team. Stephen’s passion is marketing technology, particularly as it pertains to customer insights, automation and optimizing the customer experience. Prior to Silverpop, he was senior ecommerce marketing manager for a major home décor catalog/etailer, Ballard Designs. Other experience includes marketing for online higher education and professional services, as well as hi-tech and telecom.
Morgan is the Founder and CEO of Needle, which pioneered the concept of utilizing experts and brand advocates to assist online shoppers with purchase decisions. Needle's customers include companies like Under Armour, Norton, Adorama, Overstock and Coach; all of which have experienced increased conversion, higher AOVs, and incremental revenue by partnering with Needle. Prior to Needle, Morgan was the founder, CEO and Chairman of Logoworks which developed one of the earliest distributed workforces in the world. Logoworks was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2007.
As Program Manager, Adam Amantea manages the scoping, design, requirements, implementation and testing of all infrastructure systems for petco.com, including enterprise-level commerce, order management and content management systems, as well as all additional supporting 3rd Party technology and proprietary systems integrations.
Prior, Adam managed the site merchandising team at Petco Animal Supplies, responsible for the commerce applications and online customer shopping experience.
Dan Franklin has over 12 years of experience working in the tech industry with a long history of working with large and small sites on application acceleration, content delivery, site optimization and mobile delivery. Franklin has a strong focus in online commerce and a background in software engineering that has allowed him to become an expert in how sites can improve performance, security, scalability and security.
Dan has played a large part in helping many online retailers to optimally deliver content locally, globally and at massive scale using CDN, DNS-based load balancing, PCI, SSL, mobile device enablement and more.
Stephanie Leffler is CEO and cofounder of CrowdSource, a full-service crowdsourcing solutions company. Leffler first established herself as an e-commerce pioneer in 2002 by founding MonsterCommerce, a leading ecommerce platform that was sold to Network Solutions in 2006. With her wealth of expertise and knowledge, Leffler has built CrowdSource to a workforce of 500,000 specialized workers. Using a distributed workforce, CrowdSource provides Fortune 500 retailers, online publishers and media companies with high-quality content at unprecedented speed.
Stephanie has been featured in the 2012 St. Louis Business Journal’s 40 under 40, was honored in St. Louis Business Journal’s Most Influential Business Women and was a nominee in the Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.
CrowdSource is headquartered in St. Louis and backed by Highland Capital Partners.
During her 13 year tenure at Epsilon, Stacey Hawes has driven the company’s Multichannel Merchant, B-to-B, and Retail units to unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction and growth. In her leadership role, Stacey manages the sales process, account management and new business development teams and actively participates on the executive team to shape the company’s offerings, paying particular attention to customer needs. A “Who’s Who” in B2B Marketing in 2005 and 2006, Stacey is also very involved in the direct marketing industry. She has vice-chaired a DMA committee and currently serves as a board member for NEMOA.
Michael is responsible for building and leading the Corporate Development function at Sailthru where he oversees international strategy and growth initiatives, strategic partnerships, and non-core product development. He is responsible for Sailthru’s recent acquisitions of Frame and Seamless Receipts.
Prior to Sailthru, Michael was Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs at Howcast Media, the multi-platform media content and service provider for publishers, marketers and content providers. Before that, Michael was the CEO and co-founder of LiveStub, the venture-backed secondary ticket marketplace that brought transparency to this event ticket market in North America. Michael began his career in various legal roles at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin where he specialized in technology and entertainment law.
Mark Steele joined Oracle through the acquisition of ATG in 2010. Prior to that, he spent 5 years in various sales and sales management roles with global focus and responsibility within ATG. At Oracle, he leads a dedicated Oracle Commerce sales team focused on the ATG and Endeca product lines in North America.
His team at Oracle is focused on helping mid-size organizations take advantage of the Oracle Commerce suite of products to enhance cross-channel commerce, merchandising, and online customer experiences. As the platform of choice for the world's leading brands, Oracle Commerce is now a competitive advantage that can be consumed by smaller organizations driven to be best in class.
Tom spent 15 years in Manufacturing and Plant Management at General Motors and K2 Skis prior to joining Amazon in 2000 as Director of Operations - US Fulfillment Centers. After 2 years running the Eastern US Fulfillment Centers, Tom moved to London for two years where he was responsible for supply chain for Amazon websites in UK, Germany, and France as Director of Operations – European Supply Chain. Since returning to Seattle in 2004, Tom started up a new business within Amazon to integrate fulfillment for external retail clients creating the Amazon Fulfillment Service and is currently the VP of Fulfillment by Amazon. In 2010, Tom was given additional responsibility as the VP for Amazon Webstore and most recently, has become the leader of the Checkout By Amazon team as well.
Tricia Phillips is a global product lead for V.me by Visa, responsible for supporting Visa’s product innovation strategy, specifically the strategic integration of merchants, acquirers and financial institutions with V.me. Alongside the V.me team, Tricia drives key initiatives advancing eCommerce and innovations in payments for Visa Inc.
She has 14 years of eCommerce experience with an emphasis on merchant payment solutions, end-to-end risk and fraud management, and is an expert in products and practices designed to optimize recurring billing operations and profitability optimization.
Tricia was most recently a principle at CyberSource Corporation, a software company designed to automate the commerce transaction process. As principle, Tricia developed and executed go-to-market strategies and provided merchants with valuable analysis and consultation.
Steve is a founding partner and Co-CEO of Better The World (bettertheworld.com). FlipGive is the company’s unique digital marketing program that helps retailers do good and drive the bottom line. FlipGive uses the power of people and social fundraising to drive sales and online promotion while creating positive social impact.
Known as a strategic and creative thinker, Steve has developed innovative give-marketing programs for Lowes, SPY, TD Bank, AIMIA, Pearson Publishing, Indigo Books and Music, Heart and Stroke Foundation and others. He is a frequent speaker and blogger on topics ranging from Social Innovation to Entrepreneurship. Steve spends his free time between travel, photography, staying active and spending time with his family.
Like you, fellow marketers, Kevan Savage has seen commercial landscapes redefine themselves many times over the years. Hands-on strategic planning, technology integration and revenue focused optimization have framed his “connected commerce” expertise.
Prior to his leadership efforts, Kevan created and led B2C and B2B multichannel marketing strategies in retail, travel and educational industry verticals.
His successes include : Office Depot, Tesco, Sanrio, Target, Wal-Mart, Hilton, Starwood, Wyndham Resorts along with U.S. city, state, federal and foreign agencies to name a few. He has also assisted in jump starting numerous successful start-up companies and non-profit organizations.
Kevan currently serves as Sr. Manager, eCommerce & Analytics for Life Technologies.
Erik Small has nearly 15 years of experience in digital marketing and analytics within both B2C and B2B audiences. Erik joined Meijer in 2012, a large retailer of grocery and general merchandise with close to 200 stores, including a thriving ecommerce channel via Meijer.com. He currently manages all digital media channels for Meijer.com, which includes search marketing, SEO, email, affiliate, and retargeting media, as well as a focus on marketing analytics across the business. Prior to joining Meijer, Erik previously managed digital marketing at Ipswitch, a Boston-based business software and solutions firm, and held various marketing analytics roles at tech companies in Washington DC, including AOL and MicroStrategy.
Garrett is a marketing technologist with a knack for helping leading brands create, capture, and deliver value from their digital consumer experiences. As the founder and CEO at Compare Metrics, he drives overall business and product strategy while also leading the day-to-day execution of that vision.
Garrett has a passion for pushing the boundaries of digital commerce analytics practices and technologies. Previously, he played a key role in developing the big data and analytics initiatives at Bazaarvoice as the Data & Analytics Product Manager. In this role, he led the development of a groundbreaking new tracking methodology for user generated content, allowing clients to understand the financial impact of specific review content on consumer purchasing behavior. He also drove core research and product contributions around text mining and feature extraction algorithms.
Garrett holds a BS in Computer Science from Stanford University where his research work in semantic search and human computer interaction (HCI) formed the theoretical basis for the Compare platform and architecture. He has multiple patents pending in the areas of web analytics, data mining, and recommender systems.
Rahmon is CEO of YourAmigo, the world leader in artificial intelligence organic search marketing services, which he co-founded in 1999. Conducting business in 31 countries, Rahmon and YourAmigo are well recognized as thought leaders in organic search. For the last 12 years YourAmigo’s data-driven service Spider Linker™ has focused entirely in organic search, and today YourAmigo manages more than 60 million web pages for customers such as Sony, Dell, Avon, Office Depot and ToysRUs, to name but a few.
YourAmigo’s award-winning multi-language service, Spider Linker™ uses its unique technology, proprietary search data and human search expertise to apply Big Data solutions which generate growth through non-branded, incremental new traffic providing a lift in revenue of between 5%-25% over and above customers’ current total online revenue.
Carlyn Smith has joined Baesman Strategic Solutions Group as the Manager, Email & Digital Marketing Services. At Baesman, Carlyn will be responsible for strategy and execution for all client email and digital programs. Carlyn comes to Baesman from Experian CheetahMail, where she provided email strategy, reporting analysis, and execution for Fortune 500 retailers. Prior to Experian CheetahMail, Carlyn served as Marketing Program Coordinator for an international elearning company.
With his energetic sales approach and enthusiasm for the Zmags platform, Daren Tomey has been integral to the company’s rapid growth. He brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in strategic partnerships and sales optimization to Zmags, including an impeccable record of success in Internet marketing at Slingshot SEO and ExactTarget.
With over 20 years of experience in technology, Chris has helped hundreds of companies around the world develop and deploy solutions in business intelligence, analytics, CRM/SFA and virtualization technologies. Chris is now leveraging his extensive BI background as Senior Director of Enterprise Solutions at Domo.
Michael Klein is the Director of Industry Strategy, Retail for the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite. Michael leads a team of subject matter experts who work with Adobe’s Internet Retailer 500 client base to help them develop best-in-class digital marketing strategies. Prior to joining Adobe, Michael has over 25 years of multi-channel retail experience having been a Senior Merchant and Marketer for retailers such as William-Sonoma, Harry & David, Discovery Channel Stores, wine.com and eLuxury.com (LVMH). In his spare time, Michael is a gourmet cook, loves hosting dinner parties and continues to play competitive baseball.
Mary leads Strategy, Business Development and Analytics for Hallmark Digital. She has a passion for consumer insights, data and innovation. With more than 20 years of business, product and marketing leadership she brings foresight into the business — championing ways to foster growth. She is driving change at Hallmark for Omnichannel Retailing, Digital Connecting and a mobile-first approach to everything. Before working with Hallmark Digital, she helped frame Hallmark’s brand strategy and promise and helped launch Hallmark Magazine. She is an advocate for obsessing about consumers, analytics and a mobile, social and global approach to digital technology and experiences.
Sufi Khan Sulaiman has over 8 years of combined experience specializing in eCommerce, eMarketing, web analysis, planning, developing, and implementing state of the art web-based solutions that facilitate business growth. Sufi has extensive knowledge of business process, customer demographics, online user behavior and purchasing patterns, with a unique blend of transactional, organizational and management expertise. He leads cross-functional teams both in-house and out sourced with diverse technical backgrounds.
At Lorex Technology, Sufi is responsible for driving the eCommerce sales channel while spearheading their eCommerce strategy and growth plan. He manages a full functional team of web sales associates, order management representatives, social media coordinators, designer, analysts and developers.
Soren Mills is the Chief Marketing Officer of Newegg North America, responsible for overseeing marketing operations and strategy.
Prior to joining Newegg, Mills was the executive vice president and general manager at Guitar Center where he led Musician’s Friend, the company’s online division and largest online retailer of musical instruments. Mills has also held a variety of national and international positions at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. In his most recent role at Wal-Mart International, Mills was promoted to corporate officer in order to build and lead its global e-commerce services group. In that capacity, he successfully developed and launched Wal-Mart’s first global e-commerce platform, resulting in growth and profitability improvements.
Before Wal-Mart, Mills was responsible for marketing for the European launch of Priceline.com. As the vice president of marketing at Priceline.com Europe, Mills defined the company’s brand strategy and managed sales and marketing operations. During his time there, Mills helped the company achieve a significant share of the UK online airline ticket market.
Donna Bedford is the Director of Global SEO for Lenovo driving SEO in 40+ countries worldwide using Lean Six Sigma best practices. As part of the role, she also drives awareness through non-traditional marketing, blogger outreach and SEO best practices. Prior to her current role, she worked on Lenovo's Design and User Experience team. Donna has over 17 years of web experience, including multiple Fortune 500 companies both in the US and UK.
Lenovo is one of the world’s largest makers of personal computers including the renowned ThinkPad® notebook as well as products carrying the ThinkCentre®, ThinkStation®, ThinkServer®, IdeaCentre® and IdeaPad® sub-brands.
Damian Delgado, Sr Manager of Web Operations for TXU Energy, has 18 years in Web Electronic Commerce experience. He has run various web functions including web high availability hosting, website development, SEO strategies, and operational web process support.
Tony Lanni is the director of corporate marketing at Convertro, which optimizes ad campaign effectiveness using cross-attribution of offline and online channels. Tony is responsible for developing and implementing the company’s marketing strategy across all channels. Prior to joining Convertro, Tony was vice president of marketing and chief evangelist at AvePoint, where he managed product strategy and marketing, established the company as the No. 1 Microsoft SharePoint independent software vendor, and helped grow the organization from four employees to almost 1,000 over eight years. Tony also spent more than eight years at Verizon, where he was a lead engineer on Verizon's FiOS offering and earned two Verizon Excellence awards for his work. He also led the World Trade Center recovery efforts for Verizon in Jersey City, N.J. after Sept. 11th. Tony was among those recognized by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg and Mayor Giuliani for his role in successfully reopening the stock market on the following Monday.
John Dawes is the VP of Product at Tealeaf, an IBM company and brings over twenty years of experience in defining and delivering enterprise software products. John joined Tealeaf in 2004 after leading product teams at Netscape, Adobe, Microsoft and a number of software startups. John also has extensive e-commerce experience from managing a large automotive e-commerce site while at Greenlight (acquired by CarsDirect) and Netscape's web and application server product line.
John holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth and a Masters in Computer Science from Stanford University.
James ("Jamie") Tenser is an author and analyst specializing in customer-centric business strategy, research and analysis for the retail, services and consumer goods sector. Since 1996 he has maintained a particular focus on Shopper Media, Category Management, In-Store Implementation, service practices, multichannel retailing, and related technology, and he has authored two books in the field. He currently sits on several corporate advisory boards. He is director of the In-Store Implementation Network, and the author of its 2008 working paper.
David recently joined FTD.com to help leverage customer insight in order to drive key performance metrics. David is a senior management CRM and Loyalty executive who has personally lead some of the most innovative and complex 1:1 consumer marketing initiatives in the U.S. and Canada. His stamp has been felt on programs such as the ShopYourWayRewards loyalty program at Sears Holdings Corporation that was voted the best enterprise-wide program in the world for 2011 by Colloquy. David also contributed to the American Eagle Outfitters All Access Pass/AE Awards and many other programs that leverage both white label non-credit rewards as well as those that do link rewards/loyalty to a credit card portfolio.
Michel J. Maeso is the Chief Revenue Officer for July Systems. His responsibilities include leading Global Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Field Operations as well as defining the overall revenue strategy for the company. With over 20 years of technology sales experience, Mr. Maeso has generated over $1.3 billion in shareholder value in the last 10 years. Prior to July Systems, Mr. Maeso was the Vice President of Sales and Field Operations for Cotendo, grew to be a leader in web and mobile performance solutions under Mr. maeso’s leadership.
Eric “Mac” Brousseau is the Global Product Director of Digital Analytics at Nike. He has over 15 years of experience in the Internet industry. He has used his knowledge of enterprise systems, analytics and customers segments at Best Buy where he founded bestbuy.com’s Innovation team which was responsible for online analytics, marketing campaigns and other customer facing features. Prior to Best Buy, Eric joined Tealium as Vice President of Technology Services. Eric was promoted to Vice President of Operations after helping Tealium grow 7x in his first year.
Eric attended St. Olaf College in southern Minnesota, where his majors were Economics/Marketing and Chinese Language.