Hafez has led and grown marketing teams at startups in the e-commerce, B2B, and non-profit sectors. He is an accomplished speaker and author on digital marketing topics ranging from customer acquisition, inbound marketing, SEO, display advertising, PPC/SEM, community management, content strategy, reputation management, growth hacking, and media relations. Before joining Combatant Gentlemen, Hafez served as the Senior Director of Marketing at ReTargeter, an online advertising startup based in San Francisco. 

Dr. Larry Arnstein brings experience in all phases of the technology adoption lifecycle to lead business development for Impinj. Since 2007, Larry has collaborated with retail and brand leaders as they adopt and benefit from RFID technology. In addition to helping Impinj conceive and deliver great products, Larry contributes to the RFID industry through public speaking, writing, and community leadership roles. Prior to joining Impinj, Larry was the founder and CTO of a software company, served on the faculty of the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science & Engineering, and was Director of Consulting Services for Cadence Design Systems.

Nikki Baird is Managing Partner at Retail Systems Research, an industry market intelligence firm specializing in the impact of technology on the extended retail industry. She focuses on trends impacting the consumer-retailer relationship, along with their supply chain and marketing implications. She has written research and articles on topics ranging from omni-channel strategies, in-store marketing and technology, store performance management, supply chain and multi-channel fulfillment, retailer-manufacturer collaboration, merchandising, and loyalty and promotions management.  She has been quoted as a subject matter expert in The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and National Public Radio.

Nikki brings perspective from all sides of the retail technology equation: she served in technology roles at both a large and a small retailer, and she has provided advisory and consulting services for Fortune 500 retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.  Prior to co-founding RSR, Nikki was an analyst at both Forrester Research and Retail Systems Alert Group, where she covered extended retail industry topics like supply chain, RFID, retail operations, POS, and in-store management. Prior to that, she was director of marketing for StorePerform, a store execution management software provider, now RedPrairie, and director of product marketing for Viewlocity, a supply chain software provider focusing on adaptive supply chain execution and exception management. Nikki came to Viewlocity from PwC Consulting, now IBM Global Services, where as a senior manager she led IT strategy consulting engagements for retail and CPG clients.

Nikki has an M.B.A. from the University of Texas, Austin, focusing on operations and IT. She also holds a bachelor of arts in political science and Russian, with a minor in physics, from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Deon started his career at FGL Sports on the sales floor of the organizations retail banner, Sport Chek, in 1999. Today he oversees a team that provides support and direction in the areas of leadership and management training, product training, equipment service shop training and support, customer service training at store level, and customer service call center at head office to the retail banners of Sport Chek, Atmosphere, National Sports, and Pro Hockey Life. Deon is currently finishing his Masters of Arts in Leadership and is passionate about organizational learning and development, leadership and management development, and strategic planning. As an individual who enjoys playing tennis, hockey, and downhill skiing, Deon is proud to be part of an organization focused on inspiring Canadians to live healthy active lives. Deon is also excited to be part of an organization that is revolutionizing the customer experience and connection through advanced digital store concepts and engaged active store teams.

Todd has over 8 years of retail and e-commerce experience designing, developing and implementing cutting edge experiences for customers. Since joining hhgregg in 2006, Todd has led in various capacities from web design to his current roll leading innovation for e-commerce & mobile, digital analytics, user experience & web design.

Michael Brown is a partner with A.T. Kearney in the Consumer and Retail Practice and leads the Global Consumer and Retail Omnichannel Team. He has more than 25 years of consulting and retail industry leadership experience. His expertise lies in revenue and profit improvement through multichannel customer engagement and fulfillment, store operations, store technology, merchandising, and supply-chain transformation strategies and processes. Currently Michael is working with clients on realizing the true financial benefit of their Omnichannel businesses by redefining the role of the store in the Omnichannel retailer, integrating inventory and supply across the channels and implementing new performance metrics to drive organization wide success.. Michael is based in New York. Prior to beginning his consulting career, Michael served as vice president of operations for Macy’s and Federated Department Stores in New York City.

Eric Buckner has spent years in tech at companies such as FTD and Sprint. Then he went on to launch products on both mobile and desktop at redbox, Groupon, and currently at Sears/Kmart. Iterating on products while listening to what the customer says is how Eric runs the "bottom of the funnel” on mobile at Sears/Kmart. He enjoys top notch ecommerce customer experiences, A/B testing, and prefers iOS.

Mr. Paul Bundonis has been the Chief Stores Officer of Bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. since January, 2011 where he is responsible for North American stores and global operations support. He joined Build-A-Bear in May 2006 as Managing Director of the western region and later served as Managing Director of the central region. Previously Bundonis served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Olly Shoes from 2003 to 2006. From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Bundonis served as Director Store Operations Planning and Development of Express (Limited Brands). From 1998 to 2000, he served as Vice President Merchandise Planning and Replenishment of Zany Brainy Inc. From 1990 to 1998 Bundonis held various operations positions with Eddie Bauer Inc. including Vice President of Store Operations. Mr. Bundonis began his career as an executive trainee with Macy’s Bambergers division (1983 to 1990), last serving as District Manager for the start-up of Macy’s Specialty Stores (Charter Club and Aeropostale stores).

Rick Castanho focuses on Customer Experience Architecture & Engagement for Lowe’s Home Improvement. He has spent the last 4 plus years with Lowe’s designing and implementing customer experiences while cultivating a customer-focused approach to experience design within Lowe’s. As Intent Architect for MyLowe’s, Rick was instrumental in the strategy, design, and rollout of Lowe’s customer facing digital environment in 2011. He also served as Intent Architect for Product Locator, an in-store product finding feature integrated into Lowe’s consumer & associate facing mobile applications released in 2013. He is currently leading efforts to align and activate Customer Experience Strategy and Design into great omni-channel customer experiences. Rick is very passionate about the emerging fusion of the Digital and Physical worlds as a platform on which to evolve the Home Improvement shopping experience for Lowe’s customers and to deliver to them great experiences time and time again. Prior to Lowe’s, Rick most recently was Director of Global User Experience at Monster.com. While there he led the development of a global UX discipline responsible for the redesign and launch of their customer facing website in 2009, which achieved a Webby Award. Rick has had extensive experience working with startups and as well as established leaders in designing digital and multi-channel experiences across a number of industries, including government, advertising, recruiting, financial services, news & media, and software. Rick is innovative, strategic, and very focused on creating great customer experiences. He thrives on uncovering disruptive models that change the way customers shop and experience their world. Rick earned Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UMASS, Dartmouth. Rick enjoys spending time with his family and pursuing his passion for painting in his free time.

Fang Cheng is the Chief Executive Officer of Proximiant. Proximiant is a venture-backed startup based in Silicon Valley, with a mission to make personalized shopping experience a reality for every cross-channel retailer. Previously, Fang co-founded Touchco, a company focusing on a new touch sensing technology and served as Chief Operation Officer. At Touchco, Fang led the business development and operation. The company was acquired by Amazon. In addition to the entrepreneurial experiences, Fang had extensive investment management experience at leading hedge funds. Most recently, Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Millennium Partners. She has a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from New York University.

Prior to being the VP of Retail at Patagonia, Robert Cohen held the position of Director of Inventory Planning. He also spent time at Gap as the Manager of Financial Planning-International Division, Director of Company Planning-International Division, and the Senior Director of Men’s Planning at Old Navy.

Ian Conway is the Director of Retail Channel and Shopper Insights at VF Corporation, a global market leader in apparel and footwear, with an incredibly diverse, international portfolio of brands and products that reach consumers wherever they choose to shop. He focuses on bringing VFC's diverse set of brands to life within and across channels. Prior to VF Corporation, he led L.L.Bean's Customer Insights group and drove the company's brand strategic initiatives.

Matt Dellandrea is a Manager at Canada’s largest sporting goods retailer Sport Chek, which is part of FGL Sports. Working closely on the development and implementation of staff and product training programs, Matt plays an important role in furthering the company-wide initiative of digitize the retail shopping experience, both in-store and online. Most recently, Matt worked with the FGL Sports store operations team on the opening of Sport Chek’s new 80,000 square foot flagship store in West Edmonton Mall. The store is considered to be the most digitally advanced store in North America and delivers an enhanced customer experience through a network of digital signage, interactive technology and show-stopping digital installations. Matt began his career as a Regional Trainer and moved on to a National Training Specialist, where he built and facilitated award winning large format training experiences for store staff.

With over 25 years in retail consulting, Mara specializes in developing innovative, world class retail consumer experiences for leading global clients. Key areas of expertise are store operations, channel integration, retail merchandising, marketing and customer relationship strategies and tactics that drive sales and profits for her clients. Mara has worked with over 100 clients in retail or consumer based businesses such as Nike, Ben&Jerry’s, 3DSystems, Florida Blue, Intel, Asics, Samsung, Garmin, JCPenney, Curves, T Mobile, La-Z-Boy, PPG, Budget Rent a Car, and P&G. Projects have included strategic planning, new channel development, new concept development, merchandise optimization, customer insight analysis, technology strategy, organization design and operational improvements. Prior to joining McMillanDoolittle, Mara was an Associate Partner at Accenture in their Global Retail Practice. In addition, Mara spent several years as the operations director of The Retail Place ™, Accenture’s center for Retail Industry expertise. Mara has graduate degrees in Computer Science and Finance and an undergraduate degree in Science.

Tim is responsible for all aspects of e-merchandising for America’s leading Internet grocer. This responsibility includes utilization of a variety of digital tools to drive merchandising success across Peapod’s Internet and mobile platforms. Additionally, Tim serves as Managing Director of Peapod Interactive, the company’s marketing services division. This division leverages the unique targeted media and information capabilities of the online shopping experience to create a suite of innovative online marketing service products. This is Tim’s second stint at Peapod, having been part of the company’s management team in the mid-late 90’s. Prior to re-joining Peapod, Tim was Chief Executive Officer for G2, a $150MM division of the Grey Global Group that focused on bringing innovative shopper marketing solutions to clients such as Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Nokia and Diageo. In this role, Tim was responsible for leading the company’s evolution from a retail co-marketing entity to a multi-media promotional marketing agency that became a leader in the emerging space known as “shopper marketing”. Tim has also held senior management positions at J.Walter Thompson, Ketchum Communications and Bozell, with responsibility for business units that brought integrated marketing solutions to Kellogg, Campbell’s, Sara Lee and ConAgra among others. In his spare time, Tim is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Medill School of Integrated Marketing Communications where he teaches a graduate level course in Shopper Marketing.

Paul is a deeply seasoned veteran of multi-channel digital media and consumer engagement, and is a frequent speaker and writer for several publications covering topics such as digital signage, digital and social media, the customer experience, and shopper marketing. Paul has served in executive roles with some of the industry’s leading companies, has consulted Fortune 100 clients on consumer engagement best practices and strategies, and has served on several industry association boards, including the Digital Signage Federation, Digital Screenmedia Association, and the Retail Customer Experience Advisory Board. Most recently, Paul served as Vice President of Communications for Pro-Motion Technology Group. From 2009-2012, Paul founded The Preset Group, an industry-leading consulting firm, and worked with Fortune 100 companies such as Sony, Microsoft, Best Buy, Darden Restaurants, Coca-Cola, and JetBlue. From 2005 to 2009, Paul managed Best Buy’s billion-dollar in-store digital media network. Before Best Buy, Paul spent seven years in professional sports developing customer experiences for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, minor league sports, and collegiate sports programs.

Angela is currently Sr. Director In Store Experience at Sleep Number where she leads the vision and strategy to elevate the brand through a consumer-centric interactive shopping experience that is considered "best in class" retail leadership. She is a highly experienced retail executive with demonstrated ability to establish sales driving marketing, branding and digital experiences that seamlessly elevate the customer journey. She has a proven track record increasing customer traffic and consideration by integrating leading edge technology into the bedding shopping experience, exceeding consumers’ expectations. Angela has demonstrated a record of quantifiable achievements in the leadership, design and marketing strategies to drive long term growth. Her experience also includes end-to-end holistic strategies for hard line and soft line categories in specialty, big box, events and theme retail formats.

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David Gusick is Director of eCommerce for Boot Barn, America's largest western and work store with over 150 retail locations in 23 states nationwide. David has P&L responsibility for Boot Barn's online business unit and oversees the company's digital marketing strategy, social marketing, site management & development and company-wide customer support. Prior to joining Boot Barn he was Chief of Direct Response for Sam Ash Music, the largest family-owned musical instrument retailer in the US, running Sam Ash Direct their online retail business. David has been involved with B2B online marketing since 1998 and prior to that spent 10 years in the software products industry in a range of marketing and technical positions.

Dwight D. Hill is the Founder and Managing Director of The Retail Advisory LLC. He has a proven record of leading design and implementation of improvements for retailers that streamline operations, improve the customer experience, and lead to profitable results.  His focus areas include Merchandising, Planning, Customer Experience and Store Strategy and Operations. 

Hill has been quoted on retail topics in a variety of publications including Forbes, NBC News Integrated Solutions for Retailers, The Dallas Morning News and The Dallas Business Journal.

Bill Hoffman is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Frontline Insights. Most recently he served as Senior Vice President of Customer Insight for Best Buy where he created and led the Consumer Insights Unit (CIU) responsible for the Customer Analytics, Customer & Consumer Research, Competitive Strategy/Intelligence, Market Analytics, and VOCE (Voice of the Customer through the Employee) teams. Prior to Best Buy, he was a Senior Expert in McKinsey & Company’s Strategy Practice. Prior, Hoffman was a Partner at The Gallup Organization and also served in SVP Strategy roles for Bank of America. Hoffman began his career at the Central Intelligence Agency where he earned the Balkans service medal & two exceptional performance awards; he also served in the United States Navy ending his tenure as a Lieutenant (Intel). He was selected for the Minneapolis/St. Paul "40 Under Forty" award in 2011.

Christopher is committed to iQmetrix’s growth, innovation, culture and integrity. He leads the Executive Team in ensuring all departments operate according to the company purpose: To create great experiences – at the workplace, in the products they build and in the service they deliver. Christopher has over 20 years of experience in the wireless industry. After beginning his career as a wireless retail entrepreneur in his home province of Saskatchewan in 1990, he founded iQmetrix in 1999, upon sensing a need for retail management software specific to wireless businesses. iQmetrix has grown to become the leading wireless retail management solution provider in North America. A former world-class Taekwondo champion, Christopher attributes much of his business success to the hard work and training he put in during his years of elite martial arts competition.

Marc Lamb played 4 years in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the 49ers, Giants, Redskins, and Eagles. Retired and has spent the last 15 years in the Consumer Electronics industry in multiple roles from Owner/Operator of Custom Integrator to Mass Market Manufacturing, Retail Buying to Custom Manufacturing, Mass Market Electronics to Luxury Electronics. Marc has held the role of a systems designer to National Sales Manager and as the current Director of Sales for Fine Sounds brands McIntosh Labs, Sonus faber, Wadia, and Sumiko.

Dave Lewan manages the sales team responsible for ForeSee’s In-Store measurements, as well as the team in Eastern Canada. He also manages ForeSee’s sales organization focused on the public sector, including government departments and agencies, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions. Dave leads ForeSee’s continuing expansion in these markets to help organizations measure and manage satisfaction of their website and in-store visitors. Dave brings more than 20 years of experience with sales, leadership, online strategy, technology, and consulting. Most recently, he served as vice president of product marketing and management at Gevity HR, where he served as the primary leadership and planning force for Gevity’s product and solutions strategy. Dave graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Speech Communications.

Robb McCarter’s responsibility and experience includes migrating difficult data architectures, E-Commerce platforms, mobile platforms, and on boarding new technology. He has a deep understanding of analytics, developing new strategies and strengthening the Omni-Channel experience for companies like Edwin Watts Golf.

As Chief Strategy Officer for iQmetrix, Scott is responsible for corporate strategy, employee development, corporate culture and marketing. During his 10 years at iQmetrix he has been a key member of the leadership team which has built a highly successful organization: iQmetrix has made the PROFIT 200 list and Canada’s Top 25 Employers list for three consecutive years. Known for his inclusive leadership style, Scott believes in the value of employee empowerment and development, and iQmetrix staff are regularly encouraged to make their own decisions. Over the past few years, Scott has helped manage rapid growth at iQmetrix, in terms of profitability, human resources and expansion into new geographic areas. Scott joined the iQmetrix team in 2003 and until 2011, served as Vice-President of Marketing. Before joining iQmetrix, Scott was an award-winning lecturer at the Faculty of Business Administration of his alma mater, the University of Regina. Scott has a wealth of experience in sales and marketing, with stints at Royal Bank of Canada, SaskTel, ISC, Pattison Group and Westfair Foods. He has a B.Admin and an MBA from the University of Regina. In his spare time, Scott enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with his family and sampling beers from around the world.

Mark McKelvey is the Divisional Vice President of Retail Solutions, which is part of the Digital Retail division at Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) He leads the team that creates new and enhanced capabilities for REI’s digital properties including rei.com, m.rei.com, mobile applications, and in-store systems such as mobile point-of-sale.

With a career in visual merchandising that spans two decades, David Mollon is currently Divisional Vice President of Global Visual Merchandising for Coach. In this capacity he develops, leads, and communicates strategic objectives and brand standards in partnership with more than 40 distributors throughout Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, and Europe. David's expertise lies in collaborating with international retail leaders to forecast and execute market-specific projects that positively impact global sales. Additionally, he manages new store design and retail execution. Previously, David held similar positions for international brands including Miss Sixty, Nautica, Kipling, and Urban Outfitters.

Samuel Mueller is the CEO and co-founder of Scandit and is responsible for overall strategic direction, marketing, sales and business development. Prior to Scandit, Samuel was a management consultant and project leader for multinational companies such as Swiss Airlines, Swiss Re and IBM as well as a corporate researcher at the renowned IBM Zurich Research Lab. While at IBM, Samuel was awarded an IBM Research Division Award and a total of three IBM Invention Achievement Awards. He has authored numerous patent applications and has published his research results in leading conferences and journals. Samuel holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and graduated summa cum laude with an MSc in Computer Science and an MA in Financial Economics, both from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He is regularly invited to speak at high-profile industry conferences.

Milton Pedraza is the CEO of the Luxury Institute. Over the past 10 years, Milton has established the Luxury Institute as an independent and objective luxury research company and a trusted boutique consulting firm. Known globally as the foremost resource for affluent consumer insights and customer experience best practices, the Luxury Institute has served hundreds of luxury goods and services brands across numerous categories. Milton advises and serves on the Boards of top-tier luxury and premium brands, start-ups, and private investment firms. He is sought after worldwide for his candid and forward-thinking views on luxury and is the most quoted industry expert in leading media outlets and publications. Milton is an authority on CRM, Analytics and Big Data. Prior to founding the Luxury Institute, his successful career at Fortune 100 companies included executive roles at Altria, Pepsico, Colgate, Citigroup and Wyndham Worldwide.

Terry Redding joined CFI Group in 2007. Prior to assuming responsibility for CFI Group’s technology platform his voice of customer client experience spanned a wide variety of industries including credit unions, retail, Telco, and hospitality. Author of CFI Group’s two year old Retail Barometer industry index, Terry has also led the efforts of the Call Center Satisfaction Index for the past seven years. Curious by nature, his comments and articles have been published in a variety of industry magazines and journals (Customer Magazine, E-Commerce Times, Marketwatch, and CFO Magazine), Terry is a former instructor for the American Management Association in the area of corporate performance management. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Shana Rocheleau, VP – Strategic Development at Bedgear Performance Bedding, has an MBA in Strategy from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. Over the last twelve years prior to joining bedgear, Shana has worked as a buyer responsible for product development, merchandising and category analysis for three major US retailers. She understands how to target products and packaging to most efficiently meet the sales goals and performance metrics of each retail channel. She has also worked as an independent consultant in restructuring manufacturing businesses for optimal profitability and market success. Shana has been with bedgear since the inception of the brand in 2008 and currently leads new business initiatives. Bedgear is a high-growth company that was ranked #26 for Consumer Products in the 2012 Inc. 500 awards, and was #8 in the 2013 Crain’s NY Fast 50.

Chad has been working in retail/digital/innovation for the last decade. Whether brand side with Prada or agency side with VaynerMedia, he's helped shape some of the largest brands digital strategies. He currently runs Development/Partnerships for Sonic Notify, an enterprise beacon platform based in NYC. He's extremely passionate about how we interact with physical locations and its intersection with technology. He is constantly in search of good BBQ.

Dr. Nadia Shouraboura is the CEO of Hointer. Hointer is reinventing the shopping experience, making it easy and fun. At Hointer men and women have a new way of discovering, trying-on and buying great clothing. Nadia was born in Soviet Russia and pursued her education in mathematics and science in the city of Moscow. In 1987 she began her career, after emigrating from Russia to Israel, as a software developer working on Computer Aided Design systems for industrial robotics. Her work attracted the attention of professors at Princeton University in the US, where she was offered a full scholarship for study and research. During her PhD work, Nadia performed research at AT&T Bell Labs and co-founded Starlight Multimedia, a developer of multi-media applications. Her work at Princeton resulted in several important papers, referenced by over 200 publications. She received a PhD in Mathematics from Princeton. In 1994 Nadia joined a technology startup, Diamond Technology Partners, working with a variety of major retail companies. Later she joined a JP Morgan Venture startup, Mobilocity, as its Managing Director in charge of the wireless division. Following her leadership role at Mobilocity, Nadia became a pioneer in the emerging world of energy trading, joining Exelon as the manager responsible for the energy trading algorithms and software. Nadia joined Amazon.com in March of 2004. As Technology Vice President of Amazon’s Worldwide Operations she owned technology powering Amazon’s global supply chain and fulfillment. Nadia also served on Jeff Bezos' senior leadership team responsible for overall direction and operations of Amazon. Nadia lives in Seattle with her husband and sixteen year-old daughter.

Adam serves eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals. His research focuses on eBusiness strategy, technologies, solutions, and operations, including eCommerce platforms, mobile commerce, and in-store commerce technologies. Having spent more than 15 years leading eCommerce teams, Adam has extensive experience of innovating at and operating multichannel retail businesses. He has specific expertise in helping eBusiness leaders define their strategy, understand the supporting technology landscape, determine the appropriate organizational structure, and define and measure success.

Prior to Forrester, Adam was the vice president and general manager at Alibris, a marketplace for independent sellers of books and media. Along with establishing the strategic vision for the organization, he managed marketing, product development, and operations. Prior to Alibris, Adam was director of marketing for Musician's Friend, a $400 million musical instrument retailer. While at Musician's Friend, Adam helped define and deploy a full suite of eCommerce technology solutions designed to enable richer experiences for its customers and greater scale for the organization. Adam also developed one of the first social commerce applications for Wet Seal, where he was director of eCommerce.

Adam holds a BBA in marketing from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with an emphasis in music. He has also studied international business in the UK at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Christopher Skinner is currently the Vice President of Global VMSD for the growing LVMH Perfume and Cosmetics brand, FRESH. Having started in retail 10 years ago, and building his way up from a 'Store Greeter', Christopher has created a career working with brands focusing on re-branding or launching themselves into new and emerging markets. He has strong proficiencies in brand DNA and VMSD elements, processes and strategies for expansion, point-of-sale engagement and the luxury consumer.

Anne Marie Stephen is a veteran of retail analytics and oversees all of iinside’s retail sales efforts, providing data-driven insights for leading North American brick-and-mortar retailers. Anne Marie served for two years as vice president of business development for Path Intelligence, providers of mobile sourced shopper intelligence. She previously worked as regional sales manager for ForeSee and served for six years as sales and business development manager for ShopperTrak. She is also a co-founder of Smart Women in Retail Leadership and serves as a mentor for The Brand and Retail Center of Innovation. Ms. Stephen graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Mr. Stover has more than 25 years of leadership in Consumer Industries and OmniCommerce-Enabled Business Transformation; converting Strategy, Technology, and Process into operational excellence. He has worked across the globe successfully helping Global 50 and emergent companies deliver long-term profitable growth, appeared multiple times on radio and television and spoken at dozens of conclaves as an expert on Industry Convergence and Innovation. He has previously held positions as COO of a international holding company expanding brands from West to East, Trading Industries Lead in APJ for SAP, Global Partner in charge of Consumer Innovation at Deloitte and Retail Technology Partner at Accenture.

Sanjeev is the CEO and Co-founder at Intelligence Node. He focuses on client acquisition and the business vision - driving the strategic direction of the product offering and customer experience. He brings deep retail industry knowledge, having previously worked as CFO for Exclusively.in (a multi-brand ecommerce luxury fashion portal) – now acquired by Snapdeal and CFO for SherSingh.com (a private label ecommerce fast fashion brand) – now acquired by Myntra.com. Sanjeev is a graduate of London Business School.

Adam Toporek is a Customer Experience Strategist, speaker, author and the founder of CTS Service Solutions – a customer experience consultancy that helps organizations deliver Hero-Class Customer Service™ through scalable and effective real-world solutions. With experience in both the wholesale and retail musical products environments and as a regional developer and franchisee for two national service brands, Adam helps organizations not only design better customer experiences but also execute their designs on the front lines. Adam is the founder of the Customers That Stick website, one of the world’s most popular resources on the topics of customer experience and customer service. He is a contributor to Salesforce.com, CustomerThink, and Business2Community. He has been recognized in both ICMI’s “#CustomerService 100” and Huffington Post’s “Top 100 Most Social Customer Service Pros On Twitter.” Adam has a BBA from the University of Georgia, has an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and is a Net Promoter Certified Associate. His forthcoming book on frontline customer service is being released by AMACOM Books in Spring 2015.

Steve Wallin is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Frontline Insights. He has spent his career creating and launching innovative new programs and building high performing teams within the Retail and Software industry - always in service of the customer and employee experience. His 20-year career has included leadership roles in professional services, training, customer care, operations, and consumer insights. During this time Steve has learned through experience how to quickly and effectively scale new initiatives in large organizations and how to use employee and customer insights to drive innovation. Prior to Frontline Insights Wallin spent 8 years at Best Buy where he created and launched many unique programs. He led the national launch of Geek Squad’s first online customer technical support, now called Geek Squad Tech Support. He also launched Geek Squad’s first internal employee technical support team called “Secret Weapon”. This innovative team provided a unique employee facing technical support capability that allowed Geek Squad to handle technical escalations, learn from the issues it was solving and deploy proactive solutions to eliminate future issues. In 2010, he joined Hoffman in CIU as his right hand where he led development of and launched Best Buy's first formal VOC (Voice Of Customer) department and created the Voice Of the Customer through the Employee (VOCE) program as Vice President of Consumer Insights Strategy & Execution (ISE). VOCE is a unique “always on” approach to gathering insights from the front lines to help guide business decisions and allows corporate/store leaders to engage employees on a variety of business topics. VOCE was selected as a Harvard Business Review/McKinsey & Company M-Prize winner for Management Innovation. Prior to Best Buy Steve worked at Firstlogic Inc, a B2B software company focused on data quality, where he had a variety of leadership roles in training, professional services and customer care.

Mike Wittenstein started IBM’s first customer experience practice in 1999. Since then, under the Storyminers® name, he has been using experience design as a business strategy to positively impact retailers and the businesses that support them. His clients have enjoyed over $1.5B in sales impact as he helps them focus on the human element in addition to the bottom line. Mike is a global experience designer, consultant and speaker with over two decades of experience. His work has taken him to more than 25 countries and he has helped over 400 companies. His expertise is in using customer experience design as a strategy for increasing sales and profit. He helps leaders and their companies find the kind of differentiation customers notice and competitors find impossible to replicate. Mike knows how to effectively blend design, technology, operations, marketing, mobile, and people. He’s brings “in the trenches” know-how from a wide variety of innovation projects including: McDonald’s, Best Buy, kinko’s, Party City, and IBM. Mike is approachable, knowledgeable, and most of all authentic. He’s got a passion for his craft and a great way with stories. Having lived abroad for a couple of years, he speaks four languages.

Jeremy leads the data science and analytics team at RichRelevance, with a focus on expanding and improving product capabilities through the application of statistical and machine learning techniques. Previously, Jeremy was Principal Scientist at DS-IQ, where he managed the design and development of its shopper marketing solutions, including a system for optimizing the sales impact of in-store video content, and development of cross-channel targeting and recommendations systems. Prior to DS-IQ, he built and led Amazon's Website Experimentation Software team, and made significant contributions to Amazon’s personalization capabilities by pioneering automated, scientific approaches to evaluating and managing content. His efforts resulted in many millions of dollars in increased sales; he is listed as an inventor on seven Amazon.com patent applications. Jeremy earned his MS and PhD in Statistics at the University of Washington, where his doctoral thesis was awarded the international Leonard J. Savage Award. He also holds a BS in Statistics, with highest honors, from the University of Illinois.

As VP & Creative Director of Store Development at Luxottica North America, Bink Zengel leads a talented and dynamic team of strategic designers who make dreams come true. The team develops new store design concepts for LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Pearle, Target Optical, Sears Optical, and Luxury Brands. Her leadership extends across disciplines to develop and enhance branded customer experiences. She believes the magic is connecting great ideas with great people like her partners in consumer insights, finance, brand development, omni- channel, and visual merchandising. On a good day her team invents and on a great day they are mad scientists. An architect and graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Bink began her career as a designer first at FRCH and The Limited before joining Luxottica. In her most recent adventure, Bink was the first full time blogger for Onesight where she told the story of the Kaifeng, China Clinic.