Attendees

Media measurement; Content development at scale; Capital; Website optimization; Retail measurement

• Omnichannel sales and media measurement
• Wholesale and retail digital advertising support
• AI-generated content

Databox for its ease of setup, flexibility, great customer service, integration with AI, and easy sharing capabilities.

I help consumer, DTC, and experiential brands unlock sustainable, profitable growth — and I do it as an operator, not an advisor on the sidelines.

Over 15-plus years I’ve built full-funnel acquisition systems, retention engines, and the teams that run them, with full P&L accountability. I’ve worked in-house at brands, inside agencies, and in private equity environments, which means I can diagnose an underperforming marketing system quickly and rebuild it without stalling revenue on the way.

Where I’m strongest: new-to-market launches and high-stakes turnarounds. The moments where there’s no playbook yet, or the old one stopped working.

Highlights from my career:
✓ Beekman1802 (PE-backed beauty): Took over the e-commerce P&L and reset the operating model: +27 percent revenue growth, CAC down 20 percent, site conversion up 10 percent in one year.
✓Allergan Aesthetics: Modernized Brilliant Distinctions (now Allē), the largest loyalty program in aesthetics: membership +40 percent, revenue per active member +21 percent.
✓The Bouqs Company: Led customer marketing and partnerships through a scale phase, growing revenue from $35 million to $50 million and lifting lifecycle-driven revenue 55 percent.
✓RPA: Built the audience intelligence practice from scratch, supporting $700 million-plus in annual media spend across five enterprise brands.
✓FeedMe (Flavorhawk): Built the marketing function from zero and launched the app at a $5 cost per download.

I also believe the modern marketing organization looks different than it did three years ago. Strategy, audience, and brand stay human-led; execution increasingly belongs to an AI engine operating inside clear guardrails. I’ve published my framework for how that works — and I build teams that run on it.

We do not yet have a functioning ERP, and our order management and inventory system has been in a holding pattern from meaningful enhancements until we have the ERP live.

• ERP go-live and related enhancements (two-plus years in the making, 2027 is go live)
• Global HRIS RFP happening now, to go live in late 2027
• AI adoption across the company
• Content management system overhaul to support global business growth
• Potential needs: Product lifecycle management solution, inventory planning solution

I am not an authority on that for all areas of the business based on my scope and decision rights as the senior vice president of people. Within my scope, Culture Amp has been a strong tech partner. It comes from a values-aligned place, and has excellent partner support with rich expertise not only on its platform but also in assisting my team in the data analysis and designing go-forward strategies for surveys, etc.

I am a creative people and e-commerce leader who has anchored my career in positively impacting culture and driving business results in collaborative, entrepreneurial team settings.

I currently lead the people organization at Balsam Brands, where our purpose is to Create Joy Together: for our teams, our customers, and our communities. I shifted to people strategy and organizational change-focused work about a decade ago, after having spent the first part of my career in merchandising and e-commerce roles at Gap, Inc.

My strengths include effectively managing change, easily transitioning to new modes of thinking and operating, and inspiring teams to pursue their best ideas. I believe in empowering people to be their best selves at work and leaning into a growth mindset to translate learning into performance (for people and the business!).

We're launching on Shopify and solving for many of our historical challenges. Our big areas of focus as we build our 12- and 24-month road map are acquisition, conversion and retention.

Our big areas of focus as we build our 12- and 24-month road map are acquisition, conversion and retention.

Support. We want partners that are invested in our business outcomes and go above and beyond to provide exceptional service.

Ellen Pope is the senior director of e-commerce at Bonobos, where she oversees the online business. With over 10 years of experience spanning retail and CPG, she is passionate about digital solutioning, go-to-market strategies, customer acquisition, and best-in-class user experience.

• Integration across brands
• Legacy technology platform for some of the systems

Long-range planning to be done over the next couple of months. Primary initiatives will focus on establishing easier onboarding for multiple tenants across systems (e-commerce and fulfillment) as well as AI enablement across the organization.

Proactive focus on challenges/issues and being a stakeholder more than a vendor.

Maturing the e-commerce digital technology stack across Chamberlain's enterprise portfolio.

• Finalize migration of Liftmaster and Chamberlain web properties to a composable commerce technology stack (Contentstack, Alokai, SAP Commerce)
• We are missing key infrastructure across PIM and CDN/video hosting solutions.

Responsive and sized to our needs.

Fractional digital and e-commerce leadership for Chamberlain Group, a private equity-backed manufacturer of connected access products, spanning the myQ consumer platform, the Chamberlain retail brand, and the LiftMaster professional dealer and installer channel.

Currently leading a major capital re-platforming of Chamberlain's front-end web experience, targeting a 2027 launch — platform architecture, experience design, and delivery sequencing.

Discovery phase of optimizing e-commerce, personalization, retail planning optimization (currently on Excel spreadsheet), where and how to us AI across business to optimize guest experience.

E-commerce platform shift from X-cart to Shopify. Looking for optimizations for phase two.

Bounteous->Full tech stack capabilities/partnership, project management, team support.

Sarah BoulayHaupt is vice president of retail and e-commerce at Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants, where she leads retail and omnichannel strategies that drive growth, elevate the guest experience, and strengthen brand loyalty. With more than 20 years of experience in retail leadership, she specializes in retail strategy, merchandising, digital commerce, and leveraging technology to create seamless customer experiences. Sarah is passionate about helping retailers innovate, adapt to changing consumer expectations, and deliver meaningful business results.

Antiquated technology in back-office and website.

Update loyalty and online ordering platform. Upgrade back-office servers.

Cost at this point.

Jocelyn Ickes is a technology and digital transformation leader with extensive experience connecting business strategy, customer experience, and technology. She has led and supported complex digital initiatives spanning loyalty, CRM, e-commerce, and guest-facing platforms, bringing together technology, marketing, operations, and external partners to deliver scalable solutions. Jocelyn is passionate about using technology to simplify complex business challenges and create seamless, engaging customer experiences. She is known for her collaborative leadership style and ability to translate strategy into execution.

Dated MMS

• RMS replacement
• Evaluation of PIM, assortment and space planning modules

Innovation partnership — process, tools and tech

Heather Hager was named Senior Vice President, Retail in February 2026, after joining Cracker Barrel as Vice President, Retail & Design in 2024. With retail serving as a powerful differentiator for the brand, Ms. Hager leads the retail organization at an enterprise level, strengthening alignment, agility, and execution while building on Cracker Barrel’s strong foundation.

Ms. Hager has more than 20 years of experience across retail and hospitality, with a background spanning retail design, brand and customer experience, strategy, and finance.

Prior to joining Cracker Barrel, Ms. Hager was President of Communitees, a retail consultancy, that grew brands’ impressions and profitability. She previously served as President of Ann Sacks, a manufacturer and retailer within Kohler. Earlier in her career, she spent 14 years at Starbucks Coffee Company, holding leadership roles across Strategy, Customer Experience, Brand, and Category Management, where she assembled and led the company’s first dedicated customer experience team. She also held finance and merchandise leadership roles at Limited Brands and began her career in business advisory services at PwC, focused on the retail and consumer goods sectors.

Ms. Hager holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from New York University, and a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University. She also earned an Associate of Arts in Interior Design, reflecting her passion for integrating design and business leadership.

Adapting to growing consumer expectations on connected commerce

Building omni-connected commerce experiences like digitally enabled fitting rooms, in-store app experiences, omni checkout.

They partner with us to co-create new capabilities!

Synergy, due to recent merge

Online platform, personalization

Partnership, test and learn new initiatives, and responds quickly when issues arise.

I bring 18 years of store management experience and 10 years in corporate operations, with a strong focus on delivering the best possible customer experience. I take pride in being a customer advocate, partnering cross-functionally with Technology, Analytics, Customer Master Data, Marketing, and Finance to ensure downstream systems and business processes are aligned, supported, and positioned for success.

Being more efficient with the multitude of systems utilized by the company as well as accessing data and making decisions quickly.

• Implementation of our real estate system of record
• Implementation of our eProcurement system of record
• Utilizing AI from corporate-down rollout

Communication and clarity

Clinton “CJ” York is vice president of construction, architecture, and special projects at Family Dollar, bringing more than 30 years of leadership experience across retail, supply chain, procurement, construction administration, business development, contract negotiation, manufacturing, and customer service. A performance-focused leader, CJ has built his career driving strategic initiatives, improving processes, strengthening vendor partnerships, and delivering operational results in complex, fast-paced environments.

Prior to his current role, CJ held leadership positions with Compass Datacenters, Dollar Tree, and Aggregate Trades, where he led global supply chain, procurement, construction analysis, budgeting, and cross-functional execution. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who served more than eight years in the Naval Nuclear program, including time as an instructor and aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71.

Martech consolidation

Measurement partner RFP

Consistent results, accurate measurement

Retail executive with 20-plus years of omni/digital experience leading P&Ls at scale ($8 billion-plus). Proven track record of driving profitable growth and unlocking enterprise performance for notable brands including eBay-Fashion, Gap Inc., and Walgreens. Distinguishes herself as an GM/operator through her experience across multiple core functions, including merchandising, performance marketing, and product management. Category depth spanning fashion, home, and wellness/beauty industries across stores and e/m-commerce in full/off-price and marketplace models. Ability to navigate and influence across highly matrixed organizations and lead high-performing teams. Recognized as an omni operator with digital depth and merchant instincts with a keen pulse on consumer and cultural trends that define brands. Specializes in enterprise transformations and turnaround situations.

Integrating AI with our customer service department

Integrating AI with our customer service department

Value

Hyper Microsystems is a privately owned company strategically located in the greater Chicago area. We specialize in asset recovery, remarketing and distribution of new and refurbished consumer electronics and IT equipment.

We operate in a dynamic and fast-paced environment with real-time inventory systems and sophisticated quality control processes. We ensure continuous world-class management of more than 15,000 SKUs.

As consumer discovery shifts from traditional search to AI-powered experiences, one of our biggest challenges is ensuring our product data, content, and customer-generated content are structured and optimized for both shoppers and AI systems. We're also focused on balancing short-term conversion improvements with long-term investments in AI commerce readiness, while integrating new technologies into an established retail ecosystem.

• Preparing our e-commerce experience for AI-driven discovery and emerging commerce channels.
• Enhancing product data quality, structured attributes, and review content to improve AI visibility and discoverability.
• Optimizing site navigation and findability for both customers and machine-readable experiences.
• Streamlining checkout through faster payment methods and conversion-focused improvements.
• Advancing AI-assisted shopping experiences and personalization capabilities.
• Building the technical foundation needed for future agentic and conversational commerce.

My favorite technology partners act as strategic advisors rather than vendors. The qualities I value most are transparency, innovation, and a willingness to collaborate through challenges. The partners I continue working with consistently bring new ideas, understand our business goals, provide measurable value, and help us stay ahead of emerging industry trends instead of simply maintaining the status quo.

Shalise Mein is an e-commerce operations manager at James Avery Artisan Jewelry, where she leads cross-functional initiatives focused on digital commerce strategy, site optimization, AI readiness, and customer experience. With a background spanning e-commerce operations, digital marketing, and retail technology, she specializes in translating business objectives into scalable digital solutions. Shalise is passionate about emerging technologies, AI-powered commerce, and the future of customer discovery. She regularly collaborates with executive leadership and technology partners to drive innovation, improve operational efficiency, and prepare organizations for the next generation of digital shopping experiences.

Our primary technology challenges center around creating a stronger data foundation to support faster, more informed decision-making and more personalized customer experiences. We're focused on improving the quality and accessibility of our analytics so teams can confidently act on insights. At the same time, we're evolving to deliver personalized content, merchandising, and journeys based on customer segments and behaviors.

Over the next 12 months, we are focused on strengthening our digital foundation to support more personalized, data-driven customer experiences. Key initiatives include implementing a new digital analytics platform, launching an A/B testing solution to enable faster experimentation and optimization, and expanding personalization capabilities across the e-commerce journey. We are also evaluating technologies that improve AI-powered product discovery, search, merchandising, and content management to help our global teams move faster while delivering more relevant experiences for our customers.

There is not a single quality that defines a great technology partner. The best partners continuously invest in their platform by delivering meaningful innovation while providing exceptional client support. We value partners who listen to feedback, collaborate on long-term strategy, proactively share industry best practices, and help ensure we are maximizing the value of their solution as our business evolves.

I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and earned my Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Portland State University. I am a digital product management professional with nine years of e-commerce experience, primarily in the footwear industry. My career has progressed through customer service, e-commerce operations, digital quality assurance, customer experience, and product management, giving me a well-rounded perspective on building customer-focused digital experiences. Today, I partner with engineering, UX, marketing, analytics, and business stakeholders to define product strategy and deliver digital experiences that improve both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. I enjoy evaluating emerging technologies and identifying practical ways they can create measurable value for both the business and our customers.

1. Data governance within a matrixed organization with multiple tech ecosystems
2. Product attribution and discoverability on the cusp of agentic AI
3. Enterprise-level reporting that doesn't require extraordinary manual lift
4. Assortment optimization from buy to distribution to drive inventory ROI

1. AI in product and marketing asset design — manual processes that can be automated to shorten and reduce cost in our product lifecycle and go-to-market processes
2. Assortment optimization tools from MFP to allocation
3. GEO/discoverability

Responsiveness and a true understanding of the business functionality the tech enables.

Jennifer Dorre is senior vice president of business transformation at KnitWell Group, the eight-brand specialty retail portfolio behind Ann Taylor, LOFT, Talbots, Lane Bryant, Chico’s, White House Black Market, Soma, and Haven Well Within. She is known for walking into unformed, under-governed environments and building the engine that turns C-suite strategy into governed, measurable execution — standing up transformation offices, designing new operating models, and leading high-impact teams.

At KnitWell, she built a transformation office from scratch sequencing the strategic road map into governed priority initiatives, consistently surfacing enterprise value and resource efficiencies. Across two decades, from Victoria’s Secret and David Yurman to private-equity turnaround work for Bain Capital and Sycamore Partners, Jennifer has shown that transformation leadership is most indispensable precisely when times are hardest.

Exploring a PLM system.

Exploring new merchandising and product lifecycle management tools.

N/A

Retail merchant with 20-plus years experience working for global brands and retailers across genders, categories and channels.

• AI governance and Tokenomics
• Managing capex budgets between tech debt-related initiatives vs. AI projects

• Rolling out AI to field associates
• VMWare elimination
• H/W upgrades in stores and distribution centers

Someone who can bring good solutions and go that extra mile to solve problems pertaining to Michaels. Someone who can bring trust, transparency and joint innovation.

Suresh Sreeramulu is a technology executive with nearly three decades of experience in infrastructure engineering, IT operations, and enterprise data platforms across retail, logistics, and manufacturing. He currently serves as vice president of infrastructure and operations at Michaels Stores, leading global technology operations with a focus on cloud modernization, operational resilience, and AI adoption. He holds a MBA from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

Balancing digital growth initiatives and innovations with platform stability and scalability. Accelerating AI adoption while maintaining strong governance, security, and measurable business value.

Advancing digital commerce, modernizing customer experiences, improving platform performance, and expanding AI-driven engineering practices.

Accountability and partnership. Our partners act as an extension of our team, understand our business goals, and consistently deliver results.

Harish is vice president of digital technology at Michaels, with extensive experience in retail and digital technology. He leads digital commerce and technology transformation initiatives focused on customer experience, platform modernization, AI adoption, and engineering excellence.

• Outdated POS system
• Lack a strong communication platform
• Need better inventory visibility to power omnichannel experience

• Implement workforce management system
• Begin to research new POS systems

• Responsiveness to concerns
• High level of customer service
• Forward thinking

How do we help our brands grow?

Looking for strategy to revamp brand(s) and solution has to be at enterprise level.

One 30-minute discussion on our problem statement. They come back in three weeks, sharing our problem statement, what they understood, and proposing a discovery plan to build a strategic plan.

Connecting data and systems we have into a seamless orchestration layer that can personalize experiences, rewards, offers, etc., at scale across all channels.

We're flexible and exploring options.

Collaborative partners who are willing to truly understand internally built tools; not continually upsell, but truly build value-added solutions.

Krista Gunstone is a customer strategy and digital transformation executive with more than 18 years of experience helping lead consumer brands accelerate growth through loyalty, customer engagement, and digital innovation. Her career spans leadership roles at Nike, Amazon.com, and Nordstrom, as well as management consulting engagements advising brands including Microsoft, Expedia Group, VF Corp, Foot Locker, and American Eagle. As a senior director within Nike Digital, Krista leads global lifecycle, loyalty, and owned engagement strategies across one of the world's largest membership ecosystems. She is recognized for driving large-scale transformation initiatives that connect customer strategy, data, technology, and AI to deliver business impact.

There are so many vendors in the space with the onset of AI; finding the right partner that offers a scalable product and will be in business for the next few years.

AI for back-end and front-end automations.

They acts as partners not vendors; they're in it with us.

Jeff Haddox is a senior digital commerce and technology executive with extensive experience leading enterprise-scale retail transformation, omnichannel growth, and data-driven business operations. With a career spanning more than two decades, he has held chief executive, chief digital officer, and senior P&L leadership roles across retail, e-commerce, and education technology organizations. He is recognized for building high-performing teams, scaling digital businesses, and aligning technology, marketing, merchandising, and operations to drive profitable growth.

Haddox is best known for his transformational leadership at Pier 1 Imports, where he built the company’s e-commerce business from the ground up into a
$500 million-plus omnichannel operation spanning more than 1,000 stores. Under his leadership, digital commerce became a core revenue engine, generating approximately one-third of total company revenue while improving profitability and integrating complex omnichannel capabilities across merchandising, supply chain, and store operations. He also led the development of performance frameworks that shifted the organization toward full P&L accountability and sustainable growth metrics.

Haddox has also held senior leadership roles at RuffleButts and Risepoint, where he led digital transformation, customer analytics, and revenue growth initiatives. At RuffleButts, he managed the full e-commerce P&L and drove 24 percent annual revenue growth while increasing customer lifetime value through advanced CRM, personalization, and cross-functional alignment. At Risepoint, he improved marketing efficiency and lead performance by implementing predictive analytics and lifecycle engagement strategies that strengthened long-term conversion outcomes across higher education partnerships.

In his current role as chief technology officer and chief operating officer at Omni Retail Enterprises, Haddox oversees operations across a multibrand portfolio of digitally native retail companies. He holds full P&L responsibility across seven brands and leads enterprise technology strategy, customer experience, merchandising, logistics, and marketing execution. His leadership has driven significant revenue growth, cost efficiency improvements, and the modernization of legacy retail brands through proprietary commerce platforms, shared services models, and integrated analytics capabilities.

Earlier in his career, Haddox held progressive leadership roles at Pier 1 Imports and has continued to contribute to the broader industry as an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas and Southern New Hampshire University, where he teaches digital analytics and marketing. He holds a Doctor of Business Administration in Leadership from Walden University, a MBA in Information Systems from Tarleton State University, and a BBA in Economics from the University of North Texas. Across his career, he has established a reputation as a hands-on transformation leader who combines analytical rigor with operational execution to scale businesses, modernize retail ecosystems, and drive sustained enterprise value creation.

• Point of sale that integrates with Salesforce
• Robust analytics systems (e.g., paid version of Google Analytics)
• Outfitting tool that allows customer to buy full outfit in one (or minimal) clicks
• Size guide tool that gets the customer into the right size
• Solid web development agency partner

• Launching a consumer engagement platform/consumer data platform
• Digital redesign of website
• Introducing AI into workflows

Transparency and the ability to be nimble

Consolidating all information on a single platform. Currently use multiple apps to run my e-commerce business.

Claude co-work, building skills, moving social media/marketing to be less hands-on.

Shopify. It makes the platform easy to use, easy to integrate, has a ton of apps to fill the gaps, connects with Claude, and its Sidekick app is also great for building reporting!

Jackie Hutson is an entrepreneur, product development and sourcing expert, and advocate for founders and companies building successful product-based businesses.

She is the **founder of Piper & Mint**, a women’s lifestyle brand created to develop thoughtfully designed products that solve real problems for women, including its innovative line of temperature-regulating sleepwear designed for women experiencing night sweats and hormonal changes.

Jackie is also the **co-founder of The Sourcing Gals**, a sourcing, manufacturing, and product development company that helps entrepreneurs and established businesses bring products to life and expand into new categories. Through The Sourcing Gals, Jackie works with founders and brands to take an idea from concept to finished product while also helping existing businesses identify new opportunities for growth through products such as **accessories, merchandise, apparel, and other branded goods**.

With years of experience in the fashion and manufacturing industries, Jackie has worked across the entire product lifecycle, from concept development and global sourcing to manufacturing, pricing, sales, and scaling. She understands the challenges that come with bringing a physical product to market and helps businesses navigate the process strategically, from finding the right manufacturing partners and developing products to building a profitable business model around them.

Through The Sourcing Gals, Jackie is passionate about helping businesses **expand beyond what they currently sell**, whether that means launching a first product, adding an entirely new category, creating branded merchandise, or developing products that open up new revenue streams.

Jackie is known for combining real-world industry expertise with an entrepreneurial, hands-on approach. Through both Piper & Mint and The Sourcing Gals, her mission is to **help create better products, build better businesses, and empower more entrepreneurs to turn ideas into profitable opportunities.**

Inventory

• Switch to Shopify
• Utilize AI
• Optimize E-Commerce

Shopify for e-commerce is intuitive compared to LightSpeed

Traci Walton’s earliest entrepreneurial venture was selling gold jewelry in college, from her dorm room. In 1988, she expanded the family business of Texaco stations. Declaring no love for the gas station business, she went on to found Advanced Mortgage Resources, selling it to Equifax in 1997.

She then fell in love with the mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and was named top wish grantor in the U.S. in 2005. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards.
After homeschooling her three youngest children for several years, she founded PLENTY Mercantile with her oldest daughter in 2012. The mission of PLENTY Mercantile is to use the power of business to advance good on a retail level. To source sustainable refined goods and foster memorable gatherings that deepen our connection to our environment and to each other.
Over the last 14 years, PLENTY Mercantile has grown to include multiple storefronts, including becoming the First National Center gift shop and securing the Will Rogers Airport retail contract. PLENTY Mercantile also has a robust online presence and an event venue attached to its flagship store.

• Expensive
• Siloed: one product per need vs. one product that serves multiple needs
• Challenge to find AI design vendors that can create both realistic outputs but also able to size furniture to scale or use all our furniture in one output (e.g., design a living room lifestyle image with one of our sofas, one of our ottomans, one of our rugs, etc., so that the singular image is all Raymour products).

• AI enablement
• LLM visibility
• Brand awareness and consideration (dynamic creative optimization)

• Responsive
• Robust data
• Analytical
• Data-driven

Hi! I'm Urja Dave, senior manager of performance marketing at Raymour & Flanigan, where I own omnichannel media investment across paid search and affiliate for the furniture and mattress retailer. I spend my days turning cross-channel data into decisions leadership can act on — and lately, a lot of that means figuring out how AI is rewriting the rules of discovery. Always up for talking about AI, incrementality, operations, and new ideas to help brands break through the crowded media landscape.

Scaling merchandising technology to keep pace with AI-driven search and personalization demands across the site.

Scaling AI implementations across site search and merchandising — including GEO/AI search optimization for key product launches — alongside architecture upgrades to reebok.com's information hierarchy that support a broader full-price strategy without relying on deeper discounting.

Still evaluating partners in this space.

Director of e-commerce at Reebok International, leading site merchandising, category management, digital strategy, and analytics for reebok.com. Over nearly seven years at Reebok, has driven cross-functional go-to-market execution for major product launches — including AI-informed search and landing page strategy for performance basketball lines — while building the reporting infrastructure (KPI frameworks, sell-through tracking, promotional modeling) that translates data into executive-ready recommendations. Focused on scaling merchandising technology and AI-driven search to support traffic, conversion, and margin growth across the brand's digital business.

Existing tools not being fully utilized. AI adoption.

Using existing tools more effectively and thoughtful introduction/implementation of AI.

Honest, collaborative. Part of the team

I am currently the vice president of digital product and operations at Signet Jewelers, where I have spent the last 12 years of my career. With over two decades of business operations and project/product management experience, I've successfully led cross-functional teams and managed complex projects in the e-commerce and supply chain sectors. My expertise spans a variety of domains, including change management, continuous improvement, and logistics, leading to a proven track record of driving operational excellence and strategic initiatives.

Our biggest challenges are creating a unified customer view across channels; scaling personalization; improving marketing platform data integrations; modernizing legacy data infrastructure/operational workflows; and enabling AI-driven marketing solutions in a timely manner.

Over the next 12 months our key technology initiatives are focused on strengthening customer data and personalization capabilities, improving CDP functionality, enhancing identity resolution practices, preparing data for AI/ML-driven audience targeting and measurement, improving omnichannel activation across email/paid media, modernizing data pipelines and cloud infrastructure, and enhancing marketing attribution. We have our work cut out for us :)

Simply put, the best partners are responsive, transparent, and focused on solving problems rather than pushing/selling products. Databricks has proven to be a good partner time and time again (partly because of its business model, but primarily because of the above points).

I'm the AVP, customer analytics at TJX, where I lead customer analytics, data strategy, and measurement capabilities across the marketing ecosystem. My team supports both Customer 360 and Marketing 360 initiatives, helping connect customer, transaction, loyalty, and engagement data into a unified foundation that powers personalization, audience activation, campaign measurement, and broader martech capabilities. Ultimately, my focus is on ensuring data and analytics scale across the entire marketing technology stack to drive better customer experiences and business outcomes.

My career started in AdTech at Viant after earning a degree in Mathematics and Economics from UC Irvine. From there, I moved into analytics (specifically customer journey analytics) roles at Travelers Insurance, helping modernize reporting and build C360 analytics capabilities, before joining Mediassociates, a small media agency based in Connecticut,  to grow its Analytics practice and help turn our teams' data savviness into strategic advantage.

I joined TJX in 2022 because I wanted to go deeper within a single industry and apply analytics to a business model I genuinely admire. Since then, I've led our team through a cloud migration that modernized our data foundation, reduced technical debt, and improved scalability across our analytics and marketing ecosystem. I've also helped define the road map for tighter integration across our martech stack, connecting customer data, activation, measurement, and reporting capabilities. More recently, my focus has been on building an AI-ready data environment with the governance, accessibility, and interoperability needed to support advanced analytics, personalization, and future AI-driven use cases.

Outside of work, I live in Avon, Connecticut, with my wife, Emily, our two children, Kieran (19 months) and Arya (3 months), and our dog, Indie.

Traditional brick-and-mortar 40-year-old business needing to earn its way into the digital economy.

Digital pathways for our customers. AI enablement.

Pricing integrity. Service quality. Partnership, with a focus on shared outcomes.

Sarah is the president of The UPS Store, Inc., where she leads more than 5,400 franchise locations across the United States, driving growth, operational excellence, and meaningful community impact. She brings a wealth of senior leadership experience from iconic retailers such as Crate & Barrel, J.Crew, and Club Monaco (Polo Ralph Lauren), with deep expertise in omnichannel and store fulfillment, retail operations, distribution, merchandising, warehousing, and customer experience.

Her leadership is defined by innovation and a commitment to creating measurable results for The UPS Store franchisees and the communities they serve through the brand’s essential business services. A passionate advocate for entrepreneurship, Sarah champions the Start Small, Grow Big program in partnership with Junior Achievement USA®, empowering young people to develop business and financial skills.

Tools that have been used for many years past their lives and need significant upgrade or replacement.

• Inventory management tool for our store teams
• Floor and space tool
• Financial systems upgrade
• Campaign management
• Efficiencies with managing product information

Provides support and continually working with us to grow and get more out of the tool without spending more money.

An IT leader for the last 21 years supporting all functions of the retail business. I spent 25 years at Pier 1 imports in store operations and IT. At Pier 1, I held different roles supporting our Marketing, Store Operations, Supply Chain, Merchandising, HR and Finance, and E-Commerce business partners with their IT needs. For the last six years, I've supported The Vitamin Shoppe business teams in Merchandising, Inventory, and Finance technologies.

Simplifying our tech stack

Simplifying our tech stack

Transparency, communication, innovation

Alexandra (Alex) Bodnar is the chief legal and corporate operations officer at omnichannel intimate apparel brand Thirdlove, where she leads the legal, people, technology and customer service teams. She is a collaborative, pragmatic, and hands-on leader who turns strategy into execution, helping business scale faster, sustainably and with less risk.

With extensive experience as a business and legal executive, Alex has a strong track record of scaling operating functions, standing up systems and processes that hold up under growth, and partnering across the business on people, technology, and risk. She builds and leads high-performing teams, cultivating a workplace culture that fosters creativity, continuous improvement, and mutual respect.

We’re focused on enabling the business to take advantage of AI while establishing appropriate governance, including approved use cases, data security controls, human oversight, vendor diligence, and clear policies around responsible AI use. Ultimately, the challenge is moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide adoption in a way that is scalable, secure, and trusted by both the legal team and the broader business.

We are in the process of creating a framework that allows the organization to use AI to maximize efficiencies while minimizing legal and cybersecurity risk.

Accessibility, service offering, and pushing to make the service offering better.

AI adoption, project management tool collaboration across vendors, complicated integrations with long requirements gathering.

Pricefx integration, Salesforce improvements, Power BI improvements

I stick with technology partners who make the hard stuff feel easy. If they communicate well, stay flexible, and genuinely care about outcomes, I’m happy to keep them around.

Heather Bernardo is an experienced IT program and digital product leader who specializes in bringing clarity, structure, and momentum to complex technology initiatives. At White Cap, she leads cross‑functional programs that modernize operations, strengthen data governance, and streamline digital workflows across a large national network. Her work blends program management, process improvement, business awareness, and practical technical know‑how to help teams deliver solutions that actually make life easier for customers and employees.

With a background in enterprise re‑platforming, structured change management, and e‑commerce ecosystem design, Heather has hands‑on experience across platforms like Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe Commerce. She’s known for her collaborative style, her ability to translate between business and technical teams, and her knack for making complicated projects feel manageable.

She also brings domain experience in retail — including fashion and fine jewelry — giving her a unique perspective on customer experience and digital innovation in specialty verticals.