Spark Plug: Recent Episodes
Ned Hayes
Spark Plug talks to smart people working at the intersection of business and technology, to spark authentic conversations about the future of retail, customer engagement and technology.Brought to you by SnowShoe — your smarter loyalty leader.
Mark Ross-Smith is an award-winning global airline loyalty industry leader, and he is CEO & Co-founder at StatusMatch.com, helping airlines grow and manage their most valuable customers. Mark has worked with major brands like Emirates, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Frontier, Spirit, El Al, Copa, Royal Air Maroc, LATAM & more. Known as “Mr Loyalty”, Mark is the most followed airline loyalty leader on social media, and he won Loyalty Magazine’s ‘Loyalty Royalty’ 30 under 40 Award in 2022.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Pavel Los is a global leader in the world of loyalty marketing. He has a wealth of experience from working in multicultural organizations on both a national and regional level. For 20 years he served Shell Oil in a variety of leadership positions, starting off on the marketing side and working his way up to Country Chairman for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Pavel is currently the Consumer Engagement & Loyalty Strategist at Oracle, a cloud technology company that provides organizations around the world with computing infrastructure and software to help them innovate, unlock efficiencies and become more effective.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
With over 25 years of leadership experience in the retail industry, Mike Robinson is currently on the founding team of The Eighth Notch, a technology platform focused on sustainable last-mile deliveries. His expertise in digital retail growth, operations, and product management, gained through executive roles at Macys.com, Gap Inc., IBM, and PwC Consulting, make him a sought-after strategic advisor to several early-stage start-ups. Additionally, Mike serves as an Independent Board director of Vista Outdoors, Inc.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
John-Pierre Kamel is the Managing Director of RFID Sherpas, a boutique retail consultancy that has helped many retailers and brands craft their RFID and Omni-channel strategies as well as optimize the operational execution and profitability of their programs. John-Pierre has over 20 years of retail solutions experience and is a recognized leader in the commercial dynamics impacting the pace of adoption of RFID in Retail. He is a regular speaker on the value of RFID and has sat on several standards bodies and industry forums, including EPC Global's Strategic Advisory Council and GS1 Canada's Standards & Services Governance Board.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
John Gregory is the Global Category Development Officer for Retail, QSR and Travel at Spotify. He and his team work to grow these verticals through product innovation and being responsive to advertiser needs and industry trends. Prior to Spotify, John was Head of Retail Industry Strategy at Pandora and the Category Development Officer for Retail at AOL. John is a member of the elite NRF Digital Council, an invite-only group of senior-level experts who discuss best practices and solutions in the retail industry.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Simon Severino is an expert at scaling startup businesses and accelerating sales for companies large and small. He’s the author of the book Strategy Sprints, and he created the Strategy Sprints™ Method that helps entrepreneurs double revenue in 90 days. His team is trusted by Google, Consilience Ventures, BMW, Roche, Amgen, AbbVie and hundreds of frontier teams. He is a TEDx speaker, and has appeared on over 800 podcasts. He writes for Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, and we’re excited to have him on the podcast today.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Neil Saunders is Managing Director at GlobalData Retail, a retail research agency and consulting firm. Neil and his team work with many of the world’s leading retailers to help Them maximize success through developing a thorough understanding of the sector and its likely future performance. As a retail analyst, Neil studies many aspects of the industry, including consumer behavior, brand preferences, channel dynamics, competitive strategies, and market forecasts. Neil is a contributor and speaker known for sharing retail analysis that is understandable, relevant, actionable, and exciting. Yes, analytics can be exciting!
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Gina Fleck is VP and Head of Loyalty Experience Consulting at Merkle, a global customer experience partner for Fortune 1000 companies and nonprofits. Gina is an expert in customer engagement, loyalty and retention and highly skilled in creating strategic, global consumer-facing marketing initiatives that lead to measurable results. She is also an expert in using gamification and other emerging technologies in loyalty experiences. Prior to Merkle, Gina led loyalty strategy at HelloWorld and Expedia.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Andrea Leigh is an eCommerce educator, speaker, writer, and co-host of the popular CPG Guys podcast. With over 20 years of eCommerce experience working with thousands of brands, her deep expertise has unlocked sustainable growth opportunities for brands of all sizes. A ten-year former senior executive at Amazon, she helped launch Amazon’s automated pricing system programs, and ran Amazon Prime for Amazon Canada. She is a recognized thought leader in the commerce industry and a frequent keynote speaker at various conferences and corporate events.and we’re excited to have him on the podcast today.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Melissa Burdick is an innovative Business Strategist and E-commerce thought leader, with almost two decades of ecommerce experience. In 2018 she co-founded Pacvue, an enterprise platform for E-commerce advertising, sales, and intelligence. Pacvue helps brands and sellers to grow their business across Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and other marketplaces. Previously, Melissa had a decade of success working at Amazon, where she helped launch the Consumer Packaged Goods retail business on Amazon.com. She Joined Amazon Media Group at inception, launched the first vendor display ad and helped monetize Amazon’s programs such as Family, Student, Prime, Studios, and Fresh.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Steve Dennis returns for another insightful conversation on the Spark Plug podcast! Steve is a strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and bestselling author, and he is widely considered one of the foremost and influential voices in retail. Steve's groundbreaking book--"Remarkable Retail"--is a perennial international business bestseller. During his career as a C-suite executive at two Fortune 500 retailers, Steve worked with dozens of retail, consumer, luxury and social impact brands to design their journey to remarkable results. He is currently the President of SageBerry Consulting.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Dr. Jonathan Reichental is the founder of Human Future, a global business and technology advisory, investment, and education firm. He is a recognized global thought leader on urban innovation, sustainability, and digital transformation. He has written three books on the future of cities and just released his fourth book, Data Governance for Dummies. Jonathan has landed on several national and international lists of top CIOs. He also instructs at several universities and regularly creates online video courses for LinkedIn Learning.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Sravana Kumar Karnati is the SVP and CTO at Walmart International, the world’s largest big box retailer. He has a strong background not only in retail and technology, but also in agile methodologies and software development. Sravana is a former Amazon executive with experience managing global teams and leading technology transformation with a focus on improving IT service levels, product quality testing, and customer satisfaction.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Jennifer Nolfi is the Executive Director at Center for Retail Leadership, a program within Portland State University’s Business School where students and industry professionals are rewriting the story of retail. Prior to joining PSU, she served as the Director for Partnership Development at Looptworks, a design firm that uses excess premium materials to craft limited edition clothing and accessories. Jennifer counts among her key accomplishments spearheading a public-private research partnership that culminated in the first comprehensive market study of the Athletic and Outdoor Industry.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Michelle Grant is Director of Strategy and Insights for Retail & Consumer Goods at Salesforce. She is a globally-recognized expert in the retail industry, regularly tapped by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Shoptalk, and World Retail Congress for her insights and speaking engagements. Footwear News honored her as one of 6 Powerful Women in Tech in 2021, and RETHINK Retail named her as one of their Top Retail Influencers of 2022.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Andrew Smith is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner at ThinkUncommon, a company that works with retailers and retail partners of all sizes to build crafted programs to support their innovation agendas. With a background in analysis, retail insights, business development, and more, Andrew is well-versed in creating business and creative strategies as well as predicting consumer trends. He is also an author, educator, on-air contributor, and keynote speaker.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Hitha Herzog is Head of Retail Research and a Chief Retail Analyst at DONEGER | TOBE, “a people-first insights agency delivering consumer, commercial, and creative strategies to keep brands relevant .” With a background in analysis, retail insights, business development, and more, Hitha is well-versed in creating business and creative strategies as well as predicting consumer trends. She is also an accomplished author, educator, on-air contributor, and keynote speaker.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Paul do Forno is a Managing Director for Commerce & Content at Deloitte, a leading consultancy specializing in audit & assurance, consulting, risk and financial advisory, risk management, tax, and much more. He’s been named one of the Top 100 E-commerce Influencers in the world by Retail Technology Innovation Hub. In this episode, Paul discusses the rise of livestream shopping, how e-commerce and physical retail are merging, virtual shopping, AI in retail and why loyalty matters in retail.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Michael Zakkour is the Founder of 5 New Digital, a global retail and digital consulting firm with offices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He has worked with hundreds of companies on their retail, eCommerce, marketing, technology, and international growth strategies for more than 25 years. Additionally, Michael is one of “Rethink Retail’s 2022 Top 100 Retail Influencers," the author of two Amazon bestsellers, “The New Retail” and “China’s Super Consumers,” and a 5-time “Alibaba Global Digital Influencer.”
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Spiffy’s Co-founder and CEO, Scot Wingo, is a 4-time serial entrepreneur from the Research Triangle Park, NC region. Scot is an industry thought leader in E-commerce, E-service, and the future of mobility. He has appeared on CNBC and The Today Show, and has contributed thought leadership to the WSJ, New York Times, Forbes, and many other publications. Scot is co-host of The Jason & Scot Show podcast, and regularly speaks about E-commerce and mobility across the country.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Jason Byer leads marketing and partnerships for Crowdspring. He has reviewed thousands of sites providing feedback on their visual brands and has a robust background in retail, digital marketing, sales, and business development.
Thanks for listening to Spark Plug -- find all our episodes at Sparkplug.audio
Spark Plug is brought to you by SnowShoe.io, the leading provider of SparkLoyalty -- the leading retail loyalty and customer engagement system. 3 million happy shoppers around the world use Spark systems today.
Dean Jones founded Encore Chocolates and Teas nine years ago because he and his wife were "bored being semi-retired." After 60 years of working in all aspects of the retail industry, Dean and his wife decided to channel their love for chocolates and teas into this new retail adventure.
Josh Hagquist has been in the retail and hospitality industries for many years. He has worked in many retail establishments from a small bookstore to Starbucks and then transitioned to managing multiple stores for Stone Brewing Company. Now in his current position as Manager of Retail with prAna, he's learned two main things that he holds onto: To build a space that gives the customer an amazing in-store experience and to build high-performing retail teams that are supported and respected. In this Thanksgiving week episode, Josh tells us about his high-performing retail team at prAna and how he creates an amazing in-store retail experience.
Dan Berthiaume, Senior Technology Editor of Chain Store Age, is a recognized expert on retail technology, having covered the space since 1998. Dan is a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer, writes the award-winning weekly Retail Insights blog, and has also served as a moderator and panelist at numerous industry events.
Khrysta Hendricks is the President and Founder of The Love Juice Co. It's a new natural juice and smoothie shop on the south side of Chicago. She only began this venture in April of this year as a food truck, but her plan is to have the brand all over the city and eventually, nationally. The Love Juice Co. believes that a healthier lifestyle should be accessible to everyone, so she began her journey aiming to do just that.
She spent nine-plus years in retail and complex sales in different industries and verticals. She combined that experience from sales with her desire to be an example that you can pursue your dreams while doing good. Her tagline is actually 'drinks that do good', because that is her mission. She wants to grow into a powerhouse brand while making sure the core values never change while making an impact in overlooked communities in Chicago. www.thelovejuiceco.com @thelovejuiceco
Cathy Hotka is a Principal at her own company, Cathy Hotka & Associates, working as a high-value networking contact in the retail community. After starting her career at the White House and on Capitol Hill, Cathy began to focus on association work. While working for 7 years at the National Retail Federation, she created the NRF CIO Council and NRFtech. This ultimately led to the creation of Cathy Hotka & Associates as not only a networking company but also as a connection in the retail industry that offered better knowledge-sharing, collective brainstorming, and innovative solutions. Cathy now manages the Store Operations Council, hosting numerous events around the country, and is a RETHINK Retail Top 100 Influencer (2022).
Peter Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise centers around the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping/purchasing activities. He works with firms from a wide range of industries, such as telecommunications, financial services, gaming/entertainment, retailing, and pharmaceuticals.
He has won many awards for his research and teaching accomplishments. Among these achievements, he was named by Advertising Age as one of its inaugural “25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers” in 2017, and was the only academic on the list.
Toby Pickard is the Head of Insight, Retail, and Innovation at IGD (or, the Institute of Grocery Distribution), a trading company that utilizes high-level commercial understanding to uncover rich insights and data. With over 15 years of experience in research, trends, and eCommerce in the food and grocery industry, Toby truly understands how to create innovative solutions for big challenges. Toby has been named Retail Technology Innovation Hub (RTIH)’s Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers for 2022 and a 2022 Top Retail Influencer by RETHINK Retail, and we’re thrilled to have him on the show!
Alejandra Crites is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Casa de la Luna, a retail marketplace that focuses on feminine hygiene, intimacy, and care down there. She’s on a mission to combine her customer-focused mindset with business development in the retail industry, with a particular focus on beauty, fragrance and feminine wellness.
Ian Johnston is the Founder and Creative Director at Quinine, a world-leading retail experience consultancy that recently won a DBA Design Effectiveness Award. With over 20 years of experience on both the design and retail sides of the business, Ian is well-versed in delivering impactful and meaningful brand experiences.
Howard Tiersky is a successful entrepreneur who has been named by IDG as one of the 10 Digital Transformation Influencers to Follow Today and by Enterprise Management as “One of the Top 10 Digital Transformation Influencers That Will Change Your World.” Today Howard is the CEO of FROM, the Digital Transformation agency, and the author of the new book Winning Digital Customers, a recent bestselling business book on the Wall Street Journal list.
Deborah Weinswig is the founder and CEO of Coresight Research, where she focuses on disruption at the intersection of retail and technology and helps her clients accelerate innovation and growth at their companies. Before starting Coresight, Deborah served as Managing Director of Fung Global Retail and Technology, the think tank of Fung Group. Today, she serves on the boards of several global brands and is on the advisory board of the World Retail Congress. She has been hailed as a top influencer and voice of retail by Retail Technology Innovation Hub, LinkedIn and Institutional Investor.
Steve Dresser is the CEO at Grocery Insight in Bradford, England. He has spent the majority of his career in the grocery and supermarket industry, first as a Shop Floor Team Lead at Sainsbury’s and now with Grocery Insight since 2007. Today, Steve helps his clients solve their retail problems through insights gained from numerous store visits, thought leadership and an online image platform of more than 250,000 grocery retail images. Steve is a RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencer, and we can’t wait to hear more about the work he does.
Ron Thurston is a highly accomplished retail leadership Executive, Board Advisor, and Amazon Bestselling Author with extensive experience leading retail operations for America’s most prominent brands. He sits on the board of GOODWILL NY/NJ as well as several emerging retail technology brands, and he has been named a Top 100 Retail Global Influencer by RETHINK Retail. In 2022, he launched his audio and video platforms for a year-long tour called “Retail In America.” We can’t wait to hear more about this adventure.
Ben Conway is the co-founder and COO of VNTANA, a 3D infrastructure platform which enables 3D at scale for businesses. As the industry’s only fully automated 3D optimization and content management platform, VNTANA helps D2C brands double eCommerce conversion rates by allowing customers to view products true to size in their own physical space. Ben shares his predictions on the future of 3D and why it will be at the heart of all retailers' Go to Market strategy over the next 5-10 years.
Andrew Busby's career in both retail and technology spans more than 22 years, including work with such UK retailers as John Lewis and Argos. In 2016, he founded Retail Reflections, a start-up retail analyst practice which has grown into one of the most sought after companies for retail thought leadership and content. Andrew is a regular speaker and MC at industry conferences, a former Forbes contributor, best-selling retail author and a RETHINK Retail top global retail influencer.
Carrie Yang is a true expert when it comes to using YouTube as an effective retail marketing tool, and she’s here to share some of her top tips and insights with us. She founded grouphugs, a strategic agency specializing in growing and optimizing organic YouTube Channels and Ads for businesses and brands. Throughout her career, Carrie has held top Marketing Director positions at several brands, and we’re thrilled to share her expertise and knowledge with our audience today.
Maxime Cohen is the Scale AI Chair Professor of Retail and Operations Management and co-director of the Retail Innovation Lab at McGill University. He is also the Chief AI Officer of ELNA Medical and a Scientific Advisor in AI and Data Science at IVADO Labs. Maxime's core expertise lies at the intersection of data science and operations management, which he has applied to the world of retail, ride-sharing, airlines, sustainability and other fields. He has collaborated with many companies including Google, Waze and Spotify, among others.
Rebecca Fitts is a Senior Commercial and Retail Real Estate Business leader with more than 15 years of experience on both the developer and retail sides of the business. She is the Director of Real Estate at Leap, the Omni Channel Retail Platform for Modern Brands. Rebecca also co-hosts the weekly podcast “Retail is your Business” focusing on the consumer experience at the intersection of innovation, technology and business strategy.
Savannah D'Orazio is the co-founder of Casa de la Luna, a retail marketplace for care down there, guiding women from menarche through menopause, and all the things in between. Savannah is a proud Gates Millennium Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth alum, and a Boys and Girls Club of America former athlete. She chats with us about serving from the heart, using digital touch points to enhance the customer experience, and so much more.
If you'd like to get involved and support Casa de la Luna's mission, please visit wefunder.com/casadelaluna.
Tanya Maney is the Executive Director at Explore Waterford, an organization in the beautiful community of Waterford, WI. Tanya is a long-time activist and volunteer in her community as well as a former small business owner. She gives us her perspective on how local business helps to create thriving neighborhood districts and how independent retailers are thriving today through creativity and ingenuity.
Matthew Brown is the owner and founder of Echochamber, a London based creative retail trend intelligence agency. Echochamber tracks global trends and advises clients such as IKEA and Nike on best practices in customer experience, store design, consumer trends and innovative technology. As a regular keynote ‘Retail Futurist’ speaker at conferences around the world, Matthew shows how the retail world is evolving faster than ever in his inspiring and entertaining presentations.
Scott Crabtree is Founder and Chief Happiness Officer at Happy Brain Science, a company helping organizations build happier, more engaged teams with a fun, science-based approach. He offers executive coaching, consulting and speaking engagements for many repeat clients including DreamWorks, Boeing, Intel, and Nike. Scott dedicates himself to the belief that “everyone can be happier at work.”
Jasmine Glasheen is a writer and influencer with an impressive career in marketing throughout the retail industry. She has been influential at The Robin Report, RetailWire, Retail Minded, and many other industry publications. Jasmine has worked with IMB and Payment Depot, and today she is the Content Marketing Manager at Surefront. She shares her perspective on the retail world as it comes back post-pandemic.
Jessie Vyvyan is the owner and operator of the independent retail shop Chi, Trees & Oils in Rochester, Wisconsin. Chi, Trees & Oils offers healing services and tools and is a go-to space for all things wellness, mind, body & soul. Jessie provides energy healing services including Reiki, Soul Coaching and Yoga, as well as hosts informational events and workshops to provide even more in-depth information to her clients. Jessie shares her experience using the Spark Loyalty system to engage her clientele.
Tommy Yionoulis is the Founder of OpsAnalitica, a mobile operations data capture, accountability management, and analytics platform focused on the food-service industry. Drawing from his extensive career in food industry management, including at P.F. Chang's and Quiznos, Tommy developed the OpsAnalitica platform to help businesses manage their daily operations and identify issues before they affect sales, profits, and customer satisfaction.
Dan Fairbanks is a visionary entrepreneur working to fundamentally change how local retail and e-commerce businesses work. A serial entrepreneur, he has started more than seven companies, including a running store chain, an e-commerce marketplace, and a point of sale software company. Dan is now on a mission to educate small retailers on the core changes they can make to thrive in both business and in life.
Michael LeBlanc is the Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada and the Bank of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He has been added to ReThink Retail’s Top 100 Global Retail Influencers list in 2022 for the second year in a row. Michael is also the president of Maven Media, which produces a network of leading podcasts, including Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, now ranked one of the top ten retail podcasts in the world.
Anne Bryan is a transformative executive experienced in leading world-class software and non-profit teams. She was a founding team member for Circle, an award-winning screen time management and parental controls software. In 2020, Anne was named CEO at Circle, a position she held through to the company’s acquisition by Aura in December 2021. Her passion for education and children also led to her election to the Beaverton, OR School District Board of Directors, serving as Board Chair for three years.
Chris Bennett is the founder of Wonderschool, a mission-driven online platform that empowers experienced educators and child care providers to run their own in-home business while providing a much-needed service to other families in their communities. Wonderschool was named one of the world’s 10 most innovative companies in education by Fast Company, and Chris’ TED Talk on accessible childcare has gained more than 1.6 million views to date.
Ian Scott has more than 20 years of experience within the retail and POP sectors. He has headed up business and marketing departments at several retail consulting agencies in the UK, including Tag, instinct laboratory Ltd., and UA Unibox. In 2020, he started his own consulting agency, Ian Scott Retail Consulting. And in 2022, Ian was named a Rethink Retail Top 100 Retail Influencer.
Liza Amlani is a go-to expert in retail merchandising, product creation and accelerating speed to market. She is a RETHINK Retail Top Influencer and a regular contributor to RetailWire, Bloomberg, and Forbes. Liza has more than 20 years of experience at luxury and mass merchant retailers in both regional and global markets.
Thad Price is CEO at Austin-based Talroo, an award-winning talent attraction platform. He has more than 17 years of experience in online recruitment and the job search vertical, and he is a recognized thought leader in the HR/talent acquisition space. Thad uses his cross-functional experience to turn client feedback into innovative products that help companies hire better.
James Morin is Chief Strategy Officer at Crave Retail, a digital technology provider equipping innovative retailers with best-in-class fitting room technology. James has more than a decade of sales and operations experience across all facets of retail, D2C, eCommerce, distribution, and now SaaS Technology. Personally, he embraces a commitment to giving back and supporting local entrepreneurs through community initiatives.
Julia Niiro is the founder and CEO of MilkRun, an online marketplace and distribution technology that makes it easy to buy food directly from local farmers. She started MilkRun in 2018 in Portland, OR and is now preparing to scale nationally. MilkRun aims to develop an alternative to today's global food system that is better for the people eating it and growing it by simplifying local food shopping and making local food growing and logistics more efficient.
Jason Goldberg is a fourth generation retailer who has had a front-row seat to the digital disruption of commerce over the course of his successful career. He is currently the Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis Chicago and the Chief Strategist at Retailgeek Consulting. Jason also co-hosts the popular e-commerce podcast, The Jason & Scot Show. In 2017, Jason was inducted into the National Retail Federation’s “The List” of people shaping the future of retail.
Gary Hawkins is the Founder and CEO of CART (Center for Advancing Retail & Technology). CART’s mission is to connect retail to new innovative capabilities through programs, events, and education. Early in his career, Gary launched one of the first loyalty programs in the US supermarket sector. He has also worked with such companies as Procter & Gamble, helping brands develop a shopper-focus strategy and leverage customer insights and analytics into collaborative marketing initiatives. Gary is the author of three books including the latest, Retail in the Age of ‘i’, exploring the future of retail propelled by the exponential growth of technology.
Melissa Gonzalez is the founder of The Lionesque Group, an award-winning firm of experiential retail strategists and designers, as well as a Principal and Shareholder at global architecture firm MG2. Her clients to date have included Amazon, Nordstrom, and The RealReal. Melissa is the author of the book The Pop-Up Paradigm and her writing is regularly featured in Forbes, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal. She is also the host of the Retail Refined podcast.
Shelley E. Kohan is a senior retail executive and consultant with more than 25 years of success in the industry. She is an Associate Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and CEO & Founder of Shelmark Consulting. Shelley has been recognized as a Top 100 Global Retail Influencer by RETHINK Retail four years in a row. And she has been a featured spokesperson across many publications and media including NBC Nightly News, The Wall St. Journal, and The New York Times.
Jaime Ramirez is a RegTech leader, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and executive professional with more than 30 years of experience in business, banking, RegTech, and information technology. For the last 18 years, he has specialized in the design and development of financial crime risk management, anti-money laundering, fraud prevention, and identity management software systems. Jaime is now the founder and CEO of Preventor, a company that provides the next generation in integrated financial crime risk management.
Rob Markey is a partner in Bain & Company’s New York office and a leader in the firm’s Customer Strategy & Marketing practice. Rob leads the NPS Loyalty Forum and is broadly credited as the co-inventor of the Net Promoter Score (NPS). He is an expert in customer experience and loyalty, new product development, and customer service strategies. He is the co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World.
Daniel McCarthy is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business. He specializes in several areas of research that are pertinent to retail. Dan specializes in analyzing consumer behavior and predicting future shopping behavior. Dan’s research has been featured in several major media outlets including Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and CNBC.
Sucharita Kodali is a VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester. She is an expert on eCommerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. In her research, Sucharita covers such topics as eCommerce forecasting and trends, merchandising best practices, and conversion optimization. Previously, Sucharita was the Director of Marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, and she has also held management positions at Toys R Us and the Walt Disney Company.
Ashley Kosak is the co-founder and CEO of Green Aero, an organization dedicated to infusing sustainability into the future of space travel through producing green energy. In December 2021, Ashley published an article on Lioness sharing her story of experiencing sexual harassment while working at SpaceX. Her article went viral, prompting new conversations around sexism in STEM industries.
Mariam Reza is the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at LivePerson, which aims to make life easier for people and brands everywhere through trusted conversational AI. She is an expert in cross-functional collaborations, customer retention, global leadership, and customer success management. Mariam holds a Diploma of Customer Contact Leadership focused in Contact Centre Management from Customer Contact Solutions.
Simeon Siegel is a Managing Director and Senior Retail and eCommerce Analyst at BMO Capital Markets, a full-service North American financial services provider. Simeon has been named a Rising Star of Wall Street by Institutional Investor and a Rising Star of Equity Research by Business Insider. He has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School and is a regular guest on CNBC.
Anne Mezzenga is an entrepreneurial Retail Executive with over 15 years in the retail, marketing, experience design, and technology industries. She is one of the founders of UrbanRoosterShop.com and Third Haus, the lab joint venture with Xenia Retail built to develop next-generation retail and mall experiences. She is also Co-CEO of Omni Talk, one of the fastest-growing content platforms in retail.
Robbie Kellman Baxter is the author of The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction. She hosts the podcast Subscription Stories. Robbie has been focused on subscription and membership models for the past twenty years and talks to Spark Plug this week about the future of subscription and loyalty programs in retail.
Creamistry is a U.S. based nitrogen ice cream chain with many locations in California, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The company uses all-natural and organic ingredients with more than 60-plus flavors and toppings. Creamistry has been using SnowShoe’s Spark Loyalty solution for customer loyalty for some time, and we’re excited to have Kenny Cho here as a special guest to talk about Creamistry’s success in the retail market.
Chris Walton is co-CEO of Omnitalk, the leading retail podcast and blog. Previously, Chris was Vice President of Target’s Store of the Future project and also the Vice President of Merchandising for Home Furnishings on Target.com. Chris wraps up 2021 for Spark Plug with an overview of how the pandemic affected retail this past year, predictions for growth and future technology adoption, and a wealth of insights into how the National Retail Federation is shaping up for the annual NRF Conference in New York in January 2022.
Ebere Anokute is a writer and retail researcher based in New York. Ebere is Manager of Retail Research at JLL, a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. His breadth of experience and expertise ranges from luxury retail and commercial real estate to entertainment and media. He is a regular guest and contributor on JLL's YouTube series, Everything We Know About Retail.
Ben Parr is the President and Co-Founder of Octane AI, the zero-party data marketing platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants. He is an award-winning entrepreneur, investor, journalist, and the author of the best-selling book Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention. Previously, Ben was the Co-Editor and Editor-at-Large of Mashable, where he wrote more than 2,400 articles on technology, media, and startups. Ben is also a member of Forbes 30 Under 30.
Daniel Aizenman is a Senior Principal at Stantec, where his team envisions and creates delightful retail and commerce spaces through architectural design. His team focuses on connection and community as they build out the future of the retail experience.
A special (short and sweet) holiday edition of Spark Plug -- from your retail loyalty leader. Ned Hayes, CEO of SnowShoe talks with Dheeraj Sanka of Loyalti to announce the merger and acquisition between these two leading retail technology providers. The duo keeps the focus on the retail customer experience and how to make shopping better with SnowShoe expanded loyalty offerings this holiday season, and always.
(special episode hosted by Ashley Coates)
Zabe Agha is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Metrical, the leading provider of predictive shopper engagement solutions that increase online cart creation and conversion rates, improve customer loyalty and drive increased revenue. Their AI-based software enables retailers to optimize their digital funnel by predicting customer behavior, engaging customers in real-time, and enhancing their overall experience.
Bobby Marhamat is the CEO of Raydiant, an innovative platform that delivers a personalized and unique in-store experience for retail customers. He is a Forbes Development Contributor writer on topics around sales strategy and management, operations management, and sales and marketing. Bobby discusses Raydiant's new State of Consumer Behavior Report 2021 with Spark Plug.
James Cook is the Americas Director of Retail Research for international real estate firm JLL. His research focuses on the retail real estate industry and delivers broad sector analyses for retail property markets in the Americas. With this intelligence, he produces industry-leading retail research. James also hosts the Where We Buy podcast where he discusses two of his favorite topics: retail and real estate.
Trevor Sumner is the CEO of Perch, a recognized leader in in-store product engagement marketing, interactive retail displays and augmented reality. Perch was named a Top Tech Company to Watch by Forbes and has won numerous Clio, Fast Company, Edison, Bloomberg and Digi awards. Trevor is regularly cited in industry media such as Mashable, TechCrunch, Inc, Forbes, Business Insider, and VentureBeat.(Part 2 of 2)
Trevor Sumner is the CEO of Perch, a recognized leader in in-store product engagement marketing, interactive retail displays and augmented reality. Perch was named a Top Tech Company to Watch by Forbes and has won numerous Clio, Fast Company, Edison, Bloomberg, and Digi awards. Trevor is regularly cited in industry media such as Mashable, TechCrunch, Inc, Forbes, Business Insider, and VentureBeat. (Part 1 of 2)
Carl Boutet is the author of The Great Acceleration: The Race to Resilience. He is an executive advisor to retailers, global brands and leading businesses worldwide who want to leverage their use of technology, analytics and design to improve their business outcomes. Carl was recently named one of the Top 100 Global Rethink Retail most influential retail thinkers in 2021.
David Adelman, CEO and Founder of The Adelman Group, has over 30 years of experience in retail store development, sales, marketing, and operations. He is also a prominent strategist, blogger and thought leader in the retail space. His organization, T.A.G., has a mission to help brick and mortar businesses adapt to today’s rapidly changing consumer demands by identifying pain points through a customer experience audit to help improve stores’ customer experience platform.
Paula Thomas is the creator of the popular "Let's Talk Loyalty" podcast and the author of a variety of articles on global best practices in convenience retail. With over twenty years of experience delivering tangible results for some of the world's top brands, her clients have included Telefonica O2 Ireland, Electric Ireland, AIB, Avios, and The Entertainer Group.
Rick Turoczy is the co-founder and general manager of the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE), a well-known startup accelerator, as well as the editor and creator of Silicon Florist, Portland's original tech blog. Rick has contributed heavily to the tech scene in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, and joins Spark Plug to talk about startup formation, diversity in startups, startup heartaches, startup triumphs, and startup successes.
Bob Phibbs is an internationally recognized business strategist, customer service expert, sales coach, author of three books, motivational business speaker, and founder of SalesRX. Bob has worked with over a thousand retail executives from many of the Fortune 500, including Hunter Douglas, Land O’Lakes, Lego, MasterCard, Omega, Paul Mitchell, T-Mobile, Trek, and American Express. Last year, Bob was awarded the World Retail Forum’s Innovation Leadership Award 2020 in recognition of his efforts to help retail recover stronger from COVID-19.
Cate Trotter, of Insider Trends has launched two successful businesses and has been named a Future 100 and Startup 100 entrepreneur. Insider Trends delivers omnichannel strategy to large retailers based on data-driven insights. The team works with global brands and retailers, including Walmart, Converse, Facebook, Ikea, and many more. (Part 2)
Cate Trotter of Insider Trends has launched two successful businesses and has been named a Future 100 and Startup 100 entrepreneur. Insider Trends delivers omnichannel strategy to large retailers based on data-driven insights. The team works with global brands and retailers, including Walmart, Converse, Facebook, Ikea, and many more. (Part 1 of 2)
Christine Russo has a storied history in retail leadership, from her early positions at Deloitte, J.Crew, and Kenneth Cole to her leadership of brick and mortar expansion for Alice & Olivia. She’s also taught classes in global retail at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and served as a consultant in retail strategies for many companies. Today, Christine helps retailers solve major pain points, understand and use new technical solutions and digitize their brick and mortar locations.
Tiffany Shi is the Vice President for Product and Growth at ShopShops. ShopShops is a global shopping app that mimics the fun of in-person shopping through the magic of livestream video. By enabling dynamic host sellers to grow a following based on their ability to curate and sell products they make or love, ShopShops is creating an exciting new way to shop.
Carol Spieckerman is a frequent speaker, thought leader, consultant, and strategist whose organization puts on events, such as Platform Positioning workshops around the world. She conducts workshops, presentations and business development trainings that bring retail smarts and doable tactics to companies and trade groups around the world. As she says, she helps a “crazy diverse” group of brand marketers, agencies, solution providers, and tech companies navigate retail from now to next.
Shannon Atkinson is the founder of Portland-based CHNL, a new media brand launching this month. An impressive background at Salesforce, Zapproved, CrowdCompass and Nike led Shannon to launch his new media-focused startup. CHNL gives content creators the ability to reach their audience on any platform and monetize through a new model that chokes off disinformation. Changing the model of how news comes to us, CHNL plans to revolutionize the media landscape.
Jennifer DiPasquale is the President and Co-Founder of Women in Retail Leadership Circle, an association for executive females at leading retailers and brands, as well as the Co-Founder of Total Retail, a premier digital publication. In working with her retail clients, Jennifer helps leading brands find their unique proposition in the omnichannel retail market.
Paula Macaggi of RETHINK Retail is an international expert on retail. Based out of Portugal, Paula helps retail brands communicate their stories. She has a passion for understanding consumer behavior, market trends, and international marketing. Paula provides insight on global trends in retailing and the future of in-store shopping.
Dana Telsey is the CEO and chief research officer of the Telsey Advisory Group. Her team leads the industry in retail advisory and equity analysis covering all segments of the retail industry. Dana also serves as a trustee for the International Council of Shopping Centers and has been recognized as one of Barron's 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance. Dana is a regular contributor to CNBC.
Dheeraj Sanka has a rich history in startups, retail systems and loyalty programs. His successful company Simple Modern Business runs Loyalti and a series of other new initiatives. As long-term partners with SnowShoe, Loyalti provides business owners with better insights into the effectiveness of their loyalty program and also helps them engage directly with retail customers.
The new book Startup CXO is designed to help each functional leader understand how their function scales, what to anticipate as they scale, and what things to avoid. In this second part of our two-part interview with Matt Blumberg, he describes product, finance, diversity, and engineering as critical functions that any startup team can learn to improve. Read more about his team’s hard-won wisdom in the new book Startup CXO*.
(Part 2 of 2)*
The new book Startup CXO is designed to help each functional leader understand how their function scales, what to anticipate as they scale, and what things to avoid. Matt Blumberg and his team understand the scaling challenges faced by startup executives—they’ve been there and done that multiple times over multiple decades. Along the way they learned what worked and what didn’t work, and they share their lessons learned in Startup CXO.(Part 1 of 2)
Rachel Michelin, the President of the California Retailers Association, speaks about the recovery of the retail industry in California and her representation of the state's retail interests throughout the nation from small brick and mortar, to franchises to national retailers and online merchants. Rachel is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.
Retail industry thought leader Steve Dennis has authored a new book that unpacks the trends that are squeezing traditional stores. In our Spark Pluginterview, Steve introduces presents eight essential strategies for visionary retail leaders who are prepared to reimagine the customer experience in the age of digital disruption. A remarkable retailer is digitally enabled, human-centered, harmonized, mobile, personal, connected, memorable, and radical.
Read more: Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption
Jayme Gehrke is a Senior Director of Business Development at Merkle, one of the world’s leading customer experience management companies. In an insightful conversation with Spark Plug, Jayme talks about the new 2021 Forrester report on retail loyalty, data analytics, rewards optimization, zero data collection, behavioral tracking, and SnowShoe's vital work as a partner with Merkle on loyalty programs worldwide.
Dr. Joanne Brasch's work for the California Product Stewardship Councilcovers the gamut from environmentally preferable purchasing to global commodity systems, supply-chain sustainability, and environmental protection. Her work promotes a circular economy that emphasizes product cradle-to-grave stewardship and extended producer and retailer responsibility. Waste360 chose Dr. Brasch as one of the “40 under 40” award recipients in 2021.
Coupontools serves over ten thousand customers around the world in 85 countries on nearly every continent with a leading digital marketing platform used for rewards, loyalty, coupons, digital vouchers, gift cards and much more. Bert Croimans serves as Head of Sales and Marketing at Coupontools. Based in Belgium, Coupontools is now seeing renewed interest as the retail world recovers from Covid.
Melissa Wong, CEO and co-founder of Retail Zipline, shares insights about the growth of her company, key customers who have broken the code on maximizing customer satisfaction, and the challenges of raising funds as a female entrepreneur. Retail Zipline has raised $39 million in venture funding and is a rising leader in retail communication with customers ranging from global manufacturers to local retailers.
Lenka Jelinek, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for groundbreaking retailer Green Zebra, describes her journey to digitize the channel of the convenience store grocery retailer. Jelinek outlines the challenges and opportunities that she has encountered in her transition from compute market leader Intel to a leadership role at market innovator Green Zebra.
Green Zebra has changed the face of grocery retail in underserved and high-density, walking-friendly communities, and Jelinek is helping pave the way.
Ned Hayes, CEO of SnowShoe and long-time identity and retail innovator, describes the current retail scenarios that led SnowShoe to create the Spark Tap, a revolutionary new hands-free device that can securely and safely log retail loyalty events. Joined by market researcher Ashley Coates, they discuss the arduous path towards innovation. Engineering hurdles included scaling a prototype, sourcing electrically conductive plastics and lighting a 3D printer on fire!
Merchant Risk Council CEO Julie Fergersen is a lifelong expert on fraud prevention and retail consumer protection. As CEO of the Merchant Risk Council, Julie has led the way in expanding the MRC's international reach, and assisted hundreds of retailers to understand, identify and prevent fraudulent behavior. Julie gives insights on how to retail fraud trends, the e-commerce pandemic "peak" and how the retailing future has to continue to pass the "Mom" test, even in the era of augmented reality.
Susan Stover, public speaker, consultant and expert in identity services. As a former VP of Digital Content at FindBiometrics and Mobile ID World she transformed our conversation about mobile authentication. Today, she shares insights about naked payments and retail biometrics and also educates us about FemTech as a baseline requirement for all new tech moving forward into the future of technology innovation.
Skip has headed up TAOfor nearly 10 years. In this interview, Skip explains how his team works with local entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers to help startups play the "long game" of social change to create an inclusive world-class innovation economy. Clear-eyed insights on point of sale systems, diversity in tech, BLM, how Covid has changed tech work globally, and the opportunities for startups and small retailers in a post-Covid world.
Joan D. Pepin, Founder and CEO of stealth-mode security company ZeroWall.io, is previously a two-time Chief Security Officer at Auth0 (recently acquired by Okta for $6.5 billion) and at Sumo Logic. In our interview, Joan comments on market consolidation in the IAM space, SnowShoe's hardware-centric approach to security, and tells us that Alexander the Great used secure protocols still deployed in modern systems today. Listen for a front-row perspective on the global shifts in security and authentication.
Intel leads the way with retail innovation in technology, customer service, and new analytics insights. In this second of a two-part interview, Intel Retail leader Joe Jensen discusses retail during Covid, hyper-curated content, micro-targeting, technology enhancement, and behavior tracking across diverse retail experiences. The retail revival is coming post-Covid -- and Joe believes that more technology makes everything better, and he shares his mission to help brick-and-mortar retail connect with consumers. (hosted by Ned Hayes and Karen Jensen)
Intel leads the way with retail innovation in technology, customer service and new analytics insights. As head of an Intel division worth billions, Joe Jensen emphasizes learning from retail customers and deploying best-in-class technology solutions to make retail better. In this first part of a two-part interview, Joe talks about his history at Intel and shares his learnings from the front lines of retail's 21st-century digital transformation. Joe's insights point the way to the future of the retail revolution. (hosted by Ned Hayes and Karen Jensen)
Learn about the state of modern small retailers from the hands-on research conducted by an expert in retail technologies. Pre-Covid retail was booming, and instead of falling off a cliff, small retailers during Covid demonstrated surprising resilience. The same group of Pacific Northwest retailers have some interesting post-Covid predictions.