| Speakers (alphabetized by name) |
Michael Amar
Founder, AGORAD | Bradford Matson
Chief Marketing Officer, Bluefly, Inc |
Jake Bailey
Director of International Business, Overstock.com | Robert Myers
SVP of Platforms, New Media & Broadcast Technology, QVC.com |
Tom Ball
Partner - Venture Capital, Austin Ventures | Sally McKenzie
President, E-commerce Consulting |
Troy Brown
Retail Practice Leader, Demandware | Jim Okamura
Senior Partner, J.C. Williams Group |
Jennie Carlson
Internet Marketing Manager, Levi's Brand, Levi Strauss & Co. | Kelly O'Neill
Director of Product Marketing, ATG Commerce |
Kevin Churchill
Director of Merchandising, Patagonia | Nick Pahade
President, gsi interactive, GSI Commerce |
Peter Cobb
Co-Founder, Senior Vice President, eBags, Inc. | Satya Patel
Principal, Battery Ventures |
Tomima Edmark
President, Andra Group | Amanda Reed
Partner, Palomar Ventures |
Peter Fenton
General Partner, Benchmark Capital | Cyriac Roeding
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers |
Lauren Freedman
President, the e-tailing group, inc. | Michael Ross
Director, eCommera Limited |
Brett Hurt
Founder and CEO, Bazaarvoice | John Squire
Chief Strategy Officer, Coremetrics |
Marc Katz
Co-Founder & CEO, CustomInk, LLC | Sam Taylor
CEO, Oriental Trading Company |
Avinash Kaushik
Auther, Blogger, Analytics Evangelist | Alex Tenessa
Associate Partner, McKinsey & Co. |
Hung Le Hong
Research Vice President, Retail, Industry Advisory Services, Gartner Research | Bob Thacker
SVP, Marketing & Advertising, OfficeMax, Inc. |
Josh Leibowitz
Partner, McKinsey & Co. | Brian Walker
Senior Analyst, eCommerce, Forrester Research |
Jeremy Liew
Managing Director, Lightspeed | Ronit Weinberg
Vice President of E-commerce and Online Marketing, Diane von Furstenberg |
Alfred Lin
Chairman, COO, CFO, Zappos | |
Michael Amar
Founder, AGORAD
Michaël is a serial entrepreneur of the online industry since 1995. After creating a web agency (European Electronic Commerce), Michaël raised 3 million USD in 2000 to create a B2C shopping portal, which became a European advertising network (DAOODA). In 2005, he co-founded AGORAD, which, in only two years, became the first independent media agency in the French market.
His clients include the top European ecommerce players such as Yves Rocher, Intermarche, and 3 Suisses (Otto Group). MichaëI sold his companies in Nov 07 to referencement.com group (French public company) for 14 million USD. Michael AMAR is now based in Palo Alto with the double purpose of helping European companies in their innovation process and US retailers to enter the European market.
Tuesday, February 3rd: How International Expansion Can Help Retailers in a Downturned Economy
Jake Bailey
Director of International Business, Overstock.com
Jake Bailey is the Director of International Business at Overstock.com. He has worked in numerous positions at Overstock.com which include Director of Marketing, Affiliate Program Manager, Strategy, Business Development, Lead Generation, and the Gift-Card program. He has also worked for Merrill Lynch as an Operations Manager in syndicate lending and as a Director of marketing for the AAA baseball team for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He has a BS in Business Management from Brigham Young, and a Master's of Business from the University of Utah. Jake is lives in Salt Lake City with his lovely wife Ember and two sons, Jonah and Tobin.
Tuesday, February 3rd: How International Expansion Can Help Retailers in a Downturned Economy
Tom Ball
Partner - Venture Capital, Austin Ventures
Thomas Ball is a Partner at Austin Ventures. Austin Ventures has $3.9 billion under management and is the most active venture capital firm in the Southwestern United States. Prior to joining AV, Tom was CEO and co-founder of Openfield Technologies which merged with Razorgator Interactive Group, the premier online retailer of event tickets. Prior to Openfield and Razorgator, Tom was the Chairman, CEO and Founder of eCoupons (acquired by Lifeminders, NASDAQ: LFMN). Tom received an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a BS in Finance with honors from the University of Florida.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Troy Brown
Retail Practice Leader, Demandware
Troy is a key advisor to Demandware clients, leveraging his expertise to help retailers implement ecommerce best practices across site merchandising, marketing and operational processes. Troy also helps clients develop effective plans and strategies for expanding internationally. Troy works across Demandware product, marketing, sales and service organizations to contribute a retailer-centric view to all functions.
Before joining Demandware, Troy led the global Ecommerce business unit for The Timberland Company and oversaw multiple internet properties with several functional areas of responsibility including Marketing, Merchandising, Web Design and Development, Operations, Customer Service, and Fulfillment. Prior to joining the Ecommerce team in early 2004, he worked with Timberland International and led strategic planning efforts in Europe & Asia, and managed the Latin American and Canadian subsidiary business units. Prior to Timberland, Troy held a variety of positions in manufacturing, sales & marketing, consulting, finance and operations at Pepsi, IBM, McKinsey, and Disney, respectively.
Tuesday, February 3rd: How International Expansion Can Help Retailers in a Downturned Economy
Jennie Carlson
Internet Marketing Manager, Levi’s Brand, Levi Strauss & Co.
Jennie Carlson joined Levi Strauss & Co. 6 years ago and is responsible for the end-to-end consumer experience on levi.com. In September 2005, Jennie was part of a small team who launched the levi.com eCommerce site within a short, aggressive four month period. Jennie currently manages levi.com, including site design and development, operations, fulfillment and customer service to ensure an optimal consumer experience.
Prior to Levi’s, Jennie worked for Webvan Group, Inc., and online grocery delivery service. She credits this experience with igniting a deep enthusiasm for the online retail channel. Jennie has a B.S. in Business Administration, with a Concentration in Marketing, from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She is a Bay Area native and resides in San Francisco.
Wednesday, February 4th: Leveraging Your Most Valuable Asset: Creative Ways That Retailers Can Make Consumer Information Actionable
Kevin Churchill
Director of Merchandising, Patagonia
Kevin joined the company in 1997 and has over 30 years of merchandising experience ranging from men's apparel, home furnishings and children's products. Kevin leads a team that orchestrates products across multi sales channels ranging from wholesale, retail, catalog, international distribution and internet. Kevin integrates channel specific product assortments, catalog themes, email calendars, retail visual merchandising, and web product features into one cohesive line that achieves sale and profit goals and simultaneously, supports the company branding, marketing, and strong environmental initiatives.
Tuesday, February 3rd: Focused Ecommerce Investing: Smartly Stretching Your E-commerce Dollars while still Innovating for Differentiation
Peter Cobb
Co-Founder, Senior Vice President, eBags, Inc.
Peter is Co-founder and Senior Vice President of eBags.com, the leading online retailer of luggage, handbags, backpacks, and business cases. eBags.com, which launched March 1999 and features over 38,000 products from 500 brands, has sold over 9.2 million bags. During his tenure, Peter has been responsible for marketing, merchandising, public relations, and international. Peter was named 2003 Colorado Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association, is on the board of directors of Shop.org and is chair-elect of the Travels Goods Association. He received his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Tuesday, February 3rd: Focused Ecommerce Investing: Smartly Stretching Your E-commerce Dollars while still Innovating for Differentiation
Tomima Edmark
President, Andra Group
Tomima is the inventor of the wildly successful TopsyTail, a hair accessory for women that she marketed by herself to revenues of $150 million. Along the way, she became known for her entrepreneurship and was featured on television shows and in business publications like Good Morning America, Oprah, Forbes Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.
With a BFA in Fashion Design and an MBA, she uses her left brain and right brain to understand both the design and business of the women's lingerie market. In 1999, Tomima Edmark realized there was a gap in the options women had to buy lingerie; our choices were department store, lingerie boutique or mail order. Why shouldn't we have the same ease buying bras that we had for, say, tee shirts or music? An entrepreneur with a series of unconventional successes, Tomima turned to the internet and HerRoom was born.
Wednesday, February 4th: Innovation in a Downturned Economy: Pure-play Retailer Case Studies
Peter Fenton
General Partner, Benchmark Capital
Peter Fenton joined Benchmark Capital in 2006 after spending seven years as a partner with Accel Partners, where his investment interests included software, digital media, and technology enabled services.
Prior to joining the venture capital community, he spent several years working with Silicon Valley software and high-technology companies as an entrepreneur and strategy consultant. He was an early employee at Virage, a multimedia information retrieval company that went public on the NASDAQ in 2000. Peter also worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company in San Francisco, where he advised high-technology businesses in Silicon Valley on their product and business strategies.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Lauren Freedman
President, the e-tailing group, inc.
In 1994, Lauren Freedman leveraged her 15 year retail and catalog career and passion for merchandising to found the e-tailing group, inc. The firm’s mission was, and continues to be, providing strategic and e-commerce solutions to online merchants as well as businesses targeting that market.
An extensive client list has included Fortune 500s and start-ups. From involvement with the initial launch of sites like Toys “R” Us, The Vitamin Shoppe and Kodak to specific initiatives for clients including Scholastic, J.Jill, Orbitz, USA Today, CTW and MSN, her role becomes Strategist, Merchant, Facilitator, Educator and Spokesperson.
As a veteran and visionary within both the Retailing and the Internet industries, Freedman is a frequent resource to the trade and business press and her speaking engagements have spanned the globe. Freedman most recently completed her first book, It’s Just Shopping, which provides a comprehensive; behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of multi-channel selling. The book served as the basis for her foray into teaching at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, where she was nominated for Most Valuable Teacher award in 2003.
Tuesday, February 3rd: Focused Ecommerce Investing: Smartly Stretching Your E-commerce Dollars while still Innovating for Differentiation
Brett Hurt
Founder and CEO, Bazaarvoice
Brett is the Founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice, where he is responsible for guiding the company's strategy and overseeing day-to-day operations. Brett is a seasoned executive widely recognized throughout the online industry for turning groundbreaking ideas into leading businesses.
Brett has extensive experience in the online marketing arena, especially as it pertains to the eCommerce industry. He founded Coremetrics in February 1999 after spending 10 years developing Internet-based software. Brett helped grow Coremetrics into the leading marketing analytics solution for the eCommerce industry, servicing more than 1,000 clients today. Forrester Research eventually rated Coremetrics #1 in the industry. Prior to Coremetrics, Brett was the founder and CEO of Hurt Technology Consulting and BodyMatrix, an online retailer of sports nutrition products, which he sold. Before that, he was a consultant at Deloitte Consulting and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Brett has more than 15 years of Internet programming experience and has developed multiple software applications, including Internet marketing analysis solutions, eCommerce platforms, Web-based classroom management applications, virtual communities, multiplayer online games, and Bulletin Board System (BBS) software. He started programming when he was seven years old, launched a BBS on a 110-baud modem when he was ten, and created one of the first Internet-based multiplayer games in 1990. Brett holds an MBA in High-Tech Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin.
Brett serves on the Board of Directors of Shop.org. He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School and served as a Board of Advisors member to the non-profit Web Analytics Association. Brett actively advises several early-stage technology companies. He is an inventor (US Patent #7,050,989) and a regular speaker at various industry events and universities.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Marc Katz
Co-Founder and CEO, CustomInk, LLC
Marc co-founded CustomInk in early 2000 and has been building it since. Before that, he worked as a financial analyst at a Wall Street firm for a year and a half. Prior to that, he earned a B.A. in Physics from Harvard University and graduated in 1998. While there, Marc led and supervised student-driven public service programs.
Wednesday, February 4th: Innovation in a Downturned Economy: Pure-play Retailer Case Studies
Avinash Kaushik
Auther, Blogger, Analytics Evangelist
Avinash Kaushik is the author of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day and the highly rated blog on web analytics, Occam's Razor (http://www.kaushik.net/avinash).
He is currently Analytics Evangelist for Google. Prior to that he was the Director of Web Research & Analytics for Intuit where he was responsible for the business, technical and strategic elements of the analytics platform that supported more than 70 Intuit websites.
He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences such as Emetrics Summits, Ad-Tech, E-consultancy Masterclasses, Frost & Sullivan Marketing Strategies, in the US and Europe. He has been quoted as a Web Metrics expert in such media outlets as The Chicago Tribune.
KEYNOTE - Tuesday, February 3rd: Moving Beyond Faith Based Initiatives: Lower Risk, Innovate, Be Great.
Hung LeHong
Research Vice President, Retail, Industry Advisory Services, Gartner Research
Hung LeHong has been with Gartner for 8 years. Prior to joining Gartner, Mr. LeHong was with Accenture, where he worked for eight years with retail and consumer products clients in Canada and the U.S. He has helped clients manage process and organizational challenges arising from large transformational initiatives in a number of functional areas. Previous to this, Mr. LeHong worked for two General Electric divisions in marketing and purchasing.
Tuesday, February 3rd: Beyond Ecommerce: Disruptive Business Models for the Web 2.0 Consumer
Josh Leibowitz
Partner, McKinsey & Co.
Josh Leibowitz is a Partner at McKinsey & Company and co-leads McKinsey’s Miami office. Josh specializes in consumer facing companies including retail and media and has led multiple multi-channel marketing and sales strategies.
Josh received an A.B. in economics from the University of Chicago, Phi Beta Kappa with honors, and holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduating in the top 5% of his class as a Baker Scholar in 1997.
Prior to 1997, Josh worked at Booz-Allen & Hamilton from 1994 to 1996, specializing in operations management consulting for consumer service companies. From 1999 to 2001, Josh was a Managing Director at idealab!, an Internet e-commerce company where he led several e-commerce start-ups. From 1989 to 1994 Josh started and operated a ten-store retail chain in Los Angeles, managing 100 employees and annual revenues of over $12 million.
Tuesday, February 3rd: The Multi-Channel Shift: How Consumer Behavior Will Change In the Next Economic Recovery
Jeremy Liew
Managing Director, Lightspeed
Jeremy Liew invests primarily in the Internet and mobile sectors, with a particular interest in social media, commerce, gaming and methods for increasing monetization. He joined Lightspeed in early 2006.
Previously, Jeremy was with AOL, first as SVP of Corporate Development and Chief of Staff to the CEO and then as General Manager of Netscape.
Jeremy joined AOL from InterActiveCorp (originally USA Networks), where he was VP of Strategic Planning. While there, he was responsible for acquisitions, divestitures and investments in TV Networks, consumer Internet companies and online travel companies.
Jeremy started working in the consumer Internet industry as an early employee of CitySearch in 1996, where he held a variety of sales management, operational and business development roles. He was also a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Jeremy holds an MBA from Stanford and a BA/BSc from the Australian National University in Linguistics and Pure Mathematics.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Alfred Lin
Chairman, COO, CFO, Zappos
Alfred joined Zappos.com in 2005 and is responsible for all financial, administrative, and warehouse operations. Alfred focuses on bringing focus, strategy and financial discipline in order to grow the business efficiently and profitably. Prior to joining Zappos, Alfred served as VP of Finance and Business Development at Tellme Networks, helping grow that business from no revenue to over $120M in recurring revenue per year, 30% cash margins and a $0.5B estimated contracted revenue backlog.
Prior to joining Tellme Networks, Alfred co-founded Venture Frogs with Tony Hsieh. Venture Frogs is an incubator and investment firm that invested in Internet startups, including Ask Jeeves, Tellme Networks, and of course, Zappos.com. Prior to Venture Frogs, Alfred served as VP of Finance and Administration at LinkExchange, where he managed the sale of the Company to Microsoft for $265M.
Alfred met Tony Hsieh (CEO) in college, when Tony was running a pizza business and Alfred was his #1 customer.
KEYNOTE - Tuesday, February 3rd: Building a Brand that Matters One Employee at a Time
Bradford Matson
Chief Marketing Officer, Bluefly, Inc.
Bradford Matson is Chief Marketing Officer at Bluefly where he oversees online and offline marketing efforts, as well as, public relations and graphic design. Bluefly, an online “pure-play” and pioneer in .com-shopping, updates its site daily with in-season, on-trend apparel and accessories from more than 350 of America and Europe’s top designers at savings of 20% to 40% off retail prices. The innovative and often praised website is highly regarded as a leader in online retailing and is also well known for its sponsorship of Project Runway, and a bold approach to advertising – both on television and in print.
Mr. Matson joined Bluefly as CMO in 2005. Prior to Bluefly, he worked at Spiegel Catalog and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. At Steppenwolf (a well-known theater company with an international reputation for producing daring work with outstanding actors) Mr. Matson helped set records for subscriptions and ticket sales by focusing on proven direct marketing techniques including email and an extensive website redesign. Mr. Matson started at Spiegel as a copywriter in 1981 and played many creative and marketing roles during the catalog boom of the 80s and 90s. Throughout his tenure at Spiegel, Matson held various senior positions including Vice President of Marketing and Senior Vice President of Advertising and Brand Communications.
Tuesday, February 3rd: Focused Ecommerce Investing: Smartly Stretching Your E-commerce Dollars while still Innovating for Differentiation
Robert Myers
SVP of Platforms, New Media & Broadcast Technology, QVC.com
Bob Myers was named senior vice president of QVC.com in June 2006. In this position, Myers is responsible for setting and executing the online strategic direction for all aspects of QVC.com, QVC’s online marketing efforts and the company’s promotional e-mail program. Myers previously held the position of vice president of QVC.com merchandising and marketing.
Myers brings more than 20 years of direct marketing, retail, Internet and catalog experience to QVC. Prior to joining QVC, Myers was director of the Internet home and leisure division for JCPenney, where he developed the merchandising strategies and financial plans for the home, music, luggage, sports and furniture businesses.
Myers serves on the executive committee of the board of directors of Shop.org and on the Shop.org research committee. Shop.org is the online division of the National Retail Federation.
Myers received his bachelor’s degree in business studies from The State University of New York. Myers also earned an associate degree in computer science and a master’s certification as an e-commerce professional from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Wednesday, February 4th: Driving the Living Breathing Store: Retailer Case Studies of Innovations in Delivering Dynamic Content
Sally McKenzie
President, E-commerce Consulting
Sally McKenzie is a retail and online industry veteran with over 20 years of leadership success spanning brick & mortar, catalog and e-commerce channels. Her extensive experience covers merchandising, marketing, product development, web site operations and strategic planning functions.
After beginning her career as a merchandise buyer for several brick and mortar retailers, Sally built an extensive 12 year career at Eddie Bauer, serving last as the company’s Vice President of E-commerce. In this role, she was responsible for the strategic direction, growth initiatives and all operational aspects of Eddie Bauer's industry leading apparel web site. During her tenure, she was twice honored with the company’s “Best of Bauer” award for innovation and profitable performance.
She then moved to the social networking space at Classmates.com , first serving as Vice President of Merchandising for New Business, then moving to Senior Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Planning, where she was responsible for brand positioning, customer acquisition and retention, customer care, and site design. Following Classmates, Sally moved to Expedia, where she first served at Sr. Vice President of Merchandising and Retail Operations, and later as Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Expedia.com, with P&L accountability for the company’s $9 billion online business.
Sally holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington College in Chestertown Maryland and has served on advisory boards for Shop.org, Digitrends Magazine, The University of Washington E-Business Consortium and Internet Retailer Magazine.
Tuesday, February 3rd: The eCommerce Platform of the Future
Jim Okamura
Senior Partner, J.C. Williams Group
Jim Okamura is a Senior Partner, managing the Chicago office for J.C. Williams Group. Jim has over 18 years of consulting experience focused on the retail industry including strategic planning, branding, private label, consumer behavior, and multi-channel project work. His work in multi-channel retail strategies has resulted in industry-leading thinking on retailer best practices.
Jim is a frequent speaker on consumer, multi-channel, and retail trends at corporate planning sessions and public conferences including the National Retail Federation (NRF), Shop.org, the Retail Institute of Scandinavia, the Retail Council of Canada, the Professional Market Research Society, the Canadian Marketing Association, DMA Catalog Conference, and The Real Estate Forum.
Tuesday, February 3rd: How International Expansion Can Help Retailers in a Downturned Economy
Kelly O'Neill
Director of Product Marketing, ATG Commerce
Kelly O’Neill joined the company in early 2003 and leads product marketing efforts for ATG's Commerce Suite. Key to this role is a constant dialogue with Web retailers and an understanding of the evolving product needs in the e-commerce market – Kelly regularly shares her observations, predictions and has been quoted in a variety of business and industry news outlets, including Advertising Age, CRM: Customer Relationship Management, E-Commerce Times, InformationWeek, Internet Retailer and the Washington Post.
Wednesday, February 4th: Driving the Living Breathing Store: Retailer Case Studies of Innovations in Delivering Dynamic Content
Nick Pahade
President, gsi interactive, GSI Commerce
Nick Pahade joined GSI Commerce in February 2008 as president of the gsi interactivesm. Nick has more than ten years of leadership experience in the advertising and marketing industries. He is responsible for GSI Interactive’s growth strategy, client relationships, and leading GSI’s team of interactive design and marketing professionals.
Prior to joining GSI, he was president of Denuo,Publicis Groupe’s futures practice, and president of Beyond Interactive Inc., which he also co-founded. He has been recognized by MEDIA magazine as one of the top 50 People to Know in InteractiveMarketing, Advertising Age’s coveted 40 under 40 List, and as a MediaPost Online All-Star.
Wednesday, February 4th: Leveraging Your Most Valuable Asset: Creative Ways That Retailers Can Make Consumer Information Actionable
Satya Patel
Principal, Battery Ventures
Satya joined Battery in 2007 and focuses on the Software, Consumer Internet and Digital Media markets. He is on the boards of Freewheel Media and Lotame and is a board observer for Angie's List, Bazaarvoice and Adisn. Satya’s prior experience spans more than a decade in online media and software, both in operating and investing roles. Before joining Battery, Satya spent several years at Google, most recently as Senior Product Manager for AdSense. Beginning in 2003, he helped to build the AdSense business through various partner development and product management activities. Before Google, Satya was a Senior Product Manager at DoubleClick, leading the company’s efforts in the search marketing business. Satya also worked on various product and operational initiatives for the DART adserving platform, including with both publishers and advertisers/agencies.
Earlier in his career, Satya was a Senior Associate at Impact Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm based in New York, where he focused on investments in the Internet software, services and media markets. Representative investments include OpenTable and MessageOne. Satya began his venture capital career at Geocapital Partners, a trans-Atlantic technology venture capital firm. Representative investments from Geocapital include Homestore, StepStone and Geneva Technology. Satya also worked for Monitor Company, the strategy consulting firm founded by Michael Porter, as a strategy consultant in its New York and Tel Aviv offices. Satya is the co-inventor of 14 pending patents related to online advertising. He is proud to serve on the board of KIPP Bay Area Schools, a network of seven public charter schools in underserved communities.
Satya graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Finance from the Wharton School and a BA in Psychology from the College of Arts & Sciences.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Amanda Reed
Partner, Palomar Ventures
Amanda opened Palomar’s Palo Alto office in 2001 after building a successful career as a senior executive in sales, marketing, and business development in early-stage start-up companies.
Prior to joining Palomar, Amanda was the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development for LogicTier, where she built and led the sales, business development, and marketing teams of this Internet operations services provider. Before joining LogicTier in 1999, Amanda was previously Vice President, Marketing & Business Development at Connect, Inc., an early pioneer in Internet based e-commerce software and services. During her four years at Connect, she held leadership positions in sales, marketing, and business development, including the launch of the company's first Internet-based product in 1995, a successful IPO in 1996, and a final restructuring of the company to reach profitability in 1998. Connect was later acquired by Calico Commerce.
Amanda has a broad background in corporate brand development, product marketing, public relations, communications, business development, and sales management. Prior to Connect, Inc. she was Director of Marketing for a privately held manufacturing company (sales to 42 countries worldwide), where her duties included launching the company's European sales and customer service operations. In addition, Amanda has a combined six years of experience in major account sales, sales management, channel development, and IT outsourcing consulting while at Businessland, Inc. Amanda joined Businessland at the earliest stage of the company with fewer than 30 employees and supported its growth to more than $3B in sales.
Amanda holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College. She is a member of the Executive Council for Astia, and is also a Business Advisor to Pacific Community Ventures.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Cyriac Roeding
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Cyriac Roeding joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2008 as Entrepreneur-in-Residence, to focus on next-generation cross-platform mobile and online venture concepts. Previously, Cyriac was EVP of CBS Mobile, CBS Interactive. He launched CBS Corporation’s (NYSE: CBS) mobile businesses across CBS Entertainment, CBS Sports, CBS News and The CW. In partnerships with technology start-ups, he created U.S. industry firsts such as location-based mobile advertising, mobile video breaking news and sports alerts, and avatar-based mobile games tied to major TV shows. He grew CBS Sports Mobile into one of the Top Ten highest traffic ad-supported mobile websites in the U.S.; created the first virtual reality video gaming experience across TV, online and mobile with "CSI: NY"; and launched the first Alternate Reality Game with full primetime TV drama episode (Numb3rs) and outdoor billboard integration.
Prior to CBS, Cyriac was the Co-Founder of 12snap, a European mobile marketing and entertainment company with clients such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, L’Oreal, adidas and MTV Europe. Before that, he developed growth strategies at McKinsey & Company for global media, software and high-tech players in Europe and in Silicon Valley.
Cyriac has received several industry honors, including the first Lion Awards for mobile concepts at the Cannes Lion Festival in France (in 2003 and 2004). In 2007 and 2008, Cyriac and his CBS Mobile team received the only Emmy Award nominations for Mobile. He was also elected Global and North American Chairman of the MMA, with 600 member companies worldwide. He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus.
Wednesday, February 4th: The State of the Economy and Online Retailing: The VC Perspective
Michael Ross
Director, eCommera Limited
Michael founded eCommera together with Andrew McGregor in 2007. Prior to eCommera, Michael was co-founder and CEO of Figleaves.com which has grown to become the world's leading online retailer of multi-brand lingerie, underwear, hosiery and swimwear, selling over 200 brands from Aubade to Zimmerli. Prior to figleaves.com, Michael was a Manager at McKinsey and Company where he worked with a number of media and retail clients in the early days of the Internet.
He is also a non-executive director of GlassesDirect.com and Spreadshirt.com and adviser to WarehouseExpress.com.
Tuesday, February 3rd: How International Expansion Can Help Retailers in a Downturned Economy
John Squire
Chief Strategy Officer, Coremetrics
John Squire joined Coremetrics in 2001, and is now responsible for the development and management of Coremetrics Marketing Services and setting the company's vision of the market and technical strategy for Coremetrics Behavioral Analytics and Precision Marketing solutions.
During his tenure at Coremetrics, John has held responsibility for product development and management, marketing as well as business development where he was responsible for developing partnerships, alliances and leading M&A activities. John joined Coremetrics from Chemdex where he was the Senior Director of Product Management and a member of the Chemdex Executive Team. His team had responsibility for developing the company product roadmap, delivering new products and services, evaluating new markets, and assessing and integrating partner technologies. He also held the positions of Director of Strategic Partnerships and Senior Manager of Sales Operations. Prior to Chemdex, John worked for 3Com in Market Development where he developed and managed partnerships with Siemens, Fuji Medical Systems, Acuson, GE Medical, and other medical application providers. Prior to 3Com, John spent five years with Chevron Products, USA as a Process Engineer. John holds an M.B.A. with High Distinction from the University of Michigan and a B.S. with Highest Distinction in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Wednesday, February 4th: Innovation in a Downturned Economy: Pure-play Retailer Case Studies
Sam Taylor
CEO, Oriental Trading Company
Sam Taylor joined Oriental Trading Company as CEO in May 2008. As the nation’s largest direct marketer of party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties, Oriental Trading offers over 40,000 products to consumers, educators, businesses and institutions. The company has around 3,000 employees based in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sam has over 14 years of experience in retail, e-Commerce, direct marketing and international business. He has led the consumer direct businesses for global brands such as Hewlett-Packard, Best Buy, Lands’ End and Walt Disney. He also worked nine years at management consulting firm Bain & Company in the retail, consumer products, and customer retention practice areas.
Sam graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University and received an MBA with honors from Harvard Business School. He served on the Shop.org board of directors from 2004-2008.
Wednesday, February 4th: Leveraging Your Most Valuable Asset: Creative Ways That Retailers Can Make Consumer Information Actionable
Alex Tenessa
Associate Partner, McKinsey & Co.
Alex Tenessa is an Associate Partner in the New Jersey office of McKinsey & Company. He specializes in consumer industries, with a focus on retail, and has led several projects in this industry related to strategy, marketing, merchandising, sales and operations enhancement.
In addition to McKinsey, Alex has worked in the Strategy Department of Europe’s leading FTA TV player, RTL Group (Luxemburg), and as an Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of investment bank Paribas (New York, U.S.A.).
Alex holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (Boston, U.S.A.) with High Distinction (Baker Scholar), and a B.A. in Business from Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (Paris, France).
He lives in New York with his wife Blanca, his eight-month-old girl Iria and his dog Chili.
Tuesday, February 3rd: The Multi-Channel Shift: How Consumer Behavior Will Change In the Next Economic Recovery
Bob Thacker
SVP, Marketing & Advertising, OfficeMax, Inc.
Bob Thacker joined OfficeMax in late 2005, bringing a strong background in marketing and brand development. In his leadership role, Bob will be guiding the company’s brand position and all customer marketing interactions. Early successes with OfficeMax include standout creative campaigns such as “Save Money On Ink” tattoo creative, “ElfYourself”, a viral marketing phenomenon, “Schooled”, a reality back-to-school television show, and “The World’s Largest Rubberband Ball” national media event.
Bob’s career prior to joining OfficeMax includes a stint as CEO/President of BBDO Minneapolis, as Senior Vice President of Marketing Services at Sears Roebuck, and as Vice President of Marketing at Target Corporation.
Bob may be best known, however, as the man who brought Michael Graves to Target. As Vice President of Marketing for Target Corporation (1989-98) Bob was responsible for launching the Target brand in new markets including New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, where Target advertising achieved tremendous reception. Bob’s work with Michael Graves Design Group started the wave of new partnerships with other companies and properties which were marketed exclusively at Target, and brought Target to a new level of consumer loyalty and national recognition as one of the hottest brands in American retailing.
In 2001 Bob was awarded the 2001 Silver Medal by the Minnesota Advertising Federation as the Man of the Year. He was twice selected by Advertising Age as one of the Top 100 Marketers in the Nation. Bob has also been elected to the Retail Hall of Fame, which honors only one retail professional each year. This year, Bob was also chosen by Advertising Age as one of 24 top media authorities in the industry.
KEYNOTE - Wednesday, February 4th: Chewing Gum and Bailing Wire. Big Ideas with Little Budgets.
Brian Walker
Senior Analyst, eCommerce, Forrester Research
Brian serves eBusiness, Channel & Product Management professionals. He researches the effect that technology advancements, operational needs, and changing consumer behaviors have on the online retail industry. Brian has specific expertise in B2C and B2B eBusiness within retail and online travel, and his interests focus on multichannel strategies, user experience design, and technology solutions that facilitate the interactions between consumers, retailers, and brands. Brian has experience with a wide range of eCommerce technologies, ranging from platforms and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings to analytics, rich imaging, search, online marketing tools, and content management, among others.
Brian has more than 11 years of experience in eCommerce and online marketing, serving senior roles for large, established online retailers and Web marketers such as Amazon.com, Classmates Online, Inc., Eddie Bauer, Expedia.com, and The Spiegel Group and providing solutions for the online retailers and Web marketers while at Amazon Enterprise Solutions and his own firm. Additionally Brian presided over a start-up company, Swallowtail Solutions, focused on innovative eCommerce solutions for emerging retailers. Brian's roles span both business and technology leadership, from Web marketing, online merchandising, product management, solution architecture, customer experience design, and technology leadership.
Tuesday, February 3rd: The eCommerce Platform of the Future
Ronit Weinberg
Vice President of E-commerce and Online Marketing, Diane von Furstenberg
Ronit Weinberg serves as the Director of E-business for designer Diane von Furstenberg ("DVF"), where she is responsible for all aspects of strategic planning, management, operations and search marketing for the DVF's E-business division. Prior to the E-business position Mrs. Weinberg served as Director of Retail for DVF, where she is responsible for all aspects of strategic planning, management, and operations for the DVF retail stores, DVF's e-commerce division, and DVF's retail department store business. Mrs. Weinberg also oversaw the development of the redesigned DVF.com website, which resulted in a 300% increase in sales, and supervised all aspects of the relationship between DVF and Amazon and the current platform provider ATG. Prior to joining DVF, Mrs. Weinberg was the Global Strategic Business Planning Manager for Marc Jacobs Inc. from March 2000 until March 2004 and was one of the primary architects of the launch of the Marc by Marc Jacobs collection. Mrs. Weinberg's retail and wholesale experience also includes merchandise planning for the women's and men's divisions of Tommy Hilfiger, where she was promoted to Director of Retail Planning and Analysis for Hilfiger's upscale women's line in 1999. Prior to joining Tommy Hilfiger, Mrs. Weinberg was a Merchandise Buyer and Department Planner in a number of women's departments at Saks Fifth Avenue and an Assistant Buyer at Burdines in Miami, Florida.
Wednesday, February 4th: Driving the Living Breathing Store: Retailer Case Studies of Innovations in Delivering Dynamic Content
