Jack Aaronson
CEO
The Aaronson Group

The Aaronson Group focuses on customer conversion, retention and loyalty for both single and multi-channel companies. As a corporate lecturer, Jack travels around teaching best practices in user experience, personalization, loyalty programs and multi-channel marketing. Jack writes the ROI Marketing column for ClickZ.com, as well as his own newsletter. He has appeared as a subject-matter expert on CBS Sunday Morning News (for a segment on loyalty programs), and has been interviewed by every major trade publication as well as the New York Times and Chicago Tribune. The Aaronson Group's clients include a who's-who of online brands and multi-channel companies, including one of the country's largest sportswear brands, Yves Saint Laurent, Marriott, SkyMall, Fingerhut, Peet's Coffee and Tea, Hello Direct, ShopNBC, AirTran, Merrill Lynch, American Airlines and more.

Jason Billingsley
VP, Innovation
Elastic Path

Jason Billingsley is a Co-founder & VP Innovation at Elastic Path Software where is responsible for exploring new ecommerce technologies and methods for online retail. As principal ecommerce analyst, he consults with some of the largest and most successful online retailers in the world – most recently managing online strategy for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games online store. Jason has authored industry research such as "The Ecommerce Checkout Report", hosts a monthly ecommerce webinar series, and oversees the most subscribed ecommerce blog on the internet - Get Elastic. He is a regular speaker at retail industry events such as Shop.org, Online Market World, and eTail. An online marketer for well over a decade, Jason has been quoted in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Internet Retailer, BtoB Magazine, Apparel magazine, and Multi-Channel Merchant.

In 2005, he was a co-recipient of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation's National Best Business award, and helped land Elastic Path Software on Profit Magazine's Hot 50. Jason is a recipient of the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award and holds a BBA in Entrepreneurial Leadership. He resides in Vancouver with his wife Amy.

Jeannie Bliss
Author
Chief Customer Officer

Jeanne Bliss helps leaders get the customer on the strategic agenda, redirecting priorities and creating transformational changes to the brands’ customer experience. She has driven achievement of 95 percent loyalty rates, changing customer experiences across 50,000-person organizations.

Jeanne developed her passion for the customer at Lands’ End Inc., working for founder Gary Comer during its formative stages, as Leader for the Lands’ End customer experience. Comer has described Jeanne Bliss as “A powerhouse when it comes to driving customer focus. It’s in her bones. She has an uncanny ability to cut across an organization and support leaders in the quest to drive the operation of the company toward strong and powerful customer relationships.”

She was Senior Vice President of Franchise Services for Coldwell Banker Corporation. Jeanne served Allstate Corporation as its chief officer for customer satisfaction & retention. She was Microsoft Corporation’s General Manager of Worldwide Customer & Partner Loyalty. At Mazda Motor of America she initiated the brand’s customer retention effort.

Now managing partner of CustomerBLISS, Jeanne coaches leaders to wrap their company’s focus around customers and customer profits.

Gary Briggs
Sr. Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
eBay Inc.

Gary joined eBay in February 2002 and currently serves as Sr. Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for eBay's branding and marketing activities in North America , including advertising, Internet marketing, direct marketing, onsite merchandising, partner relationships, and core category initiatives. In his four year career at eBay, Gary has held other positions including VP of consumer marketing for eBay U.S. , VP of marketing for PayPal, which is eBay's online payment service, and he also served as general manager for eBay Canada .

Prior to eBay, Gary was a founder of OurHouse, Inc., an e-commerce company partnered with Ace Hardware. Before this venture, he was Director of Worldwide Brand Strategy for IBM Corporation where he was responsible for the company's brand positioning and cross-corporate marketing integration.  While working for IBM, he co-authored the marketing strategy for the company's "e-business" campaign.

Before joining IBM, Gary worked for six years at Pepsi-Cola, most recently as Marketing Director responsible for brand strategy, advertising and sports marketing for the company's flagship product. In addition, while at Pepsi he developed a joint venture with the Starbucks Coffee Company and Pepsi's bottled water product, Aquafina.  Prior to Pepsi, Gary worked for four years at McKinsey and Company as an associate and engagement manager.

Patrick M. Byrne
Chairman and CEO
Overstock.com, Inc.

Patrick Byrne received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College (Asian Studies & Philosophy), a master's degree in philosophy from Cambridge University as a Marshall scholar, and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University.

Byrne served as chairman, president and CEO of Centricut, LLC, a manufacturer of industrial torches, then held the same three positions at Fechheimer Brothers, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company manufacturing police, firefighter, and military uniforms. Currently Byrne is Chairman and CEO of Utah-based internet retailer Overstock.com.

Since Byrne launched Overstock.com in 1999, he and his company have garnered attention from numerous national media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, ABC News with Peter Jennings, Fortune, CBS Marketwatch, and Business Week, among others, and has been a frequent guest on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and Fox News shows (such as Cavuto and Kudlow & Cramer). In 2002, Byrne was named to Business Week's list of the 25 most influential people in e-Business: the magazine cited survival strength and vision as qualities that qualified Byrne for the list. In 2003 Ernst & Young awarded Byrne an "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in the category of Lifetime Achievement.

Allan Dick
General Manager
Vintage Tub and Bath

Allan Dick began researching and implementing SEO/SEM techniques when he joined Vintage Tub and Bath as General Manager in January 2001. Since then, Vintage Tub and Bath ( www.vintagetub.com ) has increased gross revenues 1,700% and is now a leading supplier of reproduction bathroom fixtures. Mr. Dick regularly speaks at Search Engine Strategies and Shop.org meetings and has been quoted in Wired, Internet Marketing Report, and Business Week among other publications. As the Chair of Regional Meetings for Shop.org, Mr. Dick organizes quarterly networking events for ecommerce executives in eight US Cities. Prior to joining Vintage Tub and Bath , Mr. Dick was a sales manager for five years at a new car dealership and a stockbroker for three years. He has a B.A. from Washington & Lee University and graduated from Outward Bound alpine mountaineering school.

Heather Dougherty
Director of Research
Hitwise

Heather is a leading authority in online commerce and marketing, a result of covering the field extensively since 1997. At Hitwise, Heather will continue her focus on this space, providing insight into online consumer behavior and competitive intelligence to Hitwise clients.

Heather's expertise of the online commerce landscape has been quoted extensively in the press including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Business Week. Heather has also been a guest on ABC World News Tonight, CNBC, NPR, and CBS Radio. Heather speaks frequently at industry events such as Shop.org, Internet Retailer, Ad:tech, and Search Engine Strategies.

Prior to joining Hitwise, Heather was with Nielsen/NetRatings as the senior retail analyst, where she provided strategic analysis and designed custom research projects. Before her time at Nielsen, she spent four years with Jupiter Research covering the online retail and commerce space, including marketing & promotions, merchandising, and personalization.

Laura Evans
Executive Studio Director
Resource Interactive

With 15 years of industry experience , Laura Evans leads the multidisciplinary retail practice of digital marketing agency Resource Interactive. Laura is an enthusiastic leader who oversees relationships with clients including Wal-Mart, L.L. Bean, DSW and President's Choice sharing big ideas and actionable insights for creating online experiences that meet customers' needs.

Laura is a recurrent panelist and speaker at industry events, and is frequently quoted in the media. Laura has spoken at the Direct Marketing Association's Annual Catalog Conference, GlobalShop, Online Market World, The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, and ad:tech. Laura was also a judge for the 2006 International ECHO Awards.

Edward P. Foy, Jr
CEO
eFashion Solutions

Edward P. Foy, Jr. is co-founder and CEO of eFashion Solutions and has spent his entire career in retailing and fashion, getting his start with Macy's Department Stores and later joining the wholesale business at Calvin Klein Jeanswear. As liaison between the sales and MIS departments, Foy was instrumental in the development of warehousing systems and reporting tools which maximized sales and inventory turns.  During this time, Foy developed key relationships with retail buyers and regional merchandising managers from large specialty chain stores, which became invaluable for his e-commerce success.

Larry Freed
President and CEO
ForeSee Results

Larry Freed is President/CEO of ForeSee Results, a leading customer satisfaction management company with solutions based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). With 20 years of senior management experience, he has directed numerous e-commerce and technology initiatives. An expert on web customer satisfaction, Freed has spoken extensively on the topic and been quoted in numerous publications and media, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Investor's Business Weekly, Internet Retailer, Multichannel Merchant, The New York Times, Computerworld and others.

Todd Friesen
VP, Search Strategies
Visible Technologies

Todd Friesen is considered by many to be an SEO pioneer. He entered the SEO world in 1998 and has since worked with top-name clients like Sharper Image, Nike, Neiman Marcus and Accor Hotels North America on natural search optimization. He is an expert in search engine marketing, a former administrator at Webmasterworld.com, and a former moderator for Search Engine Watch Forums. He is co-host of the popular SEO Rockstars show on WebmasterRadio.FM, as well as a regular speaker at Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld Pubcon, SMX and other conferences.

Jessica Harley
Vice President, Acquisition and Retention Marketing
Borders Group, Inc

Jessica Harley joined Borders Group, Inc. as Vice President, Acquisition and Retention Marketing in March of 2007, bringing with her a successful track record of developing and managing customer acquisition and retention strategies to drive bottom-line results. At Borders, Harley is responsible for leading all efforts to acquire new customers and expand business with existing customers, including optimization of the company's 25 million member Borders Rewards® customer loyalty program. Harley also spearheads the implementation of customer acquisition and retention strategies across multiple channels including direct mail, e-mail, third-party partnerships, search engine and affiliate marketing, as well as electronic and broadcast advertising. In addition, Harley manages Borders' gift card program; executes in-store promotions; oversees Borders' co-branded Visa card partnership; and leads customer research activity. Prior to joining Borders, Harley held a number of marketing positions including Director of Promotions with Barnes & Noble and Director of Marketing for Bookspan, a joint venture of Bertelsmann AG and Time Warner. Harley holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from State University of New York College at Geneseo and a master's of business administration (MBA) degree from the Stern School of Business, New York University.

Mitch Joel
President
Twist Image

When Google wanted to explain online marketing to the top retailers in the United States (including Wal-Mart, Costo, Sears and Sephora), they brought Mitch Joel to the Googleplex in Mountain View , California . Marketing Magazine dubbed him the, "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and in 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image - an award-winning Digital Marketing agency. He is a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert, community leader, Blogger and Podcaster. He is also a passionate entrepreneur and speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital marketing and personal branding.

Joel is a Board Member for both the Canadian Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau Canada . He is an executive for the National Advertising Benevolent of Quebec and an instructor of the CMA eMarketing professional certificate course.

Joel speaks frequently to diverse groups like The Power Within, Google, Shop.org, Visa, Microsoft and has shared the stage with former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, Anthony Robbins and Dr. Phil. He is the founder/moderator of the Montreal Business Book Review, host of the HarperCollins Canada sponsored, Foreword Thinking: The Business And Motivational Book Review Podcast and is also a certified self-defense coach. .

Joel is frequently called upon to be a subject matter expert for CTV National News, Canada AM, CBC Newsworld, Marketing Magazine , Strategy, The Globe & Mail, The National Post and many other media outlets. He is presently writing his first book, Six Pixels of Separation.

Ken Jurina
President and Founder
Top Draw & Epiar

As president and founder of Top Draw and Epiar , Ken Jurina has more than fifteen years of experience in traditional advertising and Internet marketing. In 1993, he founded Top Draw which has become a leading advertising, graphic design, and web development firm in Edmonton , Alberta , Canada .

In 2002, Ken co-founded Epiar, an Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) company that has pioneered techniques merging web development technology with online marketing strategies to drive qualified traffic and sales.

As president of Epiar, Ken oversees the company's growth and helps drive the marketing strategies and creative tactics that are delivering better lead generation and client retention for Epiar clients. In addition to leading the Epiar team, Ken's role at Epiar comprises senior-level client counsel, strategic marketing, and creative direction.

Ken is also involved with various professional organizations and industry associations. He has served as a judge at the Canadian New Media Association awards for the past four years, and has been a speaker at Search Engine Strategies conferences in New York, Chicago, San Jose, and Toronto .  Additionally, Ken sits on the Global Committee and is Co-Chair of the Marketing Committee for the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), which establishes and promotes ethical SEO practices and guidelines, and is also a founding member and co-chair of SEMPO Canada.

Outside of his professional responsibilities at both Top Draw and Epiar, Ken also plays key organizational roles for various noteworthy causes, including the Cross Cancer Institute (CCI), and the board of directors for Alberta Easter Seals.

Nick Sheth
Director of Business Development
Gap Inc Direct

Nick Sheth is Director of Business Development at Gap Inc Direct, where he leads the online acquisition marketing efforts for all of the Gap Inc brands.  In addition to managing the search, affiliate, CSE, and graphical ad programs, his team constantly evaluates and tests new marketing vehicles that are presented to the company.  Previously, he led the sales and business development efforts for Like.com, a venture funded shopping comparison startup, and several years at Overture/Yahoo! where he was instrumental in launching and growing paid search programs in the United States and later across Europe .  Earlier he held a number of product management and business development roles at CNET Networks.  He started his career in management consulting at Accenture.  Nick has degrees in Molecular Biology and Business from the University of Texas at Austin.