Derek Mellencamp
Sr. Manager - Consumer Digital Media, Dell, Inc.

Please check back for additional speakers that are being added on a regular basis.

Peter Cobb
Co-founder and Senior Vice President, eBags.com

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.

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Tom Davis
Director of Ecommerce, Tommy Hilfiger

Tom Davis is the Director of Ecommerce for Tommy Hilfiger USA, a men’s and women’s fashion brand, located in New York City.  He joined Tommy Hilfiger in early 2007 and has over 13 years of ecommerce experience.

Tom joined Tommy Hilfiger as the point person to re-platform and re-launch its ecommerce business. Tommy Hilfiger’s online store services not only North America but also 35+ international countries spanning from Europe to Australasia. Tom is responsible and directly oversees fulfillment, marketing, and management of their online shopping business. This includes, but not limited to, SEM, SEO, email, site design, photography, operations and its ecommerce technologies.

Prior to joining Tommy Hilfiger, Tom managed a team that designed and deployed Sirius Satellite Radio’s first ecommerce storefront.  Tom has a BS from Vanderbilt University and an international MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Business.

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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.

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Patti Freeman Evans
Vice President, Research Director, Forrester Research

Patti is a leading expert on multichannel retail strategy, with 19 years of diversified experience, expertise in creating customer-centric ecommerce sites, integrating channels effectively, developing innovative marketing initiatives, and ensuring high-standard customer service and order fulfillment operations.

Patti was formerly a research director at JupiterResearch. Before joining JupiterResearch, she held leadership positions with leading internationally known companies like Bloomingdale's and Godiva Chocolatier. Most recently, she was director of shopping services with bloomingdales.com, where she touched on all aspects of the multichannel retail business. Brought on board to create and launch Bloomingdale's Bridal Registry Web site with WeddingChannel.com, Patti directed all aspects of the business, from concept to implementation, including backend customer service and store integration issues. In her previous capacities at Bloomingdale's she led the international marketing Department and implemented award-winning multiple-media marketing and retention programs. Further, Patti has done project work to develop interactive educational products for adults and children.

Patti has been quoted in major media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and Business 2.0, as well as in industry publications such as Internet Retailer and Executive Technology. Patti has also appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNBC, BBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, Fox Business News Network, and BNN.

She has taught eCommerce at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and is also the vice chairman of the board of directors for Shop.org. Patti earned a B.A. in business management and studio art from Franklin and Marshall College.

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Josh Friedman
Dell.com Consumer E-Commerce – North America, Dell, Inc.

Josh Friedman leads Dell’s e-Commerce team for Consumer Marketing for the US and Canada.

Josh has been with Dell since October 1999.  From 1999 to 2002, Josh worked in Dell’s pricing strategy and IT tools departments.  In February 2003, he joined the Imaging and Printing team to focus on the successful launch and ramp of Dell printers.  In March 2005, Josh took and international assignment in Dell Singapore to lead the global Pricing team for Displays and Imaging products.  In March 2006, Josh moved to the online business to start the US Online Analytics function for Dell.com, handling business intelligence, site analytics, and digital media performance metrics.  This team launched Dell.com’s first multi-variate testing platform in November 2007 and launched Dell.com’s first 3rd Party Web Analytics suite.  Most recently, Josh has assumed leadership of the 30-person Dell.com merchandising team for the Consumer E-Commerce sites in the US and Canada, covering both Systems and Electronics.  During his tenure, Dell.com has re-launched its pathing and merchandising strategy, created significant improvements in SEO, and launched new revenue streams through partner marketing.  He co-owns the multi-billion dollar P&L for the consumer online business, along with Derek Mellencamp.

Prior to Dell, Josh worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for three years as a consultant and financial auditor, focused on large, multi-national entities.

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Kim Gnatt
VP, E-Commerce, FootSmart.com

Kim Gnatt is the VP of E-Commerce for FootSmart.com where she leads the online marketing and operations for Footsmart.com, #175 in the Internet Retailer Top 500. She is responsible for the Footsmart.com shopping experience, and all of the acquisition and retention marketing programs including Email, Paid Search, SEO, Affiliate, Display, and Social Media.  Her team in Midtown Atlanta is responsible for FootSmart.com’s $60 million online retail business.

Prior to FootSmart, Kim spent 7 years at The Home Depot & Expo Design Center where she held multiple positions in the Marketing organization – in offline and online – most recently as Director of Multi-Channel Marketing for Homedepot.com.  She helped lead the strategy and implementation of marketing and merchandising programs, growing the Homedepot.com business to $300M online.

Prior to that, Kim held positions on the agency side of the business- as a traditional and interactive media planner for J. Walter Tech and Initiative Media.

Kim holds a B.A. in Marketing from the University of Michigan and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.  She is on the board of directors for AIMA, Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association.

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Jay Greenberg
Director, eCommerce, Spencer's

Jay Greenberg is Director, eCommerce with Spencer's. Responsible for both Spencersonline.com and SpiritHalloween.com, Greenberg joined Spencer's in July 2007. Previously Greenberg was eMarketing Manager at Franklin Electronic Publishers where he oversaw all eCommerce activity for Franklin.com as well as managed the catalog business.

An industry veteran, Jay served in a variety of marketing and sales roles with The Franklin Mint, and holds a BS in economics from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Illinois.

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Ted Hong
Chief Marketing Officer, Fandango

Hong leads all marketing efforts for Fandango and Movies.com, both leading entertainment destinations on the Web.  In addition, for Fandango he oversees the Promotional Sales, Gift Card and Live Events ticketing businesses. Fandango and Movies.com are owned by Comcast Interactive Media, A Division of Comcast Cable.

He brings over 15 years of business experience in marketing, strategy and general management from small start ups to $200MM global brands. He joined Fandango in 2003 and currently oversees brand strategy, marketing planning and execution, co-marketing, offline and online advertising, public relations, market research and new business evaluation. He was instrumental in launching the nationally-recognized Fandango Bag Puppet advertising campaign. Prior to Fandango, he was a head of marketing for the .TV Corporation, a web identity services provider acquired by Verisign Inc. in 2003. At .TV Hong led marketing efforts for the international and wholesale divisions of the company.

Hong also spent several years at Nestle USA in brand management for the Chocolate and Confections division on the Butterfinger brand and the Halloween and Valentine's Day seasonal businesses.

He also has experience in management consulting for Gemini Consulting, non-profit management for the California Alumni Association and professional sports marketing for the Golden State Warriors.

Hong received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA in Political Economy from UC Berkeley.

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Lori Kahn
Director of E-Commerce and Category Marketing, Philosophy, Inc.

Lori is Director of eCommerce at philosophy, a leading skincare and beauty brand with a unique position that combines science with an emotional connection.  She oversees the philosophy.com channel, where she is responsible for strategy, marketing, merchandising, site design/usability, and key technology decisions.  Lori has extensive marketing, supply chain, and business development experience across beauty, retail, and consumer products industries, including having led the launch of the NARS Cosmetics website.  Lori received her MBA from the INSEAD business school, in France and Singapore.

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Brian Kalma
Director of User Experience, Zappos.com

Brian Kalma joined Zappos.com in 2003 and is responsible for Zappos.com's User Experience and Web Strategy. Brian focuses on ensuring anything that has an approval stamp in it truly supports the Zappos.com value proposition and is always "Zappos-like."

During Brian’s first five years at Zappos he helped build Zappos’ Creative Services department. The Creative Services department incubated several groups including Product Photography/Image Processing, Design, Front-End Development and eventually User Experience.  He recently pulled the UX team out of Creative Services and now focuses on UX/Web Strategy exclusively.

Brian is currently mastering the hard level on Guitar Hero, loves 80's hair metal rock and has met Gary Coleman and John Stamos twice each. He lives with his two cats named Valentine and Ender ( after his favorite set of books, Enders Game, ), his dog named Franz and his childhood stuffed animal bunny that has gone unwashed for 30 years, his name is Jeremy.

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Jamey Maki
Director of eCommerce & Online Experience, Golfsmith International

Jamey Maki is the Director of eCommerce & Online Experience for Golfsmith International, a multi-channel golf and tennis retailer based in Austin, Texas. He is responsible for all online operations including marketing, merchandising and user experience. He has over 8 years of experience in the e-commerce field and is a strong advocate for online analytics and leveraging user generated content.

Under Jamey’s leadership Golfsmith.com was selected as one of 12 online retailers that passed E-Tailing Group’s 10TH Annual Mystery Shopping Study of 100 leading e-commerce sites for the third straight year. Golfsmith is currently ranked #172 on the latest Internet Retailer 500.

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Theresa McMullan
Vice President of Marketing, SkyMall, Inc.

Theresa McMullan joined SkyMall in February 1999.  Her responsibilities include management of the business’ airline relationships, oversight of eCommerce, catalog, online malls, and other marketing programs.  She is also responsible for catalog creative, production, and distribution.  Prior to joining SkyMall, Ms. McMullan was President of ManzanoMoon, a strategic marketing firm.

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Mark McWeeny
EVP/GM, Retail-Convergence, Ruelala & SmartBargains

Mark McWeeny joined Retail-Convergence in 2003, and presently serves as Executive Vice President, for Ruelala.com and SmartBargains.com.  Mark oversees all aspects of Corporate and Business Development for Retail-Convergence and is the General Manager of SmartBargains.com.  Mark was previously Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development.  Before joining the company, Mark was General Manager of Corporate Development for uBid.com.  He has also held positions at the Princeton Review and Mercer Management Consulting. Mark received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with concentrations in Marketing and Finance, and his BA in Political Science from Northwestern University.

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Derek Mellencamp
Consumer Online Marketing – North America, Dell, Inc.

Derek Mellencamp leads Dell’s Online Marketing team for Consumer Marketing in the US and Canada.

Dell experience:  Derek joined Dell in August of 2000.   Derek’s experience at Dell is in Consumer Marketing in North America and Europe.  From 2000 to 2003, Derek managed the Dimension desktop brand in the US focused on the online channel. In this capacity Derek achieved #1 US Consumer Desktop market share position growing Dimension market share 47% from 23% to 34% in first year on the job. From there Derek transitioned into a leadership role in the Consumer Marketing Communications team as the manager of the Consumer Print and Broadcast Advertising team. He led communications strategy, creative development, media & budget management for all Dell US Consumer Advertising – one of the top 100 advertisers in the US. Derek subsequently moved to Ireland to broaden his experience and to form the analytics and online business management teams for the European business.  He culminated his time abroad by leading the Consumer Online business for Europe.  Most recently, he returned from Europe to form the Online Marketing team for North America consumer responsible for E-mail marketing, Display Advertising, Product Listings and Comparison Shopping Engines, Affiliates marketing and SEO & SEM efforts.  He co-owns the multi-billion dollar P&L for the consumer online business, along with Josh Friedman.

Prior to Dell, Derek worked for 5 years at Peterson Consulting as a management consultant.

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Elizabeth Peaslee
Senior Consulting Director,Creative Good, Inc.

Elizabeth Peaslee is a Senior Consulting Director responsible for consulting and research clients across North America.

She is one of the most experienced customer experience executives and consultants in the country. Her clients at Creative Good span retail, media, travel and financial services, and she has spoken at many industry events including Shop.org, Direct Marketing Association, and private client summits, to name a few.

Elizabeth also leads Customer Experience Council 3, a group of 20 executives across a range of companies which started in October 2004.  She is based in Dallas, Texas where she runs the Creative Good office.

Prior to Creative Good, Elizabeth was the Vice President, Customer Experience at Travelocity where she spent 8 years.  As the VP of Customer Experience, she was responsible for both business and consumer applications. She is recognized as a pioneer in the field of customer experience having generated millions of incremental dollars for Travelocity and for her clients here at Creative Good.

Before her distinguished career in customer experience, Elizabeth worked at Sanford Bernstein as a portfolio manager.

Elizabeth earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor’s from Duke University in Economics and Mathematics.  She spends her time outside the office running, biking, and chasing after her two energetic daughters.

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Scott Savitz
CEO, Shoebuy.com

Scott Savitz is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Shoebuy.com.

Scott Savitz founded Shoebuy.com in 1999 and serves as Chief Executive Officer. Under his guidance, the company has quickly become one of the largest retailers of footwear and related apparel on the Internet partnered with over 800 brands and representing over 700,000 products. In February, 2006, Shoebuy.com was purchased by IAC/InterActive Corp. which owns other leading properties including Match.com, Citysearch, Evite.com, and Ask.com.
 
Prior to founding Shoebuy.com, Mr. Savitz was a Director at BancBoston Robertson Stephens specializing in the investments of large high-tech corporations totaling more than $6 billion. Previously, Mr. Savitz was in the mortgage business where he originated more than $100 million in mortgages in one year. In addition, Mr. Savitz managed a full service marketing company specializing in direct mail, telemarketing and list maintenance.

Mr. Savitz serves on the board of directors of SimpleTuition and MITX.  He received a B.A. in English from the University of Colorado and currently resides in Boston, MA.  Mr. Savitz has received numerous awards and accolades including Ernst & Young's New England Entrepreneur of the Year.

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Rob Schmults
Chief Marketing Officer, Smart Destinations

Rob Schmults is the Chief Marketing Officer for Smart Destinations. The company is the premier provider of attraction passes in 15 major North American travel destinations from Oahu to New York City.  Smart Destinations’ Go Cards and Explorer Passes offer pre-paid access to over 425 museums, attractions, and tours for one fixed price. A strong focus on customer satisfaction and value helped the company rank 78 on the most recent Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies. The company sells directly through its own web site, through most major online travel sites, as well as offline at visitor centers and participating attractions.

Rob was formerly Vice President, Sporting Goods Business Management at GSI Commerce. In that role, Rob oversaw the teams responsible for the online stores of partners such as Major League Baseball, Bath and Body Works, adidas, iRobot, and Dicks Sporting Goods. He worked closely with these and other partners to support their expansion into new opportunities including customized product, paper catalogs, and multi-channel commerce. Prior to joining GSI, Rob ran the retail practice of Fort Point Partners, a leading e-commerce consulting and systems integration boutique whose clients included J.Crew, Best Buy, and Restoration Hardware. He also worked for McKinsey & Co. advising retail and media clients on e-commerce strategy, both in the US and Europe. Rob’s initiation into the Internet took place in 1994, when he joined internet software pioneer Worlds Inc. Rob received his BA from Yale, M.Phil from Cambridge, and MBA from Harvard. 

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Dan Seligson
SVP Direct and Product Management, PartStore.com

Dan Seligson, Vice President of E-Commerce, is responsible for the e-commerce division of Partsearch, including its direct brand, PartStore.com, America’s largest online source for replacements parts for consumer electronics, appliances, computers and more. Since joining Partsearch in March 2008, Dan has grown PartStore revenues by more than 50%, leveraging his proven expertise in distribution, online marketing and technology and platform development.  

Prior to joining Partsearch, Dan was vice president of marketing for iAmplify, an online audio and video publisher. Dan also served as a Strategic Marketing Manager at A&E Television Networks, leading marketing and business development for direct-to-consumer retail operations. Additionally, in his career, Dan has led e-commerce strategy and marketing for Infoseek, Diamond.com and Oberon, as well as running his own consulting business.

Dan has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a Masters of Management degree from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

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John Squire
Chief Strategy Officer, Coremetrics, Inc.

John Squire joined Coremetrics in 2001 and is responsible for setting the company’s vision of the market, technical strategy, and marketing for Online Marketing and Business Optimization solutions.  John also is responsible for the development and management of Coremetrics ConnectTM.

During his tenure at Coremetrics, Squire has held executive responsibility for the product development and management, marketing, sales and business development departments. John joined Coremetrics from Chemdex (IPO in 1999) 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.

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Ben Viscon
Online Merchandising Manager, REI

Ben Viscon is the Online Merchandising Manager for REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.)
based in Seattle, Washington.  He joined the company in 1999 and helped launch REI’s second online store, REI-Outlet.com. In addition to managing the Online Category Merchant teams for REI.com and REI-Outlet.com, Ben is part of the larger management team responsible for shaping REI’s multi-channel strategy.

With over 20+ years of retailing experience in store management, product management, merchandise and financial planning, strategy planning and direct marketing as well as eCommerce with such retailers as Dillard’s, Macy’s, Starbucks Coffee Company and now REI, Ben brings expansive knowledge and a proven record of achieving great success by always staying focused on the customer.

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Chris Wilson
VP, E-commerce, L.L. Bean, Inc.

Chris Wilson is the Vice President of E-Commerce for L.L.Bean where he oversees both the llbean.com website and the company’s database modeling efforts.  Chris joined L.L.Bean in 1992, working in the flagship retail store, and has held positions in retail, catalog circulation, loyalty marketing, and E-Commerce. Chris also served as the managing director of L.L.Bean’s Japan Branch Office, moving his family to Tokyo for two years. In this role, Chris re-started L.L.Bean’s retail expansion in Japan, opening 5 new stores, establishing an in-house call center, and implementing a new order management system.

Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and physics from Bowdoin College, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Chris serves on the Shop.org board of directors.

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Jon Wuebben
President & CEO, Telegent Media, LLC & Custom Copywriting

Jon Wuebben is a copywriter, speaker and online marketing leader. He is the President and CEO of Telegent Media, LLC, Encore Publishing and Custom Copywriting, one of the fastest growing online content providers in the industry, having written copy for the Fortune 100, small startups and hundreds of mid-sized organizations. Top companies call upon him for online marketing consultation. Jon has an MBA in International Marketing from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management and a BS in Management from California State University, Chico. He is the author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web and speaks at business conferences and association meetings around the country.

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