Alex Carleton oversees the creative direction of Filson.
He has over 20 years of experience working with American heritage brands such as LL Bean, Ralph Lauren, Timberland and Abercrombie and Fitch. He was nominated for a CFDA in 2009. His own retail stores were voted Best Menswear Shops by Esquire and GQ magazines.

With years of retail experience across a number of strong specialty brands Kurt joined LEGO Brand Retail in 2003 to help deliver engaged guest experiences as the retail chain grew from 20 stores globally to over 120. Kurt has a strong focus and belief in sales through service, finding ways to engage retail teams and guest in fun an unique ways.  Kurt currently oversees retail operations of 90 locations in North America. 

Kari is the Sr. Director of Store Operations and Communication at DSW, as part of the Customer Operations Team.  Kari has been with DSW for 2 years.  In her current role, Kari and her team are responsible for all daily Store operations and communication as well as the execution of projects making the DSW Mission, Vision and Strategy come to life for the customer.  Prior to DSW, Kari was with Limited Brands for 25 years in a multitude of Home Office and Field roles, most recently as the Zone Vice President for the North.  Kari is passionate about the external and internal Customer experience and how that comes alive at DSW.  She and her team are looking for opportunities every day to make that a reality at DSW!

An industry expert with more than 20 years of successful experience in Retail operations and business management Development, Dan Carlson has a proven ability to foster relationships with all levels of management and functional areas including I.T., operations, accounting, finance, merchandising and interconnected omni channel retail partners. Dan has held numerous positions during his 21 years at Home Depot including, Finance, Store Leadership roles, Six Sigma black belt, Store communications, Regional Operations Director, District Manager and currently Director of store operations.  In his current role, he is responsible for all Point of sales systems and processes, custom order selling and configurable systems/processes and omni channel interconnected retail operations. As graduate of Colorado State University in Fort Collins Colorado, Dan started his retail career at the early age of 16 while cutting his teeth at a local mom and pop ski rental store in the tourist ski town of Summit County in the mountains of Colorado. 

Darren Medina currently serves as Vice President of Store Design at MOD Pizza, where he leads the team responsible for designing all new stores. Mr. Medina joins MOD Pizza from M3|messenger where he was the Director of Architecture. Prior to that, he spent 15 years at Starbucks Coffee Company as the Director of Global Store Design Concepts, where he helped build the processes, systems, tools and teams that enabled Starbucks to grow from under 200 stores to more than 11,500 stores.

Rafael is responsible for articulating and executing the company’s U.S. retail strategy and managing the operations of direct sales channels including e-commerce, and retail stores. His efforts include leadership of the Havaianas U.S. retail licensing program. Rafael joined Alpargatas USA as Director of Operations, where he managed demand and supply planning, logistics, fulfillment, distribution and customer service. He has over 15 years of experience including work in management consulting specializing in operations and supply chain management for Fortune 1000 consumer goods companies. Rafael holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rutgers University.

Ms. Tallie Kawahara has been Vice President of Soma Intimates, LLC, a division of Chico's FAS Inc., since August 2013 and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of store strategy, operations and customer engagement.  Ms. Kawahara has over 25 years of retail experience in various roles in the specialty retail environment with companies such as Banana Republic, Ralph Lauren, Maxmara and Fred Segal. Ms. Kawahara has held every title in the field from associate to Regional Manager and worked with various product categories from men's and women's apparel and accessories to intimates, home and children's.

A results-driven retail re-inventor with a keen eye for innovative design, Micheline Davies has spent more than a decade helping to shape the vision of the in-store shopping experience for one of Canada’s most iconic brands. As Vice President, Store Design and Merchandising at Canadian Tire, Micheline has overseen the replacement and remerchandising of more than 300 Canadian Tire stores, the reinvention of the Living department across the store network and the creation of more than 200 hunting and fishing pro shops that continue deliver strong results. Micheline’s latest major project was the delivery of the largest and best ever Canadian Tire store, which opened in Edmonton in June 2015. The 140,000 square foot Showcase Store represents the future of Canadian Tire Retail and includes differentiated digital experiences and a modern, impactful store environment.

Matthew has over 20 years of retail experience starting from small mom-and-pop surf shops to such industry giants as Abercrombie & Fitch, Pacific Sunwear, Eddie Bauer and now REI.

Jeff is the Sr. Director of Omni Channel Strategy & Capabilities at PetSmart, as part of the Customer Experience Team. Jeff has been with PetSmart for 9 years and currently directs the overall strategy, development and implementation of new Omni-Channel capabilities that allow for the creation of a complete digital layer that lets consumers move seamlessly among all retail environments -- real and virtual --as if they were one.

Prior to PetSmart, Jeff had various roles in operations, engineering and planning at UPS and Home Depot. Jeff is a proud graduate of the Purdue University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and holds an MBA with a concentration in Project Management.

Keri Voke is passionate about connecting the digital and physical world. As a senior manager of multichannel strategy for Walmart, Keri is responsible for creating customer facing experiences that add value for both our customers and associates every day. She is currently focused on the Sam's Club member experience and using in-club technology to drive member engagement in multichannel. Previous to her current role, Keri worked on the mobile strategy team at Walmart, focusing on customer centric app features such as store maps, mobile checkin, and mobile payment.

Nikki Baird focuses on trends impacting the consumer-retailer relationship, along with their supply chain and marketing implications. She has written research and articles on topics ranging from in-store marketing and technology, store performance management, supply chain and multi-channel fulfillment, retailer-manufacturer collaboration, merchandising, and loyalty and promotions management.  She has been quoted as a subject matter expert in The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and National Public Radio.
Nikki brings perspective from all sides of the retail technology equation: she served in technology roles at both a large and a small retailer, and she has provided advisory and consulting services for Fortune 500 retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.  Prior to co-founding RSR, Nikki was an analyst at both Forrester Research and Retail Systems Alert Group, where she covered extended retail industry topics like supply chain, RFID, retail operations, POS, and in-store management. Prior to that, she was director of marketing for StorePerform, and director of product marketing for Viewlocity, a supply chain software provider focusing on adaptive supply chain execution and exception management. Nikki spent several years at PwC Consulting, where as a senior manager she led IT strategy consulting engagements for retail and CPG clients.
Nikki has an M.B.A. from the University of Texas, Austin, focusing on operations and IT. She also holds a bachelor of arts in political science and Russian, with a minor in physics, from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She writes a weekly blog for Forbes.

Scott doles out the company’s marketing, culture and development strategy in between giving the types of motivational speeches only seen in the locker room scenes of the best Hollywood sports movies. Scott brings years of marketing experience to iQmetrix and always strives to keep on top of the latest trends. (He even has a Pinterest board – or “Pininterest” as he would say – but the closest he’s gotten to completing a craft is the beer he drinks…) Scott has a passion for the creative side of the business and has a keen sense of how to build teams of people you’re excited to come to work with every day. Before joining iQmetrix, Scott was an award-winning business prof at his alma mater, the University of Regina. He’s still working on getting the nickname “The Professor” to stick…

Kevin Swanwick has 30 years of experience in the retail technology and store systems sector, spanning multiple generations of technology and nearly all aspects of software sales, marketing, design and delivery. Kevin is currently senior director of retail solutions at Manhattan Associates, where he oversees stores systems and helps clients address today’s omni-channel retail challenges.

Since joining Reflexis in June of 2014, Brett has helped drive record growth for Reflexis.  Brett is a well known technology industry leader who has held senior positions at both public and private software companies including i2 Technologies, SAP, Allegro Development, and Infor. Brett is a graduate of The College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Jerry Rightmer joined Starmount in 2010. As Executive Vice President and Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Rightmer oversees Starmount’s product vision and technology strategy. He provides strategic guidance to Starmount’s product management and R&D teams, while maintaining a focus on customer-centric technologies for a variety of segments. He brings 20 years of experience in envisioning, designing, and developing retail technology solutions. During Rightmer’s tenure in retail system development, he has worked with a number of department store, mass merchant, specialty and e-commerce retailers. Most recently, Rightmer served as the Vice President of Retail Application Strategy for Oracle where he led the business process, enterprise architecture and integration strategy for Oracle Retail.  Prior to Oracle, Rightmer was the Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and co-Founder of 360Commerce. While at 360Commerce, his team established leadership in the retail technology industry through the adoption and development of leading edge technology and standard for store and enterprise solutions. Jerry is a member of the Association of Retail Standards (ARTS) Board of Directors. Rightmer earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Texas and a Master of Science in Finance from Texas Tech University. 

For 25 years Gary has been involved in creating and leading innovative early stage companies and establishing accelerated sales and valuation growth. Before TimeTrade, Gary headed Cognio (acquired by Cisco) where he pioneered the field of intelligent spectrum management for WiFi systems. Earlier Gary was co-founder of SecureMedia (acquired by Google), one of the first DRM encryption systems for online content and spent 7 years with Hewlett-Packard in Silicon Valley. He holds a BSEE from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard.

In his role as Senior Digital Experience Analyst, Ben helps the world’s premiere brands improve their presence across mobile, web, wearables, IoT and beyond. He also is the lead researcher for the Application Resource Center (ARC) – the editorial and research arm of Applause. Prior to joining Applause, Ben served as a Principal Analyst with Forrester Research. He is a leading expert on digital experience best practices. Over his 10 years with Forrester, Ben authored more than 150 reports, advised Fortune 500 companies on IT strategies and was regularly quoted in top publications like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and InformationWeek.

Shelley E. Kohan has been serving the Retail Industry for over 25 years, working at senior level positions across many functions including general management, operations, merchandising, buying, and human resources.  Shelley is a retail expert and in her current role at RetailNext as Vice President of Retail Consulting, she works with clients to develop optimized strategies to increase sales, reduce costs, and benchmark performance through robust data analytics.  Shelley contributions transcend over into academia in her role as professor for the Fashion Institute of Technology of the State University of New York in the Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology. She has an insatiable passion for retailing and her enthusiasm for the industry is contagious
 
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-e-kohan-310b9612
Twitter:  @retailshelley

Craig Witsoe has been the Chief Executive Officer of Elo since 2012. Prior to Elo, Mr. Witsoe led efforts in various aspects of retail technology for over 20 years, with global experience in digital displays and retail commercial lighting. Building on Elo’s 40 years of touchscreen innovation and over 20 million global installations, Craig has led Elo’s latest generation of innovation focused on bridging the physical store and on-line shopping experience. Elo is making in-store e-commerce a reality with its industry leading commercial touchscreens, cloud-based Eloview content delivery software, and EMV payment integration. Elo has also modernized the world of interactive POS technology with its aesthetically pleasing, yet durable, new systems. Working with some of the largest retailers around the world, Craig is in a unique position to see the best in-store digital interactive experiences, approaches to in-store on-line shopping and, more importantly, what retail will look like in the coming years. Learn more about Craig and connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/craigwitsoe

Chris Taylor is Founder and CEO of Square Root, an Austin-based SaaS company whose store relationship management platform, CoEFFICIENT, helps leading auto and retail enterprises leverage data science to align their organizations, increase transparency, encourage collaboration and improve store performance.

Dr. Larry Arnstein brings experience in all phases of the technology adoption lifecycle to lead business development for Impinj. Since 2007, Larry has collaborated with retail and brand leaders as they adopt and benefit from RFID technology. In addition to helping Impinj conceive and deliver great products, Larry contributes to the RFID industry through public speaking, writing, and community leadership roles. Prior to joining Impinj, Larry was the founder and CTO of a software company, served on the faculty of the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science & Engineering, and was Director of Consulting Services for Cadence Design Systems.

Sanjeev is the CEO and Co-founder at Intelligence Node. He focuses on client acquisition and the business vision - driving the strategic direction of the product offering and customer experience. He brings deep retail industry knowledge, having previously worked as CFO for Exclusively.in (a multi-brand ecommerce luxury fashion portal) – now acquired by Snapdeal and CFO for SherSingh.com (a private label ecommerce fast fashion brand) – now acquired by Myntra.com. Sanjeev is a graduate of London Business School.

After starting his career as a commercial lawyer Sam moved to online payments in 2010, where he has played an instrumental role in Adyen’s growth ever since.  He is passionate about customer experience and working with the world’s leading companies to solve complex technical and financial issues. He helps them optimize their global payments, drive conversions and minimize risk. He also draws on his extensive experience on the processes and requirements of local banks and payment methods to advise businesses on operating in diverse international payments landscapes. Sam is also responsible for all Adyen products, and helping merchants get the absolute most from the Adyen platform.

As Product Director in Mindtree’s Platform Solutions Group, Sudhakar is applying technology to solve business challenges. He has incubated multiple platforms at Mindtree and is responsible for product development, strategy, and go-to-market.

With masters degree in retail science and vast experience in retail industry, Sudhakar is currently focused in creating value for retailers by enabling them to improve in-store conversions. 

Prior to joining Mindtree, Sudhakar has managed a large eCommerce implementation for Walmart Global eCommerce group.

Michael brings a track record of defining, executing, launching, and marketing award winning rugged analytical computing solutions.  As Xplore Technologies’ Director of Product, Michael performed extensive market research and drove the organization to develop and properly position their latest generation of industrial tablet PCs.  Under Michael’s leadership, Xplore signed on the largest utility company in the US as a customer.  Prior to Xplore, Michael was a lead mechanical development engineer of servers and notebook products at Dell, Inc.  Michael received his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.  In his spare time, Michael enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and daughters, cycling, running and flying.