Karime Benaissa is Neiman Marcus’ Senior Vice President of Digital & e-Commerce. Mr. Benaissa joined Neiman Marcus Group in Summer 2019 and brings more than 20 years of experience in turning around, transforming and accelerating the growth of digital platforms through the creation of seamless, intuitive and business-accretive omni-channel experiences. Previously, Mr. Benaissa spent 3 years at Petco, where he turned around a fledgling e-Commerce business, bolstering both growth rates and EBITDA, while focus on LTV-driving programs like its subscription business. Mr. Benaissa also spent many years at Amazon in key leadership positions across the Retail and Ad-based businesses, accelerating the growth of key retail businesses in Amazon’s nascent years.

Mr. Benaissa received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a Master’s of Sciences in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota.

Brad Bogolea is CEO and Co-Founder of Simbe Robotics, where he is responsible for the company’s vision and execution of its leading automation solution for the retail industry. The NRF Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the National Retail Federation (NRF), has named Brad to “The List of People Shaping Retail’s Future.” Prior to Simbe, Brad spent 10 years in the energy and wireless sensor industry.

Rich Carryer serves as the Senior Vice President of Information Technology for Giant Eagle Inc. In this role, Rich is responsible for all technology that supports all areas of the company. Rich also leads Giant Eagle’s technology R&D and innovation group.

Rich has worked for Giant Eagle for 20 years in various roles all within IT. Prior to working for Giant Eagle Rich has worked at PNC and Allegheny Technologies.

Edwina Dunn is one of the most successful leaders in the data industry, with a career of delivering transformational business change, together with her long-term partner, Clive Humby.

Dunn & Humby revolutionized the world of retail and consumer goods when they pioneered Tesco Clubcard and other global loyalty programmes, eventually selling dunnhumby to Tesco in 2011 At this stage, the business had 1,500 employees across 25 countries and managing engagement strategies for 350 million customers including Kroger, Macy’s and Best Buy.

Edwina is now forging a new era of consumer insight and technology with Starcount. Her business is already working with some of the biggest and best global brands looking for new customer journey tracking and npd.

In October 2018, Edwina was appointed to the The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation; an advisory body set up by Government to investigate and advise on how we maximise the benefits of data-enabled technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). In July 2019, Edwina was appointed to The Geo-Spatial Commission to provide expert, impartial advice to the government on geo-spatial data, including on strategic priorities and value for money, to inform the UK’s Strategy.

Previously, Edwina chaired the Your Life campaign to encourage more young people to study maths and science, and founded The Female Lead, a non-profit project celebrating the achievements, endeavours and diversity of women; donating 18,000 copies of The Female Lead: Women Who Shape Our World to schools and universities across the UK and USA.

Edwina has four Honorary Doctorates, is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge, a Patron of MRS and an Honorary Fellow of the IDM and Marketing Society. In 2019 Edwina received an OBE for her services to data and business in the UK.

Drew is a part of the team that is building the transformative data services strategy and business for Zebra pertinent to the data services platform Savanna. This includes technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain.

He has a background in developing and leveraging IoT solutions in manufacturing, retail and healthcare. He was a member of the team that disrupted the hearing healthcare industry by leveraging technology to drive automation into the manufacturing and supply chain processes. Within the 1,600 retail locations, the team developed an omnichannel strategy to enhance the in-store experience through mobile applications, WLAN, data analytics and sensors.

Kris is a researcher in the areas of human-machine interaction, context-driven information systems, and artificial intelligence. Kris currently sits on a United Nations policy committee run by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). Prior to joining the faculty at Northwestern, Kris founded the University of Chicago’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He received his PhD from Yale.

Bio coming...

Bio coming...

Sherif Mityas is the Chief Experience Officer for TGI FRIDAYS with oversight for the Brand’s Strategy, Marketing, Operations, Technology and Digital efforts. Mr. Mityas has more than 20 years’ experience in the retail and hospitality industries in both senior consulting and executive industry roles.

Prior to joining TGI FRIDAYS, Mr. Mityas served as the Managing Partner for JS Consulting and as the Chief Executive Officer for Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery.
Mr. Mityas received a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from Boston University, a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and an M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Steven Keith Platt serves as Research Director of the Retail Analytics Council. Platt also serves as Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University and as Director and Research Fellow of The Platt Retail Institute, an international consulting and research firm that focuses on leveraging technology to impact the consumer experience. Central to this is building actionable data models that aid retailers and technology companies in gaining insights into their customers and operations.

Steven received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Marketing from the Boston University School of Management. He also has a Law Degree and an LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University, where he served as Articles Editor for the University’s Journal of Tax Law. He has authored many studies about retail analytics and digital communication networks, and has published articles in journals including the American Bankers Association Journal, Digital Signage Quarterly, Extended Retail Solutions, Retail Information Systems News, the Retail Solutions Providers Association Magazine, and the Retail Navigator, among many others. He has been quoted in publications including Bloomberg, Business Week, Chain Store Age, the Chicago Tribune, DSN Retailing Today, Inc. Magazine, RFID Journal, Stores Magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, Time Magazine, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. He has also appeared as a guest analyst on the CBS Evening News and Early Show, ABC World News, and HD News. He has also lectured at conferences around the globe.

Wesley is the Chief Operations Officer for Sunrise Technologies, a Kroger commercial technology venture company which invents and licenses Kroger advanced technologies to other companies. He also serves with Kroger Corporation as the VP of Technology Transformation, with a focus on the application of new technologies, paradigms, methods, and innovations to better serve Kroger customers.

Prior to joining Kroger, Wesley had an eighteen-year career with IBM, where he served in numerous capacities including as the Chief Technologist in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud & Cognitive computing, as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Sensemaking, as the CTO for Corporate Strategy, as the Deputy CTO for US and NATO National Security and Defense, as Director of IOT and the Network Science Research Centers. Wesley specialized in managing high-risk projects, architectures and technologies for advanced insight in Retail, Financial Services, Oil & Gas, Energy Services, Manufacturing, and for National Defense and Intelligence domains. Throughout his tenure with IBM, Wesley was assigned by the CEO and executive staff to IBM’s largest customers as a subject matter expert to resolve their hardest business and technical issues.

Wesley holds numerous academic appointments in the fields of Cyber Security, Health Informatics, Supercomputing Applications and advanced R&D research. Wesley holds the required Federal security clearances to work on hard National Security and Defense topics for the US, UK and NATO.

Wesley graduated with an MBA from the University of Houston, an MS in Project Management from the University of Western Carolina, an MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland, University College.

Mr. Rowland has more than 38 years of engineering, manufacturing test, sales and strategy experience. Currently, Mr. Rowland is CEO of Badger Technologies, a product division of Jabil. In this role, he is responsible for driving all aspects of the sales, development, delivery and service for Badger Technologies suite of retail offerings.
Prior to Badger Technologies, Mr. Rowland spent 28 years at Lexmark where he successfully launched an engineering startup focused retail robotics (acquired by Jabil in 2017). Mr. Rowland also spent 10 years at IBM in various manufacturing test engineering, development and research roles. Mr. Rowland is a graduate of Georgia Tech with a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.

Marios is the Founder and Director of the Biometrics Center at Carnegie Mellon University and is a Research Professor at the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department and CMU CyLab.

His research is mainly focused on developing algorithms for robust face and iris biometrics, as well as pattern recognition, machine vision and computer image understanding for enhancing biometric systems performance. He received his B. Eng. in Microelectronics Systems Engineering from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the U.K., his Master of Science in Robotics from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, also at Carnegie Mellon University.

B.S. in Physics / Mathematics (double major) at University of Texas. Participated in the Boston Consulting Group Tokyo Office in 2008. Worked at Washington DC and Tokyo office, promoted to Principal in 2014. He specializes in healthcare, retail, consumer goods, and distribution, and is involved in numerous projects in Japan and overseas. He was also engaged in strategic consulting projects and approach development using advanced technologies such as distribution operations, improvement of store operations and logistics using mathematical methods, and creation of customer insights based on data analysis.

As a core member of BCG's internal technology advantage group, he led the start-up of a big data utilization team. Later, he joined an AI startup company span from the University of Tokyo as the fourth member of the company. Lead the launch of AI Division. He also served as Director of the Global Consumer Intelligence Donation Course at Yutaka Matsuo Laboratory, Department of Technology Management Strategy, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. Engaged in industry-academia collaboration efforts at the Matsuo Laboratory, education in the data science field, and creation of corporate collaboration mechanisms. Founded Laboro.AI in 2016 and appointed as CEO.

AJ Sutera is the EVP, Chief Information and Technology officer at The Finish Line, where is responsible for the leadership and long-range strategy of Finish Line’s technology, customer experience, analytics and innovation functions. Previously, he served as CTO of the Hudson Bay Company, where he was responsible for consumer experience and engagement strategies, as well as omni-channel technologies for all banners of the Hudson’s Bay Corporation including Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off5th, Lord and Taylor, Hudson’s Bay and Home Outfitters.
Prior to joining HBC, Mr. Sutera has held a variety of executive technology positions in organizations including JetBlue Airways, General Electric and Volvo North America.

Mr. Sutera is a graduate of Montclair State University with B.S. degrees in Accounting and Finance, as well as advanced degrees from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Charlotte Tsou has more than 17 years of business experience, including 15 years in the retail banking and financial service industry, with a special emphasis in consumer lending and credit card marketing strategy and product management. Her core expertise is in analytics problem solving applied in setting strategies for consumer facing international corporations. As Senior Vice President at HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Tsou currently heads up the Analytics and CRM function in the Latin Americas Region. She is focused on transforming the organization by centralizing the analytics resources, commercializing the data-driven strategies, building digital platforms, developing customer insights, and driving revenue growth for the region. She leads a team of 150+ analysts and data scientists across five countries.

Prior to joining HSBC, Tsou led a Mortgage to Consumer CRM function for Principal Mortgage (Citi Mortgage), responsible for direct-to-consumer lead generation and optimization. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing integrated marketing program for both the contact center and digital channels. Before joining Principal Mortgage, Tsou was a Funding Manager with a Venture Capital firm in New Jersey.

Vijay Viswanathan serves as a Director of the Retail Analytics Council, an initiative between Medill School, Integrated Marketing Communications department, Northwestern University and PRI. Viswanathan obtained his Ph.D. from Emory University in 2010, and is an Associate Professor and IMC Department Chair at Northwestern University.

Professor Viswanathan’s research focuses on topics related to marketing such as consumer decision making, media consumption and brand portfolio management. While he has worked on qualitative research projects, his work generally involves the use of quantitative econometric and time-series models. Viswanathan has published his research in Media Psychology, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Marketing Analytics, Journal of Brand Management, International Journal of IMC, and Journal of Telecommunications System and Management.

Dr. Robert Zhang, is Co-Founder and President of CloudMinds Technology, where he is responsible for the company’s global business and product strategies, operations, and strategic partnerships. Prior to co-founding CloudMinds, Robert worked as Head of Service Strategy and Operations for Samsung Telecommunications America.

Robert earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computational Mechanics and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Illinois, an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. from Tongji University, China.