Speak Bios | digital-grocery-usa

Michelle Harmon-Madson, Senior Vice President Brand Partnerships, FreshDirect

Michelle Harmon-Madsen is leading the launch of brand partnerships platform for FreshDirect to connect brands with the company’s massive base of highly engaged online shoppers. Previously, Michelle was vice president, director of global strategy and partnerships with MediaVest. She developed entertainment properties for Procter & Gamble Entertainment, working closely with producers and content creators, and led sponsorship and business development for the People’s Choice Awards. Before that, Michelle was vice president of branded entertainment for 19 Entertainment where she led branded entertainment and sponsorship for American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Michelle is a Board Director for the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) and on Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business Alumni Society Board.

Naeem Ishaq, CFO, Boxed Wholesale

Naeem Ishaq is the CFO of Boxed. Naeem started his career as an entrepreneur, launching his first startup (a consumer web portal) as an undergraduate at the University of California, Davis. After graduating magna cum laude from UC Davis with a degree in managerial economics, and concurrently graduating from the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy, Naeem joined Intel Corporation where he held several Operational Finance and Strategic Planning roles. In 2008, Naeem joined Salesforce.com and held several roles there, culminating in his position as Sr. Director of Finance & Strategy where he led the company's long range planning, supported all M&A activity, and led Finance & Strategy for Salesforce.com's acquired standalone businesses. Naeem joined Square in 2012, leading several functions for that company, and most recently served as the Head of Finance & Strategy, Investor Relations, and Risk. Naeem played a critical role in taking Square public in Nov, 2015, while also leading Square to all-time best performance levels on key operational metrics like transaction and advance (risk) loss. Naeem joined Boxed in July of 2016, and currently lives in New York City with his wife Cerena.

Dan Bourgault, Head of Brand Partnerships, Instacart

Dan has over 20+ years experience in Sales, Marketing, and Business Development. His career path is mainly focused in entertainment, CPG, and retail for both e-commerce and in-store digital technology solutions. He has worked for Kodak, Universal Studios, GE/NBC, IZ-ON Media, and Coupons.com. In his roles he has been successful across multiple platforms including TV, theme parks, motion pictures, online, mobile and out of home media.

Currently, Dan is the head of brand partnerships for Instacart, leading the company’s efforts in developing strong relationships with all CPG companies.

Instacart is building the best way for people everywhere in the world to shop for groceries. Using your phone or the web, you can order groceries and have them delivered to your door in minutes. Instacart is a company built for delivering “The Last Mile”, and they are building next generation solutions for their brand partners.

Wayne Duan, Director, Merchandising & Merchandising Operations - Walgreens Digital Commerce, Walgreens Co.

Wayne is currently the Director of Digital Commerce at Walgreens where he leads the merchant teams that oversee all aspects of pricing, promotions and assortment strategies for Walgreens.com. He also leads the Merchandising Operations teams that are in charge of catalog maintenance and visual merchandising for the Walgreens digital properties. In addition, Wayne is directly involved in planning, leading and executing various strategic omni-channel initiatives for Walgreens such as their Auto Reorder & Save program, partnerships with same-day delivery partners and various initiatives to bring digital into the stores. Prior to this role, Wayne held various merchandising roles at Walgreens.com. Prior to joining Walgreens, Wayne was a management consultant and also held merchandising and planning roles at Target and Banana Republic.

Wayne received his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and received his Bachelor’s from the University of Chicago in Economics and Political Science. He is an avid scuba diver and mountain climber and completed a trip to Everest Base Camp this summer to scout a potential Everest summit expedition in future years.

Carrie Bienkowski, Chief Marketing Officer, Peapod

A dynamic, strategic leader with a proven track record of delivering results for online businesses, Carrie Bienkowski’s role as Chief Marketing Officer of Peapod.com, the nation’s leading online grocery service, gives her the enviable role of showing Americans how they can shop smarter, save time and money, and find the foods they want in order to eat better each and every day.

As chief brand strategist, Bienkowski is focused on fueling continued growth for Peapod by increasing service in existing markets like New York, as well as adding new regions to the 24 markets currently served by Peapod. She is also committed to deepening Peapod’s technology offerings that enhance the consumer shopping experience – from an updated Peapod Mobile app to partnerships with meal planning services like GatheredTable and digital recipe integration start-ups like Chicory, Whisk and Popcart.

Carrie is a seasoned blue chip brand strategist with deep expertise in e-commerce, mobile user experience and retail. Prior to joining Peapod Bienkowski served as the Head of Buyer Experience for eBay’s Fashion vertical in the European markets. Earlier in her career, Bienkowski spent nearly a decade at Procter & Gamble, where she served as European marketing director for one of the company’s billion dollar brands. Later, at C&E Advisory in London, Bienkowski counseled businesses and brands including L’Oreal, Sky Media, HSBC, Boots Pharmacy and Vodafone in sustainability strategies.

Bienkowski received her degree in finance and business economics from the University of Notre Dame. Originally from northern California, she now resides in Chicago with her husband, three daughters and the two of the world’s laziest cats.

Andy Rowles, Senior Manager, eCommerce, Kellogg Company

Andy Rowles works on developing the Ecommerce business at Kellogg Company leveraging the skills and knowledge obtained from over 20 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry. He has worked across all major channels of the grocery business from Retail, Mass to Warehouse Club in sales, category management, strategic development, national trade promotions and other roles. Andy holds a degree in Industrial Management and earned an MBA from Michigan State University in Integrative Management. He and his wife enjoy raising their three young daughters on a quiet piece of land in southwest Michigan.

Omar N. Haque, eCommerce Leader, Colgate-Palmolive Company

Omar has over 15 years of eCommerce & digital experience working in the online travel, electronics, media and consumer products verticals.

Currently, Omar is the Worldwide Director and Global eCommerce Leader at the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Omar joined Colgate in New York in 2012 and working with a cross-functional and geographical team, led the creation of C-P’s global ecommerce strategy across all its regions and product categories (Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition).

Currently, Omar is leading the execution of the global strategy, working with global marketing, insights, shopper marketing, and customer service and logistics teams. Omar also has been instrumental in increasing Colgate’s customer engagement and Go-to-Market initiatives by identifying and delivering on key joint growth drivers with eTailers.

Previously Omar was with Scholastic Inc, the second largest revenue site in the books category, one of the most developed and dynamic categories on-line. At Scholastic, Omar was the Director of eCommerce & Digital Distribution Strategy, responsible for defining and executing the global ecommerce and digital strategy across B2C and B2B channels.

Omar has an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business focusing on Finance, Marketing & Strategy.

Omar enjoys squash (former top ranked amateur player), tennis, swimming and golf (when he can get the time)

Chris Perry, Head of eCommerce, WellPet

Chris Perry is “the generator” empowering brands to catalyze eCommerce as their #1 competitive advantage to grow, win and lead in today's omni-channel marketplace. From Reckitt Benckiser to WellPet, he has generated $200MM+ in profitable eCommerce revenue growth, 1000's of bps in sustainable online share leadership and collaborative joint partnerships with over 25+ top eRetailers, including Amazon, Staples, Costco, Peapod and more.

Matthew Ferguson, Senior Vice President, Client Services, Brand View

Matthew has been with Brand View since 2010 and built the client service team in the UK before setting up the company’s office in the US. He has extensive experience in various client servicing and market research roles.

He is a strategic leader responsible for developing, executing and refining high-level strategies to grow our client’s profitability across their existing business. As one of the primary advisors to our key clients, he gains an in-depth understanding of clients’ challenges and clearly identifies opportunities, aligning unique business requirements and Brand View’s analytics in a way that supports client success.

Previously, Matthew was Account Director at Kantar Worldpanel and Senior Account Manager at Lightspeed Research, specializing in market research and the analysis of consumer information to help brands’ understand their consumers, change their strategies and grow their businesses.

Danny Silverman, Head of Product Strategy, Clavis Insight

Danny Silverman is Senior Vice President, Customer Success and Strategy for Clavis Insight. Danny is a global CPG / FMCG eCommerce business strategy and sales expert with over 10 years of industry experience. Throughout his career, he has helped brands enhance equity and drive sales at online retailers with data driven insights and experience informed action.

Prior to joining Clavis, Danny served as Senior Manager, eCommerce Development for Johnson & Johnson.

Mark White, President, Content26

Mark White is a founding member and President of content26.

His previous ecommerce speaking engagements include the 2011 RetailNet Conference and the 2015 Answers.com Summit. Recognized as an industry thought leader he’s blogged extensively on content issues on the content26 blog, is a guest contributor on several partner sites and regularly posts on LinkedIn.

Spencer Millerberg, CEO, One Click Retail

Spencer Millerberg is the CEO and Founder of One Click Retail - the leading eCommerce metrics company serving 100+ of the largest brands throughout North America and and Europe. Companies like P&G, General Mills, Unilever, HP, Mattel, Philips, and more turn to One Click to receive eCommerce sales, market share, page traffic, eCommerce SEO, and more through its scalable technology and unique data sets.

Prior to One Click Retail, Spencer worked for Amazon, Walmart, and Black & Decker. Because of this, he is able to bring a unique view from eCommerce, Brick and Mortar, and manufacturing to help his clients succeed.

Carmela Cugini, Vice President of Grocery, Wholesale and International, Jet.com

Carmela Cugini is the Vice President of Grocery, Wholesale and International at Jet.com. She joined Jet.com in April of 2016 after spending 18 years with PepsiCo and 5 years at Merrill Lynch. While at PepsiCo she held many positions ranging from general management, field sales and operations, key account sales, business development, revenue management, finance strategy, marketing and brand development. As a prior CPG Executive, she has a deep appreciation for creating win/win partnerships between the brand and retailer. This passion is one of the many reasons she joined the Jet team. With Jet’s vision in e-commerce and values of trust, transparency and fairness, Carmela and her team believe that developing strong brand partnerships is the foundation to delivering a best in class experience for the consumer which is a critical component to long term sustainable growth.

On a personal note, Carmela was born and raised in Columbus Ohio, attended college in Pittsburgh PA and loves spending time traveling, going to the spa, taking a long bicycle ride and believes humor keeps the spirit young.

Charis Marquez, Director, Site Merchandising, Sam’s Club

Charis Márquez is Director Digital Merchandising for Samsclub.com. Prior to joining Sam’s, Charis spent 17 years with Sears Holdings in varying roles in Product and Program Management, Finance and Operations and Marketing, including as the Head of E-Commerce and Digital for the Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands. Charis has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Kinesiology, and an MBA from Northwestern University. Charis was also named one of Diversity MBA's top 100 under 50 Emerging leaders, and sits on the Board of the Chicago Inventor’s Organization.

Chris Butler Director, eCommerce and Digital Activation, Nestlé Waters

Chris Butler is Director of eCommerce and Digital Activation for Nestlé Waters North America based in Stamford, Connecticut. As part of the Consumer Acceleration team, Chris is responsible for profitable growth with eCommerce customers, whether they are already a pure player or are a bricks and mortar chain advancing their ecommerce journey. He has worked in a variety of sales and marketing roles for Nestlé Waters since 2002, starting on the home and office delivery business where he launched their direct-to-consumer eCommerce initiative. Since then Chris has led the customer business relationship with Costco and Walmart before taking his current role. Born in England and educated in France, Chris worked at a Direct-to-Consumer publishing company prior to Nestlé Waters.

Amanda Greenberg, Sr. Director, eCommerce, Ferrara Candy Company

Amanda Greenberg is the Sr. Director of eCommerce for Ferrara Candy Company, one of the nation’s largest and most innovative candy manufacturers, with powerhouse brands such as Black Forest Organic, Trolli, Now & Later, Lemonheads and Red Hots.

Prior to joining Ferrara, Amanda was the Head of eCommerce for KIND. Amanda has a diversified background, having worked for Philips, Croscill, Experian Cheetahmail and the Orlando Magic, holding roles of increasing responsibility in e-Commerce, sales, marketing, business strategy and supply chain.

Within eCommerce, Amanda has deep experience in both the direct to consumer and in working strategically with eCommerce retail customers.

Amanda earned her BA from George Washington University and her MBA from the University of Central Florida.

Nathan Mansperger, Director of eCommerce, North America, AB InBev

Nathan Mansperger is the Global eCommerce Director in charge of the US and Canada for Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer. His 9+ year career with ABI have includes roles in Field Sales, Trade Marketing, and Sales Intelligence. The eCommerce team is part of a new business unit called ZX Ventures, a global incubator and venture capital team funded by ABI, to stimulate disruptive growth through brand, product and channel development.

ZX Venture’s goal is to make products, services and technologies that bring people together to celebrate and share great times, and to offer the world what it hasn’t yet even imagined. ZX Ventures unparalleled access to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s research, technology and distribution networks allows us to have a deep understanding of products and what the consumer wants, as well as to anticipate and meet what their needs will be in the future.

Ben Zifkin, CEO, Hubba

Ben Zifkin is a successful repeat entrepreneur and best-selling author of “The Rise of The Craft Brand”

He has spent the last 15 years helping some of the world’s largest organizations leverage technology to compete in business. Living and working in North America, Europe and Asia, he has become a trusted advisor to senior executives of Fortune 1000 companies.

Ben has built three organizations with successful exits and raised significant venture funding. His companies have been recognized as Top 3 Best New Startups, Top 20 Most Innovative Companies, Fast 50 – Companies to Watch and Hot 50 Fastest Growing Companies.

His most recent business, Hubba, is the fastest growing B2B network connecting brands and retailers. Through this network, Hubba is building out the world’s richest, most comprehensive data set of product information, Hubba is routinely recognized as one of the most powerful companies powering the next generation of commerce. Utilizing years of experience dealing with large organizations, Ben has focused his effort to shining a spotlight on amazing craft brands and their products.

Heavily involved with the technology community, Ben sits on the Board of Directors of Ladies Learning Code, an organization focused on increasing the digital literacy of women, and The Upside Foundation, a charity that works with startups to donate 1% of their equity in support of local communities. In addition, Ben advises HackerYou and Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District, and mentors at The Next 36 and Founder’s Institute. A proud Canadian, Ben makes his home in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Steve Kinsey, Digital Shopper Marketing & Omnichannel Strategy Manager, GlaxoSmithKline

Steve Kinsey is responsible for GSK Consumer Healthcare’s omnichannel strategy and digital shopper marketing efforts in the US. In particular, Steve leads GSK’s “digital shelf” efforts & processes, works with key eCommerce partner agencies, leads internal training specific to omnichannel best practices, and works with both internal teams and retail partners to improve their omnichannel strategies.

Having joined GSK in 2009, Steve has worked on a number of brand marketing assignments, including Nicorette and TUMS. And, prior to his current assignment, Steve was GSK’s first dedicated sales manager for Amazon.com, growing sales and distribution, but also helping GSK Consumer build its eCommerce capabilities and knowledge.

Prior to GSK, Steve Kinsey worked in various marketing, sales, and forecasting roles for JNJ and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, working on brands such as Neosporin and Listerine.

Steve has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and a Masters of Business Administration from Seton Hall University. He resides in Gladstone, NJ with his wife, Sama, and 2 children, Aidan and Amina.

Michele McNamara, Omni Channel Customer Business Lead, Mondelez International

Michele McNamara is a champion of the Omnichannel and on-line grocery customer experience. She seeks to understand the micro-moments that move consumers from browsing to shopping on the ever evolving path-to-purchase. As the Omnichannel Customer Business Leader at Mondelēz International, Michele is tasked with aligning brand strategies with that of her retail partners all the while creating a bridge between instore and online executions.

Prior to joining Mondelez, Michele spent 12 years at Procter & Gamble where she held various sales and trade marketing roles against power brands like Olay, Crest, Head & Shoulders and Nice N’ Easy. It was in her last assignment at P&G that she gained her first foray into the world of eCommerce.

That experience helped to catapult her to Reckitt Benckiser where she became a charter member of RB’s eCommerce team. During her 4.5 year tenure at RB Michele called on literally every class of trade working with customers such as Peapod, Walgreens, Target and Amazon.

Michele has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts & Sciences from Michigan State University where she majored in Advertising. She has also earned an MBA from Canisius College in her native Buffalo, NY.