2008 Speakers

IBM Retail User Group 2008 Speakers Guest Speaker Senator Feargal Quinn Founder of Superquinn Monday - May 19, 2008 9:45 am - 10:30 am "Customer Service - Is There Room For It in the 2lst Century?" In a world increasingly dominated by price, is there room any more for a super mark et that differentiates itself on the quality of its customer service? As internet shopping puts further distance between the retailer and customer, what is the role of customer service in the new shape of shopping? Renowned customer service guru Feargal Quinn, founder of the Irish Superquinn chain, provides some answers to these questions - and some surprises. Feargal Quinn is a retail businessman, Irish politician, World renown speaker and an independent member of the 23rd Seanad Éireann (Senate)- the Upper House of the Irish Parliament. He is the founder of Superquinnsupermarket chain, of which he remains non-executive president after his family sold out their interest in August 2005. Superquinn has won more than twenty awards including Best Design in E-commerce. Superquinn is globally recognized as a leader in retail innovation and has been among the first to pioneer many customer service programs. He is a global thinker and is an International Board member of the US Food Marketing Institute, a former president of the global Food Business Forum, and is the current president of the EU-wide group Eurocommerce. In 2006 he was appointed an Adjunct Professor in Marketing at National University of Ireland, Galway. He is the recipient of three honorary doctorates from Irish education institutions (NCEA, National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin) and of a papal knighthood. He shared with Oprah Winfrey the 2006 "Listener of the Year" award of the International Listening Association. Fast Company magazine called him the “Pope of Customer Service” Feargal wrote a book about his retail business philosophy, "Crowning the Customer", which has been very popular in Europe and the US . It has been translated into a dozen languages and is used by retailers worldwide as a textbook for training employees to make the customer return. Steve Ladwig IBM Retail EBO General Manager IBM Corporation Monday - May 19, 2008 8:40 am - 9:00 am "IBM Executive Perspectives" Steve will share with you, our view of the revolution taking place in Retail.  How that is driving our Global retail strategy and how we are setting our priorities. Steve Ladwig was named general manager, Retail Store Solutions in January, 2006. He is responsible for leading IBM’s activities in all facets of implementing technology products and solutions in store environments. His worldwide responsibilities include strategy, development, manufacturing, marketing and sales for IBM’s portfolio of total store offerings. Previous to this position, he was general manager for Global Retail Industry responsible for definition, marketing, selling and servicing of “on demand” business solutions to IBM’s worldwide customers in the retail industry. Prior to this, Mr. Ladwig was president and CEO of The Ladwig Companies, Inc., where he provided high-level consulting services to technology companies and investors, including business development and funding strategies. He also founded Ladwig Farms, LLC, which delivered high quality organic food products under the trademark “Best of Health!” Before starting those companies, Mr. Ladwig was president, CEO, and director of Retek, Inc. Prior to joining Retek, Steve was senior vice president of Imation and served as the company’s president of Data Storage and Information Management. Previously, Mr. Ladwig held positions of increasing responsibility at IBM in areas including software and server development, planning, marketing and programming. He served as general manager of Network Computing and Software for Global Small and Medium Business, where he was responsible for General Business worldwide strategy development, sales and service for network computing and software. Prior to that, Mr. Ladwig was vice president of development for IBM’s AS/400 division, leading the worldwide product development, support services and applications for AS/400. A graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato, Mr. Ladwig first joined IBM in 1979. Garth Duff-Gray Senior Director - Global IT Office Depot Monday - May 19, 2008 9:00 am - 9:45 am "Office Depot: Delivering Winning Solutions that Inspire WorkLife" Office Depot is a global supplier of office products and services. Global sales are supported through a network of stores, direct sales, internet sites, catalogs and call centers, all supported by an integrated supply chain of warehouses and delivery operations. Office Depot offers products, services and innovative solutions through listening to customers and understanding their needs. Store operations continue to grow domestically and internationally through customer focus, improving efficiency and innovation. As Senior Director of Global Support and Deployment, Garth is responsible for responsible for integration, acquisition, support and new country openings in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Central America. Global responsibilities include Workplace Services; IT Field Engineering; Help Desk, Technology and Services Deployment - Stores, Sales Offices, Warehouses, and Corporate Offices/Cross-Docks; Corporate HQ across all Office Depot. Garth joined Office Depot in 1993 during the merger with Eastman Office Products. Garth was born and educated in South Africa. He immigrated to Long Beach, CA in 1979. John Gaydac Executive Advocate, IBM Retail User Group VP Sales, Retail Store Solutions IBM Corporation Monday - May 19, 2008 1:15 pm - 2:00 pm “IBM 2008 Retail Strategy” John will review the IBM Retail Store Solutions portfolio of today and tomorrow and how the portfolio aligns with retailer priorities. John is the Vice President of Sales for IBM’s Retail Store Solutions responsible for IBM’s Large Enterprise Point of Sale Hardware and Software portfolio. John brings over 20 years of experience in developing, selling and implementing technology and business solutions for IBM clients. His previous experience includes variety of leadership positions within IBM, including Director of Global Business Operations, Sales Executive, Services Executive and Software Development Manager. John holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a MBA from Florida Atlantic University. Troy Leshko Director of Retail Services Bloom Grocery Stores Tuesday - May 20, 2008 8:30 am - 9:10 am "Merging Technology and Marketing – in an Unexpected Industry" It’s the supermarket industry. In an industry not known for innovation, one new, emerging brand actively engages technology and a creative marketing focus to both improve operational efficiency and fit their brand promise. Learn how Bloom, a different kind of grocery store, in 3 short years is taking technology head-on and bringing a new grocery store concept to life. A nineteen-year veteran of Food Lion, LLC, Troy Leshko cut his retail teeth working in Food Lion stores, eventually directing retail operations for 100 stores in Central North Carolina, before being asked to lead the company’s first major-market remodel project of 68 stores in 6 months in Raleigh, NC. Troy ’s success in this experimental role (or boot camp), led him to be drafted in November of 2004 to join another experiment in the making—the emergence of the Company’s new Bloom Brand. In his current role, he is responsible for information technology sustainability and innovation, new store growth and real estate, front-end department systems and training, labor and productivity, financial planning, human resources, store development and cost optimization for Bloom. Whew! When Troy ’s not doing all of that, he enjoys time with his best friend and wife Tammy, and his 4 children. He is also an avid golfer, works on a Mustang for show-cars (ask about his trophies), and always beats his neighbors in the best-lit house at Christmas. Raymond Auger VP of Retail Systems CVS, Inc. Tuesday - May 20, 2008 9:10 am - 9:40 am "The Evolution of Store-based Technology for Chain Drug" In-store technology offerings are always changing. Capital outlays are expensive. How do you choose wisely, yet still meet both the short and long term demands of your business? When should you lead? When should you follow? This presentation will give a CVS evolutionary perspective of the ever changing in-store technology footprint over the last 16 years, and offer a preview of what's to come in the next 3 to 5 years. Technology to be covered will be POS, RF, scanning, and customer touch-points, such as kiosk technology, from both a hardware and an application perspective. Business case justification will also be discussed. As Vice President of Retail Systems, Ray is responsible for technology decisions in the areas of store systems, merchandising, marketing and logistics for CVS. Over the past 16 years, he has been instrumental in establishing and executing the technological roadmaps for POS, Supply chain transformation, CRM (ExtraCare) as well as leading several of the major acquisition efforts. Voted one of the top 10 “influentials” in 2007 by RIS and having won the 2002 “Best Customer Touch Point” award from Retail Systems Alert, Ray has had the opportunity to speak at previous IBM and Symbol Technology conferences. Ray holds degrees in Computer Science and Archeology from Rhode Island College. Jim Stickley CTO, VP of Engineering, & Co-Founder TraceSecurity Tuesday - May 20, 2008 9:45 am - 10:30 am "PCI DSS Security" As CTO and Vice President of Engineering for TraceSecurity, Jim Stickley has been instrumental in directing the TraceSecurity strategy. Jim is responsible for developing and releasing multiple versions of the software used by hundreds of clients today. Jim is in charge of the guiding principles and structure of all TraceSecurity solutions including products and services. Jim has over ten years experience in the hi-technology industry. Jim is one of the original founders of TraceSecurity as TraceSecurity was formed from the merger of his and Guba's company, PatchPortal, and Blaze Technologies. Prior to PatchPortal, Jim worked in management roles at Blaze Technologies and other security companies. Additionally, Jim is a renowned security expert. He has been involved in thousands of security services for financial institutions, Fortune 100 corporations, healthcare facilities, legal firms, and insurance companies. He has been a consultant for 20/20, Network Associates, numerous magazines and newspapers and was featured in Time Magazine, Business Week, Fortune Magazine, New York Times and other industry specific publications such as PC Magazine and Security Focus. He has also been showcased on NBC's "Nightly News", CNN's "NewsNight", CNBC ’s “The Big Idea” and numerous times on NBC's "Today Show". Furthermore, he serves as a speaker at numerous security-related tradeshows, conventions, seminars and forums throughout the US , covering topics that range from basic network security to national cyber terrorism. Jim is also on the editorial advisory board for IT Defense Magazine where he writes a monthly column for IT titled Cyber Sideline. Through the years Jim has discovered numerous security vulnerabilities in products such as firewalls, PKI servers, online banking applications and PDA devices. Kevin Shelton VP of Retail Systems Giant Eagle, Inc. Wednesday - May 21, 2008 9:30 am - 10:10 am "Building Internal and External Advocacy" In this session Kevin will be elaborating on the topic of how to build and foster Internal and External Advocacy. He will elaborate on what makes up strong advocacy along with several retail key initiatives that his Organization is focused on to support that effort. Kevin will also discuss various retail initiatives that support his Internal Customer along with the overall structure to support strong understanding and user adoption. Kevin Shelton began his tenure with Giant Eagle in February 1978 and has held various positions in the Retail Store including Store Director. Kevin was promoted to Regional Business Manager and then quickly moved into the Director of the regional Operations in our Cleveland Operating Division. In 2005, Kevin assumed the role of Vice President of Retail Systems and Engineering Operations. Kevin comes to us with a strong operations background and has an oversight on Industrial Engineering, Retail Technology, Store design and various Operations initiatives. Along with all the current and future retail technology considerations, he leads cross functional Operating Efficiency teams focusing on cost reduction initiatives in various areas of savings such as store design, indirect spend, supplies, M&R, shrink and labor efficiency. Tim Wetzel Vice President of Information Systems Bob Evans Farms, Inc. Wednesday - May 21, 2008 10:10 am - 10:40 am "Cooking Up the Right Infrastructure: The Bob Evans Recipe for Success" Bob Evans Farms Inc. owns and operates 580 full-service, family restaurants, 125 Mimi’s Café casual restaurants, and is a leading producer and distributor of pork sausage and home-style convenience food items under the Bob Evans and Owens brand names. Learn how Bob Evans Farms built the I/T infrastructure for the future to support these businesses. This presentation will cover the roadmap that was followed to build systems and processes from the ground up over the past 15 years, the current technology being utilized, and a preview of what’s to come over the next 5 years. Tim Wetzel is Vice President of Information Systems for Bob Evans Farms, Inc. He is responsible for all information systems functions including corporate, restaurant, and food product systems. During his 15 years at Bob Evans, Tim has been an integral part of the development and execution of the company’s Strategic Technology plans. Prior to his current position at Bob Evans Farms, Tim served as project manager of administration systems, director of software development, and vice president of software development and store systems. Tim is a 1987 graduate of West Virginia Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Management and Data Processing. Daniel L. Hopping President and CEO Next Retail Group Wednesday - May 21, 2008 10:45 am - 11:30 am "Early Trend Recognition" Being the first to recognize an emerging consumer trend is a very valuable skill in this incredibly competitive retail environment. People talk about connecting the dots to be able to predict future direction, but there are way too many dots out there and some are just smudges. Which ones matter and which ones are misleading (like election candidate dots). This presentation will discuss the difference between fads and trends and how to discover which trends might have the most impact on your business. We will outline techniques to allow you to see patterns in the dots and take action before your competitors. We will also discuss how to use the IBM Retail User Group to sort out the significant dots and make the best decisions for your stores. Daniel Hopping is a global technology futurist, author, inventor, consultant and speaker. With four decades of hands-on experience, Dan’s area of expertise is forecasting the impact that technology will have on the retail industry and tomorrow’s consumer. The consumer of today is changing lifestyles at such a rapid pace that companies cannot change their operating systems fast enough to stay current. Dan predicts accelerating changes affecting how we live, work, shop and play over the next five years will be greater than the changes we have seen in the past 20 years. The advent of cell phones, email, phone mail, widespread use of PC’s, kiosks, wireless, Bluetooth and many more technologies have all been developed during that twenty year period. Dan Hopping has been involved with dozens of retail “store of the future” projects. His company, Next Retail Group, works with manufacturers, financial institutions and retailers to keep them abreast of the latest technologies and their utilization. As a keynote speaker Dan has inspired audiences worldwide including NRF, FMI, NACS, APLA, CCFA, Euroshop, Retail Solutions UK, Retail Systems and WLA. In addition to his many speaking engagements, he is often invited to speak at University MBA programs. Dan’s background includes a long tenure as a manager and Retail Executive Consultant for IBM Corporation ‘s Retail Store Systems division. He holds degrees from the Purdue University , Krannert School of Business in both Computer Science and Industrial Management. While at Purdue he worked as a Systems Analyst for the Krannert School writing business management simulation games. Presentations on the Retail Industry, the consumer and the future Do you feel that life is happening a little too fast? Is technology changing too quickly and with too much complexity? Is life becoming hectic? Not enough time in your life? Well it’s going to get worse. Dan examines what is causing the accelerated rate of change we feel in our lives and looks at the technologies that are being researched in the labs that will cause more change in the next five years than we have experienced in the last twenty years. In the last twenty years we have seen the introduction and widespread use of the PC, the cell phone, the Internet, the Web, e-mail, phone-mail, outsourcing, off shoring, and pervasive wireless. These things have helped to change our lives in ways we could not have imagined in 1986. In the next five years we will see even more change in how we live, how we work and how we shop. The consumer is changing faster than retailers can change their systems to keep up. How will the process of shopping take place when the consumer has near perfect information while shopping? How will a retailer talk to the consumer who is standing in front of the merchandise and what will the retailer say? How will the consumer pay for merchandise in 2013? Just how different might things be? Dan will discuss the global retail projects that are now defining the retail store of 2013. He will examine the most successful and least successful projects and tell you how to avoid the pitfalls of the least successful. He will look at why some projects are failing and some thriving. He will discuss a roadmap for building a successful project that optimizes the cost of evolving into the future. Understanding the patterns of change allows any company that works with and for the consumer to be better prepared to survive and thrive in the future. Dan has been a keynote presenter at conferences in US, Canada, Mexico, England, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, South Africa, Hong Kong, Chile, China and Japan. Some of his recent clients include: IBM, Wal-Mart, Kroger, Norse Tipping, Dinamo, Gerber Technologies, TC2, Chanel Fashion, NACS, Chase Payments, IKEA, Infogenesis, Compass and PVH. Articles: • The Next Generation Consumer • Data Modeling • Hopping on Technology - Technology • Hopping on Technology - Actionable Data • Hopping on Technology - Information Overload • Hopping on Technology - Bluetooth • The Next Generation Internet (NGI) • Consumer Sophistication • Hopping on Technology