Michael Calamari, Vice President, Mastercard Data & Services, is a leader in the firm’s Grocery and Drug Store Retail practice. He has led numerous Test & Learn engagements across Grocery, Convenience, Retail, Manufacturing, Restaurants, Insurance, and Life Sciences, ensuring that experimentation enhances the way that organizations make data-driven strategy decisions. Michael has led breakthrough analyses on such topics as optimizing personalized coupons and digital engagement, improving in-store execution and assortment, improving remodel returns through more targeted investments in stores and remodel components, and optimizing marketing investments and DTC campaigns. Michael received degrees in Systems Engineering and Economics from the University of Virginia.
Kevin Coupe is the author of “Retail Rules! 52 Ways To Achieve Retail Success," a guidebook for competing effectively and efficiently on Main Street. And he is the co-author, with Michael Sansolo, of “The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies,” which uses film narratives to teach about leadership, marketing and surviving the workplace. For more than 16 years, he’s had his own website/blog – MorningNewsBeat.com – that was launched almost before the word "blog" was coined. MNB provides what Kevin calls “business news in context, and analysis with attitude” to some 35,000 subscribers all over the world. An independent survey ranked MNB as the “top industry news and information site.”
Tom Densevich is a Senior Manager who is a leader in Deloitte’s Digital Controllership practice. Tom specializes in helping companies manage through life events, focusing on the technology enablement of core finance and accounting processes.
Tom has nearly 15 years of experience related to business process, Information Systems, Accounting Data and Controls. He specializes in working with companies in the consumer products industry, serving a range of clients from small private clients to complex multi-national public companies.
Tom focuses on helping clients optimize, accelerate and govern financial processes and has specific experience including process robotics, accounting process, and close improvement, accounting data architecture and design, financial reporting, as well as finance technology implementations.
Tom holds a BA in Computer Information Systems and Business Management from Kent State University.
Bill Jelen is the host of MrExcel.com and the author of 57 books about Microsoft Excel. Bill will entertain you while showing you the powerful tricks in Excel. Before founding MrExcel.com in 1998, Jelen spent twelve years in the trenches, as a financial analyst.
For more than 15 years, Vanessa has helped corporate and non-profit clients optimize organizational structures and operating models, smoothly integrate M&A deals, plan and execute strategic change management and communications, and develop a culture that enables the business strategy. She brings particular expertise in helping clients address the human capital issues that transfrom the employee experience to transform the customer experience. She is passionate about guiding leaders and their organizations through the customer transformation journey and is known for building and coaching teams to deliver exceptional work. Outside of client work, Vanessa serves on the board for Many Hopes, which builds homes and schools in Kenya, and devotes her time to causes that promote social justice. She holds an MBA/MA from The George Washington University and a B.S. in Communications from Ithaca College.
John Moore shares actionable business advice from his experience propelling two of the world’s most recognized brands into the stratosphere. He believes passion and a sense of purpose fuel successful brand messages. And he should know, having played an instrumental role in the marketing that transformed Starbucks into a global icon and as director of national marketing for grocery powerhouse Whole Foods Market.
Sought out by the likes of USA Today, Kraft and Procter & Gamble, John is the branding authority who helps companies achieve desired growth through marketing strategies designed to get people to fall in love with your brand. He’s the “chief of wahoo” at Brains on Fire, a boutique marketing agency, and has authored of a trio of books, including The Passion Conversation: Understanding, Sparking, and Sustaining Word of Mouth Marketing.
A talented storyteller, on stage John paints a memorable picture of the do’s and don’ts of effective branding and provides a blueprint for how to thoughtfully—and exceptionally—position your product, service or experience into an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Scott Moses is a Managing Director and Head of Food Retail and Restaurants Investment Banking at PJ Solomon. He specializes in retail sector strategic and financial advice, with a focus on mergers, acquisitions, sales and divestitures of traditional and specialty grocers. Scott has advised clients in some of the most significant retail M&A transactions over the past two decades, with a combined transaction value of over $50 billion. Scott has been named to the “Top 50: Americas M&A Dealmakers” list by Global M&A Network (2013) and “40 Under 40” lists of promising finance professionals by IDD (2011) and The M&A Advisor (2015). Scott graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. He received MBA and JD degrees from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Scott sits on the Board of Directors of UpLift Solutions, a national nonprofit that helps bring full-service grocery stores to underserved markets across the country.
Oscar is a Senior Manager in our Accounting and Reporting Transformation practice specializing in the areas of controllership, finance governance, technology, IPO readiness, SOX, risk and controls.
Oscar has more than 14 years of experience providing financial, operational and information systems assurance and advisory services to domestic and multinational clients. He specializes in assisting clients with improving finance & accounting effectiveness and efficiency through maturity assessments, activity analysis, process automation, and centralization efforts. He also has many years of experience assisting our client with transformational projects involving the development and/or evaluation of risk, process and controls management programs designed to improve financial integrity, close optimization, process automation, compliance and operational effectiveness and efficiency.
Jay leads Cryptocurrency and Blockchain practice for RSM. He has helped a major commodities exchange roll out an initial coin offering, consulted multiple trading firms on the security of their cryptocurrency trading strategies, developed strategies for adopting blockchain and taught numerous classes on the basics of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
As RSi’s Vice President of US Retailer Development, Jim leads all activities and development with existing retail channels in North America. He uses his in-depth retail industry knowledge to help maintain and build strong mutually-beneficial relationships with all RSi retail customers and partners. With over thirty years in the retail industry, working across multiple formats, from extreme value to gourmet food concepts, Jim’s wide-ranging experience includes operations, merchandising, marketing and supply chain. Prior to joining RSi, Jim held executive-level positions with major retailers such as H-E-B, Ahold, Albertsons, Supervalu, Winn Dixie, and Dollar General. Jim is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School.
Valdis I. Undiks, CAMS, Western Union Strategic Account Compliance Advisor in regards to Money Service Business, Anti Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist Financing and Dodd Frank. Valdis I. Undiks, CAMS is a key leader in developing Anti Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist Financing and Dodd Frank policies and procedures for some of the largest Financial Institutions, Check Cashers, Retail and Grocery Businesses that offer MSB Services. Valdis I. Undiks, CAMS served in the US Army for 7 years and is a Veteran of the Gulf War; he has also completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management, and he completed the Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist Certification in 2008.