2024 Speakers

Benjamin Bond

VP Strategy & Business Development, Simbe Robotics

Benjamin Bond is VP of Strategy & Business Development at Simbe, helping hone the company's strategic direction and drive the adoption of AI and robotics in retail. Recognized as a leading strategist, Bond has guided global retailers through complex transformation journeys during his tenure at top consultancies, including Kearney and Accenture. Bond believes that one of retailers' next critical evolutions will be unlocking untapped in-store data to drive operational excellence. 

James Dunne

Senior Manager | Business Consulting | Enterprise Risk, Ernst & Young

Sherif Fahmy

Vice President, Retail Sales-Martech East, Inmar

As an omnichannel strategist, practical innovator and leader, Sherif brings a balanced perspective on solving business problems with +20 years of agency-based innovation, commerce activation and retail media experience, coupled with time spent at CVS Health leading incentive / loyalty strategies with manufacturers. He's built and led scaled businesses that focus on commercial optimization, productivity and profitability. His versatile background across numerous channels and clients, and the pioneer of several retail-based companies/tools prove there’s a solution for every kind of problem.

Dr. Jackie Freiberg, Ph.D.

Speaker, Author, and Corporate Consultant

Jackie is dedicated to helping leaders create BEST places where the BEST people can do their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

According to a national survey, Jackie is recognized as one of the “Top 30 Best Minds on Leadership” and is one of the most sought-after female business speakers in the nation.   In addition to speaking, Jackie is an international bestselling author, business owner, entrepreneur, and a leadership and culture consultant to various executive teams nationwide. She teaches graduate classes part-time at the University of San Diego, School of Leadership & Education Sciences and she also writes and speaks on the SheEconomy, a $20 Trillion female strength to know. 

Brian George

President, Chairman and CEO, Alex Lee, Inc.

Brian George joined the Company in June 2005.  He received his undergraduate degree and Masters of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.  He is a CPA in the state of North Carolina.  His experience prior to joining the Company includes over 5 years in Accounting and Finance with companies such as Arthur Andersen, LLP, Donlen Corporation, and Bank of America. He served on the Audit Staff at Arthur Andersen, LLP and as a Staff Accountant at Donlen Corporation.  At Bank of America, he served as a Financial Analyst.  Since joining the Company as a Management Trainee, he has served as Lowes Foods Co-Manager and Store Manager.  He has also served as Manager Retail Development, and Vice President Sales at MDI.  He was named President of Alex Lee, Inc. in 2011, added CEO to his title in 2014 and became Chairman in 2018.

Andy S. Harig

Vice President, Tax, Trade, Sustainability & Policy Development, FMI

Andrew S. Harig currently serves as Vice President, Tax, Trade, Sustainability & Policy Development at FMI-The Food Industry Association. In this position, he is responsible for lobbying Congress and the Administration on behalf of FMI members, with a primary focus on agriculture, taxes, trade, sustainability, food waste, and pensions. Prior to joining FMI, Andy was an associate trade advisor and speechwriter for the Senate Finance Committee under its Chairman, Max Baucus (D-MT).  From 1999-2001, he was the senior research associate for the Global Economic Policy Project at the New America Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank. Andy holds a B.A. from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. from DePaul University in Chicago, IL.


Jeff Hobert

Managing Consultant, the Stores Consulting Group

Jon Hung, CPA

Director, Advisory Services, KPMG LLP

Jon Hung is a Director in KPMG’s Deal Advisory Group who specializes in the Consumer Products and Retails industry. Jon works closely with his clients on capital market transactions, such as going public through Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”) and traditional IPO and advises on entity-wide capital market readiness and implementation, SEC and financial reporting, and other public company matters. Jon is also specialized in assisting clients with merger and acquisition accounting and accounting changes, such as IFRS and US GAAP conversion, and implementation of new accounting standards.

Jack Ingram

Partner, KPMG LLP

Jack Ingram is a partner in KPMG’s Deal Advisory – Accounting Advisory Services (AAS) practice. Jack leads the AAS Consumer Products and Retail Industry practice, as well as its Southeast practice. Jack specializes in financial accounting and reporting matters for private entities and public companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reporting in under U.S. GAAP and IFRS.  He consults with a variety of clients regarding consolidation, equity method, purchase accounting, common control mergers and new basis matters involving roll-up or put-together transactions, leveraged recapitalizations and buyouts, and joint venture formations.  Jack has led technical accounting and process support engagements related to restatements, carve-outs, IPO/spin-offs, sales and restructuring transactions.

Sergey N. Kotelnikov

Partner, Corporate, Akerman LLP

Sergey Kotelnikov’s practice encompasses a wide range of complex commercial transactions with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, and recapitalizations. He regularly represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies in both buy and sell side transactions and all of the ancillary corporate matters, including negotiation of commercial contracts and add-on acquisitions. Sergey has represented clients from a broad spectrum of industries, including healthcare, automotive, wholesale grocery distribution, correctional facilities, veterinary services, information and telecommunication services, and banking.

Prior to joining Akerman, Sergey practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of an international law firm, where his practice focused on cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Steve Markenson

Steve Markenson, Vice President, Research, FMI

In his role at FMI, Markenson oversees the research & insights practice. He leads the discovery process on the latest industry trends and operational insights that champion FMI as a credible voice of the food retail industry. Markenson is a market research executive with 30 years of progressive experience in his field. His diverse experience includes research design, information/data collection and analysis and strategic planning.

Markenson was formerly the president of WBA Research, a national market research firm founded in 1987, where he oversaw more than 30 full-time professionals, along with a part-time staff of more than 100 telephone interviewers, field interviewers and support staff. Earlier in his career, Markenson worked at Snyder Communications, where he directed all aspects of more than 90 annual market research studies and presented results to brand management, market research departments, advertising and promotion agencies.

David Mell

Managing Director, Rothschild & Co. Global Financial Advisory

David Mell is a Managing Director in the Global Financial Advisory Group based in New York, focused on the Retail, Connected Commerce and related Distribution sectors primarily in North America. Mr. Mell joined Rothschild in 2022. Previously, he worked at both RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities covering similar sectors and was an investor at Coller Capital and MacAndrews & Forbes. Mr. Mell has over 20 years of experience, completing a full range of transactions from equity and debt financings, restructurings / recapitalizations, sell side advisory and buy side advisory as well as principal investing. Mr. Mell has completed over $45 bill ion in M&A transaction volume and has served as lead industry banker on debt and equity financings. In 2018, Mr. Mell was named an Emerging Leader by The M&A Advisor and won the Inaugural Progressive Grocer GenNext award.

Kariuki Samuel Ndegwa

Principal, FAAS Digital, Ernst & Young Global Limited

Karen Short

Industry Consultant

 Industry Consultant Karen Short has worked an at array of organizations: Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., and BMO. Her earlier experience covering the retail industry includes research positions at Lehman Brothers, SAC Capital Management and Fulcrum Global Partners.

At Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Ms Short provided U.S. equity research coverage of the food retail sector. Her coverage spans across several subsectors within consumer staples and retail including: conventional supermarkets, natural and organic food retailers, convenience stores, distributors and vitamin retailers. Ms. Short is a well-established voice in her sector and brings nearly 15 years of equity research experience to clients. In recent years she has enjoyed a number of external accolades, including 2014 Institutional Investor All-America Research Team, a number one ranking in the 2011 The Wall Street Journal Best on the Street Survey, a number three ranking for stock picking in the 2011 StarMine Analyst Awards, and a number four ranking in the 2012 Greenwich survey. Ms. Short began her professional career in energy sales and trading in Seattle and Vancouver in 1992. She earned her MBA at Columbia Business School in New York and her B.A. at Queen’s University in Ontario.

Daniel Maia Pereira da Silva

Director of Strategic Sales, Google Cloud

Dr. Ricky Volpe, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Cal Poly

Ricky Volpe received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2010. He then spent four years working as an economist at the USDA Economic Research Service in Washington DC. There he researched a variety of topics, including food price formation, competitiveness in the food industry, and the healthiness of grocery purchases in the U.S. Ricky was also responsible for forecasting retail food price inflation at the national level. 

Now at Cal Poly, Ricky teaches courses on food retail and supply chain management, transportation and logistics, and data analysis. He also maintains an active research agenda using a variety of large data sets to study issues related to market structure, firm performance, food prices, consumers’ food choices, and health outcomes. He also works closely with industry leaders in food retailing, wholesaling, and distribution to facilitate collaboration on public-private partnerships, student internships, and scholarships. Ricky has also studied at the  University of Massachusetts, Amherst earning a M.S. Resource Economics and a B.S. Mathematics and Economics.