New Topics, New Voices: See Who’s Coming to #RICE23 (So Far)

The top goal of the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo content team is to ensure we’re getting fresh perspectives on 

the industry and fresh stories from the trenches. This summer, we’ve been chatting with our community to learn more about the folks they follow, the voices they trust and, of course, the brands they love and are inspired by!  

So far, we’ve been introduced to some incredible practitioners — executives who are driving organizational change, implementing innovative technologies within their functions, and truly reimagining the customer experience. Some are even helping the industry at large embrace more innovative commerce models and business concepts!  

Here are just a few of the fresh voices we have lined up for our 2023 show. June is very far away, though, so you can guarantee we’ll have even more added to our agenda in the coming months.  

Shai Eisenman, Founder & CEO, Bubble  

I’ve had the chance to meet Shai a few times (I even interviewed her for Retail TouchPoints) and I have constantly been struck by her passion for the skincare industry and building an accessible brand for Gen Z. In a world that’s uber-focused on exclusivity and luxury, Shai’s brand Bubble is all about giving teenagers access to accurate skincare information and high-quality products that truly help them. I was especially fascinated by how she built a community of consumers, a brain trust of sorts, and uses them to shape the direction of the brand. We’re going to be chatting about how she developed this community, and how the brand combines qualitative and quantitative insights to inform everything from packaging to product expansion to store expansion.  

David Morris, Marketing Director, AND1 Basketball  

Let’s be real: there’s a lot of noise in the web3 space. Everybody is a “thought leader” but few are actually creating digital-physical convergence and implementing technologies to scale these experiences across their businesses. David is actually doing the work and will share his learnings with all of our attendees! He’ll dig into how to shape web3 strategy and, perhaps most importantly, integrate it with everything from personalized marketing to influencer activation. Not only is he the Marketing Director for AND1 Basketball but he’s also a marketing consultant with NYCAP3D and works with brands to implement and use photogrammetry to build and accelerate their web3 strategies. Needless to say, he’s not just a thinker, he’s a doer, and our audience can learn a lot from him.   

Esther Sarpong, Director – Experiential Retail, Brookfield Properties  

We heard from a few attendees that they would love to hear more from real estate experts and developers about the future of the shopping mall experience. That’s why we’re thrilled to share that Esther Sarpong of Brookfield Properties will be speaking on experiential retail concepts during our Retail Innovation Summit! She has extensive experience collaborating with retailers, artists and other partners in bringing new concepts to life, and she has some incredible lessons and takeaways to share! She’ll be joining Jack Stratten, Head of Trends at Insider Trends, who also has incredible experience guiding retailers in their experiential strategies and even touring some of the greatest store concepts.  

 Rick Desai, Managing Partner, Listen 

Listen has funded brands like Fable, Interior Define, KiwiCo and Miss Grass, so they know what’s hot in the industry and hot to spot brands with growth potential. Rick is the Managing Partner at Listen and will be joining our highly rated VC panel in the DTC Innovation Forum! He is an Adjunct Lecturer of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches New Venture Development, and he also co-founded Kellogg’s Digital Marketing Implementation & Strategy marketing course. 

Be on the lookout for more new speaker announcements and updates coming soon! Registration is now open, so be sure to register you and your team for what’s going to be an incredible event on all things connected commerce.  

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