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Key Executives

Key Executives

Alexei Agratchev
Co-Founder and CEO

Prior to joining RetailNext, Alexei was the founder and General Manager of an internal startup within the Cisco Emerging Technologies Group focused on developing video applications for the gaming and retail markets. During his eight years at Cisco, Alexei held a number of leadership positions with direct responsibility for developing and launching new product lines. Prior to joining Cisco, Alexei was a consultant at Accenture in its Electronics and High Tech Operating Unit. Alexei holds a bachelor degree in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He has also completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program and the Cisco Leadership Series.

Arun Nair
Co-Founder and CTO

Before RetailNext, Arun held several technology and product management positions at companies including Cisco and Micromuse (acquired by IBM). At his most recent position before RetailNext, Arun was the co-founder, product manager, and technical lead of the internal start-up within the Cisco Emerging Technologies Group focused on developing video applications for the gaming and retail markets. Prior to that, he was a technical lead for the Cisco Transport Manager application. Before Cisco, Arun led development at the Santa Monica, CA branch of Micromuse responsible for the product line for telecommunications carriers. Arun holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, India and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.

Marlie Liu
Co-Founder and VP of Services

Marlie has over 15 years of experience working in the IT industry. Prior to joining RetailNext, Marlie spent over 10 years at Cisco in various technical leadership roles. At Cisco, Marlie led the Technical Marketing efforts for Cisco’s network security monitoring product line. Prior to that, Marlie was a founding member of an internal startup focused on developing video surveillance applications for the gaming and retail markets. In that role, Marlie led technical evaluation of video technologies, including detailed testing of over 40 video analytics vendors. During her time at Cisco, Marlie also led testing and support for a number of software products, including Cisco Transport Manager (leading optical management platform), Cisco Info Center (Service Assurance Product deployed in over a thousand service provider and enterprise customers) and Broadband Access Center (broadband provisioning application for larger service providers). Prior to Cisco, Marlie worked in engineering and testing at Novell. Marlie holds a bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University.

Diego Aragon
VP of Finance

Diego brings over 18 years of financial and executive leadership experience with technology-based start-ups and public companies.  Diego has served as Director of Finance and Corporate Controller for several privately held start-up software companies where he managed the due-diligence and M&A process and drove the build out and value-add focus of the company’s treasury, corporate finance, financial reporting, and business model.  Prior to RetailNext Diego held executive positions at LiteScape Technology, Tandberg Television (acquired by Ericson), SkyStream Networks (acquired by Tandberg Television), Aruba Networks, Terraspring (acquired by Sun Microsystems), Assured Access (acquired by Alcatel) and Alantec (acquired by Fore Systems).  Diego holds a BS in Business Administration. His philanthropic commitments extend to children with special needs and inner city youth. Mr. Aragon is a mentor with a local educational program at San Jose City College, Puente Program.

Bridget Johns
VP of Retail Sales

Bridget has more than 15 years of retail and business development experience focused primarily in the luxury/premium goods, department, and specialty store verticals. Prior to joining RetailNext Bridget held a variety of VP and Director level positions across many leading luxury companies including Tiffany & Co., Lancôme USA, and Links of London. Additionally, she has extensive international experience, having worked on international market expansion for the Ralph Lauren Home Collection via its licensee WestPoint Stevens. Bridget’s experience in retail is cross-functional with a strong emphasis on business strategy, business operations, and general management. She has consistently worked on start-up ventures - both with new companies as well as with start-up divisions of existing companies. Through her experience and relationships Bridget is able to bridge the gap between retail and technology, ensuring maximum value for RetailNext’s customers as they utilize RetailNext to meet today’s business challenges. Bridget received her BA from the University of Pittsburgh and holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Tim Callan
Chief Marketing Officer

Prior to joining RetailNext, Tim spent seven years leading product marketing for VeriSign’s flagship SSL division, during which time he launched the highly popular VeriSign Secured Seal.  Displayed on more than 100,000 web sites in 160 countries and viewed upwards of 750 million times a day, the VeriSign Seal grew to be the most recognized online trust indicator in history.  An industry veteran with more than fifteen years in marketing leadership roles for enterprise software and SaaS, Tim has served on the board of the Online Trust Alliance and was a founding member of the CA/Browser Forum, where he was instrumental in the creation of Extended Validation SSL, the next generation in SSL technology and the de facto standard for mission critical online applications.  In his personal time Tim is an award winning author of fiction and a festival-screened independent filmmaker.  You can read his marketing and technology blog at timcallan.blogspot.com and follow him on Twitter@TimCallan.

David Woods
VP of Engineering

David has over 18 years of Software Development and IT experience. Before joining RetailNext, he was the VP of Software Services and Infrastructure at Jawbone, where he managed the design, development, and operation of the company’s initial software and service products. Prior to Jawbone, David held several Director-level roles over a nine-year tenure at Palm/Handspring, leading teams to implement infrastructure and operational processes supporting cloud-based services for Palm’s next generation of products, deliver the first set of applications for Palm’s new software services business, develop and maintain Palm’s full platform of IT applications, and build all custom e-commerce and carrier data integration systems for Handspring.  David started his career as a consultant, initially with Accenture and later with Deloitte Consulting, where he gained broad software development and systems integration experience across a wide range of technologies and industries. David holds a B. Sc. Eng. from Queen’s University in Canada.

George Shaw
VP of R & D

George comes to RetailNext from the MIT Media Lab where he worked with corporate sponsors such as Bank of America and Best Buy to break new ground in video analytics for retail. Using several petabyte-scale video datasets, George developed state of the art techniques in person tracking, behavioral analysis, and data visualization. Prior to re-entering academia in 2007, George spent over 10 years in interactive design and development, founding top interactive firm One Ten Design and leading teams that built award winning websites and digital applications for clients including Warner Brothers, Universal Music, 20th Century Fox, Capitol Records, Microsoft, and MGM - notable projects include the creation of the overall online presence for the Lord of the Rings films. In addition to his work for clients, George was also a founding partner, technology lead, and creative director for successful online apparel retailer Sun Walters and spent 8 years as a senior lecturer at Otis College and Cal State Northridge. George holds a BFA from Boston University and an SM from MIT.

Shelley E. Kohan
VP of Retail Consulting

Shelley is the resident retail expert for RetailNext with more than 20 years experience in retail store operations.  Her contributions across the industry include profit and sales improvement, applied big data in the brick-and-mortar environment, and enhancing in-store shopping experiences. Shelley has worked at senior levels throughout the industry and across many functions including general management, operations, merchandising, buying, and human resources. Prior to joining RetailNext Shelley held senior management positions at prestigious retailers including Executive Vice President at Space NK, Vice President of Store Operations at Saks Fifth Avenue, Operating Vice President at Bloomingdaleʼs, and Director of Logistics and Operations at Macyʼs. Shelley’s contribution to RetailNext is centered on her unique ability to fully understand the retail environment coupled with an extensive background centered on service excellence. Shelley earned a B.S. in Organizational Behavior from University of San Francisco and an A.S. in Merchandising and Buying from the Fashion Institute of Technology. In addition to her role at RetailNext, Shelley serves as a faculty member at the Fashion Institute of Technology of the State University of New York.

Chitra Balasubramanian
VP of Insights

Chitra and her team are responsible for developing never-before-seen in-store consumer insights, enabling retailers and product manufacturers to improve in-store operations, execute enhanced concept testing, and quickly identify substantial opportunities for their businesses. Prior to RetailNext Chitra was responsible for marketing analytics and product forecasting across over 50 retail partners at Blackhawk Network. In addition, Chitra was a part of Barclays Capital’s Technology Investment Banking group, where she provided clients with strategic recommendations in the areas of corporate finance and business strategy. Prior to this Chitra was a subject-matter expert at the PricewaterhouseCoopers Center for Advanced Research – an innovation think tank responsible for the design and development of advanced technologies that solve previously unsolvable problems for the firm’s core practice areas. Chitra is a CPA and holds an AB in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

John Crimmins
VP of Strategy

John brings over 25 years of strategic consulting experience to RetailNext, most recently with ShopperTrak, where he served for six years as the Director of Consulting Services.  In that role, John worked closely with clients from virtually every retail segment to help them realize the full ROI on their front door traffic investment by demonstrating the strategic value of using traffic-based metrics to measure store performance, allocate labor, and identify best practices.  John was the SVP of the Client Solutions Group at ChoicePoint Precision Marketing where he was responsible for driving annual sales growth through the use of complex data analytics to design matrix marketing programs for the financial services industry.  John started his career as a strategy consultant with the global management consulting firm, Bain and Company.  John graduated from the University of North Carolina with a BA in Asian Studies and received his JD from Harvard Law School.

Board of Directors

Industry Advisory Board

Board of Directors

Vivek Mehra
Partner, August Capital

Vivek joined August Capital in 2003. He invests broadly in IT infrastructure, and his areas of interest include data center technologies, systems management, security, storage, and cloud computing systems and software. Prior to joining August Capital Vivek co-founded Cobalt Networks in 1996. As CTO & VP of Product Development, Vivek built the first successful server appliance and grew Cobalt into a worldwide leader in the category, culminating in a successful IPO and acquisition by Sun Microsystems for $2 billion. At Sun Vivek served as the Vice President and General Manager of the Cobalt Business Unit and a member of Sun’s Technical Architecture Council. Prior to founding Cobalt, Vivek held a number of technical and management positions at Apple, SGI, and Digital Equipment Corporation and successfully developed numerous products including Internet enabled set-top boxes, PDAs, RISC workstations, and high performance graphics subsystems.

Robert Rosenblatt
Former Group President & COO, Tommy Hilfiger Corp

Bob has more than 25 years of experience leading mid-sized and large retail organizations, including Tommy Hilfiger, HSN (formerly the Home Shopping Network), and Bloomingdale’s.  He is currently president of Ideeli.com, a flash sales company based in NY.  As group president and COO of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, Bob grew revenue and profitability and built the company’s first transactional web site.  Bob also previously served as CFO, COO and president of HSN, where he significantly increased company value.  Bob introduced and built HSN’s online operation, which achieved profitability within three months of inception. He served as vice president of store operations and then later CFO of Bloomingdale’s, where he was responsible for the P&L of the corporation, financial planning, and administrative management.  For the past seven years, Bob has run Rosenblatt Consulting, LLC, specializing in helping investment firms determine value in both public and private consumer companies and helping retail firms maximize profitability.  Bob sits on several boards in the retail and technology industry including Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) and Deb Shops.  He received a BS in Accounting from Brooklyn College.

Robert Pope
President, Mining Equipment Ltd

Bob is a successful entrepreneur and investor. Bob started his own heavy equipment company over 30 years ago that he has grown into a worldwide leader in the supply of underground equipment for mines and tunnel construction. Bob was an early investor in Loronix Information Systems, a pioneer in the digital video marketplace. Loronix went public and was acquired by Comverse Technology (CMVT) for $225 million. Bob was also an early investor in SyPixx Networks, developer of IP video hardware for the gaming industry. SyPixx was acquired by Cisco in 2006. He is active in the hotel business as an owner of his own management company and past owner of several Marriott branded properties.

Laura Sachar
General Partner, StarVest Partners

Laura is an experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor. She has founded three successful entities, was an early identifier of the growth in digital media and has invested for over a decade in technology-enabled business services companies. As a founding partner of StarVest, she has been active in multiple StarVest investments, including Connected Corporation, MessageOne, Newgistics, iCrossing, Fieldglass, and ideeli.  Prior to founding StarVest, Laura was responsible for direct private equity investments at Gabelli Securities where she sourced digital media investments in Multex Systems and the first institutional round of Digital River (NASDAQ:DRIV). In the early 1990’s, Laura identified digital media as a growth area and founded Sachar Capital to capitalize on this opportunity.  Laura was the Founding Chairman of the New York New Media Association Angel Investors Program, a professional nonprofit organization in which she assisted hundreds of early-stage New York area companies in accessing initial capital.  She is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.  Laura has a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Alexei Agratchev
Co-Founder & CEO, RetailNext

Prior to joining RetailNext, Alexei was the founder and General Manager of an internal startup within the Cisco Emerging Technologies Group focused on developing video applications for the gaming and retail markets. During his eight years at Cisco, Alexei held a number of leadership positions with direct responsibility for developing and launching new product lines. Prior to joining Cisco, Alexei was a consultant at Accenture in its Electronics and High Tech Operating Unit. Alexei holds a bachelor degree in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He has also completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program and the Cisco Leadership Series.

Industry Advisory Board

Matt Rubel

Matt Rubel has held many leadership positions in the apparel retail industry, including Chairman of the Board, CEO, and President of Collective Brands; Chairman, CEO, and President of Cole Haan; Executive Vice President of J. Crew Group; President of the Revlon Specialty Store Division; and Executive Vice President of Tommy Hilfiger’s Murjani brand.  Matt led the acquisition of Stride Rite by Payless Shoe Source and the subsequent creation of Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS).  During his tenure there Collective Brands grew its top line nearly 30% and increased EPS from $0.03 to $1.77.  Matt has been named Footwear News “2007 Person of the Year” and Ernst and Young “Entrepreneur of the Year.”  He serves as a board member for the National Retail Federation, the International Council of Shopping Centers, Supervalu, Inc., and the University of Miami and is Chairman of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America and a member of the White House Advisory Committee for Trade Policy Negotiations.

Bart Butzer

Bart is one of the nation’s foremost experts in Store Operations. Most recently Bart served as Executive Vice President of Stores for Target Corporation and a member of Target Executive Committee. Prior to that Bart served as President of Mervyn’s from 1996 to 2001. During that time, he increased operating profit from $150 million to $370 million. Bart started his career at K-Mart, where he worked as a buyer and a store manager.

Sam Hildebrandt

Sam is an industry recognized leader and expert in retail, corporate and supply chain asset protection, loss prevention, and operations. His professional career includes over 25 years in the retail industry where he held both field and corporate leadership positions with Marshall Fields and Target. He has been responsible for developing technologies and operational strategies to support multiple divisions within the retail industry and managing capital and expense budgets in excess of $200 million annually.

Richard Guha

Richard has over 30 years experience leading Fortune 500 companies as a C-level executive and Corporate Officer in General Management and Marketing. Richard started his career in marketing at Procter & Gamble, later becoming a Division Head at Mars, Inc, CMO at US West and BMC Software, and President of Reliant Energy. Richard also served as a partner in two respected consulting firms, where he advised top management of Global 2000 companies. Richard has been on the Board of eight highly successful companies, including four start-ups, and is on the Board of several major non-profits and currently Chairman Emeritus of one.

Michael Anderson

Michael is currently VP of Field Services at Lifetouch. Prior to Lifetouch, Michael served as SVP of Store Operations for Macy’s. Prior to joining Macy’s Michael spent 19 years at Target in senior management roles in both store operations and asset protection groups.

Tim Price

Tim has nearly 25 years of experience leading the financial and operational functions of large public and private retail companies. He has served as the EVP and CFO for Ultimate Electronics, Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video, and the Robinsons-May division of May Department Stores. Prior to that he served as VP and Controller for the Hecht’s and Strawbridge division of May and of Kohl’s Department Stores. Tim began his retail career at Limited Brands, where he served in a variety of roles over nine years, five of those as Controller. In addition to financial operations, Tim has led Information Systems, Distribution and Logistics, and Loss Prevention.

Anson Chen

Anson brings over 23 years of experience building products and solutions and turning technology incubation into profitable businesses. Anson served as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Motorola’s Enterprise Business and Motorola Software Group. In that role he was responsible for more than 6,000 people in 19 software development centers with programs that included mobile handset software, automotive solutions, network infrastructure software for service provider and enterprise networks, and software engineering tools and test technologies. Prior to joining Motorola, Anson served as Vice President of Research and Development for Netscreen/Juniper’s Security Products Group and was responsible for the development of NetScreen’s entire product line. Before joining NetScreen, Anson served as Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Network Management and Services Technology Group.