About us

Dr. Harris pioneered the concept of Category Management in the late 1980s. Since then, he’s been an ambassador and thought leader teaching the benefits of Category Management to hundreds of retailers and manufacturers across the globe. For the last 30 years, he has been a leading contributor to every major ECR initiative across the globe directly related to Category management and its related practices. He has trained over 10,000 executives and managers in Category Management and its related processes across the globe.​

Award winning career at P&G, J&J, Kraft and Treehouse Foods, Julie has spent over 35 years delivering double-digit growth for brands, including private label, through strategic Category Management and strong retailer partnerships across all classes of trade, food, drug, mass, club ecommerce and foodservice channels. Julie’s leadership roles include general management, sales, channel insights, innovation, marketing and shopper marketing.

With a career spanning both products and engineering and having worked in both startups and large tech, Kamal brings a versatile and hands-on perspective to solving complex challenges and seizing new opportunities. He was the Vice President of Products for Oracle’s Content Management portfolio encompassing DAM, Content and Document Services, Digital Experiences, and Sales/Marketing focused SaaS applications. Kamal excels in transforming innovative and groundbreaking ideas into market-leading products that drive business growth. 

Accomplished Retail Executive in the food, drug and mass industries along with sales and consulting practices. Over 30 years of experience across marketing, merchandising, procurement, supply chain, Category Management, and store operations specializing in customer analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT, digital, commerce and innovation processes. Billy has been a senior executive at grocery chains Jewel Osco, Supervalu before his consulting stints at IBM and Microsoft.​

Luc has 35 years in the FMCG industry including 12 years as global Assoc. Director in P&G’s global operations. His primary role was the implementation of Category Management globally with P&Gs retailers and to lead shopper insights initiatives to support these efforts. He is globally recognized expert in Category Management and the use of consumer and shopper insights in brand equity building frameworks.

David brings 54+ years of retail experience as an operator, marketer and strategist. He created Kroger’s first go-to-market and industry leading KrogerPlus loyalty program after working every role in a supermarket, including 20 years in store management. David is known for his visionary and pioneering work in applied data science to grocery merchandising and marketing.

Over the last 30 years, Karen has held multiple sales management, customer strategy, digital and media solutions, and shopper marketing leadership roles for Coty, Sara Lee Apparel and Foods, Quotient, Albertsons Companies and SKUxchange, a start up SaaS company in the fintech space. Industry awards include P2PI’s Shopper Marketing Hall of Fame and Retail Info Systems “Top Ten Mover and Shaker” in Retail.​

Paul Walsh is a leading expert on the impact of weather on business. He has held executive roles at Google, IBM, and The Weather Company, where he focused on developing weather strategies for consumer businesses. The former on-air business and weather expert on The Weather Channel, Paul’s insights have been featured on CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and more. He’s also a veteran, having served in the US Air Force and Army.

Norbert is an accomplished business strategist and AI leader with deep expertise in Retail, CPG, and global enterprise transformation who specializes in AI-driven business performance, integrating behavioral economics with strong architecture expertise to optimize strategy, customer analytics, and supply chain operations. Led key initiatives at Microsoft and IBM, shaping AI adoption, go-to-market strategies, and enterprise innovation.

Gerhard brings 30+ years of experience in the retail, CPG and General Merchandise space. He worked as Senior Partner, CEO, CCO and Group President in leading global consulting, data analytics and market research companies, including Accenture, GfK and Circana. He was also leading the work for ECR Europe on topics such as Category Management, On-Shelf Availability and Consumer Value Management.