What Organizers Say

Summary

I’ve spent 30-plus years inside the commerce business, launching e-commerce at Blockbuster, Best Buy, and Target before most companies had a website, and now advising many of the largest retailers and brands in the world as Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe. I give a lot of talks about what I’ve learned. The closing keynote at NRF 2026, the main stage at Shoptalk and Groceryshop, private executive sessions for companies like Coca-Cola, P&G, Walmart, and Target. The reason I keep getting invited back is simple: I’m a practitioner, not a pundit. I bring real data, real client stories, and a point of view you can argue with. And I try very hard not to be boring.

What you get

Every talk I give is built for the audience in the room. I don’t have a canned deck. I start from what your attendees are dealing with right now, pull in the latest data and client learnings, and build the story from there. That means more prep on my end, but it’s why the ratings hold up.

Here’s what working with me looks like:

• A custom talk. We’ll spend time up front on your audience, your theme, and what you want people to walk out arguing about. Then I build the talk for that. If you’ve seen me give it before, you haven’t seen this version.
• Real data, sourced. I cite numbers constantly, and I name the source every time. I’m also the guy who will tell your audience which industry stat is vendor marketing dressed up as research. Audiences appreciate that more than you’d think.
• Actual practitioner stories. I’ve run e-commerce inside big retailers and advised the biggest brands in the world for decades. The examples are firsthand, and the ones I’m allowed to share are usually the ones people remember.
• Humor that serves the point. I’m funny on stage, but the jokes carry the argument. Nobody has ever described one of my talks as a lecture.
• Reliability. I show up prepared, on time, and inside my time slot. I’ve done enough events to know that the speaker who runs 12 minutes long is the one the organizer remembers, and not fondly.

Formats I do well:

• Opening or closing keynotes (30 to 60 minutes)
• Fireside chats and on-stage interviews, in either seat
• Panel moderation, which I treat as its own craft rather than a favor
• Private executive sessions and board briefings for a single company
• Half-day workshops for leadership teams working through a specific commerce problem
• Virtual keynotes and webinars, produced properly rather than as a webcam and a deck

I speak to retailer and brand audiences at every level, from store operators to C-suite, and to the technology, agency, and investor communities that serve them.

Topics I speak on

Every talk I give is unique, built on the latest industry data and client learnings as well as the dynamics of the audience. But here are the recurring themes I return to most often.

Commerce Disrupted: The Rise of the AI-Native Consumer. The closing keynote at NRF 2026. A generation of shoppers is starting their purchase journey in an AI conversation instead of a search box or a store aisle. This talk covers what that changes about discovery, trust, and brand, what the data actually shows so far, and what retailers and brands should build now versus watch and wait on.

Agentic Commerce: Longer Than the Hype, Bigger Than the Headlines. Agents will reshape commerce, but the timeline is longer than the vendors suggest and the definition most people use is too narrow. Agentic commerce isn’t just the purchases a bot completes. It’s every purchase an AI influenced, including the 70% of retail that already happens under digital influence, according to Forrester. This talk separates what’s real today from what’s coming, and lays out a near-term playbook that doesn’t require abandoning the ROI you can capture this year.

Commerce Isn’t Fragmenting. It’s Evolving. The conventional wisdom says commerce has shattered into too many channels to manage. I think that’s the wrong diagnosis. The supply side is splintering, but consumer demand is more connected than ever: every recommendation feeds the next, from creator to search to retailer shelf to AI answer. This talk reframes the “fragmentation” panic and shows how the best brands are operating the whole system instead of one channel at a time.

Brands vs. Retailers: The Frenemy Era. Retailers, national brands, and digitally native brands are locked in a fight over the customer relationship. Being a wholesaler is getting harder. Retailers are inventing their own products, and the ones that build true owned brands (not cheaper knockoffs) are winning. This talk explains the new channel conflicts and lays out a winning approach for each side.

Retail Media: Important, Overhyped, and Not Optional. Retail media is the fastest-growing ad category in the industry and most of the money is flowing to two retailers. For everyone else, reach falls off fast and the math gets ugly. This talk gives brands a framework for where to spend, gives retailers an honest read on whether they can build a network worth buying, and makes the case that incrementality matters more than attribution.

Social and Creator Commerce: Discovery Moved. Did You? TikTok Shop, creator-built brands, and social discovery have changed where purchase decisions start. Most retailers are still measuring social commerce as in-app checkout, which misses nearly all of it. This talk covers what’s actually working in creator-led commerce, with the economics laid out, and what it means for brands built the old way.

The Digitally Disrupted Consumer. How consumers decide what to buy, online and in stores, has permanently changed. This talk looks at the fundamental shifts (trust, social proof, absolute value, and transparency) and how the best brands are responding. A foundational talk that I update every year and that still lands with audiences new to the topic.

Innovation Against Institutional Inertia. How do the best brands and retailers disrupt themselves instead of getting disrupted? How does a well-established business overcome the organizational antibodies that kill new ideas? Drawing on decades of client work, this talk makes the case that change management, not technology, is the hard part of every commerce trend, and shows what the companies that get it right do differently.

What the Data Actually Says. A talk for audiences tired of vendor statistics. I walk through what the U.S. Census Bureau, company filings, and other primary sources really show about retail growth, e-commerce share, inflation’s role, and consumer behavior, and I explain why so many widely quoted industry numbers are wrong. Audiences leave with a better set of numbers and a healthy skepticism about everyone else’s.

Don’t see your topic? Ask. If it’s about how people shop and how companies sell, I’ve probably got a point of view on it.

Where I’ve Spoken

Private and corporate events

Academic

• Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management (guest lecturer)
• University of Arkansas, Sam Walton School of Business

Booking

Tell me about your event: the date, the audience, the theme, and what you want people to walk away with. I’ll come back to you within two business days with whether I’m available and a sense of what I’d propose.

I’m based in Chicago and travel for events across North America and internationally. Virtual keynotes are available at reduced rates.