MVI Year-End Forum Speakers
Bryan Gildenberg, Chief Knowledge Officer
Bryan Gildenberg, a world-renowned expert in retail insight has been MVI’s Chief Knowledge Officer since 2004. He is responsible for MVI’s Analysis and Insight, driving the direction of content with in-depth knowledge and intuitive skills few can match. Additionally, Bryan provides a clear, ever changing and always topical focus on a variety of channels and retailers around the world. He started at MVI in 1997 as an Analyst.
An award-winning and prolific writer, Bryan has authored numerous professional articles online at MVI-Insights.com, as well as for various MVI publications and third party periodicals such as The Hub, and GMA Forum. He is a two time winner of WPP’s Atticus Award for excellence in written communication and is frequently cited in The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and The Boston Globe in the USA, and globally in the China Economic Times, BBC Radio and ETRetailBiz India. An engaging speaker, he has addressed numerous MVI Forums along with conferences sponsored by WPP’s The Store, GMA, FMI, CIES, NACDS and NARMS. He is a member of MVI’s leadership team.
Bryan Gildenberg received his MBA degree, summa cum laude, from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, Wellesley, MA; and his undergraduate degree from Churchill College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
John A. Rand, Director of Retail Insight
John Rand is the Director of Retail Insight at Management Ventures Inc. (MVI) with a long established expertise in the development of Supermarket Channels. John’s highly successful career in retailing and consumer packaged goods has included several significant contributions to the industry.
He designed, built, merchandised, and operated stores for top-level retailers, including Giant and Hannaford. As a regional sales manager, he has brought a wide array of new products to market. Additionally, John has developed the space management and category management departments at both retailers and at CPG supplier operations in the U.S.
John also served as a national consultant for IBM in their Business Intelligence practice, working with both retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers on industry data systems and business processes.
Considered an industry authority, John Rand has been interviewed and quoted often in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Providence Journal. He has professional articles published in several industry publications, including GMA Forum, Promo, and MVI’s Selling National Accounts. Popular on the speaker’s circuit, John has often been featured on FMI, GMA, NACDS, and CHPA programs.
John Rand is a former member of IRI Product Advisory Board, former member GMA/ASMC Technology Steering Committee, and a contributing member of the FDI Food Distributors International Retail Coverage and Store Implementation Study.
John is a graduate of Bates College and resides with his family in Shrewsbury, MA.
Anne Zybowski, Director of Retail Insight
Anne Zybowski is a Director of Retail Insight for Online Retail and Consumer Electronics. Anne joined MVI in June of 2004, as the lead analyst on Target, Wal-Mart, and Sears Holding Corporation. She is a presenter and trainer for MVI’s syndicated and private seminars, working closely with numerous Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods companies. Anne contributes regularly to MVI-Insights.com/eu showcasing industry news, MVI’s exclusive interpretation, and supplier implications.
Before joining MVI, Anne was a Vice President at Stern Stewart & Co. in New York, implementing EVA (Economic Value Added) financial management systems. For over five years, she was the lead project manager and consultant for a variety of retailers including: JCPenney, Whole Foods Market, and Ahold amongst others. Other industry experience includes pharmaceutical, automotive, CPG, and Information Technology.
Anne received her MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester where she is also a member of their Alumni Advisory Council. She also holds an undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
Leon Nicholas, Director of Retail Insight
Leon Nicholas, Director of Retail Insight at MVI, has amassed over fifteen years of experience working for and advising numerous consumer goods manufacturers and retailers on marketing and sales initiatives. Leon’s primarily focus at MVI is on mass merchandisers and club-format retailers.
Leon has appeared as a retail expert on CNBC, Bloomberg, New England Cable News (NECN), and Public Television. In print, his retail analyses have appeared in The Washington Post, Boston Globe, BrandWeek, The Guardian (UK), Nikkei (Japan), Russian Business Daily, Euro2Day, Philadelphia Enquirer, Advertising Age, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Kiplinger’s, Financial Week, and South Florida Sun Sentinel.
For two years he was a retail manager in the Hannaford Bros. flagship store in Portland, ME. He logged in eight years with Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) in client services, sales force development, consulting, and client relations -- providing information and technology solutions to sales and marketing endeavors.
Leon has also served as a senior marketing analyst for Veridiem, delivering marketing data integration and analytics software services to leading global CPG customers. Also, he directed the consumer goods and retail practice at Global Insight, an economic analysis and consulting firm, where he advised clients on forecasting, market entry, and market development.
A sought-after speaker, he has addressed the National Retail Federation, Outdoor Industry Conference, and the World Economic Conference. He is also a member of the Retailwire Brain Trust .
Leon Nicholas is a summa cum laude graduate of Bates College, Lewiston, ME.
David Marcotte, Director of Retail Insight
David Marcotte is MVI’s Director of Retail Insight the Americas with expertise in International Retail, Category Management, and Business Intelligence. He is a presenter and trainer for syndicated and private seminars in addition to working with numerous Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, and trade associates. David also contributes featured content and review of industry and regions to MVI’s client website, www.MVI-Insights.com.
David began his career with store and district management positions at Wendy’s, A&P, Supervalu, and Jean Coutu US. He was executive management over pricing at A&P and category management and merchandising at Big Y Foods. At the latter, David was an early adaptor and innovator of space management, use of scan data, category performance and customer loyalty programs.
Prior to joining MVI, for a decade he was the Business Intelligence Lead in Retail for IBM-Americas where he worked with the industry's leading global companies. In that capacity, David was part of development teams for solutions in loss prevention, pricing, category management processes, merchandising planning, supply chain, merchandising, sales forces optimization, and data warehouse design. He was also the lead for retail consulting in North and South America for the solutions in master data management, large system integration, and definition of business strategy and execution. A sampling of the companies he has worked with on these solutions includes Sobeys, Liverpool, D&S, Overwaitea, Falabella, Shoppers Drug Mart, Ripley, Kroger, Tesco, Couch-Tarde, Expedia, Target, Carulla-Vivero, Grupo Wong, and Disney Stores.
David has served on a number of industry boards and panels, including the IRI Product Advisory Board, The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), and the IBM Academy of Sciences. He also has a US Patent in data mining methodologies in tracking customer movements within the store environment.
Brendan Langan, Director of Retail Insight, Drug Channel
Brendan Langan is MVI’s Director of Retail Insight. He currently manages the product research and training for the Drug Channel. Since joining MVI in May of 2006 as a Senior Analyst, he has been MVI’s lead analyst on CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. Brendan is instrumental in driving the content and analysis for drug industry news, MVI’s exclusive interpretation, and supplier implications. He is a presenter and trainer for syndicated and private seminars, in addition to working with numerous Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, and trade associations.
Before joining MVI, Brendan was a Senior Industry Analyst at Global Credit Services, Inc., a private business information and credit rating agency in New York. As a Senior Industry Analyst, he provided in depth analysis of retailers and wholesalers across a number of industries, with a particular focus on the food, drug, and healthcare sectors. Brendan’s expertise was also utilized to provide advisory services for Fortune 1000 companies, including the identification and management of credit risks. Prior to joining Global Credit Services, he worked in commercial lending with CitiCapital, a business unit of Citigroup.
Brendan holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Fordham University in New York, NY. His diverse experience in the financial services industry makes him a valuable addition to MVI’s team of analysts. Brendan has made significant contributions to MVI’s Drug Channel training events and to analytic research. His work can be accessed on www.mvi-insights.com.