The retail industry will never be the same post-pandemic — it will be better. Despite the challenges of the last year, innovative leaders carved a new path for the industry and laid the technical foundation to succeed in retail’s future.
RIS’ fifth annual look at the top women in retail technology salutes the female technologists redefining the industry that touches the lives of millions of consumers. The women honored here are deploying game-changing solutions, leading exceptional teams, and reimagining retail in the face of change.
Read about their latest retail technology projects, which prompted glowing nominations from their peers and partners. Plus, learn their greatest accomplishments, what technologies they can’t live without, what they think will impact retail’s future, their pandemic-born hobbies and more.
Memorable Mentor
Gao’s mentor, Michael Relich, Co-CEO at PACSUN, has always led her to apply the most advanced technology to support business initiatives. “He is a role model for optimizing complex business processes by leveraging best-of-breed technology solutions.”
Pandemic-Born Hobby
During the pandemic, Gao discovered the joy of indoor plants. “I really enjoy having different shapes and colors of plants all over my house,” she says and plans to continue her new-found love of indoor gardening.
Little-Known Fact
“I love classical music and spend a lot of time accompanying my children throughout their musical education,” says Gao. “I also enjoy cooking and love to make dinner for my family.”
Biggest Accomplishment
One of Cowie’s biggest recent accomplishments was leading systems integrations and transitions related to onboarding 27 acquired grocery retail outlets for multiple company-owned banners in a very short timeframe. Accomplishing these conversions last fall in the extremely compressed timeline, while the team was simultaneously supporting retail needs resulting from Covid-19, required creativity and innovation in delivering the necessary technology. “Addressing the critical business needs related to acquisitions, while also working with our business leads on new technology and enhancements is both exciting and challenging for our IT team.”
New Technology
Creating a Master Data Management platform to serve the entire company from a single source of the truth is an enterprise-wide initiative for Alex Lee. This transition is especially challenging given that the company serves in the grocery wholesale and retail spaces with different views of the same product, but Cowie says transitioning to enterprise master data management is foundational to enterprise growth and scalability. “It is also vital to the success of various solutions across the enterprise from operational systems to analytical systems and is challenging as it involves not only technology changes, but also large scale business process changes.”
Greatest Tech Impact
Technology that creates human connection. “One of the biggest challenges in retail technology is finding ways to make life simpler and easier for shoppers, while also creating a connection,” says Cowie. “The isolation created by the pandemic adds to our desire for human connection and addressing this need will be critical for retail technology innovation.”
Sr Director of Application Development
Alex Lee, Inc.
25 years with company;
4 in current role
Maggie
Lifesaving Tech
Her Kindle: “I originally thought I would not want a Kindle, but now that I’ve had one for several years I realize how I love having multiple books at my fingertips on a single device.”
Little-Known Fact
Cowie is a proud breast cancer survivor. “This experience taught me to truly appreciate the love of family and good friends and made me realize that sometimes we just need to take things one day at a time. Even when life isn’t what we planned, we can still choose to see each day as a gift.”
Women in Retail
During Cowie’s long-spanning career, she has witnessed growth in the number of women in leadership positions in technology, but notes there are still improvements to be made. “Early in my career, it was quite uncommon to have female managers in technology related senior management positions, which is no longer the case.”
Memorable Mentor
Cowie tells us she has been lucky enough to have had multiple mentors and role models in her career, including strong women across the Alex Lee organization who have demonstrated that “we can be authentic and empathetic, while still being strong leaders.”
Women in Retail
“An increasing number of women are rising through the ranks to senior positions, and doing so while they raise a family,” says Jarratt. “As a devoted mom of a young son and a passionate businessperson, I’m excited to be part of this shift in business and champion the change.”
Memorable Mentor
The CMO has the good fortune of having had several mentors in her career, all with diverse perspectives. Each has helped her see things through a different lens, in turn increasing her own self-awareness — which she cites as one of the most important traits of a leader.
Pandemic-Born Hobby
Nail art: “I started painting my nails in fun and funky colors during the pandemic. I still love a good, relaxing mani-pedi, but now I also enjoy trying out different colors as a new form of self-expression!”
RIS congratulates all the women who made this year’s list. Read on to learn why these examplary leaders deserve recognition for their tireless efforts to help shape the industry for the better!
COWIE
Biggest Accomplishment
Gao developed a process by leveraging an AI-powered digital demand forecast cloud solution, Antuit, to improve retail allocation to support omnichannel ship-from-store during pandemic and holiday peak time. “We identified stores with large square footage and low in-store traffic as the ship-from-store depots, and mapped each customer ship-to zip code to a designated depot store as the preferred fulfillment store,” explains Gao. “The Antuit AI forecast algorithm then provided sub-class and zip-code level digital ship-from-store forecast using historical digital and retail sales, current DC and store inventory, and retail allocation. The forecast was added to the depot store retail allocation so that these stores could play an equally important role as the distribution center during the holiday peak time.”
New Technology
Now Gao is developing more digital fulfillment optimizations by utilizing the Antuit Days of Supply forecast to influence Manhattan Active Omni Adaptive Network Fulfillment. Manhattan Active Omni is designed to natively calculate and evaluate cost factors such as shipping cost, handling cost, and capacity utilization; however, inventory level requires precise Days of Supply to project which locations are the right stores to deplete inventory from. “For example, do I want to save fifty cents in shipping cost and deplete the last unit from a store when I have another store in the same region with five units? With the Days of Supply forecast, we will be able to maintain the balance of store inventory and improve customer experience,” she explains.
Greatest Tech Impact
AI-powered forecast and analytics will have the biggest impact on retail, says Gao. “It will help business decision-makers understand their customers better, personalize their products, and adjust marketing strategies toward more granulate customer segmentations.”
Chief Information Officer
PacSun and Eddie Bauer
1.5 years with PSEB LLC, a group company of Pacific Sunwear and Eddie Bauer, and in current role
Shirley
GAO
Chief Information Officer
Save A Lot
8 months with company
and in current role
Jennifer
HOPPER
Biggest Accomplishment
With more than two decades of IT management consultancy experience under her belt, Hopper is an adamant believer in the benefits of using technology as a bridge between corporations, retail partners and customers. During her first few months at Save A Lot, she developed and implemented a revised technology roadmap that’s helping the company prioritize and move critical projects forward. Its distribution centers, for example, have needed a technology transformation. With Hopper’s guidance, the team has taken steps to update the technology infrastructure and improve operational efficiencies. “As technology and consumer needs continue evolving, keeping pace is critical,” she notes.
New Technology
Hopper is working on the development and launch of a Save A Lot loyalty platform in order to keep customer needs and experiences top of mind. “In looking at loyalty solutions for our customers, our goal is to build customer insights from a robust data set in order to drive predictive analysis,” she says. “In turn, this will serve and delight our customers with an unplanned and tactically relevant shopping experience.”
Greatest Tech Impact
Save A Lot’s mobile and cloud functions are a primary focus for the leader over the next year, as well as delivering frictionless user experiences through all channels. The retailer will use a “disruptor approach” to tell meaningful stories to mobile-first consumers through modern graphics, creative content, video production, podcasts and more. “Our relationship with our customers is everything to our business, and by making our technology services seamless and functional, we can encourage customers to shop more often and increase basket size.”
Memorable Mentor
Hopper’s had several key mentors — all of whom share the key characteristics of believing in her and seeing her potential. “From an early age where my elementary school teacher recognized I was talkative in class because I wasn’t challenged, to my leadership consistently giving me the direct guidance to BE BOLD!”
Pandemic-Born Hobby
Basketball coaching at the request of her 13-year-old son: “On and off the court, leadership and development principles stay the same. Seeing these young men learn the foundational lessons of hard work and respect is extremely fulfilling.”
Biggest Accomplishment
Amid an unpredictable pandemic, Jarratt and team used social listening — paired with digital automation and human insights — to understand how 7-Eleven’s audiences were feeling, their propensity to buy and their mobility. They targeted messaging about its 7NOW delivery service — a business that quintupled last year — to risk-averse audiences, while mobile checkout programs were served to consumers more ready to return to a normal routine. “As COVID stabilized but openings varied across different geographies, we used these insights to shift our strategy to focus on the safety, convenience and value that we provide,” Jarratt says, “and to reassure customers as they were getting back out that it is safe to shop in our stores.”
New Technology
As part of 7-Eleven’s current marketing mission to be bold and bring “surround sound” advertising to share its new brand campaign, they’re increasing share of video to tell more immersive stories and placing a priority on high-impact, premium places. As part of this, they’re using personalization to engage with current and potential customers, as well as placing a premium on 7-Eleven’s YouTube strategy. “Customer viewing habits have also shifted,” Jarratt notes, “with more than a quarter of viewing taking place on digital and connected devices.”
Greatest Tech Impact
Jarratt strongly believes that digital automation is here to stay and will be the way of the future. “Automation helps us deepen connections with customers by reaching the right person with the right message,” she says. “As a team, we have already been able to notice the deepened connections it has allowed us to foster with our customers.”
Chief Marketing Officer
7-Eleven
1 year, 10 months at company
and in current role
Marissa
JARRATT
Lifesaving Tech
Jarratt is another smartphone devotee. “My iPhone has all the pictures of my husband, son, family and friends.”
Little-Known Fact
She loves interior design and is currently remodeling her home. “It’s a great source of creative inspiration!”
Biggest Accomplishment
Tham cites the replatform Harry Rosen executed with Bold Commerce as one of her biggest accomplishments to date at the retailer. “The systems are now faster, more intuitive, and in line with our ability to provide advice and content,” she says. As these technologies work together, the company has identified patterns to integrate all of the pieces of the customer journey together, and the headless approach of combining its core commercetools platform with Bold Commerce's checkout experience has doubled conversions.
New Technology
Tham is focusing on a strategic approach to mapping customer journeys. As part of this, she and her team are taking the technology and consumer insights to prioritize which aspects to focus on in order to determine the drive of retention and loyalty. “We are focused on combining this technology with the idea that all of our customers can ‘set the tone’ for their lives in whatever way is personal to them,” she says. “Our long-term goal is to get relevant products and content in front of customers immediately.”
Greatest Tech Impact
Look for end-to-end personalized experiences to have the biggest impact on business. “It is crucial to curate engaging visuals and a front-end system that makes the consumer feel connected to the content on the screen,” Tham notes. “This comes from building a comprehensive front-end system in which products or other brand entities are presented in a meaningful way to each consumer.”
CMO, EVP Marketing & E-Commerce
Harry Rosen
18 months at company
and in current role
Trinh
THAM
Women in Retail
“Now more than ever before, women have an opportunity to share their opinions and expertise in the technology industry,” says Tham. “There is a much larger invitation for inclusivity now, which has helped many women accelerate their career.”
Pandemic-Born Hobby
Tham has returned to golfing.
Lifesaving Tech
Try as you might, you won’t find Tham without her phone. “In this virtual environment, it is my connection to everyone and everything. I take it with me everywhere.”
Memorable Mentor
“I’ve had multiple mentors and have been very fortunate to have the chance to actively nurture those relationships over time,” she says. “It has allowed me to learn and grow from a diverse group of people.”
Biggest Accomplishment
Mattiussi’s vision of a centralized communication and labor tool came to life this past year as Maverik and Reflexis launched Real Time Task Management and Workforce Scheduler/Time and Attendance. Her ultimate goal has been to help ensure Maverik’s associates have everything they need at their fingertips so that they can ensure their customers have the best possible experience. “The system has simplified and aligned each of Maverik’s 370 locations to the overall company needs, contributing to a high quality, consistent experience for customers, while creating a richer employee experience,” says Mattiussi.
New Technology
Maverik is on a second generation of an internally developed technology solution that provides the most important store metrics that teams need to be successful in a visual and easily digestible format. She says this allows store teams to spend most of their valuable time remaining customer-facing, rather than sitting in an office interpreting P&Ls and various other reports.
Greatest Tech Impact
Mattiussi says technologies that help employees become more efficient, while continuing to optimize the customer experience will continue to have a significant impact on retail. “A consistently great customer experience is absolutely key for retailers to win,” Mattiussi. “Labor is one of the most – if not the most – significant expense in retail operations, but very much worthwhile when your people are the face of your entire organization as seen through your customers’ eyes.”
Former Vice President of Retail Operations
Maverik, Inc.
9 years with company
Danielle
Mattiussi
Pandemic-Born Hobby
Subscription-based and ad-free entertainment. “I think content providers will be challenged even further on both quality and pricing, and I look forward to enjoying the technology as it evolves,” she adds.
Little-Known Fact
“I can seamlessly shift from skiing to snowboarding on any day and on any snow conditions. Put me on the mountain, and I’m happy!”
Memorable Mentor
“I try to take away something from most people I encounter,” says Mattiussi. “There have been a few outstanding individuals that I’ve been fortunate enough to have as mentors during my career so far — both male and female — that have provided insights and have shared experiences from their careers.”
Lifesaving Tech
GPS/location services. “The technology adds so much richness to the experiences across multiple apps, including one of my favorite app that tracks my activities on the slopes,” she shares. “I look forward to the inevitable shift in precision from current mapping and location capabilities to various autonomous vehicle applications.”
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Little-Known Fact
She considers herself an extroverted introvert. “I love being surrounded by friends, family and meeting new people, yet need the equal balance of quiet, introspective time. It works well in my role as a CIO — an equal balance of team social time with quiet strategy focus.”