speaker interviews

THE PRIVATE BRAND PULSE


	Betsy Schowachert Director of Private Brand and Licensing at Michaels Stores Read the Transcript Betsy Schowachert, Director of Private Brand and Licensing at Michaels Stores has spent the last 19 years working with retailers to help them better market, brand manage, source and develop product for their Private Brand programs, including 16 years with Daymon Worldwide and the last 3.5 with Michaels. Her experience includes working and living in Europe, as well as managing business teams located domestically and in both Europe and Asia. She had managed start-up accounts, worked within corporate environments, specialized in sourcing and marketing of PB programs with many major retailers including, American Stores, Kroger, Supervalu, Petsmart, Office Depot, and of course most recently Michaels Stores.
	J. Duncan Berry Visual Equity Analyst, Principal Listen to the podcast J. Duncan Berry is a "visual equity analyst." His work centers on re-animating a brand's sensory equities in order to expand emotional connections with consumers/customers. For many years managing director of a high-end, private label import company, Berry has extensive experience with global enterprise process management, marketing, systems design and quality control. He also maintains an international reputation as an art and architectural historian, publishing and lecturing at universities and academic symposia in the United States and Europe. Berry was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna (Austria), an IREX Scholar at the Technical University of Dresden (Germany), a Fellow of the Institute of International Studies, and University Fellow at Brown University where he received both his Ph. D. and A. M. degrees in the History of Art and Architecture. He received his undergraduate degree (with honors) from The College of Wooster (Wooster, OH).
	Eli Getson Senior Vice President Golfsmith Read the Transcript Eli Getson is Golfsmith's Senior Vice President and GMM responsible for all merchandising, buying, brand development, and inventory management strategies. He joined Golfsmith in June 2010. Prior to joining Golfsmith, Mr. Getson has held a variety of roles focusing on buying, sourcing, and brand development strategies in the apparel, footwear, and sporting goods categories. He has served in roles as diverse as Category Manager for Cabela's, VP of Private Brand for The Bonton Stores Inc, SVP of Design and Merchandising for Perry Ellis International, and in various capacities for Polo Ralph Lauren, his last position being Senior Director of Merchandising. He lives in Austin, Texas with wife Jennifer and son Jake.
	Koen de Jong Founding Director, IPLC & Author of Private Label Uncovered Read the Transcript Koen de Jong (M.Sc. Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam) is Founding Director of IPLC. He successfully held various commercial and general management positions at leading manufacturers of private label in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands. His employers were, consecutively: Dailycer (breakfast cereals), United Coffee (coffee and tea), Dalli Werke (detergents, household cleaners, personal care) and Lamb Weston (frozen potato products). Koen is fluent in English, French, German and Dutch (mother tongue) and has an excellent feel for the cultural characteristics of the various countries within Europe. Since 2003, he has been working as a consultant for a large number of manufacturers and retailers in Europe and beyond. As an author he published two books: Private Labels in Europe, trends and challenges for retailers and manufacturers (2007) and Private Label Uncovered, taking retailer brands to the next level (March 2011). Koen will be presenting "Creating Value Together: How European Retailers and Manufacturers Collaborate to Innovate" on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at the Private Brand Movement.

	Maurice Markey Vice President, Private Brands Sam's Club Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Sam's Club is a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the worlds largest retailer with sales in excess of $400 billion. Maurice is responsible for leading the strategic development and growth of Sam's Clubs proprietary Private Brands; to include Members Mark®, Bakers and Chef® and ProForce®. Mr. Markey holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana Universitys Kelley School of Business.

	Melissa Smith-Hazen Director Strategic Design, Corporate Brands AHOLD USA Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Melissa Smith-Hazen joined Ahold USA in 2004 as Director of Strategic Design. Her work has focused on Design Direction for private label brands including natural, premium and everyday product lines. Prior to working for Ahold, Melissa worked as a design consultant with various design firms including Fitch Inc., working with clients in consumer products, retail environments, financial services, manufacturing and business services. In this role Melissa led work that included corporate identity design, packaging, retail signage and collateral.

	Vickie VanHurley, Ph.D. Packaging Design Supervisor Meijer Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Vickie has been a graphic designer & illustrator for over 25 years. She serves as a graphic design professor (Southern Illinois University, University of Kentucky, Michigan State University) for over 11 years. Vickie earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State University (research focus: packaging design as the new advertising-does packaging design influence consumer purchase intent?).

	Gregg Keeton Packaging Designer Meijer Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Gregg is a 35 year graphic design veteran with 25 of those years spent as a packaging designer for Meijer. Gregg is a graduate of University of Kentucky with a BS in advertising and art and a graduate of Kendall College of Art & Design, Ferris State University.

	Moe Alkemade DVP, GMM Private Brands Walgreens Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Moe has been with Walgreens since June 2009 where he is the Divisional VP of Private Brands. Prior to that, he worked for Kraft Foods for 15 years both domestically and internationally. Moe has experience in a number of functions including Sales, Marketing, Logistics and Finance. One of his last assignments with Kraft was running Sales and Logistics for Kraft Asia.

	Mary Rachide DVP, Private Brands Family Dollar Stores Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Mary Rachide joined Family Dollar as the DVP, Private Brands in January, 2009, after working with the company as an independent consultant to articulate the company's high level Private Label vision and strategy. Previously, she was a consultant for McKinsey & Company, focused on the retail and consumer goods industries, and at Liz Claiborne, she was a Divisional Controller. Mary holds an MBA from Duke University and undergraduate degrees in Business and Political Science from the University of Richmond.
	Eric Ashworth Chief Strategy Officer Anthem Worldwide Listen to the podcast or Read the Transcript Eric Ashworth is the Chief Strategy Officer for Anthem Worldwide where he leads large-scale branding initiatives for major retailers and CPG companies across the globe. Eric has held senior brand and marketing management positions at global branding agencies and consumer product companies. Eric has served as a guest lecturer on brand strategy at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.