The CPG View

Let’s start with your journey. You’ve gone from strategy consulting to now leading Spencer Stuart’s CEO and Board Practice globally. Looking back, what moments or experiences really shaped how you think about leadership and the role it plays in organizations?
 
Today, you’re working right at the intersection of leadership, governance, and long-term performance, often with boards and CEOs during some pretty high stakes moments. When you look at situations like CEO transitions or changes in board, what tends to separate the organizations that handle those moments well from the ones that struggle?
 
You often talk about helping leaders find clarity when the pressure is on. When things feel noisy or uncertain, how do you help CEOs and boards slow things down, focus on what really matters, and make decisions they can truly stand behind?
 
You have a unique vantage point across industries and geographies. As you connect the dots across all that experience, what patterns are you seeing in how leadership and board dynamics are evolving today? And where do you think leaders still tend to underestimate their impact?
 
Looking ahead, what are you most excited about when it comes to the future of leadership and the role Spencer Stuart can play in helping shape what comes next?

What Changed?
What leaders must understand now 4 the shifts in market structure, regulation, or competitive dynamics that demand attention this week?
 
What Leaders Are Getting Wrong?
Default assumptions under pressure. The conventional wisdom that no longer holds and the blind spots that create exposure?
 
Operator Moves?
What to change in the next days. Concrete, tactical adjustments grounded in what operators are actually doing?
 
Planning Implications?
How plans should adjust. Connecting weekly signals to annual planning cycles and budget architecture?
 
Executive Close?
One operator takeaway. One board takeaway. Clarity that travels from the briefing into the boardroom?

AVNs are often treated as annual tactical negotiations. Why do you believe they should be approached as a long-term strategic lever instead, and what are the most common profitability leaks you see during these negotiations?
How far in advance should vendors realistically begin preparing for AVNs, and what does best-in-class preparation actually look like?
Where do vendors unknowingly give up leverage in negotiations with Amazon, and how can they shift from defensive positioning to negotiating from strength?
What signals should leadership teams watch for that indicate structural margin erosion is coming in their Amazon relationship?
Looking back at your work advising more than 200 global brands, what moments in your journey most shaped the way you think about Amazon negotiations today, and what excites you most about the opportunity for brands to rethink profitability and power within the 1P model?

Commerce has become significantly more transparent over the last decade, especially around pricing, assortment, promotions, and competitive behavior. From your perspective, how has that changed the way brands and retailers operate?

Many organizations are collecting massive amounts of commerce data, but still struggle to act on it fast enough. Where do you think the biggest execution gaps exist today?

One thing executives are increasingly worried about is competitive volatility, where pricing changes, assortment shifts, or marketplace dynamics can impact performance almost immediately. How should leadership teams rethink responsiveness in this environment?

AI and predictive analytics are becoming deeply embedded in commerce operations. Where do you think machine intelligence creates the most meaningful operational advantage today?

Looking forward, do you believe commerce analytics becomes a centralized strategic intelligence function, or increasingly embedded directly into everyday operational workflows across organizations?

You’ve built your career at the intersection of sales, marketing, and retail transformation. what were the pivotal moments that led you to step into the Corporate Vice President, Head of Retail Media role at Ace Hardware?
You’ve said you get energy from working with brilliant people and cultivating mutually beneficial partnerships. What is it about retail media that makes it such an exciting space for collaboration right now?
Many organizations struggle to truly connect marketing strategy to sales execution. How do you design go-to-market strategies that genuinely unleash the power of marketing behind sales teams to drive measurable results?
Ace Hardware has an incredibly strong brand and retailer network. What’s unique about building a retail media capability inside that ecosystem compared to other retail environments?
Retail media works best when it creates value for retailers, brands, and customers simultaneously. What does a truly mutually beneficial partnership look like in practice and how do you structure teams and incentives to support that?