March 5th ceremony held at Shoptalk to honor retail and consumer goods visionaries in an era of digital distractions.
The Robin Report Radical Awards, in collaboration with SAP, were held on Tuesday, March 5, at Shoptalk in Las Vegas where the finalists were celebrated and TRR announced the winner of the “2019 Radical of the Year Award.”
The winner was determined by a distinguished jury consisting of industry veterans Paul Charron, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Liz Claiborne; Mark Cohen, Director of Retail Studies/Adjunct Professor of Business, Columbia Business School; Michael Gould, former Chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale’s; Joe Gromek, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Warnaco Group; Matt Laukaitis, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Industries North America at SAP; Steve Sadove, Principal at Stephen Sadove and Associates/former CEO Saks Fifth Avenue and Andrea Weiss, Founding Partner, The O Alliance.
We are pleased to announce that Marc Rosen, EVP and President, Direct-to-Consumer, Levi Strauss & Co. was named the winner of our first, 2019 Radical of the Year Award, presented in collaboration with SAP.
The finalists were:
Andrew Clarke, President, LOFT- ascena retail group, Former EVP, Chief Merchant, Justice – ascena retail group and Sara Tervo, Chief Marketing Officer, Justice – ascena retail group
David Katz – Chief Marketing Officer, Randa Accessories
Marc Mastronardi – EVP, Innovation & Business Development, Macy’s
Tricia Nichols – Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Estée Lauder
David Olsen – CEO, Cos Bar
Graham Poliner – Senior Vice President, Strategy and Analytics, Macy’s
Marc Rosen – EVP and President, Direct-to-Consumer, Levi Strauss & Co
Mili Seoni – Head of Business Development, ascena retail group
Brock Weatherup – Chief Strategic Innovation & Digital Experience Officer, Petco
Doug Wood – CEO, Tommy Bahama
TRR defines Radicals by their ability to transform legacy businesses to increase their value for today’s consumers. Radicals anticipate the future, recognize how to make their brands customer-centric and snap their companies out of the past to create new models.
“Radicals are entrepreneurs in systems that resist change, and they are vital today because they are rewriting the rules of major brands and iconic retailers,” explained TRR CEO Robin Lewis, who also described them as digitally fluent and comfortable living without borders. “As we watch industry titans like Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, The Limited and Radio Shack shutter their doors after years of building successful store empires, it becomes clearer to me that taking a radical approach to retail – rather than adopting a pack mentality – is the way to succeed. Radicals can help save our legacy institutions.”
“The retail industry needs and craves Radicals because that’s where the real change happens,” SAP’s Matt Laukaitis added. “If you look at what’s been going on for the last 50 years in retail, any significant change has always been the result of someone taking a risk, thinking a little bit differently than their industry peers, getting out of that comfort zone and really making effective change.”
