Top Retail Influencers 2022

This list is comprised of retail experts, consultants, analysts, academics, journalists, and thought leaders who are making an impact in retail in 2022.

Daniel McCarthy

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University

Gautham Vadakkepatt

Associate Professor Of Marketing & Director of the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason University’s School of Business, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Jennie Vry Liu

Executive Director of the Center for Customer Insights & Lecturer in the Practice of Management at Yale University’s School of Management

Jonah Berger

Marketing Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Bestselling Author of Contagious, Invisible Influence, and The Catalyst; Keynote Speaker; Consultant

Mansur Khamitov

Assistant Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behavior at the Kelley School of Business, at Indiana University; Thought Leader, Board Member

Maxime Cohen

Scale AI Chair Professor of Retail and Operations Management, Co-Director of the Retail Innovation Lab, Bensadoun Faculty Scholar at McGill University; Advisor to Corporations & Startups

Mina Fader

Managing Director of the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Read Hayes

Research Scientist at the University of Florida, Director of the Loss Prevention Research Council

Sandrine Crener de Schutter

Program Director at Harvard Business School

Scott Galloway

Clinical Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern & Founder of Section4

Utpal Dholakia

George R. Brown Professor of Marketing at Rice University

Venkatesh Shankar

Professor and Coleman Chair in Marketing & Director of Research, Center for Retailing Studies at Mays Business School of Texas A&M University, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Andrea Bell

Director, Consumer Insight and Executive Editor, Americas at WGSN

Brendan Witcher

Vice President & Principal Analyst, Digital Business Strategy at Forrester Research

Dana Telsey

Chief Executive Officer/Chief Research Officer at Telsey Advisory Group

Deborah Weinswig

Founder and CEO of Coresight Research

Emily Pfeiffer

Senior Analyst, Commerce Technology at Forrester

Greg Buzek

President at IHL Services, President and Treasurer of Retail Orphan Initiative (RetailROI)

Hitha Herzog

Founder and Chief Research Officer of H Squared Research, Author, Analyst, Keynote Speaker, On-Air Contributor

Jerry Sheldon

VP of Technology at IHL Services

Leslie Hand

GVP at IDC Retail Insights

Marie Driscoll

Managing Director Luxury & Fashion at Coresight Research, Speaker, Board Member, Advisor

Maureen Hinton

Group Research Director at GlobalData Retail

Michelle Evans

Senior Head of Global Digital Consumer Research at Euromonitor, Forbes Contributor, International Keynote Speaker

Neil Saunders

Managing Director and Retail Analyst at GlobalData Retail

Nick Bubb

Retail Consultant and Analyst

Nigel Fenwick

Futurist, Consultant, Public Speaker; Former VP & Principal Analyst, Digital Transformation & Business Strategy at Forrester Research

Paula Rosenblum

Managing Partner & Co-Founder at Retail Systems Research, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Simeon Siegel

Managing Director, Senior Retail and eCommerce Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Stacey Widlitz

Founder of SW Retail, leading provider global retail data/market intelligence, Co-Founder of DealmakeHers, Board Member, Biz TV Contributor

Stewart Samuel

Program Director at IGD Canada

Sucharita Kodali

VP and Principal Analyst, Retail at Forrester Research

Tiffany Lung

Retail Analyst, Forbes Contributor, Brand Manager

Toby Pickard

Head of Insight – Retail Innovation & Futures at IGD

Tom Enright

Vice President, Supply Chain at Gartner

Andrea Bell

Director, Consumer Insight and Executive Editor, Americas at WGSN

Brendan Witcher

Vice President & Principal Analyst, Digital Business Strategy at Forrester Research

Dana Telsey

Chief Executive Officer/Chief Research Officer at Telsey Advisory Group

Deborah Weinswig

Founder and CEO of Coresight Research

Emily Pfeiffer

Senior Analyst, Commerce Technology at Forrester

Greg Buzek

President at IHL Services, President and Treasurer of Retail Orphan Initiative (RetailROI)

Hitha Herzog

Founder and Chief Research Officer of H Squared Research, Author, Analyst, Keynote Speaker, On-Air Contributor

Jerry Sheldon

VP of Technology at IHL Services

Leslie Hand

GVP at IDC Retail Insights

Marie Driscoll

Managing Director Luxury & Fashion at Coresight Research, Speaker, Board Member, Advisor

Maureen Hinton

Group Research Director at GlobalData Retail

Michelle Evans

Senior Head of Global Digital Consumer Research at Euromonitor, Forbes Contributor, International Keynote Speaker

Neil Saunders

Managing Director and Retail Analyst at GlobalData Retail

Nick Bubb

Retail Consultant and Analyst

Nigel Fenwick

Futurist, Consultant, Public Speaker; Former VP & Principal Analyst, Digital Transformation & Business Strategy at Forrester Research

Paula Rosenblum

Managing Partner & Co-Founder at Retail Systems Research, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Simeon Siegel

Managing Director, Senior Retail and eCommerce Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Stacey Widlitz

Founder of SW Retail, leading provider global retail data/market intelligence, Co-Founder of DealmakeHers, Board Member, Biz TV Contributor

Stewart Samuel

Program Director at IGD Canada

Sucharita Kodali

VP and Principal Analyst, Retail at Forrester Research

Tiffany Lung

Retail Analyst, Forbes Contributor, Brand Manager

Toby Pickard

Head of Insight – Retail Innovation & Futures at IGD

Tom Enright

Vice President, Supply Chain at Gartner

Diane J. Brisebois

President & CEO of Retail Council of Canada

Ellen Davis

Executive Vice President, Industry Engagement at Consumer Brands Association

Helen Dickinson

Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium

Katherine Cullen

Senior Director, Industry and Consumer Insights at the National Retail Federation

Kyle Monk

Director of Insight at British Retail Consortium

Lisa LaBruno

Senior EVP Retail Operations & Innovation at Retail Industry Leaders Association

Matthew Shay

President and CEO of the National Retail Federation

Alex Genov

Head of Customer Research at Zappos, Speaker, Advisor

Alison Embrey Medina

Strategic Program Manager, Consumer Industries at EY; Speaker, Gen Z Thought Leader

Andrea Leigh

eCommerce Consultant and Educator

Andrew Busby

Founder and CEO of Retail Reflections, Author, Speaker

Andrew Laudato

COO The Vitamin Shoppe, Author, Board Member

Andrew Smith

Co-Founder at ThinkUncommon, Author, Speaker, Strategist, RETHINK Retail Advisor

April Sabral

Founder & CEO of retailu, Author, Retail Leadership Expert and Coach

Ashley Dudarenok

China Marketing Expert, Founder of Alarice & ChoZan, LinkedIn Top Voice, 3x Bestselling Author, Keynote Speaker

Bill Ready

President of Commerce, Payments & Next Billion Users at Google

Bob Phibbs

CEO of The Retail Doctor, LinkedIn Top Voice

Brandon Rael

Client Delivery Transformation Leader at Reach Partners, Strategy & Operations Expert

Bryan Gildenberg

SVP, Commerce at Omnicom Commerce Group

Carl Boutet

Founder, Chief Strategist & Executive Advisor at Studio Rx; Marketing Educator, Global Strategist

Carol Spieckerman

Retail Speaker & Thought Leader, B2B Advisor, Corporate Comms Coach, Multi-Category Media Contributor, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Cate Trotter

Head of Trends at Insider Trends

Catherine Erdly

Founder of The Resilient Retail Club, Forbes Contributor

Cathy Hotka

Principal of Cathy Hotka & Associates, Retail Insider and Thought Leader

Chris Ressa

Chief Operating Officer at DLC Management Corporation, Host of the Retail Retold Podcast

Christine Russo

Digital and Physical Retail Consultant, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Christopher Durham

President of Retail Brands Institute

Daniel Burrus

Technology Futurist, Disruptive Innovation Expert, Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author, Strategic Advisor, Serial Entrepreneur

Dave Dolejsi

Associate Vice President, Content Strategy at St. Joseph Communications, RETHINK Retail Advisor

David Adelman

Business Strategist and Thought Leader, CEO of The Adelman Group

David Ian Gray

Senior Advisor to Executives, Speaker, Lecturer; Founder & Strategist of DIG360 Consulting

David Naumann

Marketing Strategy Lead – Retail, Travel & Distribution at Verizon

DeAnn Campbell

Chief Strategy Officer at Hoobil8, Retail Strategist, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Diana Haussling

Vice President – General Manager, Digital Commerce at Colgate-Palmolive; Visionary eCommerce & Marketing Leader, AdAge 40 Under 40

Diane Wehrle

Marketing and Insights Director at Springboard Research

Doug Stephens

Founder & President of Retail Prophet, Bestselling Author, Retail Futurist, Fortune 100 Business Advisor

Erwan Rambourg

Author of Future Luxe; Managing Director, Global Head of Consumer & Retail Equity Research at HSBC

Ethan Chernofsky

VP of Marketing at Placer.ai

Gary Newbury

Interim CSCO, Rapid Performance Improvement, Retail Supply Chains & The Last Mile at RetailAID

George Minakakis

Founder – CEO of Inception Retail Group, Author, Speaker, Podcast Co-Host, Business Advisor

Guy Courtin

Vice President of Industry and Advanced Technology at Tecsys, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Haixia Yu

C-Suite Executive, Advisory Board Member, Chief Member

Ian Scott

Owner of Ian Scott Retail Consulting, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Ian Shepherd

Retail and Consumer NED, Chair and Advisor; Author

Jason Goldberg

Chief Commerce Strategy Officer of Publicis, Podcaster at The Jason & Scot Show, Chief Strategist at Retailgeek

Jason McNary

Chief Executive Officer – Americas of UNOde50, Board Member and Advisor, NED, Investor, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Jeff Roster

Co-Host of This Week in Innovation, Advisory Council Member at GMU Center for Retail Transformation

Jeff Sward

CEO & Founding Partner of Merchandising Metrics

Jeremey Sea

Senior Manager, Commercial Marketing Asia Pacific at Sensormatic

Jim Roddy

Author, Keynote Speaker, Podcast Host, Moderator, Business Coach, Consultant, President & CEO of Retail Solutions Providers Association

Jon Reily

President & Chief Strategist of Dentsu Commerce, Thought Leader, Speaker, Writer

Karl Haller

Partner, Consumer Center of Competency (CoC) Leader at IBM

Kasey Lobaugh

Principal – Chief Retail Innovation Officer at Deloitte

Kevin Graff

President of Graff Retail

Lara Marrero

Principal, Strategy Director & Global Retail Practice Leader at Gensler

Line Tousignant

Vice President, Strategy & Experience at Valtech

Liza Amlani

Principal and Founder of The Merchant Life, Retail Strategist and Industry Lead, Speaker, Contributor

Marshall Kay

Founder and Principal of RFID Sherpas, Advisor, Strategist

Martin Newman

The Consumer Champion; Founder of The Customer First Group and Customer Service Action, NED, Chairman, Board Advisor

Matt Marcotte

Global Head of Retail and Consumer Goods Industry Advisors at Salesforce

Melissa Gonzalez

CEO & Founder of The Lioneque Group, Principal at MG2 Design, LinkedIn Top Voice, Podcast Host, #RetailWithMelissa Regular Guest at ABC News Radio

Melissa Minkow

Director, Retail Strategy at CI&T

Melissa Wong

CEO & Co-Founder at Zipline, Official Member of Forbes Technology Council

Micah Solomon

Customer Service Consultant, Author, Keynote Speaker, Forbes Senior Contributor

Michael LeBlanc

Founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc; Strategic Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Podcaster, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Michael Zakkour

Founder of 5 New Digital, Author, Keynote Speaker, Media Personality

Michelle Grant

Senior Manager, Strategy and Insights, Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce

Miya Knights

Retail Technology Magazine Publisher, Author, Consultant

Natalie Berg

Retail Analyst & Founder at NBK Retail, Author, Forbes Senior Contributor

Neely Tamminga

CEO at DISTILL, Board Advisor, Speaker, Professor

Nicole Leinbach Reyhle

Founder of Retail Minded, Co-Founder of Independent Retailer Conference, Author, Speaker

Nikki Baird

Vice President of Retail Innovation at Aptos Retail

Oliver Banks

Retail Transformation Consultant & Coach at OB&Co, Podcast host of the Retail Transformation Show

Peter Cohan

Management Consultant, Professor, Angel Investor, Columnist, Book Author

Rebekah Kondrat

Founder and CEO of Kondrat Retail, Omnichannel Retail Consultant

Ricardo Belmar

Director Partner Marketing & Sr Advisor for Retail & CPG at Microsoft; Retail Tech Advisory and Podcaster at Retail Razor, Advisory Council Member at GMU Center of Retail Transformation, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Richard Honiball

EVP / Global Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer of Navy Exchange Service Command

Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender

Consumer Anthropologists, Keynote Speakers, Authors and Consultants

Richard Hammond

CEO & Founder of Uncrowd, Author of Friction/Reward and Smart Retail

Richard Kestenbaum

Partner at Triangle Capital LLC, Forbes Contributor

Rick Watson

CEO & Founder of RMW Commerce Consulting

Ron Thurston

Bestselling Author of RETAIL PRIDE, Show Host of RETAIL IN AMERICA

Sanford Stein

Founder & Moderator of RETAIL SPEAK, Forbes Contributor, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Sarah Hofstetter

President and Board Member of Profitero, Campbell Soup Board Member, Co-Host of BRAVE COMMERCE Podcast

Scott Emmons

Brand Ambassador at Powerfront, Retail and Technology Innovator, Host of the Ecommerce Growth Show USA

Shannon Flanagan

VP of Global Industry Strategy: Retail, E-Commerce & CPG at Talkdesk, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Shannon Ryan

Executive Vice President – North America at Valtech

Shelley Bransten

Corporate Vice President, Global Retail & Consumer Goods Industries at Microsoft, Retail Industry Leaders Association Board Member

Shep Hyken

Customer Service & Experience Expert, Keynote Speaker, NYT Bestselling Author

ShiSh Shridhar

Global Retail Lead, Microsoft for Startups

Shlomo Chopp

Managing Partner at Case Equity Partners, Commercial Real Estate Innovator

Steve Dennis

Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author of “Remarkable Retail”, Strategic Advisor, Forbes Senior Contributor, Podcast Host

Steve Dresser

Managing Director at Grocery Insight, Retail Advisor and Consultant

Taylor Schreiner

Senior Director, Adobe Digital Insights

Tom Litchford

Head, Worldwide Business Development – Retail at Amazon Web Services

Tony D’Onofrio

CEO of TD Insights, Board Advisor, Consultant, Speaker, Managing Director Global Retail Business Unit at Prosegur, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Trevor Sumner

CEO of Perch, Entrepreneur, Executive, Advisor

Veronika Sonsev

Co-Founder at CommerceNext, Partner at Chameleon Collective, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Vladimer Botsvadze

Speaker, Fortune 500 Consultant, Advisory Board Member, Startup Advisor, RETHINK Retail Advisor

Alicia Esposito

VP of Content at G3 Communications (Retail TouchPoints, design:retail, Retail Innovation Conference, retailX)

Anne Mezzenga

Co-CEO of Omni Talk, Podcast Host

Arnold Ma

CEO and Founder of Qumin, Founder of Dao Insights

Barbara Thau

Senior Features Editor, CO— by U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Cale Guthrie Weissman

Director of Editorial Products at Digiday, Editor-in-Chief of Modern Retail

Chris Field

Managing Editor at Retail Connections

Chris Walton

Co-CEO of Omni Talk, Podcast Host, Forbes Senior Contributor, Blogger

Courtney Reagan

Senior Retail Reporter at CNBC

Craig Patterson

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider

Dan Berthiaume

Senior Editor, Technology at Chain Store Age

George Anderson

Editor-in-Chief/Associate Publisher at RetailWire

Ian Jindal

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of InternetRetailing

Ian Middleton

Retail Entrepreneur, Writer, Speaker, Analyst

Jennifer DiPasquale

President & Co-Founder of Women in Retail Leadership Circle, Women Leading Travel & Hospitality and Total Retail at NAPCO Media

John Ryan

Director at Newstores; Retail Specialist, Journalist, Advisor

Jordyn Holman

Retail Reporter at Bloomberg

Julia Raymond Hare

Editor-in-Chief of RETHINK Retail

Kristen LaFrance

Director of Community at Repeat, Podcast Host

Krystina Gustafson

SVP Content & Advisory Board Chairperson at Shoptalk and Groceryshop

Laura Heller

Forbes Contributor, Journalist, Editor, Content Specialist

Lauren Thomas

Retail Reporter at CNBC

Melissa Campanelli

Co-Founder at Women in Retail Leadership Circle; Brand & Content Director at Total Retail, NAPCO Media

Phillip Jackson

VP Commerce at Rightpoint, Co-Founder of Future Commerce

Phillip Russo

Founder/Publisher/Editor Global Retail Brands

Robin Lewis

CEO of The Robin Report

Sharon Edelson

Forbes Contributor, Vogue Business Contributor, Senior Writer at Blanc Magazine

Shelley E. Kohan

CEO & Founder of Shelmark Consulting, Chief Strategy Officer at The Robin Report, Business Strategist, Retail Pundit, Speaker, Professor

Steve Collinge

Managing Director at Insight Retail Group, Speaker, Retail Commentator

Susan Reda

VP of Education at the National Retail Federation

Suzanne Kapner

Retail Industry Reporter at The Wall Street Journal

How do we define retail influencers and categories?

We recognize influencers for their activity within the online retail community. Influencers frequently comment on retail trends or news stories, share industry insights and join thought leadership discussions. These influencers take on many roles. We selected executives from academia, media, consultancies and analyst firms.

Often times, influencers wear multiple hats spanning professions. We identified 5 categories most common in this cohort:

Academia: university educators leading retail-related courses or programs

Analysts: industry research firms tracking the latest trends

Associations: retail trade associations

Experts: retail authors, consultants, advisors, futurists, speakers

Media: editors, journalists, podcast hosts, bloggers, content creators

How did we identify the Top Retail Influencers of 2022?

Our team used a variety of sources to select our TRI, including: third-party listings, primary research within our own network of influencers, recent award winners and tools such as Buzzsumo.

We considered factors such as social presence, articles, speaking engagements, awards and authority to verify each awardee included in our non-ordered listing of the TRI.

Where can I stay up to date with all the TRI on social?

Follow the hashtag #TRI2022 on LinkedIn here.

Stay up to date with the TRI’s latest tweets here.

How can you be considered for future lists?

Yes. If you’re actively sharing insights, publishing your writing, speaking at industry events, and engaging with the media, we would love to consider you for 2023.

If you’d like to be considered or nominate someone, let us know in the form below:

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