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Jen Beatty

Vice President, Sales, The Emerson Group

Jen Beatty, Vice President of Sales at The Emerson Group, is an experienced sales executive known for driving growth and delivering impactful results. She excels in sales leadership, strategic planning, and customer relationship management, developing and executing strategies that foster long-term partnerships and accelerate revenue. 

Jen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Information Systems and Business from Susquehanna University. She began her career in the buying department at Bon Ton Department Stores, then moved to Rite Aid, where she held various Category Management roles. During her time there, she developed expertise in health and wellness, assortment planning, vendor negotiations, and category growth. 

As Vice President of Sales at The Emerson Group, Jen leads high-performing teams, optimizes sales operations, and identifies new business opportunities. She plays a pivotal role in shaping Emerson’s growth by driving incremental value for clients and guiding the organization through evolving market dynamics. 

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Tabitha Benefield, RDN

Manager, Nutrition, Health & Well-being, FMI - The Food Industry Association

Tabitha Benefield, RDN, is the Manager of Nutrition, Health & Well-being at FMI - The Food Industry Association, where she oversees and supports nutrition and health initiatives across the food industry. With a background in culinary arts and nutrition science, she has extensive experience in health equity, nonprofit health, and food security. Tabitha is passionate about bridging the gap between food, health, and community well-being.
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Kim Cox

Managing Director, Omnicommerce, NielsenIQ

Kim Cox is Managing Director for North America OmniCommerce solutions at NielsenIQ. Kim and has been with NielsenIQ for nearly 2 decades in roles spanning organizational disciplines including social media analytics, real-time advertising optimization, Client Leadership and Omnicommerce solutions. In her current role, she partners with retail, manufacturer and agency partners to help them better strategize, plan and monitor their performance across every shelf, in-store and digitally. 
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Gabrielle D'Agostino

Director, Retail Center of Excellence & Thought Leadership, Circana

Gabrielle D'Agostino is a director of retail thought leadership at Circana. Gabrielle oversees the retail thought leadership team, providing data-driven actionable insights and opportunities to the industry. She has been at Circana for 8 years and is passionate about bringing data to life through story-telling and inspiring clients to act and unlock business growth. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Long Island University and enjoys spending time with her fiancé, family, and friends.

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Tom Duffy

Senior Advisor, Nonfoods Community Development, FMI

Tom Duffy is a senior advisor to FMI for building the nonfoods community and growth initiative as part of the FMI vision for total store collaboration. In this role, Tom enhances trading partner collaboration to address challenges, opportunity gaps and innovations designed to drive profitable growth in General Merchandise, Household, and HBC categories and to better serve consumers.

As former vice president of member development at GMDC/Retail Tomorrow, and prior roles with Acosta and Nielsen, Tom brings a depth of relevant programming and growth opportunities to the FMI initiative. Tom is based in southern New Jersey and enjoys spending time with family, golfing, surf fishing and rooting for the Philadelphia sports teams.  

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Debbie Kelly

Director of Insights, WSL Strategic Retail

Debbie brings vast experience in brand management, category development, and shopper insights from companies like Nestle USA, Clairol/P&G and Henkel, as well as from doing consulting work for CPG clients. Her expertise lies in synthesizing trends and research insights to build strategies that support mutual growth for both brands and retailers.   
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Steve Markenson

Vice President, Research, FMI

In his role at FMI, Markenson oversees the research & insights practice. He leads the discovery process on the latest industry trends and operational insights that champion FMI as a credible voice of the food retail industry. Markenson is a market research executive with 30 years of progressive experience in his field. His diverse experience includes research design, information/data collection and analysis and strategic planning.

Markenson was formerly the president of WBA Research, a national market research firm founded in 1987, where he oversaw more than 30 full-time professionals, along with a part-time staff of more than 100 telephone interviewers, field interviewers and support staff. Earlier in his career, Markenson worked at Snyder Communications, where he directed all aspects of more than 90 annual market research studies and presented results to brand management, market research departments, advertising and promotion agencies.

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Margaret Swiatkowski

Executive Director, Retail Center of Excellence, Circana

Margaret leads a team of analysts dedicated to Circana’s retail partners. The team transforms complexity into clarity leveraging Circana’s unparalleled technology and complete view of the consumer, inspiring clients to act and unlock business growth. ​Maggie sources her inspiration for insight from 12+ years of experience in retail data analysis. She is a proud graduate of Florida State University, and when not working, she enjoys spending time with her family. Fun Fact, she has twin 4-year-old boys!
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Dave Wendland

Vice President, Strategic Relations, Hamacher Resource Group, Inc.

Dave Wendland is a 30-year veteran of the consumer-packaged goods industry and is passionate about optimizing results across the retail supply chain. A sought-after speaker for industry conferences and frequent editorial contributor, Dave always provides dynamic and thought-provoking presentations and idea-generating articles.

As vice president strategic relations and one of the co-owners of Hamacher Resource Group, Dave has connected, counseled, and offered business-improvement solutions to a variety of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and technology providers. With his bird’s-eye view of retail, he is able to assess and offer creative ideas to help companies of all sizes whether they are market leaders or new to the industry.