CONTRIBUTORS
MARIA DUBUC Maria possesses nearly three decades expertise in creative management developing brand strategies, managing highly complex programs and driving business growth. As Marketing By Design, President, and Big Red Rooster, Vice President, Maria works diligently to ensure our people, projects, and processes drive clients’ successes. In the Retail Brands space she has coordinated the design and deployment of new and re-branded programs for a diverse set of retailers globally.
CHRISTOPHER DURHAM Christopher Durham is the president of the Velocity Institute. Prior to this he founded the groundbreaking site My Private Brand. He is the co-founder of The Vertex Awards. He began his retail career building brands at Food Lion and Lowe’s Home Improvement. Durham has worked with retailers around the world, including Albertsons, Family Dollar, Petco, Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, Metro Canada. Durham has published seven definitive books on private brands, including Fifty2: The My Private Brand Project and Vanguard: Vintage Originals.
THOMAS HOPLEY Senior Consulting Associate. SGK Tom graduated with a Master in Political Economy and is a Prosci Change Management and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt practitioner. At SGK he has worked on key Consultancy projects across CPG and Retail, spanning process improvement, financial analysis, cost reduction, KPI measurement and resource modelling. Tom has also been involved in managing the development and implementation of innovation products.
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GLOBAL RETAIL BRANDS / MARCH 2022
HANS KRAAK Hans Kraak is educated in biology and journalism and wrote three books about nutrition and health. He worked for the Dutch ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food quality and the Netherlands Nutrition Centre. As editor in chief he publishes in the Dutch Magazine for Nutrition and Dietetics, as a food and wine writer he published in Meininger’s Wine Business International and reports for PLMA Live EU and PLMA USA.
KATIE LOCKE If you’ve ever met Katie, you’ve seen or heard her excitement for building or rebuilding brands. Her passions also include just about every facet of food and eating experiences. For the past 9 years, Katie has worked in Sales & Marketing for Marketing by Design (MBD), a branding and packaging design agency specializing in high volume retailer programs. At MBD, Katie gets to blend her passions by talking to thousands of National and Private brand leaders, mostly in the food industry, about expanding & enhancing their presence in market and on shelf.
KARA MIENCIER Kara Miencier, Private Brand Sales Executive for Paramount Roasters, has a passion for store brands and the coffee industry. As a Board of Directors Member for Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence, Kara finds great value in the diversity and inclusion mission of WISE and bridging the experience gap between generations.
