All eyes are on retail as the industry descends on Las Vegas for Shoptalk Spring. Amidst uncertain economic winds, retail leaders will gather to discuss the future of retail and trends shaping the industry. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting some of the most prominent and inspiring women at the forefront of retail innovation. These leaders navigate market uncertainty and a constantly changing industry to deliver unparalleled impact to their organizations and the industry at large.
Highwire's Ones to Watch: Women in Retail
Lara Balazs
Adobe, Chief Marketing Officer & EVP, Global Marketing
As the current Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Marketing at Adobe, Lara Balazs oversees industry-leading events, campaigns, communications, social media, and best-in-class media operations and marketing insights. She plays a pivotal role in expanding Adobe’s brand impact and engaging its growing user base. Before joining Adobe, she drove the evolution of Intuit’s brand, expanding its marketing strategy as the company grew its product portfolio, ultimately creating a unifying name for the parent of QuickBooks, TurboTax, MailChimp, and more. She has been named to Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs, Forbes’ Entrepreneurial CMO 50, and received AdWeek’s CMO Vanguard Award.
Bea Perez
The Coca-Cola Company, CEO, EVP and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer
Beatriz "Bea" Perez is EVP and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer for The Coca‑Cola Company, leading an integrated team across public affairs and communications, sustainability and partnerships to support The Coca-Cola Company’s new growth model and path to becoming a total beverage company. She and her team are the driving force behind the company’s Water Security Strategy, which has returned more than 100% of the water used in Coca-Cola finished products globally to nature and communities.
Kruti Patel Goyal
Etsy, President & Chief Growth Officer
Widely credited for her strategic vision and commitment to empowering creative entrepreneurs that have proven instrumental in Etsy's evolution and growth, Kruti Patel Goyal is Etsy’s President and Chief Growth Officer. Her tenure at Etsy spans over a decade including as Chief Executive Officer of Depop, a social e-commerce subsidiary of Etsy known best for its sustainable, circular fashion marketplace that strongly catered to the creative community.
Lauran Driver
Fetch, VP, Industry Lead, Household Essentials
Lauran Driver is the VP Industry Lead of Household Essentials at Fetch, where she drives brand awareness and user growth for the loyalty and rewards app. Drawing on deep experience from her consumer tech background with previous stints at TikTok and Twitter, Lauran helps onboard brands to Fetch, which captures millions of data points on consumer purchase behavior by leveraging cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
Kelly Owens
Ibotta, VP, Client Partnerships
As VP of Client Partnerships at iBotta, Kelly Owens stands at the forefront of the company’s strategic partnerships and growth goals, helping to onboard partners like Instacart and DoorDash, supporting its mission to help brands deliver digital promotions and influence what people buy. Kelly joined iBotta in 2023 from Oracle, where she built a Women’s Leadership Circles initiative empowering self-advocacy and career development, an example of her impactful community mentorship.
Laura Jones
Instacart, Chief Marketing Officer
Laura Jones is Chief Marketing Officer at Instacart, where she is responsible for shaping a cohesive brand, fueling the company’s growth, and leading a world-class marketing organization. Since joining in June 2021, Laura has led a comprehensive brand identity refresh, launched the company’s first-ever integrated brand campaign, built out its Creative Studio, and developed a full-funnel in-house media team. This year, Laura created Instacart's first-ever Super Bowl ad, bringing together America's most beloved grocery mascots into one epic game-day delivery. Prior to Instacart, Jones served as Uber's Global Head of Marketing for its Rides business.
Melanie Alder
Pattern, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer
Melanie Alder is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Pattern, a leading global e-commerce accelerator known for its innovative use of AI. Melanie’s work as co-founder of Pattern has been instrumental in guiding the company's strategic direction and operational excellence. Her innovative approach and commitment to leveraging data-driven strategies have significantly impacted how brands navigate and succeed in the digital marketplace, contributing to Pattern’s rapid growth in the competitive e-commerce landscape.
Dr. Athina Kanioura
PepsiCo, EVP, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer
An accomplished innovator and transformation leader, Athina Kanioura is Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at PepsiCo. Athina oversees PepsiCo’s end-to-end strategy including their digitalization strategy. She also leads company-wide transformation to accelerate profitable growth and identify areas of cost efficiency and optimization. Recently, she’s led PepsiCo’s AI implementation, using AI to drive productivity, improve worker safety, and empower farmer and supplier partners.
Shauna Bowen
Radial, SVP, Strategy and Transformation
With over two decades of experience, Shauna Bowen has consistently driven innovation and operational excellence across various facets of retail logistics and supply chain management. At Radial, an e-commerce solutions provider, Shauna leads the Click to Delivery strategy, focusing on redesigning the order journey to ensure seamless, timely, and cutting-edge solutions that exceed brand expectations and could lead to further strategic partnerships and advanced systems and process integrations.
Dana Marineau
Rakuten, Chief Marketing Officer
Dana Marineau has a strong background in building groundbreaking campaigns, managing large teams, and driving high-impact results. Since joining Rakuten as CMO, she has transformed the go-to-market strategy, driving awareness of the Japanese brand in the U.S. to become a household name. She and her team led a successful multimedia Superbowl campaign that increased Rakuten’s brand index score, member sign-ups, app downloads, search volume, and buyers. Her commitment to innovative marketing strategy and positive leadership has led to recognition in 2023 Forbes CMO 50: Entrepreneurial CMOs, Business Insider's 100 Most Innovative CMOs, and San Francisco Business Times Most Influential Women.
Adrianna Burrows
Shopify, Chief Marketing Officer
With 18 years of experience executing integrated marketing communications, brand differentiation, go-to-market strategy and more, Adrianna Burrows is a highly accomplished marketing leader, leveraging her expertise to empower simplified e-commerce management for businesses. At Shopify, she oversees the company's global marketing strategies, focusing on innovative campaigns and data-driven approaches, and has been instrumental in driving its growth and brand presence. Her successful career has also included leading Microsoft’s Windows 10 launch, and serving on the boards of Panopto and Stack Overflow.
Caitlin Allen
Simbe, SVP of Marketing
Caitlin Allen is SVP of Market at Simbe, a computer vision, AI, and robotics company helping retailers drive excellence and accuracy across their businesses on a global scale. As a former entrepreneur, her experience growing emerging tech companies to accelerate industry modernization makes her one to watch in retail — an industry long overdue for a digital transformation.
Esi Eggleston Bracey
Unilever, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer
With decades of executive experience in consumer goods and beauty, Esi Eggleston Bracey is Unilever’s Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, responsible for leading Unilever into the next generation of marketing and maximizing opportunities for growth. Esi previously served as the President of Unilever USA and CEO of Unilever Personal Care in North America, overseeing a $5 billion portfolio of beautiful brands, including Dove, Degree, Shea Moisture, Vaseline, and Axe. She also co-founded Dove’s CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Coalition, established to outlaw race-based hair discrimination and to champion Shea Moisture’s work with the New Voices Fund for Women of Color Entrepreneurs.
Aanan Contractor
Wayfair, Vice President, Storefront, Fintech & Loyalty
As a prominent figure in the retail technology sector, Aanan Contractor currently serves as Wayfair's Vice President of Storefront, Fintech, and Loyalty. With over two decades of experience in e-commerce, payments, and financial technology across world-class businesses like Walmart, American Express, and PayPal, Aanan has consistently driven technological transformations across various organizations, and her work ensures that Wayfair's technology platform delivers diverse, world-class shopping experiences across multiple categories catering to both B2C and B2B audiences.
