
Mainstage Speakers

Craig Dubitsky
Friendly co-founder, happy coffee
Founder, hello products
Former Chief Innovation Strategist, Colgate-Palmolive
Craig Dubitsky
Friendly co-founder, happy coffee
Founder, hello products
Former Chief Innovation Strategist, Colgate-Palmolive
Craig is the friendly co-founder of happy coffee (along with Robert Downey Jr), founder of hello products, and former Chief Innovation Strategist of Colgate-Palmolive.
happy coffee launched in early 2024 with a mission to elevate the everyday. Priding itself on using only the best, selectively sourced green beans produced by thoughtful growers and opting for a slow roasting process to protect the finest of flavor, happy not only delivers a seriously delicious™ cup of coffee but they care about the person drinking it. In an effort to de-stigmatize mental health, happy coffee has partnered with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, with a dedication to building better lives for millions of Americans. Think of it as coffee with a conscience.
hello, the world’s first naturally friendly™ oral care brand, was acquired by Colgate in January of 2020. hello remains the fastest-growing oral care brand in the US, with products now available in over 55,000 food, drug, and mass retailers. hello was named by Inc Magazine as one of the Best Places to Work, as well as “One of the 25 Companies That Are Changing the World.” Dubitsky himself was named to Advertising Age’s Creativity 50, the publication’s annual list of the most influential and innovative creative thinkers, and one of the 100 Most Inspirational Marketers in the World by The Internationalist.
Prior to hello, Craig was a co-founder and creative lead at eos products, a founding board member at Method Products, and a strategic advisor to Seventh Generation, Boots, and various private equity funds.
Craig is an inductee in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) Hall of Fame, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson, and serves as an Advisory Council Member at the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship at The Simon School of Business at The University of Rochester. Craig loves people, design, brand, packaging and people. Yes, he said people twice.

Scott Galloway
Entrepreneur & Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern School of Business
Scott Galloway
Entrepreneur & Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern School of Business
Scott Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business and a serial entrepreneur. He was named one of the world’s best business professors by Poets & Quants. Scott has founded nine companies, including Prophet, RedEnvelope, L2, and Section School, where he also teaches. He is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, Post Corona, Adrift: America in 100 Charts, and The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security.Scott has served on the boards of directors of The New York Times Company, Urban Outfitters, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Panera Bread, and Ledger. He has won multiple Webby and Best Podcast awards, and his books have been translated into 28 languages. Across his Prof G Pod, Prof G Markets, Raging Moderates, Pivot podcasts, No Mercy / No Malice newsletter, and his YouTube channel, Scott reaches millions.

Casey Gaston
Executive Leader, Local and Emerging Brands, Whole Foods
Casey Gaston
Executive Leader, Local and Emerging Brands, Whole Foods
Casey Gaston, based in Austin, Texas, is the Executive Leader of Local and Emerging Brands at Whole Foods Market. Beginning her career as a store team member in St. Louis, MO, Casey’s almost 20-year journey with the company has encompassed roles in department, store, and regional leadership, highlighting her passion for retail and brand development. Since joining the Center Store Merchandising team in 2017, she has played a key role in fostering supplier relationships and sourcing innovative products. In her current position, Casey is responsible for leading the strategy and execution of bringing local and emerging brands into Whole Foods Market’s center aisles. She works closely with a team of Foragers to identify and nurture unique local brands that align with the company’s values and customer interests. Her role involves not only scouting new products but also guiding brands through the process of becoming a part of the Whole Foods Market family. Outside of work, Casey’s passions include Texas two-step and line dancing, roller skating, reading, and gluten-free baking. She is also actively involved in Austin’s LGBTQIA+ community and leads Queer Skate Austin.

Daymond John
Founder/CEO of FUBU & Star of ABC’s Shark Tank
Daymond John
Star of ABC’s Shark Tank, Venture Capitalist and Investor
An entrepreneur in every sense of the word, Daymond John has come a long way from taking out a $100,000 mortgage on his mother’s house and moving his business operation into its basement. John is CEO and Founder of FUBU, a much-celebrated global lifestyle brand, and a pioneer in the fashion industry with billions in product sales worldwide. Former President Barack Obama appointed Daymond John a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) to harness his energy, ideas, and experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs both at home and abroad.
John is an award-winning entrepreneur and has received 100s of awards including the Brand Week Marketer of the Year, Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and was named #2 on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Voices, a list of the top influencers, who are using their voice to help us analyze today’s changing world of work, navigate our industries, and find balance. Most recently, Real Leaders Magazine named Daymond John one of the Top 50 Keynote Speakers in the World in 2023, a list of “real teachers — people who speak from experience.” His marketing strategies and ability to build successful brands has made him a highly influential consultant and motivational speaker today.
His marketing firm, The Shark Group offers advice on how to effectively communicate to consumers through innovative means and connects brands with the world’s top celebrities for everything from endorsements to product extensions.
John is also an author of 6 best-selling books including his latest New York Times best-seller, The Power of Broke (2016) and Rise and Grind (2018). In 2020, John released his fifth book, Powershift, that walks through his tried-and-true process of how to transform any situation, close any deal and achieve any outcome. John’s most recent book, Little Daymond Learns to Earn (2023) is his first for kids, reached the New York Times and Amazon best-seller list the first week of its release. The book addresses the current void of educating our children about money in a fun and engaging story for parents and kids to connect.
John’s mission is to continue challenging the status quo and leave a lasting legacy of inspiring other leaders to do the same.
Finally, John is celebrating his 14th season on ABC TV’s critically acclaimed business reality show Shark Tank by renowned producer Mark Burnett, which has reinvigorated entrepreneurship around the world. Shark Tank has now gone on to win five Emmy® in the US and millions of weekly viewers world-wide tune into the show as John demonstrates his marketing prowess and entrepreneurial insights

Ben Macedo
Managing Director, Strategic Analytics & Innovation, North America
Ben Macedo
Managing Director, Strategic Analytics & Innovation, North America
Ben Macedo, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of NIQ BASES, has been consulting on new product innovation with both Fortune 500 companies and start-ups for over 20 years. His areas of expertise include identifying “white space” opportunities, ideation, sales forecasting, and honing launch activation with pack design and other marketing levers. In his tenure with BASES, Ben has seen thousands of new product ideas and launches and is adept at understanding the factors that differentiate the winners from the rest of the pack.

Nik Modi
Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Consumer & Retail Research, RBC Capital Markets
Nik Modi
Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Consumer & Retail Research, RBC Capital Markets
Nik Modi is Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Consumer & Retail Research at RBC Capital Markets where he leads coverage of the US Consumer Staples space, which includes the Beverage, Packaged Food, Household Personal Care, and Beauty sectors. As sector co-head, Nik also oversees global consumer research strategy and collaborates with global counterparts to shape the direction of the franchise. Nik joined RBC in 2013 from UBS where he held a similar role overseeing all of UBS’ global consumer staples coverage. At present, the market capitalization under Nik’s coverage is about $1.5 trillion. Nik is well known around the industry for providing provocative predictions based on his lateral view of the consumer, technology and geopolitical developments. He has been ranked as one of the top analysts across the consumer space for almost 2 decades according to Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Institutional Investors All Star Analyst Survey.

Wes Schroll
CEO & Founder, Fetch
NIQ Speakers

Jim Peck
Chief Executive Officer, NIQ
Jim Peck
Chief Executive Officer, NIQ
LinkedIn
James ‘Jim’ Peck, currently serves as the Executive Chairman and CEO of NIQ. Jim, in partnership with Advent International, acquired the business from Nielsen in March 2021.
Previously, Jim served as the CEO of TransUnion. He joined TransUnion in 2012 when it was owned by Advent International and Goldman Sachs. As CEO, he led the company’s transformation into a market leader in innovation, driven by organic growth programs, tech re-platforming and strategic transactions. Prior to TransUnion, Jim oversaw growth at LexisNexis, spearheading the $4 billion acquisition and integration of ChoicePoint into LexisNexis and the acquisition of Seisint while serving as CEO of Risk Solutions from 2004 to 2012. Jim also served as SVP and Chief Product Officer of LexisNexis from 2001 to 2004.
Jim received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton and an M.B.A. from The Ohio State University. Additionally, Jim received a CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight, issued by the CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Elizabeth Buchanan
President, North America, NIQ
Elizabeth Buchanan
President, North America, NIQ
LinkedIn
Liz Buchanan leads the North American business for NielsenIQ, a global information services firm serving the consumer goods and retail industries. In this role, she is accountable for the U.S. and Canadian markets, across all NIQ business lines and customer segments.
During her 17 years at NIQ, Liz has held various leadership roles in customer success, sales, product development and technology deployment. Most recently, she oversaw NIQ’s customer facing analytics and servicing teams around the world and led the successful rollout of the NIQ self-serve analytics platform, NIQ Discover, across 85 countries.
She has worked extensively across the U.S. and global markets. She has specific expertise in data governance and stewardship, data management processes, technologies and analytics. She regularly consults with customers to help them achieve their transformation goals in this rapidly evolving space.
Liz currently serves as an Executive Sponsor for the Women in NielsenIQ (WIN) employee resource group. She sits on the Board of Directors for the Chicago chapter of Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit organization focused on providing essentials to children facing clothing insecurity. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Chicago Humanities (formerly the Chicago Humanities Festival) and World Business Chicago.
Liz is an active champion for civic causes, regularly dedicating her time advocating for diverse political representation through fundraising, organizing and policy work at the local and national level. Liz is a Class of 2022 Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC) Signature Fellow and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

Andrew Criezis
President, E-Commerce & Omni, NIQ
Andrew Criezis
President, E-Commerce & Omni, NIQ
LinkedIn
Andrew Criezis is the President of Global E-Commerce and SMB. He is a subject matter expert in CPG, Omnichannel go-to-market strategy (GTM), retail and brand analytics, global sales operations, and revenue generation. Andrew spent 10 years at NIQ in senior leadership roles including Managing Director of Global SMB, chief product officer of Byzzer, and SVP of global sales operations & sales enablement. Prior to NIQ, he spent five years at GE in operations and management. His long and varied experience qualifies Andrew to speak authoritatively on topics ranging from emerging brand innovation, integrated marketing, and retail growth.

Tracey Massey
Chief Operating Officer, NIQ
Tracey Massey
Chief Operating Officer, NIQ
LinkedIn
Tracey Massey currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of NIQ. As COO, Tracey is responsible for all commercial and product aspects, including revenue, product development plans, business units’ strategies, and all market-facing aspects of NIQ.
Tracey is an accomplished global executive with over 30 years of experience and a successful track record in enhancing and expanding global businesses. Her philosophy of winning with clearly articulated strategies coupled with the infusion of trust and resources allows Tracey to empower people and nurture highly engaged teams.
Prior to joining NIQ, Tracey served as Global President and Chief Executive Officer of Mars Pet Nutrition, where she led the world’s largest pet food business, revamping its product portfolios for continuous growth. Prior to that role, she was Regional President Mars Confectionary Americas, where she successfully led her team through the integration of Mars Chocolate Americas with the Wrigley Co. Americas.
Tracey has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Loughborough University in England, and is a published thought-leader and speaker on topics such as women’s success in STEM and embracing the power of diversity.

Ramon Melgarejo
President, BASES, Analytics & CMI, NIQ
Ramon Melgarejo
President, BASES, Analytics & CMI, NIQ
LinkedIn
Ramon Melgarejo has dedicated his career to redefining how businesses understand and engage with their customers. Currently serving as the Global Managing Director of BASES and Analytics wtih NIQ, Ramon’s journey in the industry is marked by innovation and an unwavering commitment to providing dynamic insights that impact consumers.
Over a career that spans 21 years across NielsenIQ and Affinnova, Ramon has worked and overseen teams across sales, customer success, operations, and product leadership teams. Under his leadership, clients receive value-driven solutions that enhance consumers’ lives and foster long-term success.
Throughout his career, Ramon has been instrumental in driving innovation in consumer insights, recognizing the vital role of dynamic information in today’s fast-paced marketplace. His deep understanding of consumer behavior, thoughts, and actions, combined with an agile and predictive approach, has transformed how businesses operate.