Consumer Goods Technology - August 2017 - 7

GUESS INC.

Bruce Yen
Senior Director of Business Intelligence & Mobile

HARRY'S INC.

Michael Kaminsky
Director of Analytics
Kaminsky leads an analytics team that helps the
new-wave men's grooming brand "make informed
decisions faster." The team builds infrastructure
to support business intelligence, answer complex
questions using statistical methods, and leverage
machine learning to drive operational eﬃciencies.

HEINEKEN USA

Michael Bronstein
Senior Director, Strategic Planning & Analytics
Bronstein's responsibilities include strategic
projects, planning, performance management
(target setting, measurement, and insight
generation) and capability building. His most recent
projects focus on performance dashboards, crossfunctional planning, collaboration and analytical tools, and various
strategic initiatives.
Shivanku Misra
Director, Data Science & Analytics, Business Intelligence
Misra leads the data science team at Heineken
USA, helping to plan, report, measure and predict
overall business performance. He actively steers
the data, as well as analytics vendor evaluation
and engagement.

HORMEL FOODS

Stephen Koven
Vice President of Digital Experience

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Ravi Parmeswar
Vice President, Head of Strategic Insights & Analytics
Igor Levin
Senior Director, North American Analytics Leader
Kevin McCloskey
IT Director, Data and Analytics

WHO

Eric Colson

Chief Algorithms Oﬃcer
Stitch Fix
Since Colson assumed the "CAO" role in 2012 (roughly one year after
the company launched), Stitch Fix has become "the quintessential data
science-driven business," according to his oﬃcial corporate bio.
His team boasts 80-odd data scientists and platform engineers
with a broad range of expertise in statistical learning, machine
learning, artiﬁcial intelligence, human computation and distributed
systems. Algorithms drive nearly every enterprise function, including
merchandising, inventory management, marketing, forecasting and
demand modeling, and operations.
Oh, yeah, algorithms are also the very foundation of the business model,
and the main reason Stitch Fix has become a force in the apparel industry
- with more than $700 million in annual sales - in only six years.

Algorithms are also the very foundation
of the business model, and the main reason
Stitch Fix has become a force in the apparel
industry in only six years.
Here's how things work at this new age e-tailer/manufacturer
(which sells outside brands but also sources its own products):
Shoppers provide their sizes, needs, style tastes and price preferences
on stitchﬁx.com, and pay a $20 fee that ultimately is credited toward
a purchase. Proprietary algorithms and some of the 3,400 "expert
human stylists" the company employs then go to work to create ﬁve
unique apparel items that are shipped free of charge. The recipients
buy what they want and send back the rest (also free of charge).
"It's machine learning with expert human judgment," Colson explained
to Fast Company in June. The term most often used is "hybrid design."
Colson's career as market disruptor predates Stitch Fix. He previously
was vice president of data science and engineering at user insightsdriven entertainment provider Netflix, and before that he led a team
of developers for analytics and data warehousing at Yahoo. He began
his career in 1994 as a marketing statistician at that most traditional of
traditional retailers, the historic but now defunct F.W. Woolworth.
He also serves as an advisor to several new ventures, including
Data Elite (which provides early stage funding to other data startups)
and Earnest Inc. (which uses data science to award merit-based, lowinterest loans to entrepreneurs and students). CGT

CONSUMERGOODS.COM | AUGUST 2017 | CGT

Consumer Goods Technology - August 2017

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