Iterate.ai
"Mike Edwards...brings extraordinary experience to help retailers and brands step up and stay ahead at a time when consumers are in the driver’s seat and comparing you to companies that innovate and progress exponentially."
DENVER and SAN JOSE, Calif. (PRWEB) January 23, 2018
Proven and experienced retail and digital CEO Mike Edwards has joined Iterate.ai, a retail innovation authority, as Strategic Advisor for E-commerce and Retail Technologies. Large retailers, media organizations, financial institutions, and governments all leverage Iterate.ai to design and execute transformative digital projects – quickly – while reducing innovation risks.
Mr. Edwards, who currently serves on the board of Flexsteel Industries and Central Garden and Pet and the Board of Trustees of Drexel University, most recently served as President and CEO of eBags, leading its sale to Samsonite in May 2017. eBags was the second startup Mike sold for $100 million or more, Lucy being the first to VF Corporation.
Previously, Mr. Edwards worked as EVP of Global Merchandising for Staples Inc, where he was responsible for merchandising strategy and new business development, managing its global private label and innovation teams across 26 countries. Prior to that, Mike served as President & CEO of Borders, Inc., Ellington Handbags, and Lucy Activewear. Over his career, Mr. Edwards has held numerous other senior management roles with retailers (Target, Joann Stores, West Marine, and CompUSA which was a startup when he joined) and has worked with a number of startups, serving as Chairman or CEO and Investor to those organizations. (See LinkedIn).
"To succeed today, retailers need to place a high value on data, customer information, speed, and change," says Mr. Edwards. "Iterate.ai helps retailers to curate, test and implement the most promising technologies available globally." Mike worked closely with Iterate.ai while at eBags, when the industry-leading e-tailer and travel gear expert tested dozens of technologies. Designing the perfect 'digital recipe' helped eBags to increase conversions and revenues by double digits over 18 months. Adding brands like Bose to eBags spurred growth, but up to half of eBags growth was attributable to the digital recipes built by eBags and Iterate.ai as noted in this Denver Post article which described How to compete with Amazon (as a digital pure play). By leveraging Iterate.ai, eBags was able to test vetted companies fast, finding technologies nobody else was using to improve the customer journey.
"It's important for retailers to be in constant experimentation mode," says Jon Nordmark, Iterate.ai CEO, who was recently named by LinkedIn as one of 193 Top Voices spanning all industries globally (See Mr. Nordmark’s LinkedIn articles). "Every element of an online, mobile, IoT, or in-store experience should be continuously challenged and in consideration for replacement. Mike Edwards understands this and brings extraordinary experience to help retailers and brands step up and stay ahead at a time when consumers are in the driver’s seat and comparing you to companies that innovate and progress exponentially. We want to make Mike available to our retail partners and our startups."
As a Senior Strategic Advisor to iterate.ai, Mr. Edwards joins other notable entrepreneurs and visionary executives such as Steve Papa (founder/CEO of Endeca, acquired by Oracle for $1.1 billion), Jonathan Abrams (founder of Friendster, Nuzzel), and Doug Aley (leadership at Amazon, Zulily, Ever AI), among others.
About Iterate.ai
Located in Silicon Valley and Colorado, Iterate.ai supports Open Innovation and rapid-fire experimentation in the digital space. Enterprises, globally, use Iterate.ai’s three products (Signals, Curation, and Interplay) to organize the Innovation Workflow and manage a steady stream of progress. For other inquiries please contact hello(at)iteratestudio(dot)com.