[February 26, 2015]

Retailers to Explore Serving the Customer "Everywhere at Once" at University of Arizona Conference

The Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona today announced the 2015 presenters at its 19^th Annual Global Retailing Conference, April 23-24 at the Westin La Paloma Resort in Tucson.

Given the rapid integration of shopping channels - stores, online and mobile - this year's conference will examine how retailers are positioning themselves to be "Everywhere at Once" for customers. The annual event serves a forum and think tank for emerging ideas in a setting that fuses business and academia. Attendees include retail company executives, industry analysts and observers, and some of America's most engaged faculty and students.

Among the speakers are senior executives from retailing, consumer brand and technology companies such as Macy's, Google, MasterCard (News - Alert), REI, PetSmart, Starbucks/Teavana, The Container Store, Gilt, eBay and Sephora, as well as Latin entertainer and entrepreneur superstar Thalia Sodi.

Speakers for the event include:

• Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman & CEO, Macy's, Inc.
• Margo Georgiadis, President of Americas, Google (News - Alert)
• Annie Young-Scrivner, President of Teavana and EVP, Starbucks
• Martine Reardon, Chief Marketing Officer, Macy's
• Thalia Sodi, Entertainer and Entrepreneur Superstar
• Kip Tindell, Chairman & CEO, The Container Store
• Michelle Peluso, CEO & Founder, Gilt
• Healey Cypher, Head of Retail Innovation, eBay (News - Alert)
• Calvin McDonald, President & CEO, Sephora
• Jerry Stritzke, President & CEO, REI
• Charles Best, Founder, DonorsChoos.org
• Alli Webb, Founder, Drybar
• Sarah Quinlan, Senior Vice President, Market Insights, MasterCard
• Sam Fox, CEO and Founder, Fox Restaurant Concepts
• Brock Weatherup, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, PetSmart

"The Global Retailing Conference is one of my favorite industry events and I look forward to participating each year," said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Macy's, Inc., who will deliver opening remarks. "The agenda is outstanding - a compendium of some of the newest thinking presented by a number of the most innovative and experienced leaders in our industry. But what makes this conference extraordinary and unique is the interaction with faculty and high-potential students from the University of Arizona and other colleges who are considering a career in retail, wholesale or a related field. They bring fresh thinking and a discerning eye that help all of us to better understand the Millennial customer and employee, and what works and what doesn't for this new generation of shoppers. This is a vital connection in an industry that is evolving as fast as omnichannel customers are changing the way they shop."

Registrations for a limited number of attendees are currently being accepted.

The GRC is presented through the support of sponsors that include Macy's, SAP Retail, MasterCard, Kenneth Mink, AirWatch by VMWare, Supima, ShopperTrak, Walgreens, 1010Data, RetailNext, SPI, Intel (News - Alert), Hudson River Group, Reflexis, Leonisa, JCPenney, PetSmart, Gordon Brothers Group, Dick's Sporting Goods, Avnet and Defero.

For more information on attending the event, visit www.globalretailingconference.org and follow to the registration page. Or email Kimberley Brooke, associate director of the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing, at [email protected].

The Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing is part of the University of Arizona's John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences. It brings together the resources and expertise of academia and the retail industry, with a shared goal of developing strong future retail professionals. The school's Retailing and Consumer Sciences program undergraduate degree is considered one of the top retail business programs in the country. About 500 students currently are enrolled in classes.

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