Among other topics, Marc discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Marc Saffer’s Biography
Marc is Chief Information Officer of J. Crew, a role he has held for three and a half years. During that time, he has played an integral role in transforming J. Crew’s technology, and helped improve the organization’s e-commerce operation.
J. Crew is the fourth company that Marc has served as CIO, having held that role at Duane Reade, Columbia House, and Footstar Corporation. He also was a vice president of IT at Macy’s, and he can still be seen every Thanksgiving morning piloting a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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Joe is the CIO of Red Wing Shoe Company, a privately held U.S. based global manufacturer of performance footwear and garments. Joe is also the founder of CIO Mentor, LLC, a consultancy focused on helping companies leverage the power of technology to achieve profit-driven business results.
Prior to joining Red Wing Joe was Chief Information Officer of RSM McGladrey, the 5th largest accounting firm in the U.S. Joe was responsible for the firm’s IT strategy and operations.
Joe also served as Chief Information Officer for BNY Clearing Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of New York.
Joe began his IT career at Metavante, Inc, a major financial services and software provider. As a Business Unit Manager, Joe was responsible for developing software solutions for commercial banks.
Joe has bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and completed the Management Development Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Among other topics, Bruce discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Bruce is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer of OfficeMax, Inc. With revenue of approximately $8 billion, OfficeMax is a global supplier of office supplies and services with operations in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. As CFO and CAO, Bruce oversees the company’s global financial and administrative activities including controllership, tax treasury, analysis, investor relations, strategy, corporate development, procurement, compensation, internal audit, loss prevention, and financial operations.
Before joining OfficeMax, Bruce served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Circuit City Stores, Inc from 2007 to 2009. Prior to his time with Circuit City, Bruce was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Yankee Candle Company, Inc. as well as Vice President, Finance and Controller for Best Buy, Inc. He also spent time in a variety of roles with Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Atlantic Richfield Co.
Bruce has served on the Finance Executive’s Council of the National Retail Federation and has been featured in business periodicals including Forbes magazine and Harvard Business Review. He is a current member of the Chicago area “CFO Select”, an organization of principal financial officers from leading Chicago-area large public companies. He also serves on the Governing Body of the CFO Executive Summit. He has served on the boards of directors for Mass Mentoring; United Way of Western Massachusetts; and Minnesota Mentoring.
In addition to his financial experience, Bruce has served in the United States Air Force for more than 25 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 2003, Bruce received the Air Medal for numerous aerial combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Bruce received his Master of Business Administration in Finance and Strategy from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and he received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Cincinnati.
Among other topics, Bob discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Robert A. Willett is the chief executive officer of Best Buy International, the strategic business unit of Best Buy Co., Inc., focused on creating opportunities for growth and innovation outside of the United States. He was appointed to this role in February 2006.
Under Willett’s leadership, Best Buy International has implement a global integration and growth strategy to maximize the retailer’s opportunities beyond North America, while continuing to reengineer the supply chain, Mobile phone and information technology functions that support the company’s customer centric transformation. Executives responsible for enterprise-wide efficiency initiatives, information systems, supply chain management, global sourcing, corporate development and Best Buy Mobile report to Willett. He is also a Chairman of the Best Buy Europe/Carphone wharehouse joint venture.
Prior to his current role, Willett served as the executive vice president of operations and chief information officer for Best Buy, and today continues to lead the company’s efforts to improve efficiencies and simplify its customer-centric operating model.
Willett’s experience spans a number of positions in the retail industry over the past several decades. Willett previously was global managing partner for Accenture Consulting retail practice, where he worked with best-in-class retailers throughout the world on strategy reviews, business transformation, procurement and supply chain management, brand positioning, technology transformation and customer segmentation.
Prior to joining Best Buy formally in 2003, Willett served as a special advisor to the Best Buy board of directors on issues relating to operational efficiency and excellence. During his tenure with Accenture, he also served as a partner on the “Process to Profits” initiative that Best Buy undertook in the late 1990s.
Willett launched his retail career in store management at Marks & Spencer a leading British department store chain in 1968, and has held executive positions, including managing director and group chief executive, for other retailers in Europe.
CIO Magazine named Willett to the CIO Hall of Fame in 2008 to honor his significant contributions to the IT discipline, use of technology in business and advancement of the CIO role. He was also recently named to the board of directors for LightHaus Logic, Inc., an innovative provider of video analytics systems based in Canada.
Among other topics, Ananda discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy
Ananda Rakhit is the Chief Information Officer at NES Rentals, a leader in the $25 billion equipment rental industry, and #1 in aerial lifts. In that capacity, he focuses on improving operational productivity with wireless applications and building business intelligence tools to support both daily operations and management strategy.
Prior to his time with NES Rentals, Ananda was a Vice President in R&D division of Automatic Data Processing, where he led an internet-based product development organization with global teams.
Prior to that, Ananda was a Vice President and CTO of Cadence Design Systems, where he defined architecture direction for consistent web-enabling of information assets through Portals and Web Services.
Prior to his time with Cadence Design Systems, Ananda began his professional career as a research analyst in the Financial Planning organization at United Airlines working his way up to a position of Director of Information Services Division where his accomplishments included leading development of www.united.com and speech recognition applications, and building a flight planning system which saved United $100 million in fuel costs per year.
Ananda has a Ph.D in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona in Tucson after receiving his BS in Mining Engineering and MS in Industrial Engineering from the Indian School of Mines.
