Top Speakers Draw Retailers to GMA Leadership forum

GMA will host its inaugural Leadership Forum at The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo., this Aug. 22-24. The event brings together thought leaders from across the CPG industry to tackle the industry's most critical issues and look ahead to future challenges and opportunities.

Retail Leader had the unique opportunity to get a sneak peek at a few educational sessions of most interest to our readers.

GENERAL SESSIONS

Nikesh Arora, Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President, Google, Inc.
Arora will deliver an eye-opening presentation covering the latest developments in the digital arena and how they're impacting the CPG landscape. Arora is a highly sought-after voice on the latest digital trends and has recently shared his insight with Forbes on the state of mobile efforts from retailers.

Condoleezza Rice, 66th United States Secretary of State
A leader and groundbreaker in her own right, Dr. Condoleezza Rice served as the second woman and first African American woman Secretary of State under the George W. Bush administration. Dr. Rice will bring her extensive years of experience as a professor at Stanford University to challenge our ideas of what it means to lead in a global economy.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Strategies for Greater Success: Using Collaboration and Analytics for Joint Business Planning and Execution

Since early 2012, Kroger and more than 475 of their suppliers have been utilizing a collaborative solution that helps improve joint business execution. This session will feature a panel of Kroger suppliers discussing how they are using common metrics and collaborative analytic solutions to improve real-time execution of their joint business plans and metrics.

Succeeding in Grocery e-Commerce
Online grocery is approaching a critical point in North America, where shoppers already buy a significant percentage of CPG goods online. Amazon, Ahold and Walmart, to name a few, are investing heavily to develop and extend e-commerce capabilities. Presenters will share how the North American grocery e-commerce market might evolve over the next decade, key strategic and operational considerations, as well as strategies to defend current share and leverage new growth opportunities.

Reinventing and Expanding Executive Talent Acquisition
The talent acquisition market is the fastest-changing element of human resources. A panel of experts will explore best-in-class company practices around what works, and what doesn't, in executive talent acquisition.

e-Commerce in Grocery: A Summary of Findings From the 2014 GMA, BCG, IRI and Google Initiative
During the first half of 2014, GMA executed a study–in partnership with BCG, IRI and Google–on how the digital revolution and rise of e-commerce would impact U.S. grocery manufacturers. Presenters will examine how consumer survey data, coupled with a broad set of industry interviews, led to a set of sweeping recommendations for industry practitioners on themes including: understanding future scenarios, prioritizing investments along the path to purchase, launching a digital organization and measuring success.

For more information, visit www.gmaonline.org/forms/meeting/Microsite/GMALeadershipForumAtTheBroadmoor