The event, featuring Joe Fantozzi of Allegiance Retail Services, will be held at Caesars Atlantic City on April 8.

The New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) is presenting a talent-stacked lineup of industry experts to speak about “Emerging Technologies & Emerging Opportunities” at its annual Trade Relations Conference, taking place April 8 at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel & Casino.

The event will feature a Fireside Chat with Joe Fantozzi, President of Allegiance Retail Services, and will be moderated by Louis Scaduto Jr., president of Food Circus Super Markets.

Fantozzi leads a supermarket cooperative of 130 stores headquartered in central New Jersey under banners including Foodtown, Pathmark and Shop n Bag.  He joined Allegiance in March 2016, as Vice President – Retail / Member Development and was elevated to Vice President & Chief Financial Officer in June 2020.  He has had a long and distinguished career in the food industry, beginning in the financial area.

In addition, a panel of experts will include David McIntosh, Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart will highlight the benefits of the new Caper Cart technology and discuss seamless retail experiences online and in-store. There will also be Nawashi Williams, Vice President, Insight & Analytics at Crossmark, to discuss data-driven insights and sales. The panel rounds out with Kenny Olson, Vice President of Growth and Product Strategy, In-Store Connect at Quad, to discuss effective media within retail stores.

“Advancing technology has touched just about every industry, food being no exception,” said NJFC President & CEO Linda Doherty. “During this Trade Relations Conference, our goal is to provide unique insight on how to enhance advancing technology to connect with retailers, vendors and shoppers. Our panel is incredibly well-versed on effective uses of generative technology in our space; participants are eager to hear their insights and success stories.”

The panel:

David McIntosh is the Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart. His team enable retailers to offer seamless retail experiences across online and the retail stores. Previously, in his role as VP of Product, Retailer, he led the development of Instacart Platform. Prior to joining Instacart in 2021, McIntosh was the CEO and co-founder of Tenor, a search engine that Google acquired in 2018. At Google, McIntosh grew Tenor to more than one billion users.

Nawshi Williams leads Business Analytics & Insights at CROSSMARK, supporting client and customer teams with category management analytics, insights, and space management capabilities. She led the digital transformation initiative for CROSSMARK, with the creation and development of “Accelerator,” CROSSMARK’s data and analytic platform. Prior to joining CROSSMARK, Williams worked on both the supplier and manufacturing side at IRI, Dr. Pepper and Clorox.

Kenny Olson is a twice-exited retail technology entrepreneur who now leads In-Store Connect by Quad, a purpose-built platform for activating effective retail media within the retail store. Quad is an advertising and technology company serving most grocery retailers within the US with solutions that enable retailers to increase trips, generate incremental retail sales, and create new profit streams through media sales to national CPG’s. Olson honed his skills in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble. 

During the event, attendees will celebrate Matt Lipowski, Vice President of Sales at J&J Snack Foods, as the Jimmy Ostling Trade Relations Award Honoree. Prior to his time at J&J, he spent 16 years at BIMBO Bakeries leading cross functional teams in sales operations, customers and revenue growth management.  As Vice-Chair of the Leadership Development program at NJFC, Lipowski continues his passion engaging with emerging talent in the food industry.

As is tradition, the conference will conclude with a Curtain Closer golf event. This year it will be held at Galloway National Golf Club, 270 S. New York Road, Galloway on April 9 at 10 a.m.

Register today here!