New York – A new executive group plans to bridge the knowledge gap between retailing and innovative technology.

The Retail Influencer Network is made up of experts from retail, brands and media who have been recognized as top business influencers. They include:

• Pano Anthos, founder of retail and consumer goods accelerator XRC Labs
• Steve Dennis, industry influencer, Forbes contributor, former retail executive
• Keval Desai, Silicon Valley investor at InterWest Partners, Board Member at The RealReal and Cuyana
• Gilbert Harrison, notable retail dealmaker, Chairman of Harrison Group, Founder of Financo
• Richard Kestenbaum, retail investment banker, Forbes contributor
• Marigay McKee, luxury goods influencer, speaker, former executive at Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue
• Sucharita Mulpuru, retail and commerce analyst at Forrester
• Matthew Rubel, retail board member, investor, former CEO
• Steve Sadove, retail operator and board member, former CEO at Saks Fifth Avenue
• Matthew Shay, President and CEO of the National Retail Federation (NRF)
• William Susman, retail dealmaker, President of Fashion Scholarship Fund
• Dana Telsey, consumer and retail industry analyst and CEO at Telsey Advisory Group, CNBC guest host
• Deborah Weinswig, global analyst specializing in New Retail, CEO at Coresight Research, Forbes contributor and Board Member at XCEL Brands and Kiabi
• Stacey Widlitz, founder SW Retail Advisors (London & NYC), CNBC TV Retail Analyst
• Janie Yu, investor in retail, supply chain and logistics technology at Fung Capital

“Just as consumers have grown reliant on brand influencers to help inform their style and purchase decisions, retailers and brands have found that educating business influencers and tapping into their expertise can be critical in helping to close the knowledge gap,” said Stacy Berns, president of Berns Communications Group, which launched and will manage the Network. “Business influencers represent an authoritative, authentic storytelling voice that can prove helpful to those in traditional retail, technology and media.”The founding members of the Retail Influencer Network will share their thought leadership through blogs, Q&As, videos, networking events and speaking engagements, as well as through published reports. The aim is to help retailers and brands as they navigate a market where digital commerce, physical stores and live experiences are converging.

“Traditionally, there has been a large void in the market for a critical dialogue between Silicon Valley commerce innovation and traditional retail,” said Sucharita Mulpuru. “Retailers were being offered new kinds of technologies so quickly that they struggled to figure out which kinds of tech are ‘must-haves’ and which are ‘nice-to-haves’.”

See the story on hometextilestoday.com.