RNG Team

Daniel W. O'Connor

• Dan is the President & CEO of the RetailNet Group (RNG)
• He also is the Founder of Management Ventures, Inc. (MVI), a WPP Group company.

• Widely known and active industry speaker and thought leader in the retail industry
• Board Member of Coinstar (NASDAQ) and previously served on the Boards of Premier Retail Networks (a division of Thomson NYSE: TMS), Emak Worldwide (NASDAQ), Demandware, Aqualine Resources, Inc., and other venture companies.
• Former National Director of Consumer Products & Retail Consulting at Touche Ross & Co (now known as Deloitte & Touche)
• Active member - Young Presidents Organization
• Certified Public Accountant and formerly a Senior Manager in the Audit Practice of Touche Ross and E&Y
• Magna Cum Luade Graduate of Clarkson University, 1977, Accounting & Economics

Tim V. O'Connor

Vice President RetailNet Group, Tim leads RNG's Research Team. Under his leadership, this team has engaged a number of the Super A retailers as on-going clients. He continues to develop new insights and practical strategies for his clients.

Prior to RNG, Tim consulted with Management Ventures Inc. (MVI), and Cannondale Associates. He also held senior roles in Trade Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Sales Development, and Brand Management, as well as private label, with Diageo, Scott Paper, and Arquest.

Tim has a BS in Applied Economics and Biology from Cornell University and an MBA in Finance and Strategic Planning from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Chris Goodhue

Vice President, RetailNet Group.

Chris leads content development and delivery for RetailNet Group and he oversees the company’s portfolio of products and services. Prior to RNG, Chris was a senior research executive and general manager with AMR Research. He led content teams focused on innovation in supply chain and IT for global CPG and retail companies. Before AMR, Chris spent 14 years at Gartner Inc. in various research and management roles.

Chris holds a BA from Middlebury College.

Keith Anderson

Keith Anderson is a Senior Analyst and responsible for RNG’s North American research practice and transformational capabilities curriculum.

Prior to joining RNG, Keith was an analyst at Management Ventures, Inc. (MVI), leading the firm’s Wal-Mart research and analysis and playing key roles in the development of MVI’s global database and the design of the company’s client-facing website.

Keith is also experienced as a moderator and administrator of online communities and has consulted for social media companies including Cymfony, a leader in social media analytics, and Infotuit, a developer of blogging applications.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College and studied at the American University of Paris.

Aaron Chio

Aaron Chio is a Senior Analyst at RNG leading the company’s Latin American research and product development.

Prior to RNG Aaron was a lead analyst at Management Ventures, Inc. (MVI) covering the largest retailers in the grocery industry, including Kroger, Supervalu, Ahold USA, and Delhaize America. Aaron was a frequent speaker at MVI’s retail workshops presenting the company’s latest research and analysis to Fortune 500 CPGs throughout the United States.

Aaron’s previous experience includes the Boston Beer Company and the ongoing development of several specialized online communities, some of which get over a million page views a year.

Aaron holds a degree in Economics from Boston University. He also studied at the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Monterrey, Mexico and is fluent in Spanish.

Hannah Donoghue

Hannah Donoghue is a Research Analyst at RNG. She supports RNG's Latin American and European research, including its database of chain retailers.

Hannah received her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Economics and Hispanic Studies from Boston College.

During her academic studies, she spent a semester abroad studying at La Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain. In addition, Hannah spent a year doing extensive research on Hispanic and Latin American immigration films and received the Andrés Bello award from the Consul of Chile for her work in Hispanic Studies at Boston College. She is fluent in Spanish.

Andreea Porav-Hodade

Andreea is the analyst covering the European retailers.

Some of her past experiences include marketing and sales area manager for Silva Trading SA in Romania (back then Silva used to be Romania’s second beer producer and distributor), Group Volkswagen France’s project manager within GNFA in Paris (French leading consultancy and training organization), and retail analyst and business process manager at Management Ventures, Inc. (MVI) in London.

Andreea holds a Bachelor degree in Marketing and Trade (1997) and Master’s degree in Quantitative Economics (1998) both at “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca/Romania, and a Master’s degree in Marketing (1999) at the Law, Management and Economics University in Orleans/France.

Courtney Purchon

Courtney Purchon is a Research Analyst at RNG. She supports the global database of chain retailers.

Prior to joining RNG, Courtney was a Research Analyst and Videographer at Experience Co-Creation Partnership, LLC, based out of Concord, MA. ECC Partnership is a boutique management consulting firm specializing in co-creative business practices.

Courtney received her Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University, cum laude, with a dual concentration in International Relations and French. During her studies, Courtney studied abroad in Senegal where she studied Wolof, Anthropology, African and Colonial history, and interned at a solar oven company. Courtney is fluent in French.

Nathaniel Holmes

Nathaniel Holmes is a Research Analyst with RNG. He supports RNG’s global database of chain retailers.

Nathaniel received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Tufts University.

During his academic studies, he was active in the academic community in such programs as Computer Science, Engineering and Math Scholars (CSEMS), and his hobbies include music and sports.

Margaret Gilliam

Margaret Gilliam is a Research Analyst at RNG. She supports RNG’s global database of chain retailers.

Margaret received her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in Economics and Psychology from Boston College where her honors thesis was on the effects of economic utility on emotion regulation.

She is also an active volunteer leader and is fluent in French having spent a semester abroad studying economics at Sciences Po in Paris.

Bryant Shao

Bryant Shao is a Research Analyst at RNG. He supports the global database of chain retailers.

Bryant received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University with a dual concentration in Operations & Technology Management and Finance.

During his academic career, he studied the dynamics of supply chain management within the retail industry. While interning at BCG, Bryant has also done extensive research on the Chinese retail apparel industry.

Jijo John Kanjirath

Jjjo John Kanjirath is RNG's Asian Research Team Lead, based in Bangalore, India. Jijo leads RNG’s asian analyst team covering far eastern retailers as well as assisting in global retailer coverage.

He has over 20 years experience in research, finance and consulting, having previously worked for Deloitte Financial Services and the Indian Governments.

Jijo has an MBA from Institute of Business Administration, Loyola College, Chennai, India.

Mark E. Byrd

Mark E. Byrd is Chief Customer Officer of the RetailNet Group. Mark has responsibility for driving the client agenda across all that RNG does.

Prior to joining RNG, Mark was Chief Customer Officer and EVP of Management Ventures - 1993-2006 where he grew that company from its beginning to become among the largest retail research companies in the world. In this role Mark worked closely with the Top 200 global consumer goods suppliers as well as MVI's parent - the WPP Group.

Mark brings over 10 years of experience with Anheuser-Busch Inc managing 2 major distributors. He graduated from The Virginia Military Institute with a BA in Economics -1979 and completed Army Infantry Officer's Basic school, Fort Benning GA- 1980

Troy J. Beeler

Troy Beeler is a Client Development Manager for RetailNet Group (RNG). Troy is responsible for connecting RNG’s clients to the content and services that position them to win in the retail markets and with the retail customers that matter most.

Prior to joining RNG Troy was a senior manager at the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the leading association for food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers. In this role Troy served as the staff liaison to many of the association’s industry initiatives in areas such as direct store delivery, financial performance, reverse logistics, coupons and sales.

Troy began his career in the consumer products industry in 2004. He has also held positions with GE Global Exchange Services and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.

Troy graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business Administration and a concentration in eBusiness. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland and his personal interest include mountain biking, surfing and hiking.

Kevin M. Hohman

Kevin Hohman is a Client Development Manager for RetailNet Group (RNG) in the Midwest. Kevin works with RNG’s clients to make sure that their strategies and organizations are positioned to win in the retail markets and with the retail customers that matter most.

Before joining RNG, Kevin served as Director of Sales and Marketing for Progressive Grocer magazine, where he worked with leading packaged goods companies to craft solution to complex marketing and communication issues. Kevin also served as a VP for the National Retail Hardware Association where he managed their publishing operations, as well as being involved in their online training initiatives. Kevin has also held sales positions with leading business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, as well as Barron’s and Forbes magazines.

Kevin is a graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated with a BSBA in Marketing. He currently resides in a suburb of Indianapolis with his wife Beth and their 3 children

Kaitlan Chu

Kaitlan designed RNG's websites, ensuring usability from the corporate site to microsites, from user interface to traffic flow, from blueprints to launch. She also maintains client-specific websites for the Executive Education events, and oversees the company's IT services.

Working alongside the Client Relations Team, Kaitlan manages and tracks marketing campaigns and customer databases, as well as creates marketing materials.

Prior to RNG, Kaitlan developed and maintained websites for the University of Alabama. She has also taught web design classes at the University of Georgia.

Kaitlan played a key role in Usability studies funded by the National Science Foundation at Michigan State University where she received her Master's degree in Digital Media Arts and Technologies.

She was an equity trader at Merrill Lynch in Taipei and a business news reporter.

Sergei Zakharov

Sergei is the senior application developer at the RetailNet Group. His responsibilities range from designing and developing databases and web applications to adapting and customizing third party tools for various client and RNG needs. He is currently doing project management and tech team planning. Some of the internal applications designed and implemented by Sergei include sales and stores data collection tool, web usage tracking and reporting system. Sergei specializes in ASP.NET, C#, SQL Server, NHibernate, AJAX, and Microsoft Office Excel tools.

Prior to RNG, Sergei had been with Management Ventures Inc. (MVI), Swapit Inc, Furniture.com. He has a Law degree in Criminal justice from Academy of Internall Affairs from Belarus.

Paula Litscher

Paula Litscher serves as RetailNet Group's Finance Director overseeing all Finance and Administrative functions. She brings over 20 years of finance and operations experience working with start up, venture backed and publicly traded organizations. Paula has held CFO and VP Finance positions at Linx Communications and Unifi Communications where Paula oversaw the growth from 20 employees to 650 employees in 10 countries. Prior to that, Paula purchased a restaurant from bankruptcy and returned it to profitability before selling it to a major restaurant chain.

Paula holds an MBA with a concentration in Accounting/Finance from Bentley University and a BA from Holy Cross College.

Shelley Doolity

Shelley Doolity is Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer and President of RetailNet Group.

Prior to joining RNG, Shelley was Human Resource/Office Manager and Executive Assistant the Chairman and CEO of Optasite, Inc. During her tenure, she also was the Acquisition Coordinator under the Chief Development officer responsible for due diligence on all acquisitions. Before joining Optasite Inc, Shelley was the Office Manager/Acquisitions Coordinator for American Tower Corporation based in Boston, MA.

She also served in the United States Air Force.