Prominent Experts to Emcee Multicultural Retail 360 Summit

ANAHEIM, Calif. — This year’s Multicultural Retail 360 Summit, being held Aug. 12-14, will be hosted by three prominent multicultural experts, who will serve as general session emcees for the retail industry’s biggest multicultural educational event.

Terry Soto, president and CEO of About Marketing Solutions Inc.; Tracy Galindo, multicultural and specialty marketing consultant for Albertsons Southern California and Jewel-Osco; and Angel Colon, Multicultural Retail 360 Summit co-chair and director of multicultural development for The Kroger Co., will serve as co-emcees for this year’s event (previously called the Hispanic Retail 360 Summit) in Anaheim. 

Soto, a well-respected voice in strategy consulting and a speaker at previous Hispanic Retail 360 Summits, will handle hosting duties Wednesday, Aug. 12, when the conference formally kicks off with a special Nielsen presentation called “Rising Super Consumers,” presented by Eddie Yoon, principal of The Cambridge Group, and Guy Garcia, president, new mainstream initiatives, EthniFacts LLC.

The Wednesday afternoon session also includes a panel discussion on supplier and employee diversity, moderated by XL Edge CEO Armando Martin and featuring panelists Rona Fourté, director of supplier diversity at Walgreens; Reuben Shaffer, chief diversity officer for Kroger; and Michael Byron, senior director of supplier diversity for Walmart.

Galindo, a member of the Multicultural Retail 360 Retailer Advisory Board whose company has spearheaded the Summit’s social media efforts the past several years, will host the Thursday, Aug. 13 general sessions, which run from 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The speaker card that day includes Marissa Fernandez, director of fan strategy and marketing for the National Football League; Tara Frank, vice president of multicultural strategy for Hallmark Cards; and McIllhenny Co.’s Stephen Romero, vice president of U.S. sales, and Jose Espinoza, U.S. Hispanic market and Mexico lead.

Colon, Kroger’s multicultural chief who along with Javier Delgado-Granados of Walmart, serves as co-chair of the conference, will host Friday morning’s general sessions. These closing-day sessions include a panel of Walmart's three multicultural agencies of record, which will discuss the development of the retailer’s multicultural strategy.

Additionally, managers at Texas-based Brookshire’s Grocery Co., one of the supermarket industry’s leading independent grocers, will discuss how they are meeting the needs of America’s changing consumer base; and leaders of three major retail food chains will discuss the vision and execution behind their strategy for serving their diverse, multicultural customer bases.

The inaugural Multicultural Retail 360 Summit is produced by Stagnito Business Information, the only complete provider of retail industry information, insights and strategic communication programs for consumer packaged goods retailers and suppliers. Stagnito’s brand portfolio includes Progressive Grocer, Convenience Store News, Store Brands and Retail Leader.

To register to attend the conference, go to www.multiculturalretail360.com.