Five practice areas. Each opens to the projects behind it.
I translate complex cross-functional problems into products that work for people and businesses. My teams deliver by balancing value, design, and technology—not by chasing features. Whether it’s deploying 1,300+ 7-Eleven self-checkout kiosks in three months or building Airstream’s first e-commerce platform, I move from hypothesis to launch through structured iteration, grounded in data and empathy. My approach: make tradeoffs visible, make decisions reversible, and make the product indispensable.
Speedway Self-Checkout
Cross-functional leadership including research, UX, engineering, QA and stakeholder management. Authored requirements and established acceptance criteria. Road-mapped phased deployment and installations. Manage team priorities by balancing trade-offs among value, design, and technology. Serve as the voice of the customer.
ResultsInstalled in 1,300+ stores over 3 months. Reduced transaction time from 1:20 assisted to :38 self checkout.
Ecommerce Path-to-Purchase
Built Path-to-Purchase (P2$) portion of a new e-commerce platform. Led cross-functional team—research, UX, and engineering toward replacing legacy system. Worked closely with business unit stakeholders to define requirements and establish acceptance criteria. Synthesize research & data; structure and define strategic frameworks and prioritize work.
ResultsBeta testing yielded several UX features and functional changes layered into next-phase development.
Ecommerce Platform
Collaborated with internal and external teams to build the site with a balance of editorial storytelling and lifestyle merchandise. Engineered UX to yield consumer segmentation data integrated into CRM. Synthesized relevant data to create customer-first strategies; utilized data-driven insights to approach the consumer experience, UX, and engagement tactics to maximize business performance.
ResultsBeat its sales plan well ahead of schedule; now a vital customer gateway in Airstream's marketing.
I lead large-scale initiatives where orchestration matters more than heroics. I’ve directed multi-vendor ecosystems and multimillion-dollar rollouts like JPMorgan Chase’s retail media network (1,600+ branches, Times Square screens, custom dashboards). My programs align creative ambition with operational discipline, keeping stakeholder clarity high and chaos tolerable. The job isn’t to keep the trains running—it’s to make sure they’re all headed somewhere worth going.
Retail Media Network (In-Store Digital Signage)
Executed the development and deployment of the $45 million digital marketing platform for retail banks. Scope included vendor selection & management, cross-functional leadership, stakeholder communication and management, hardware procurement, custom content management tools, executive dashboard development, network and security products.
ResultsInstallation and software deployment to 1,600+ locations including network management customization to control large arrays (Times Square billboards) and live stream Bloomberg news service with custom ad wells.
Cross-functional Consumer Conference
Produced a 3-day cross-functional employee conference bringing key consumer segments and health occasions to life. Using improvisational actors, teams interviewed and listened to the concerns from their first-person point of view.
ResultsConference marked a watershed moment shifting the corporate culture from actuarial tactics to consumer-centricity, empathy and human engagement.
Lifestyle Brand Development & Retail Strategy
Authored business case, oversaw development and launch of a new specialty lifestyle e-commerce business—consumer segmentation and go-to-market strategy. Conducted developer vendor selection based on gathered requirements. Authored business process for retail, marketing, and operations. Led cross-functional teams to establish merchandising and operational standards. Partnered with senior leadership to develop financial projections and budgets.
ResultsFirst year sales exceeded goals by 17%. User engagement led to a 28% increase in qualified leads to dealerships.
I help retailers and brands rediscover what their stores are for. From rationalizing The Home Depot’s experimental formats to designing Kraft’s convenience-store entry strategy, I turn category insight into scalable experiences. My method blends quantitative rigor with narrative persuasion: define the journey, reveal the friction, design the fix. The result is a physical or digital environment where the brand’s promise isn’t explained—it’s experienced.
Promotional Pop Up
Research suggested “kids are the gateway to Mom.” Mothers’ concerns about price and online safety drove the key strategy: “Invite Mom In.”
Results“Mario’s Den” used residential components to evoke a warm and inviting place to linger with family and try new products.
New Channel Entry Strategy (C-Store Assortment)
Go big, sell more Oreos. Kraft needed to penetrate the c-store category. A new convenience format and novel ways to merchandise Kraft products would get the attention of c-store operators, demonstrating the company’s desire to serve these new customers with aggressive pricing and support.
ResultsToday, Kraft brands are staples of convenience stores across the nation.
Format Rationalization & Journey Planning
Executives wanted the ROI of various format experiments to benefit core store customer journeys. Synthesizing and rationalizing a broad variety of data sets, Six Simple Steps aligned with key operating categories.
ResultsBetter wayfinding, improved visual merchandising, clarified brand messaging and easier to understand aisle graphics.
I build experiences that earn attention rather than demand it. At Airstream, that meant uniting editorial storytelling with transactional clarity; at Kraft, it meant designing fixtures that spoke retail’s language. I map experiences from the inside out—what the customer feels before, during, and after the interaction—and translate that into systems and tools that teams can execute. The measure of success is simple: fewer confused customers, more confident ones.
User Experience & Backend Design
The site was designed to bring new customers into the sales funnel. Editorial and merchandising were blended to yield specific information about key consumer segments. The backend integrated the ecommerce platform with the existing CRM.
ResultsNew data identified users most likely to visit a dealership and be receptive to trailer sales pitches.
Integrated Fixture Design
Custom fixtures and promotional kits designed to demonstrate various merchandising approaches presenting Kraft assortments in typical c-stores.
ResultsA kit of parts and usage showing c-store executives Kraft’s understanding of their business and the ways Kraft would support their success.
Self-Checkout User Experience Flow
Transactional speed drove scanning priority dictating clear, understandable cart functions. Designed to make it as fast as possible to complete a transaction.
ResultsTransaction speed averaged :38 compared to assisted transactions at 1:20.
Every great strategy starts with empathy strong enough to survive a spreadsheet. I’ve built frameworks like Dell’s segmentation playbook—turning “user data” into stories people inside the company could act on—and Kmart’s first-person narratives that helped teams design for emotion, not demographics. My belief: understanding consumers isn’t about research volume, it’s about narrative clarity. When teams can see the person behind the purchase, they build better everything.
Consumer Segmentation Playbook
Dell’s consumers value and use technology in a variety of ways. Internal marketing teams needed to understand who these consumers are, their drivers and channel preferences. Guided retail marketing with clear “entertainment vs. productivity” and “at-home vs. on-the-go” frameworks.
ResultsShared with retail customers, the playbook streamlined communication aligning Dell’s products and messages with that of the retailers, making the presentation of Dell’s products unique to each retailer while adhering to established brand standards.
First Person Future State Narratives
Using complex research and analysis from McKinsey, developed fictional character voices expressing ideal experiences with targeted merchandise categories.
ResultsCross-functional teams—merchandising, operations, distribution, marketing, store design—used these as reference guiding the development of new in-store experiences.
Oral Care Behavior Opportunity Analysis
Inconsistent brand presentation and store operations led to in-aisle product blindness. Studied primary and secondary research to develop opportunities from a concise set of strategic insights.
ResultsFindings and recommendations were used to guide cross-functional strategic planning, retailer engagement and retail media negotiations.
I build consumer-facing experiences — rooted in consumer behavior, grounded in operational reality. For 30+ years I've run complex, consumer-facing initiatives end to end for retailers and consumer brands: research and strategy through launch and operation.
Three ways I create value:
I fit best with mid-market or PE-backed retailers and consumer brands in a real moment of change or growth. Available for full-time, fractional, interim, project, or contract.
Let's build experiences that matter.
If you have a consumer-facing initiative that needs an owner, or research that needs to become action, write to me.
Email Chuck