On October 12th at the annual Emerson Group Industry Day; the Emerson Group brought together industry experts, brand innovators, retailer partners, digital commerce leaders and groundbreaking speakers to explore the future of the health, wellness, and beauty industry and how we can all be “Better Together!”

The event was hosted by Ed Morgan, Jen Beatty and Elizabeth Karvonen of the Emerson Group.

Scott Galloway, NYU Stern Business Professor, Podcaster and author kicked the day off with his presentation on “Under and Overhyped” trends in healthcare, technology, finance and education.   “Underhyped” opportunities for innovation include Femtech, Healthcare and Sonic Travel.  Galloway cited challenges and “Overhyped” focuses on higher education, fintech, meta and space travel.

Michelle Goodridge, president of Johnson and Johnson Self Care interviewed Indra Nooyi, former CEO of Pepsico and author of “My Life in Full,” on Transformational Leadership.  Indra Nooyi challenged the industry “to think about the future of jobs and livelihoods for the frontline workers with more compassion and dedication than ever before.”

Chief Investment Officer, Rockefeller Capital, Jimmy Chang, shared his views on the current economic outlook and major opportunities for growth, which included energy, national security and agriculture.   While we are facing challenging economic times, Chang assured the audience that by this time next year, we will be heading towards a boom market.

Mindy McKnight a world famous youtuber, known for “Cute Girl Hairstyles” and founder of Hairitage and Jessica Vaccaro the Director Product development and marketing with Maesa brands discussed business growth through social influence.  Mindy expressed the need for authenticity and humor, “Make them laugh, make them cry, teach them something.”

Luca Silipo, Chief Economist for Geodis and Patrick Gibbons, President Emerson Logistics examined the state of the global supply chain.  Silipo advised the audience that the old supply chain is obsolete, and we all need to look towards localization.

Retailer conversations included Silvia Azrai Kawas, SVP Walmart Consumables, Health & Wellness and Staci Cochran, Sr Director Health and Wellness, New Business Development at Walmart.  The Walmart executives highlighted the company’s mission to deliver flawless and seamless customer service.

Luke Rauch, SVP & Chief Merchandising Officer, Walgreens shared strategies in delivering “more joyful lives with better health.”  The strategy starts with Walgreens focus on people and culture, Luke stated, “culture eats strategy.”

Musab Balbale, SVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, CVS shared the transformations that are happening at CVS.   Delivering better health experiences through simplification and providing choices that matter.

Marc Vetri, James Beard winning Chef and founder of critically acclaimed Vetri Cucina, and Maddy Booth CEO of Vetri Community Partnerships spoke about giving back authentically.  The team raises $2 million annually, with help from the Emerson Group, to deliver hands on food education to 20,000 people of all ages.

Colleen Lindholz, President of Kroger Health, shared the Food as Medicine initiative, which is successfully personalizing the customers’ grocery experience by connecting their grocery purchases with their healthcare needs.

Jostein Solheim, CEO of Health and Wellbeing at Unilever demonstrated how purpose driven, future fit business models deliver superior financial growth.   Examples included Liquid IV’s purpose of delivering clean water access and Hellman’s Make Taste Not Waste, educational campaign.

Teddie Townsend, Director at CG Sawaya, led a panel on “The DNA of a Successful M&A’s.”  Panelists, included Alicia Sontag, Partner at Prelude Growth Partners, Jeffrey Barber, Managing Director at TA Associates and Don Kerrigan, CEO, US Nestle Health Sciences.  The investors noted that we are lucky to be in the health and wellness industry as there are tremendous opportunities for growth, even in today’s market.   When it comes to looking for the right brand, investors look for an authentic founder with a reason for their brands to exist.

Andrea Leigh Founder and e-commerce educator from Allume Group spoke with Guru Hariharan, founder of CommerceIQ on Algorithmic Retail.  Ecommerce merchants face 84,000 decisions per week!  It takes the right advertising mix to optimize share of voice.

The day wrapped up with Martin Otto, COO at HEB.  Martin encouraged the industry to lean into education and healthcare.  We need strong leadership today more than ever.  Good leaders have clear visions, know their audience, communicate clearly and dig into the details.  “If you can’t explain it clearly, then you don’t understand it yourself.”

Scott Emerson closed the event by sharing the key themes of Industry Day which included:

  • Consumer first mindset
  • Consumer access & inclusion
  • Future leaders
  • Future ways of working
  • Personalized connectivity
  • Algorithmic data
  • FemTech
  • Giving back to our communities.

Thank you to everyone that participated and attended the 2022 Emerson Group Industry Day; it was a memorable day!

Please plan to join us at the 2023 Emerson Group Industry Day on October 11, 2023.