Rena Granofsky – President and Founder
Rena Granofsky founded RIT Experts to help retailers survive and thrive through the educated use of technology.
With over twenty-five years of experience in the retail technology industry, Rena has worked all sides of the four-legged stool: as a retailer, technology vendor, consultant, and research analyst. In her role as project manager at STS Systems (now Epicor, www.epicor.com), Rena optimized business processes and led system implementations for retailers of all sizes across North America. As a management consultant for Canadian Tire, a leading Canadian retailer with more than 450 stores offering automotive, sports and leisure, and home products, Rena developed IT strategic plans for the Merchandising and Advertising Departments.
For seven years, Rena led the retail technology consulting practice at J.C. Williams Group (www.jcwg.com), an internationally renowned retail consulting firm, and delivered holistic solutions to clients of all sizes across North America.
Most recently, Rena led the research into the retail sector impact, as part of the private Think Tank on IT & Competitive Advantage, spearheaded by the prodigious Thought Leader Don Tapscott of New Paradigm Learning Corporation. For more information on Rena, please refer to LinkedIn.
Stuart Silverman – Senior Consultant
Stuart Silverman has over 30 years experience working with retailers, including Wal-Mart and Giorgio Armani, and their suppliers, consultants, and software companies, to create competitive advantage through the use of new technologies.
His roles in the development, implementation, marketing, and selling of systems and solutions to retailers include Product Development of the first commercially available Warehouse Management Systems for high volume retailers, Product Management on the design and market introduction of windows-based Forecasting, Replenishment, and Warehouse Management Systems, Strategic Marketing for a startup software company with groundbreaking technology enabling collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment for large retailers and their suppliers, and Solutions Architect and Engagement Manager for a centralized merchandising project for a large grocery retail and wholesale company.
Stuart has gained industry exposure through founding and managing Innovation Alley, an exhibit at the annual Retail Systems Show, to showcase new retail technology companies and innovative solutions. Additionally, Stuart founded and published RTMilestones, an internet-based aggregation and weekly e-mail alert of press releases from retail solutions providers. For more information on Stuart, please refer to LinkedIn.
Rick Boretsky – Senior Consultant
Rick Boretsky has over 20 years experience in the retail sector. As an IT expert, Rick has led the design, development, and implementation of major retail applications covering all areas of merchandising, business intelligence, and in-store applications.
As co-founder of RIBA Retail, Rick led a team of seasoned retail consultants responsible for the system selection, implementation, conversions, and best practices for a number of leading North American retailers, including Paul Stuart, Stanley Korshak, Urban Brands, Six Flags, and others.
Rick also co-founded RIBA Store Solutions, a start-up company that designed and developed a unique customer experience application for the dressing room. Improving the shopper experience through the use of technology was the focal point of this application.
Prior to these ventures, Rick gained valuable experience as a senior development manager at NSB Group (formerly STS Systems, now Epicor, www.epicor.com) where he led the design and development team of NSB’s latest suite of core merchandising and business intelligence applications. Rick also led the customization and implementation of NSB’s retail applications at numerous retailers throughout North America, including Chico’s, Build-a-Bear, La Senza, and Barney’s.
Rick has a wealth of experience specializing in retail technologies. He has a detailed understanding of retail operations and is well positioned to gather client business requirements, identify solutions, and provide realistic and actionable guidance to retailers to achieve their goals. For more information on Rick, please refer to LinkedIn.
Tony Carter, PMP – Senior Consultant
Tony Carter has spent most of his working life in the Retail Industry, seeing it from many aspects.
After completing university, Tony joined a UK retail company as a management trainee, and subsequently moved into buying and merchandising roles.
Using this practical retail experience as a base, Tony joined IBM, where he implemented numerous retail inventory management systems, educated new hires on retail processes and applications, and also held a two-year assignment in Paris, consulting with some of Europe’s major retailers.
After moving to Canada in the mid 1980’s, Tony gained IT management experience at Loblaw, Canada’s largest food distributor. Tony also worked with Eaton’s and Holt Renfrew where he managed highly innovative store level projects.
During this period, Tony gained valuable consulting experience, both as an independent and with the renowned consultancy firm, Deloitte & Touche. His most memorable project to date was working with Business Depot to evaluate and implement hardware and software for their first store. Another of Tony’s major retail clients was the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). Tony’s most recent project, while working for Bell Canada, has been to manage the implementation of SAP Retail.
One of Tony’s greatest strengths lies in the realm of project management. With 20 years of experience planning and managing projects, Tony has acquired expert knowledge of development methodologies and project process improvement, and has frequently acted as a mentor for up-and-coming project managers.
In 2009, Tony obtained his PMP Certification, demonstrating his experience and extensive training in the area of project management. The certification examination is based on the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which, worldwide, is the most widely accepted standard for project management.
Tony is in his element using his retail background and project management experience to plan or implement innovative technological solutions in a retail environment. For more information on Tony, please refer to LinkedIn.
