Our global judging panel
Our global panel of judges will bring together a rich diversity of backgrounds, disciplines, and experiences, each contributing unique value to the judging process, united by a shared commitment to recognising and celebrating innovation and excellence in retail technology.
Drawing on their deep industry expertise, they’ll face the challenging task of carefully reviewing and scoring each entry. First to determine the shortlist, and then to contribute to the final winner selection alongside the global industry vote.
His leadership and passion for seeking out change and innovation in the industry has been the driving force behind the high profile global competition series, which includes the ‘Best Foodvenience Store’, ‘Best EV Hub’, and now, the ‘Smartest Store in the World’. The goal of these initiatives is simple: to advance industry learning by sharing and celebrating success and innovation.
George Zheng serves as NACS Asia Pacific Director, with a strong focus on convenience and fuel retail. He brings extensive expertise in China’s foodservice sector, having developed the award-winning Madetogo convenience food chain and led protein product design for Johnsonville’s key hospitality clients. With the respect of thousands in China’s culinary community and experience integrating customer-centric retail strategies, he contributes practical insights into next-generation convenience and foodvenience formats.
My work brings me across the globe as we work to solve the challenges and reveal opportunities through digital transformation. The promise of innovation in areas of customer experience, loyalty and analytics are great and maximizing value is of top concern. I bring 20 years of specialization in this industry with end-to-end responsibility from strategy to delivery. Our work extends from AI/ GenAI, customer experience, loyalty, personalization, data & analytics, retail store technology, payments, M&A, and large-scale complex deployments.”
Prior to joining GVR, he was the Vice President of Product Management & Engineering at Ingersoll Rand. Austin also held several product management and commercial leadership roles for Pfizer and Exxon Mobil which included international roles where he lived in Mexico, Venezuela, Japan, France, and Belgium.
Previously, Tarang held executive leadership roles at 7-Eleven and bp, where he led large-scale digital and in-store transformations—modernizing loyalty, digital commerce, and store technology platforms to drive measurable growth, customer engagement, and operational efficiency. He brings a practitioner’s perspective on what it takes to move from breakthrough innovation to reliable, scalable, real-world retail systems.
A serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor, Naveed has launched and scaled multiple ventures across payments, mental health, generative AI, social good, and edtech, supported by top investors including Greylock, Floodgate, Google Ventures, and SV Angel. Prior to Plexor, he led strategy and growth at high-growth companies such as Career Karma (YC W19), Trilogy (acquired by 2U), and Galvanize (acquired by Stride), and created the Founder Mental Health Pledge now adopted by thousands of startups and leading ecosystem partners.
From climatic and economic headwinds to demographics and the advance of exponential technologies, she contextualises big shifts in consumer trends and demonstrates successful commercial adaptation, inspiring audiences with her optimism and giving them practical strategies for short and medium-term success. Kate has been selected to speak for ten years running at the world’s largest retail tech show, the NRF (National Retail Federation)’s Big Show.
With over 30 years of experience in harnessing data for predictive analytics and process optimization, Oli has consistently delivered substantial value to clients across various sectors. He has supported numerous retail and consumer goods organizations by guiding early Agentic AI initiatives and shaping their long-term strategic direction.
Oli is recognized as a thought leader and influencer in retail technology and serves as a BrainTrust panelist on RetailWire.com. Prior to his role at Microsoft, Oli held senior consulting and advisory positions, collaborating with clients worldwide to achieve impactful results.
Most recently, as CEO of the Tesco/Tata JV in India, Martin spearheaded an omnichannel revolution, whilst navigating extreme market volatility to deliver sustainable scale in one of the world’s most complex landscapes. His career is anchored by executive mandates at the pinnacle of retail, including serving as a Group Board Executive at Primark, where he oversaw global operations for 70,000+ colleagues, and a 15-year tenure at Lidl, culminating as Chief Operating Officer for the UK and Ireland. As COO, he was a primary architect of Lidl’s historic market-share disruption and high-performance culture.
Today, through MWB Advisory Ltd, Martin acts as a strategic partner to C-suite leaders, boards, and start-ups, including advisory roles with PwC Strategy& and RETHINK Retail. He bridges the gap between digital innovation and physical reality, helping organisations master business transformation, organisational design, and value creation in an era of constant disruption.
He sits on several public company boards and serves as a board adviser to a venture capital firm and a number of start-up companies. Jim Keyes has experience in successfully leading multinational corporations with a deep understanding of global and local franchise operations. He is a seasoned executive, known internationally for leading transformational change.
Prior to founding The Retail Marketeers, Christian held senior roles at Shell, where he was responsible for the multi-billion-euro Non-Fuel Retail business in Germany, and at Deutsche Bahn, where he developed the country’s largest convenience franchise system outside the fuel retail environment in Germany.
Today, he serves as NACS Relationship Partner for the D-A-CH region and hosts the annual Convenience Leaders Convention, bringing together decision-makers from across the global convenience ecosystem. In addition, he acts as an advisor to leading global innovation platforms such as forecourttech.
Gray Taylor has served as the Executive Director of conexxus.org since March 2010, leading efforts in developing technical inter-operability and security standards within the global convenience and petroleum retail market.
In addition to this role, Taylor has provided consultancy to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) on card payments policy and technology trends since January 2009.
Previous experience includes roles such as VP of Global Marketing and Business Development at Dresser Wayne, where a $450MM product portfolio was managed, and VP Research & Technology at NACS, where contributions included economic research and legal advocacy. Taylor has held various leadership positions in retail systems and petroleum sectors and has a robust educational background with certificates from MIT Sloan School of Management and other esteemed institutions.
