The Art and Science of Building an Ecommerce Ecosystem

Kelly Kovack is the CEO and Founder of BeautyMatter, a noted beauty authority, brand advisor and strategist. She began her career in beauty as one of the original executive team members at Bliss, taking on the way women bought beauty as the Managing Director of the Bliss Catalog. This venture fundamentally changed the way beauty products were merchandised, distributed and marketed to consumers leading the acquisition of Bliss by LVMH. As Vice President of Marketing for Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, she was at the forefront of defining the cosmeceutical category. Kelly also founded consultancy group Purpose Built, providing concept to counter solutions and strategic advisement for startups to Fortune 500 brand and everything in between. In addition, she's also built her own brands, most recently award-winning fragrance brand, Odin, which was co-founded in collaboration with the men's fashion brand. Kelly is the “lens” of BeautyMatter providing a fresh voice to the beauty industry with highly curated news and original content.

Before becoming Chief Brand Officer, Christopher's most recent role was Founder and CEO of School House — the creative agency that has now become a part of Front Row. School House specialized in cut-through strategy, engaging creative, immersive environments, and compelling content for the world’s most in-demand beauty brands. Christopher led thought leadership and creative direction across all School House and School House Studios disciplines, including new brand creation, brand re-creation, retail concept and design, campaign creation, and content. But his journey in beauty did not begin here…

Christopher started his career on the sales floor of Sephora in 2003 and slowly worked his way to a regional position in the Northeast overseeing animations and events. From there, he joined Space NK Apothecary leading design and creative for the U.S. market at the initial launch, and was promoted to Global Director overseeing the retailer's design and creative. He eventually joined LVMH's Fresh overseeing Global Design during its pivotal growth years of 2011-2015, leading and participating in the brand's redefinition of its DNA, Codes, Visual Identity, Retail Design, and launch across APAC and EMEA.

As the Chief Insights Officer, Mark is continuously thinking: What's next? What can we be doing better? What's the next evolution? What will move the needle for our brands? Some days, that's working on advertising tech. Other days, it’s digging into the data to figure out how to better position our brands for success. To Mark, staying ahead of the competition is a never-ending challenge and no two days are alike.

Mark has always worked at the intersection of business, technology, and advertising. Prior to joining Front Row, he built an Amazon business from opening the account to several million dollars a year. When that company sold, his next challenge led him to Front Row.

William Matalene is the VP of Digital for Versed Skincare, where he leads digital strategy and innovation, constantly reimagining how and where the brand appears in both online and offline media. Prior to joining Versed, William served as the VP of Digital Strategy & Business Development at NAADAM, a direct-to-consumer luxury cashmere company. During his tenure, he spearheaded award-winning digital campaigns that contributed to the DTC brand's achievement of record-breaking growth.

An expert within the digital space, William has played a pivotal role in developing and executing strategies that resulted in significant revenue & brand equity growth for various e-commerce brands. His capacity to harness data-driven insights and his profound comprehension of consumer behavior have empowered him to optimize conversion funnels, drive customer acquisition, and bolster customer retention.