Ivy League school partners with retail leaders, brand visionaries

ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell University is introducing a five-day “immersion program” to help retail-industry leaders burnish their omnichannel qualifications.

The Ivy League school said its Omnichannel Leadership Immersion Program was developed “to empower and train leaders to build high-performing, seamless customer journeys.” Cornell said that to launch the program it joined forces with industry executives and brand visionaries from around the globe.

“We created this program to give senior leaders in retail, consumer packaged goods and fast-moving consumer goods a set of practical tools that they can immediately apply to their organization,” said Daniel Hooker, senior lecturer at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. “It’s a one-of-a-kind program, designed, from the ground-up, by researchers and executives in the field who are defining the future of the consumer experience.”

The program is to run from June 20 to June 24 at the Cornell Tech campus in New York City. Cornell said “industry thought leaders and renowned faculty will come together to share best practices for optimizing the customer experience, addressing topics such as prioritizing the customer, operations and execution, technology, data analytics, ESG, stakeholder management and change management.”

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage deeply with a cohort of 50 peers from across the globe while actively participating in a series of strategic learning sessions led by Cornell’s top faculty and senior leaders from brands including AholdDelhaize, Shipt, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kellogg Company, Numerator, PepsiCo and others.

Attendees should gain a fresh perspective on their customer needs and the strategic capabilities to transform their organizations for the future of omnichannel, Cornell said in a press release, which asserts that after five days participants will be prepared to:

• Build an omnichannel roadmap specific to their organization
• Develop a deeper understanding of the customer journey.
• Leverage data analytics to make insight-driven decision.
• Explore how AI and machine learning technologies can influence how people shop, what and where they buy and how they choose to live.
• Gain a better understanding of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that affect their omnichannel plan.