Gary Hawkins | Chief Executive Officer
Center for Advancing Retail and Technology

As Founder and CEO of CART, Gary Hawkins has an unparalleled view to current and future innovation in fast moving consumer goods retail. Reviewing thousands of new solutions each year, combined with over 30 years of industry experience leading shopper-focused innovation across the supply chain, uniquely position Hawkins to guide the future of retail.

Prior to founding CART, Hawkins played an active role working with M&M Meat Shops (Canada), Mitsubishi (Japan), ASDA (UK), Procter & Gamble, Unilever and other prominent companies in markets around the world. He has founded or been strategically involved with numerous successful startups including Convena, RetailNext, and Retalix (acquired by NCR). Earlier in his career, Hawkins was CEO of Green Hills, called “The Best Little Grocery Store in America” by Inc. magazine.

Hawkins has a rare ability to distill the complexity of technology-fueled retail innovation into digestible and actionable insights which he shares as a strategist, author, and noted speaker at industry events worldwide. His work has been widely acknowledged by domestic and international publications including Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, Elsevier, GDO Week, Mobile Commerce, and more. He has authored two internationally-published books, the Age of “I” white paper, the Retail 3.0 series of position papers and myriad articles. Hawkins is a regular guest lecturer at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business in addition to keynoting retail conferences in the US and abroad.