Advisory Board
The MIDMRKT Suite Advisory Board is comprised of IT Executives who are thought leaders in the midmarket. In addition to providing advice about which Solution Providers they work with and would recommend to their peers, their insight provides invaluable experience about the state of the industry, current trends, and future needs. With their guidance, we continue to provide innovative, productive, engaging, and valuable experiences across varying marketplace changes and shifting economic dynamics. We are grateful for their time and expertise.
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Brendan Lutz
Over the past 10 years, Brendan has managed teams as large as 45 indirects, overseen the infrastructure builds for over 1 million sq ft of office and fulfillment space, and continually pushed the boundary by adopting newer technology faster than competition and challenging the status quo. Today Brendan leads the Information Systems department at Blue Apron, Inc. He’s been a part of Blue Apron since its early days, helping grow it from a small business of a few dozen employees to a public company of over 4000 and from a few thousand meals delivered per week to well over a million. Currently sitting at Blue Apron’s corporate headquarters in New York, Brendan oversees the global Technical Infrastructure and IT teams. Previously Brendan was the Global Director of Technical Operations at Fab Inc., performed consulting at major institutions like the NFL, the New York Times, and advised for many smaller young startups. Pulling from his experiences building out and expanding young companies’ greenfield office, manufacturing, fulfillment, and distribution practices and contrasting it with his experiences in larger established institutions, Brendan provides a unique perspective on where the industry is going and where it’s stuck.
Cory Mason
Cory Mason has spoken nationally and internationally on incorporating I.T. with business functions for productivity and profitability. Cory Mason is currently the CIO at Twin Disc Inc. He has previously served at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside as Small Business Development Director, at Harley-Davidson Inc. serving as Director of Information Technology/CIO Produce Products Group, and at S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. serving as Director of Global I.T. Architecture. Cory has also taught information technology and business management courses at the graduate and undergraduate level at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Within the community, he is currently serving as board member of the Racine Uptown BID Board and board member/past board Chair of the UW-Parkside Business Advisory Board. Previously, he has been a board member/past President of the Racine Symphony Orchestra; board member Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation (CATI); board member/past Chairman of the Racine Area Soccer Association; board member/past President South Eastern Aquatics. He holds an M.B.A. from Marquette University and an undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-Parkside with majors in Chemistry and Business Management.
Craig Reno
Craig Reno currently serves as SVP & CIO for St. Louis Community Credit Union, a leading full-service financial institution in the St. Louis area. In this role, he has executive responsibility for technology including strategy, governance, shared services, application support and vendor management. Craig has effectively led numerous programs in his career, including ERP Implementations/upgrades, Application Development, Analytics, E-commerce, Outsourcing and Infrastructure, in domestic and international companies. He has over (30) years of experience in multiple industries, including Financial Services, Metal Fabrication, Chemical manufacturing and Healthcare; in publicly traded, privately held and non-profit businesses. Craig has served in many roles, including technical, functional, development and leadership positions. He holds both a B.S. degree in Computer Science and an MBA from Webster University in St. Louis, MO.
David Widener
David Widener is the Director of Information Technology (CIO) for Dead River Company (DRC), a 100+ year-old privately held distributor of energy fuels serving Northern New England (MA, VT, NH, ME). David works closely with the senior management team and BOD at DRC to build, integrate, and realize and aligned business-technology strategy. Dave and team are currently helping DRC improve its digital acumen and digital value proposition through e-commerce, mobile development, machine learning, business intelligence, smart devices, and ERP optimization. With 20 years of field-based experience, Mr. Widener began his career as a cartographer (map maker) before joining the field of Information Technology in the early 90s. Mr. Widener holds both a BBA and MA from Ohio University and an MBA in Sustainable Business from Green Mountain College (VT). David serves on several socially and environmentally focused non-profit organizations in New England and loves simple living in Maine!
Ed Eskew
With over 40 years of experience, Ed is skilled at aligning business goals, organizational needs, and technology to deliver high impact initiatives which create efficiency, facilitate sustainable growth, and drive profitability. Ed can be best described as an analytical thinker who identifies market trends, and evaluates new technology investments to meet the demands of an ever-changing marketplace. Functioning as an agent of change adept at communicating complex issues in a language that resonates across cultural and functional boundaries, the value of effective communication skills is paramount. His exceptional ability to leverage technical expertise, negotiate complex contracts, formulate innovative solutions to operational challenges across multiple environments makes him a motivational team leader who unites and drives cross-functional teams toward exceeding product and project milestones. He is a trusted advisor to his senior leadership team interfacing comfortably with all layers of stakeholders. Employing his strong general management and P&L experience, Ed continues to boost profitability for his company through innovative technology solutions, and product-driven speed to market processes.
Eric Tewey
Eric Tewey is a visionary and bottom-line focused leader with demonstrated experience in reshaping IT into an integral business driver. He is respected for a wide range of industry knowledge, solid sense of integrity and demonstrated passion for people and results. Eric has more than 20 years of IT leadership experience in the management and development of value-added business solutions and organizations. He has experience derived from a wide range of industries, both public and private. These industries include transportation, logistics, financial services, manufacturing, customer service, employee services, and the Department of Defense. This experience has provided exposure to an impressive list of business challenges, organizations, and successes. Eric is known for his success in efficiently creating and deploying IT solutions across many business models. He drives results and provides innovative methods to improve both IT operations and clients’ bottom-lines.
Harrison Lewis
Harrison is the Chief Information Officer for Northgate Markets. Mr. Lewis specializes in Business Intelligence, Retail ERP, Data Warehousing. Price Optimization, Data Quality, RFID based Customer Loyalty programs, Scan based trading, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Enterprise Architecture, and SoX. Harrison has a deep understanding of the retail business and its challenges. He continually assesses and implements technology solutions that allow businesses to overcome challenges, realize opportunities, and comply with increased regulations. He has over 24 years of experience in the retail industry, with over 15 years of experience in providing technology solutions to organizations. Mr. Lewis served in leadership roles at Haggen, Inc., The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, H. E. Butt Grocery Company, and the Kroger Company. Additionally, he serves on the Board at many corporate, education, and community organizations in the Northwest.
Jeff Young
Jeff Young is the chairman of the Advisory Board and retired from Haynes International January 2019 after being their Vice President and CIO since 2005. He held various positions in IT for 36 of his 39 years at Haynes. Recent experiences include rolling out a global instance of Dynamics AX for the company and establishing a cyber security strategy for the company. He had selected multiple solutions for the company sites worldwide over the years from networking strategies to Sarbanes Oxley compliance required as a public company. He will continue his career as the CIO in Residence and become part of the team to lead the continued growth of MIDMRKT Suite.
Joel Wolfe
Mary Holler
Mary Holler is an executive with proven results in leadership, strategic planning, organizational design, and enterprise transformations. Her extensive global experience coupled with a consultative approach, has helped companies leverage information and technology to attain strategic business goals while appropriately managing costs. Working collaboratively with other business leaders and executives, Mary has developed long-term business plans that support a Company’s vision and fulfill business objectives such as increased revenues, improved customer loyalty, making quality a competitive advantage, optimized productivity and cost, and many others. She is experienced in all aspects of IT for both public and private companies including ERP, applications, infrastructure, security, compliance, etc. and has successfully completed numerous acquisitions, divestitures, and company integrations. She has expert organization change management skills and program management skills with highly perfected executive communication abilities. She excels at maturing organizations to an enterprise level to ensure scalability, agility, and to help Companies deliver new products, services, and differentiating operations.
R.C. Woodson
R.C. has over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, with over 15 years of senior executive experience in providing technology solutions to organizations. He has experience derived from a wide range of industries, both public and private. These industries include logistics, financial services, and the Department of Defense. He has taught information technology and business management courses at local colleges. Currently, R.C. is responsible for establishing, planning, and administering the overall Information Technology strategy, policies, and goals for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. R.C. is known for his expertise in Strategy & Governance, Security & Risk, Mergers & Acquisitions, Server & Network Architectures, Distributed Systems and Enterprise Resource Application implementations. R.C. has installed, maintained and managed large enterprise resource applications. He is talented in efficiently creating and deploying IT solutions across many business models. He drives results and provides innovative methods to improve both IT operations and clients’ bottom-lines. R.C. mentors and manages IT activities for subsidiary companies as well as the parent company. His company is currently engaged in transforming the business to adapt improving efficiency across the enterprise while continuing to streamline back-office IT operations. He serves a member of the Alaska AVTEC Technology Council and the Alaska InfraGard Board.
Steve Brown
With over 30 years of experience in the midmarket, Steve has managed many different technology integrations and solutions. Since 2001, he has been VP-IT at ECMD, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of building products in both the retail and wholesale markets. At ECMD, Steve has built an IT team and technology platform that is the acknowledged leader in the industry. From 1983 to 1996, Steve developed software solutions for the apparel and glass manufacturing industries. In 1996, he joined ECMD as a software developer and moved into management of the software development team in 1999. In 2001, he was promoted to VP-IT, responsible for all IT for the enterprise. As VP-IT, Steve initially led ECMD through a major ERP implementation and subsequent upgrades. Under his leadership, ECMD created the premier retail support, warehousing, distribution, advanced supply chain management, pricing management, and eCommerce technologies in its industry. Leveraging the power of smartphones as yet another key technology platform, ECMD designed strategic solutions for retail support, wholesale sales support and customer self-service. Today, Steve is focusing on providing the right technology for Klumb Lumber, ECMD’s recent acquisition.