Shekar Raman is CEO and co-founder of Birdzi, a grocery retail AI solutions company that was inspired by an idea his 11-year-old daughter had about locating products in the supermarket. He is passionate about building data-driven technologies leveraging AI and Machine learning to help retailers and brands elevate the customer experience. Shekar began his career working on the Human Genome Project at the Dept. of Human Genetics, Univ. of Pennsylvania, developing algorithms for protein modeling. He was part of some of the pioneering groups (early 90s) in BioInformatics at UPenn, and at the Dept. of Human Genetics, UNLV, where he applied speech recognition techniques to identify and classify genetic sequences. He then continued onto AT&T Bell Labs, working in the Speech Recognition group as a consultant developing data collection algorithms where he also acquired significant expertise in systems engineering. He then later moved on to Systems Engineering, architecting & implementing infrastructure solutions for a large Fortune 500 company working in both consulting and management roles.Shekar Raman has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications from Osmania University, Hyderabad India. He went to Graduate School at Villanova University where he obtained a MS in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Digital Signal Processing and Pattern Recognition.
Gary Hawkins has lived his career ahead of the curve, putting him in the right place at the right time to help guide the fast moving consumer goods retail industry into the future in a time of exponential technology growth using never-before-available capabilities to innovate the future of shopping. Early in his career, Hawkins launched one of the first loyalty programs in the US supermarket sector, quickly leading industry learning around shopper insights and analytics. That work quickly led to advising premier retailers in markets around the world in gaining customer intelligence. Next up was helping companies like Procter & Gamble and Unilever develop a shopper focus and leverage customer insights and analytics into collaborative marketing initiatives with key retailers, laying the foundation for today’s shopper marketing movement. Realizing the ineffectiveness of mass marketing across the supply chain, Hawkins leveraged early insight to new innovative technologies to develop and deploy the first personalized marketing system for mass retail, driving industry focus on the power of marketing personalization. Hawkins leverages his unique perspective into his role as strategic advisor at Birdzi to help guide business strategy, product roadmap, sales and marketing.
The Retail Perch is an education platform for grocery retailers and CPG brands navigating modern retail.
As personalization, retail media, AI, and customer data reshape the industry, teams don’t need more noise — they need clarity.
The Retail Perch brings together Birdzi experts and industry practitioners to share practical insights, real-world experience, and actionable guidance for today’s retail landscape.
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