Oleksandr (Alex) Halkin is a former Deloitte consultant and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in retail and enterprise software. He has deep expertise in pricing strategy, large-scale IT systems, and applied AI. His work with machine learning began at university, where he built an “electronic nose” — an early demonstration of algorithms interpreting real-world signals. He later founded a boutique IT firm that evolved into a partnership with Deloitte.

As Co-Founder and CEO of Competera, Alex is setting the gold standard in retail pricing with AI-driven, customer-centric strategies that balance profit with long-term trust. He has led Competera from a Kyiv-based startup to a global provider trusted by enterprise retailers in 18 countries. His mission is to make pricing smarter, fairer, and more customer-centric — turning it from a back-office function into a strategic advantage.

Ayon Bhattacharyya is the Founder & CEO of Biz Growth Spurt, a consultancy helping B2B SaaS and tech companies drive profitable growth through product marketing and price optimization by taking a value-based, data-driven approach. Ayon has more than 15 years of experience leading pricing and commercial strategy across various industries with dozens of global brands, including British Airways, News Corporation, Equifax and Telefonica O2.

Corina Manea is the Vice President of Commercial at flaconi, one of Europe’s leading online beauty retailers. Over the past six and a half years, she has led the transformation of flaconi’s pricing and commercial operations—from manual processes to AI-powered optimization—while supporting the company’s rapid growth across markets. Corina began her journey at flaconi as Team Lead of Pricing and Forecasting and now oversees pricing, campaign management, category strategy, and commercial planning. With more than a decade of experience at the intersection of analytics, pricing, and e-commerce—spanning roles at Wayfair, Zalando, and flaconi—she is passionate about using pricing as a strategic lever to drive customer trust, brand differentiation, and sustainable growth.

Dr. Danilo Zatta, who the Financial Times has described as one of the “world’s leading pricing minds,” is Head of Sales, Pricing & TopLine Strategies as a Partner at Valcon, a full-service provider that works at the intersection between consultancy, technology, data, advanced analytics and strategy. Dan is a global pricing and top line growth advisor to numerous blue chip companies and private equity investors. He’s also the author of more than 20 books, including, an international best seller that’s been translated into 10+ languages, The Pricing Model Revolution: How Pricing Will Change the Way We Sell and Buy on and Offline, and, his most recent work, The 10 Rules of Highly Effective Pricing: How to Transform Your Price Management to Boost Profits.  Both books have been praised by industry thought leaders, including the marketing guru Philip Kotler.

Josh Pollack is the President and Principal Consultant at Pollack Retail Solutions, where he helps retailers improve pricing, forecasting, and inventory management using AI and advanced analytics. With more than 25 years of experience in retail strategy, Josh has led pricing and merchandising transformations at major retailers. At Sam’s Club, he oversaw the pricing function as part of his leadership in merchandise planning and inventory. He also led pricing at Circuit City, and as a consultant, has driven pricing strategy for brands including ALDI (U.S. and international), PetSmart, FullBeauty Brands, and Cabela’s. Throughout his career, Josh has worked at the intersection of pricing, merchandising, and technology—helping retailers boost profitability and stay competitive in a fast-changing market.

Karan Soodis  the Director of Sales Operations at Rakuten Kobo, a Canadian seller of ebooks, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers. Karan is a “Top Pricing Strategy Voice” on LinkedIn, recognized for his active contributions of insights and engaging content to the online pricing community. He has 16 years of experience in pricing, working for prominent global brands, including YellowPages, Mitsubishi and General Motors.

Maciej Kraus is a Managing Partner at Movens Capital, a growth equity firm, where he helps companies generate more profit for their development and growth. He is also a guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of three books, including the Future of Pricing: A Guide to the Next 10 Years of AI and his forthcoming book, Pricing Decoded: How Leading Pricing Practitioners Manage Price to Boost Profits. Maciej is also one of the longest serving members of Competera’s advisory board.

Dr. Markus Husemann-Kopetzky is the Founder and Managing Director of the Price Management Institute — a boutique consultancy for price management and price communication. He is also a senior research fellow, university lecturer, and advisor. Some of you may know him as the author of the Handbook on Psychology of Pricing. Markus has more than a decade of experience working in management and consulting roles in financial services and retail, including more than five years at Amazon as a Senior Manager of Pricing and Business Analytics.

Melina Palmer is the Founder & CEO of Brainy Business, a consulting service helping businesses apply principles of behavioral economics to achieve growth. She is the author of three books, including What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You, What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You, and, the book we will be discussing today, The Truth About Pricing. Melina is also the host of an award-winning podcast, The Brainy Business Podcast.

Oliver Banks is the founder of retail consultancy OB&Co, helping retail leaders drive transformation and deliver results. A former Chartered Engineer and Tesco change leader, he blends logical problem-solving with creative energy. He’s a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and PRINCE2 Practitioner.

Since 2015, he’s led major initiatives with top retailers and global brands—launching new propositions, unlocking revenue streams, scaling internationally, integrating acquisitions, and improving operating models—delivering over £100m in new annual profit.

Oliver hosts the Retail Transformation Show, the UK’s #1 retail podcast, and speaks at events like Shoptalk Europe and Retail Week Live. Named a top global retail influencer by Rethink Retail and RTIH, he’s also been featured in Forbes, LinkedIn News, Retail Week, and Drapers.

Per Sjöfors, widely known as "The Price Whisperer," is a pricing strategy expert, author, and the founder of Sjöfors & Partners. With more than 35 years of executive management experience and a client roster exceeding 750 companies, Per helps businesses harness the power of data-driven pricing to boost sales, margins, and growth. His proprietary AI-backed methodology combines behavioral economics with predictive analytics to uncover customers’ true willingness to pay — and optimize pricing accordingly. Per is the author of The Price Whisperer: A Holistic Approach to Pricing Power, a book that explores the psychology behind pricing and why most companies get it wrong. He’s a frequent keynote speaker and trusted advisor to CEOs seeking to turn pricing into a strategic lever, not a guessing game.

Seth has built a career at the intersection of pricing, merchandising, procurement, and commercial strategy, holding senior roles at major retailers including Lidl US, Wakefern Food Corp and Rite Aid. In his most recent role as Vice President of Pricing Strategy & Transformation at Rite Aid, Seth led efforts to modernize pricing and improve commercial performance following the company’s emergence from bankruptcy. At Wakefern, he helped implement a new pricing architecture across banners like ShopRite and The Fresh Grocer, and at Lidl, he played a key role in shaping pricing and assortment strategy during the company’s U.S. expansion. Throughout his career, Seth has established himself as a transformational leader with a data-driven, customer-focused approach to retail strategy — consistently building lean, dependable teams and driving measurable improvements even during the most challenging market conditions.

Sheetal Chavan is the commercial pricing lead at Zalando, one of Germany’s largest online retailers selling shoes, fashion and beauty products. She has six years of experience working in pricing. Prior to joining Zalando, Sheetal worked as a pricing manager, strategist and lead for companies like Movinga and FreeNow. She also has a diverse background across functions, including marketing, business development, product development and operations.

Dr. Stephan Liozu is the Founder of Value Innoruption Advisors, which is a consulting boutique specializing in industrial, digital, and value-based pricing. He is the author of 14 books on pricing, including his most recent book, Monetizing and Pricing Sustainability, which he co-authored with Fabien Cros. Stephan has also written many articles on strategic pricing for the Journal of Professional Pricing. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Professional Pricing Society and LeveragePoint Innovation.

Dr. Tim J. Smith wears a variety of hats in the pricing profession. He is Founder and CEO of Wiglaf Pricing, an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Economics at DePaul University, an academic advisor at the Professional Pricing Society, and the author of four books on pricing, including Pricing Done Right and Pricing Strategy. Those of you who are active on LinkedIn may know him as the brains behind the Pricing Spine-o-meter.

Zen Ore is the founder of Pricing Is a Thing, a boutique consultancy helping companies build smarter monetisation strategies. Based in Sydney and working globally, Zen advises startups, scaleups, and enterprises on pricing strategy, value-based pricing, and commercial decision-making. He brings deep experience across SaaS, FMCG, retail, gaming, energy, and financial data—having held roles at ALDI, SportsBet, Equifax, and PEXA.

A mentor in the Australian Government’s Boosting Female Founders program, Zen also trains executives and product teams through Open University IL and General Assembly. His work includes pricing model design, WTP research, commercial analytics, and hands-on sales coaching to shift teams from price to value selling.

Zen is passionate about helping founders and leaders grow with confidence—bringing a holistic, cross-functional approach that connects marketing, finance, sales, and operations at the pricing table.