Stefan T. Midford
President & CEO
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Improve in-store experience and increase sales |
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Increase ROI of distributed workforce |
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Capture and report on field data to power continuous improvement |
Stefan is the founder and CEO of South49 Solutions, a world-class SaaS software company that created Natural Insight, a leading retail execution and collaboration platform, and Capango, the next-generation engine for recruiting in retail.
A serial entrepreneur, speaker, and industry expert, Stefan regularly contributes to various industry publications and often speaks about workforce innovation at retail industry conferences. Stefan was also recognized as one of CEO Report’s 2018 Mid-Atlantic Innovator & Entrepreneur Award winners and was one of DCA’s Red Hot Entrepreneurs. In addition to those achievements, Stefan has been featured in Forbes, the Washington Business Journal, Business Insider, Women Wear Daily, and Tech Target.
Since founding South49 in 2006, Stefan has been striving to harmonize the retail ecosystem, and with Natural Insight and Capango, he helps retail organizations remove frictions created by fragmented labor markets, large distributed workforces, and large-scale collaboration. He has served as a board member for the World Alliance for Retail Execution, a member of the Institute for Global Work at Boston University, and is a member of Mindshare, an invitation-only executive forum for entrepreneurs in the Washington DC area.
Prior to founding South49, Stefan held senior level and executive positions at Discover Financial Services, Sears Roebuck & Co., Sears Canada Inc., and Intersections Inc.
Having honed his skills with IT systems for over two decades, Eric heads up Natural Insight’s software development, dev-ops, and hosting infrastructure teams. Eric’s background is rounded out with a solid stint as Orbital Sciences Corporation's first Webmaster, Quality Assurance Manager at Advanced Solutions International, and several subsequent director-level positions.
When he’s not developing new Natural Insight
Rick taps on his wide array of technology expertise to handle all operations activities including product management, client relationships, and managing the client training, services, and support delivery team. At Natural Insight, Rick capitalizes on his many decades’ worth of experience picked up at companies like POMS, eko Systems, CheckVideo, and IBM Global Services.
While not Canadian like Stefan, Rick has coached youth hockey for over 20 years and continues to lace up his skates and play in rec leagues.
As president and founder of South49 Solutions, the parent company of Natural Insight, Stefan Midford brings over 30 years of experience in information technology and operations management. His extensive business background includes leadership and management roles at Intersections Inc., Discover Financial Services, Sears Roebuck & Co., and Sears Canada Inc. Stefan also co-chairs the Canadian Business Network of Washington D.C., a networking organization for Canadians in the Washington area.
Eric is a co-founder of Originate Ventures, a private equity fund focusing on early stage companies. Prior to co-founding Originate, Eric was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, serving as a leader in its North American Branding Practice. Eric began his professional career with positions at Procter & Gamble and Beecham Cosmetics.
Glen is a Managing Partner of Originate Ventures, a private equity fund focusing on early stage companies. Glen began his venture capital career at Key Venture Capital Corporation and opened its Boston office in 1984. He was the Chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group, and has been on the Investment Advisory Committee for the Ben Franklin Technology Center, Southeast Pennsylvania for over 20 years. Glen is Vice-Chairman of Innovative Solutions and Support, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISSC)
Michael Dering has over 25 years of technology industry experience. He served as President and CEO of ServiceBench, recognized by Deloitte as one of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America, CrossAccess Corporation, a multinational software infrastructure company, and two publicly traded Bell & Howell companies. Michael also served in a variety of sales and marketing positions, as well as the corporation’s President and CEO at TAB Products Company. Michael holds multiple board positions including Cernium, Bridgeborn, Washington Management Group/CCS, eXpresso and MindShare.
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