Keynote SpeakerCatherine Barba

Catherine Barba is a game changer in the intersection of retail and digital transformation.

She develops the New-York-based PEPS Lab, a Retail Innovation Lab that offers clear guidance to brands and retailers seeking to adapt to the new consumer behaviors and values, and navigate what’s next.

Prior to that, a serial entrepreneur and digital pioneer in Europe, Catherine Barba founded and sold several digital businesses in France. She is also the author of several books about the future of retail, including “Stores are not dead”, and a sought-after keynote speaker.

A trusted angel investor and mentor, she serves on the board of directors of successful tech startups, including Euveka (CES 2018 Innovation Awards Honoree), Reech, Retency, Popshop, and on the board of multinational organizations such as Renault, the world’s largest carmaker, and Etam.

Over the years, she a has actively promoted women in business and women in tech, mostly out of strong gratitude for the opportunities her career path in the tech world has given her. She co-hosted the ‘Journee de la Femme Digitale’ in France in 2013, 2014 and 2015, co-founded the ‘Femmes en Or, Innovation Day’ in Paris in 2016 and hosts the annual ‘W.IN Forum NY’ in New York since 2016, a community of 1,000+ startup founders, corporate change makers and students aiming at disrupting stereotypes and creating a new generation of leaders.

In 2015 and 2016, Catherine Barba was named one of 50 most influential figures in Europe’s digital economy and in 2014 one of 3 most influential female figures in France. In 2012 her alma mater ESCP Europe named her “Alumni of the Year”. Catherine Barba is a Knight of the French National Order of Merit and Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor