Media in Retail Expands With Brand and Agency Cohorts, Uniting Retail Media Leaders Across the Full Commerce Ecosystem

NEW YORK, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As budgets spread across more networks and teams, the retail media industry's hardest questions, from measurement to organizational design to talent sourcing, remain unresolved. Solving them requires retailers, brands and agencies in the same room.

To meet that need, Media in Retail (MiR), the executive network from RETHINK Retail, today announced two new cohorts of senior brand and agency leaders. The move broadens MiR across the full commerce media ecosystem: brands, retail media networks, agencies, and technology providers, and reflects a bet that the channel matures fastest when the people building it learn from each other.

The founding brand cohort includes MK Woltz (Sr. Director, Retail Media Strategy, Danone), Juliana Nodwell (Retail Media Manager, Kraft Heinz), Nicole Lesinski (Director, eCommerce Strategy, Nestle), Josh Clarkson (Global Retail Media Lead, Mars), and Cristina Marinucci (Chief Growth Officer, Righteous Felon).

"Retail media grows as fast as its people do, and the next generation of operators will inherit businesses bigger than anything we have built so far. Fostering that next generation of talent will allow this industry to continue to evolve in ways that create real value for all of its constituents," said Nicole Lesinski, Nestle.

The founding agency cohort includes Claudia Johnson (Chief Solutions Officer, Integrated Commerce, Omnicom), Jill Cruz (EVP, Commerce Strategy, Publicis Commerce), Jason O'Toole (EVP, Head of Commerce & Retail Media, dentsu), Amie Owen (Chief Client Officer, Flywheel), Renee Caceres (Executive Director, Commerce, WPP Media), Jason Wescott (Global Head of Commerce Solutions, WPP Media), Elizabeth Neubauer-Donovan (EVP, Head of Commerce and Retail Media Networks, Axiom), Briana Finelli (VP, Brand & Commerce Media, Goodway Group), and Sean Crawford (Managing Director, SMG).

As part of this expansion, Vantage, the operating system for retail media networks, has joined as a founding sponsor of MiR. This deepens a partnership already anchored by its Chief Strategy Officer, Drew Cashmore, the retail media pioneer who chairs MiR.

"You can't fix retail media's hardest problems with only half the room," said Cashmore. "Retailers, brands and agencies have spent years building retail media practices in isolation. Bringing brand and agency leaders into MiR is how we start an honest conversation about where commerce media goes next, one where everyone who has a stake in the answer is actually at the table."

The launch builds on RETHINK Retail's track record of creating industry-leading communities, including its AI in Retail (AiR) community, executive events and NRF-linked programming.

MiR will convene its inaugural Media in Retail Summit on Commerce Media Saturday during NRF 2027: Retail's Big Show in January 2027. This intimate format gathers brand advertisers, retail media networks, and agencies to explore the next wave of retail media beyond traditional display, focusing on transforming physical stores and digital channels into high-margin ad channels, driving omnichannel shopper engagement, and solving cross-channel measurement and data transparency

Applications are now open for executives interested in joining the Media in Retail network.

To learn more and apply, visit: https://rethink.industries/mir/

About RETHINK Retail

RETHINK Retail is a global community of retail thought leaders, executives and innovators dedicated to accelerating retail's future through collaboration and industry insights. Through its communities, events, research, and media platforms, RETHINK Retail connects decision-makers across the retail ecosystem to explore the trends, technologies and strategies shaping the future of commerce.

SOURCE RETHINK Retail