b'MEET THE SPEAKERSALAN MAGEEAlan is a strategic brand leader with 16+ years of experience in both traditional brand marketing and digital innovation.Alan has spent his career working for global brands in the hospitality, restaurant and telecommunications industries, focusing on marketing strategy and digital transformations.Alan currently serves as the Vice President of Digital Marketing & Technology for Churchs Chicken, a global quick-service chicken concept with over 1,500 restaurants.In his role, Alan is responsible for the leadership of the brands digital marketing strategy and roadmap which is comprised of website, mobile, loyalty, search, social media, digital knowledge, public relations and paid digital media.He also oversees the Off Premise and digital ordering category (Churchs To-Go) for all domestic locations incorporating online ordering, group ordering and delivery. As Senior Director, Brand Marketing at Moes Southwest Grill (FOCUS Brands), Alan successfully established an integrated marketing and media strategy that highlighted a renewed focus on promoting core products and leveraging breakthrough consumer activations including Chief Taco Officer and Queso for Life. He also spearheaded Moes Restaurant of the Future, an evolved new brand positioning and restaurant prototype experience, and launched the brands first loyalty program.Prior to Moes, Alan held multiple roles at InterContinental Hotels Group.He was responsible for a brand performance turnaround for Crowne Plaza Resorts and Hotels that increased ROI and guest satisfaction.He also led several brand partnerships including the PGA Tour, BMW Motorsport and Major League Baseball.Additional preceding experience includes roles in marketing at Arbys Restaurant Group and AT&T. Alan has been recognized as a Brand Innovators 40 under 40 honoree, a distinction that highlights the next generation of marketing leaders.Additionally, Alan is a member of the University of GeorgiaSchool of Digital Marketing: Board of Directors and is a guest lecturer for marketing and advertising departments at universities across the Southeast. Alan earned his BS in Marketing from Clemson University and his MA in Advertising from The University of Texas at Austin.WARWICK MCLARENVice President, Omnichannel Marketing, Global Franchise GroupWarwick McLaren is currently the Vice President of Omnichannel Marketing within the Global Franchise Group organization and carries fifteen years of experience in the food and beverage industry. Warwicks current role oversees the development and execution of digital strategies and experiences across the GFG portfolio of brands. Warwick is pioneering a new movement for the brand within the GFG portfolio through his passion and understanding of buyer behavior and customer journeys. Warwicks knowledge had led to the successful implementation of cutting-edge technology innovation and digital marketing strategies that have driven top-line sales growth and increased guest counts for the GFG family of brands. Warwick is driven by always looking at new and innovative ways to grow traffic and increase existing customers purchase frequency. Warwick demonstrated this through the recent deployment of a new technology ecosystem for the Round Table Pizza brand, which has seen continued double-digit increases in online sales and transactions since its rollout. Having franchisees understand the complexities of the customer journey through digital media is one of many ways Warwick has pioneered a direct impact on the franchise community with his current role.Warwick hails from Melbourne, Australia, and resides in Modesto, California, with his beautiful wife Julie and their new baby girl Maisie. While Warwick is a huge sports fan, his number one team will always be his Australian football club, the Richmond Tigers.DON ZIMMERMANDon Zimmerman is currently the CIO for Landrys organization based in Houston Texas.In this role he and his team are responsible for all of the technology deployed by the company.Zimmerman most recently served as VP, Global Product Management with the NCR Corporation, where he was responsible for all of the software products developed for and sold into the restaurant industry, overseeing significant modernization of the flagship Aloha products.Prior to that, he worked for ten years with The Wendys Company which at one point also included the Arbys brand. Don and his team were responsible for of the modernization of Arbys technology, the technology merger of Wendys and Arbys, and the eventual spin out of Arbys.He spearheaded the first ever move to a consistent restaurant platform for the Wendys brand enabling the start of their Digital Transformation journey.Prior to his Arbys and Wendys tenure, Zimmerman provided IT leadership to Sears, Roebuck and Company, PepsiCo, and General Dynamics in various capacities both domestic and international.His experience spans the development of business solutions, digital transformation, data warehousing, business intelligence, project management, and technical infrastructure.Zimmerman graduated from the University of North Texas with an MBA and holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Evangel University.Don and his wife reside in the Houston area. MODERATORROBERT GRIMESRobert (Rob) Grimes is the Founder & CEO of the IFBTA (the Food and Beverage Technology Association).The IFBTA was launched at FSTEC (Foodservice Technology Conference and Showcase) 2014 which was founded by Rob in 1996, and is a non-profit professional association promoting and advancing technology and innovation for the global food and beverage industries.Prior to establishing the IFBTA, Rob also founded ConStrata Technology Consulting and its predecessor companies, which have been providing information technology consulting services for the global hospitality, foodservice and retail industries and is headquartered in Potomac, Maryland since 1994.Rob has been a regular technology columnist for several industry and technology publications and has contributed articles to many other publications in the U.S. and abroad as well as co-authored and contributed to a number of books. He has spoken at over 1,000 industry shows, conferences and events around the world. He is a Conti Professor in the Program of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HR&IM) at Penn State University and also serves on the Industry Advisory Boards of the HR&IM Programs at the University of Delaware and the University of Nevada Las Vegas.Rob has served on the Board of the National Restaurant Association and is an active member of the of The Young Presidents Organization (YPO) having served as the Chair of YPOs Food & Beverage, Hospitality and Travel Networks. He is a triathlete having completed the Ironman in Lake Placid in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007 and Ironman World Championship in Kona in 2005.'