Retail expert Shannon Warner has joined management consultancy Kearney’s consumer practice as a partner in its Chicago headquarters.
Warner brings 25 years of experience in management consulting and the retail industry, specializing in digital transformation, e-commerce, and digital marketing.
She joins Kearney from Capgemini Invent, where she spent three-and-a-half years as VP of the North American retail practice. Warner was responsible for building out the practice, which delivers business transformation, digital transformation, customer experience strategy, and optimization consulting to retailers and restaurants.
Before that, she spent six years at Cognizant, where she was latterly VP of products and resources digital consulting. In the role, she built and managed Cognizant’s global digital management consulting practice for retail, travel and hospitality, restaurants, consumer goods, manufacturing, and energy & utilities clients. Warner delivered consulting engagements, managed client relationships, and oversaw business development for the practice.
Before entering the consulting industry in 2010, Warner spent 20 years at Target Corporation. Her roles included serving as group manager for India planning – where she led strategic planning for offshore operations with a focus on leveraging resources in India – and group manager of Target.com business technology. In the latter role, she was responsible for improving the performance of the company’s website and managing its relationship with Amazon.com.
“We are delighted to welcome Shannon Warner to Kearney,” said Greg Portell, lead partner in Kearney’s global consumer practice. “With her extensive experience at the intersection of retail and digital, Shannon brings invaluable expertise to our clients in these unprecedented times when ‛normal’ can no longer be assumed, and digital capabilities will be the differentiator between retail winners and losers.”
Kearney’s consumer and retail practice advises industry clients on cost transformation, growth strategy & M&A, operations and supply chain, procurement, and digital and multi-channel excellence, among other areas.
“I have long admired Kearney and the positive impacts its consultants bring to the companies it works with,” said Warner. “I was drawn by the authenticity of the people, the innovative thinking, and strength of the business. I’m simply thrilled to have joined the Kearney team and look forward to helping its clients push to the leading edge of retail in these extraordinary times.”
Kearney was founded in 1926 as a branch of McKinsey & Company, and became an independent management consulting firm in 1939. The firm, which earlier this year rebranded from A.T. Kearney to simply “Kearney,” has more than 3,500 consultants across 40+ countries and annual revenues of $1.4 billion.