Agenda & Speakers

Dave Trombetta, Senior Marketing Manager - Universities West, Sodexo

After graduating from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 1989, Dave has held a variety of positions in the hospitality industry in California. Prior to joining Sodexo, Dave was the first general manager for Bubba Gump Shrimp Company when the concept debuted in 1996. Subsequently, he assumed the role of public relations and sales manager for that company helping to open all of their locations in the United States and abroad.
 
During his tenure, he developed, sold and implemented tour group programs for the domestic and international market and was responsible for $20 million in annual regional revenue. Dave left Bubba Gump Shrimp Company after their acquisition by Landry’s Restaurants. Dave began his career at Sodexo as a general manager in Corporate Services before joining the Universities team in 2011.
 

Jessica Printy Groves, Manager of Loyalty Strategy, The GIANT Company

Jessica Printy Groves serves as a customer-obsessed Brand Manager of Loyalty Strategy with over 15 years of experience in the grocery industry including Merchandising, Human Resources and Store Operations.
 
In her current role, Jessica all aspects of The GIANT Company’s loyalty program as well as end-to-end customer lifecycle relationships. Her day to day revolves around collaboration with marketing peers to enhance the customer relationship as well as finding new ways to drive growth across the business. Most recently, she led efforts to overhaul and re-launch the company’s loyalty program, introducing GIANT Choice Rewards in the fall of 2019.
 
Jessica earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting and business administration from Thiel College. She is an alumni of the Chi Omega Fraternity and is a mother of two young crazy kids.
 

Julie Girard, Manager of Customer Loyalty, Hannaford

Julie has been working in the Retail/Loyalty space for 20+ years at L.L.Bean and the past four years with Hannaford.  Julie joined Hannaford to support the design, development, and launch of the award-winning My Hannaford Rewards program – the first 100% digital rewards program in the grocery industry.  Julie is the Manager of Loyalty Marketing responsible for securing high penetrating digital offers that are targeted for relevancy as “Just for You” offers, on a monthly campaign cadence, driving incremental sales/trips, customer engagement/loyalty and vendor ROI.
 

Adam Reynolds, Sr. Manager - Loyalty & Email Marketing, Sleep Number

Adam has been part of Sleep Number’s CRM team for 4 years, and manages the InnerCircle Rewards loyalty program as well as all Email and SMS marketing.  He is passionate about customer-centric direct marketing, and has held related roles at Staples, the BBC, the College of William & Mary, and Schwan’s Home Service.  He, his wife, and their 2 daughters live in Minneapolis.

Jimmy Budnik, Vice President of Customer Care, Overstock

Jimmy Budnik, Overstock.com’s Vice President of Customer Care, began his  career  with  the  online  retailer  in  2008  as  a  Senior  Process  Improvement  Engineer  after  half  a  decade  working  as  an  Industrial  Engineer,  first  with  UPS,  then  with  Homeshield.  
 
Budnik  has  held  several  positions  in  his  time  at  Overstock,  where  he  developed  strategies  and  executed  improvements  initiatives  to  drive  growth  and  improve  the  customer  experience.  These  roles  included  transitioning  between  multiple  departments  as  a  Chief  of  Staff,  including  Customer  Care,  Marketing,  Merchandising,  and  the  Office  of  the  President.  Also  during  this  time,  he  was  a  Senior  Director  of  the  Product  Content  Teams,  worked  in  Overstock’s  technology  incubator,  OLabs,  and  most  recently  he  served  in  a  dual  role  as  the  General  Manager  of  Marketplace  and  the  General  Merchandising  Manager  for  Home  Essentials  and  Apparel. 
 
In  his  current  role  as  VP  of  Customer  Care,  Budnik  leads  a  workforce  of  hundreds  of  associates  that  consistently  deliver  a  world-class  customer  experience,  while  promoting  the  customer-centric  culture  that  has  given  Overstock  the  reputation  as  an  award-winning  leader  in  online  retail  customer  service  for  nearly  two  decades.

Amanda Krabbenhoft, Area Marketing Manager - Universities West, Sodexo

Amanda Krabbenhoft, a native of Minnesota, graduated from Concordia University St. Paul with a degree in Marketing Management. After receiving her degree she began her career in marketing, sales, and customer care in Cancun, Mexico with the Royal Resorts. 
 
In 2009 Amanda moved back to the United States with her husband and her two children. She began work in the USA Amanda worked at North Dakota State University Alumni Center as the Center Director. In October of 2014 Amanda started her marketing career with Sodexo, where her 20 years of marketing, sales and customer service experience give her a diverse background and bring a wide variety of knowledge to the teams she supports.
 

Tammy Lucas, Vice President of Marketing, BWH|Hotel Group

Tammy Lucas serves as global vice president of marketing for BWH|Hotel Group (Best Western Hotels and Resorts). In her role, Lucas leads the global loyalty, performance marketing, advertising, digital marketing, regional marketing and search teams by setting the strategy and direction for key initiatives that focus on delivering strong business performance to BWH|Hotel Group portfolio of brands.

Since joining the company in 2004, her tenure has been marked with considerable transformation and growth. In 2009, Lucas led the complete overhaul and rebranding of the Best Western Rewards® (BWR®) program. Under her leadership, the program doubled its membership and revenue to member properties in less than five years and continues to be ranked as one of the top five loyalty programs by U.S. News & World Report  In 2015, Lucas played an integral role in the brand’s effort to launch a full rebranding initiative, resulting in Best Western’s first new logos in more than 20 years. She has also played an instrument role in the growth of Best Western Hotels and Resorts portfolio of Brands, which includes the newly acquired WorldHotels and the launch of WorldHotels Rewards.  She brings substantial loyalty, marketing, sales, performance analytics and operations experience in a variety of different verticals, with a passion for inspiring teams to surpass goals both professionally and personally.

An advocate for women in leadership, Lucas mentors women to help them achieve their career aspirations. She has participated in a variety of women-led panels, including Best Western’s first-ever Today’s Women in Leadership Forum in 2018.  In 2020 Lucas was recognized as one of the honorees for Women Leaders in AI.
Lucas also serves on the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Americas Board of Directors. Previously, she served on the HSMAI Foundation Board of Directors from 2014 to 2017. In 2012, Lucas was recognized by HSMAI as one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing for her tremendous contributions in shaping BWR.

Lucas grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, where she attended the University of Ottawa and earned a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business. She is also a proud mother of her three amazing children – Kaylen, Kenzie, and Karson.
 

Tiffany Darden, Senior Marketing Manager - Universities West, Sodexo

Tiffany currently leads campus field marketing in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, Tennessee and parts of Pennsylvania. Tiffany manages marketing efforts at seventy-six  (76) university dining and facilities management accounts.
 
Tiffany’s responsibilities include deployment and implementation of all Sodexo marketing initiatives.  Her focus is on strategic development to support the region with sales growth, research, trends and customer satisfaction. Tiffany has a passion for working with our client partners and delivering exceptional customer experiences and sales at accounts. She works closely with all of the team members in her region to ensure that they have the marketing tools and expertise they need to achieve Sodexo’s partnership goals. Tiffany has a bachelor’s degree in English and MBA with a concentration in Marketing.
 
Tiffany is graduate of Florida A&M University.
 
Tiffany resides in Greensboro, NC with her husband Corey and son Taylor.