Retail Innovation Workshop 2026

Jose Padron is Hershey’s global retail design leader and will bring his 17+ year’s experience to the Collaborate 2018 stage. Padrson will share insights into the award-winning Hershey’s Chocolate World experience store in NYC, its Las Vegas store and four global flagships. In his presentation, “Creating Emotional Connections and Engaging All the Senses,” Padron will discuss how to bring successful retail concepts to the marketplace. Prior to Hershey, Padron held key design positions with Godiva and Swatch. He has led or influenced various functions including creative services, point of purchase, visual merchandising, store design and in-store communication.

For the past year as senior director, head of stores, for the Frontgate and Grandin Road brands of Qurate Retail Group, Johnathan Sanders has been building the team and infrastructure to operate flagships in select urban markets. Frontgate and Grandin Road catalogs circulate to nearly 83 million homes. Sanders will reveal how he and his team are: 'Bringing a Brand to Life in Brick and Mortar through Collaboration and Partnership.' Sanders will address how he and his team are creating internal partnerships; how they are assessing and building the right supplier partnerships (it’s not only the bid process) and how they are training suppliers to hear their brand. He will address the creative process, communication, looking beyond aesthetics to ROI, including where and what to cut (and not), while staying true to the vision. Sanders career began as an interior designer specializing in historic renovation. Since then he has worked both sides of the retail aisle from luxury brands to serving with leading retail suppliers.