Our Analysts

C-CORE Consulting Group specializes in evaluating and implementing retail technology with our RAPID Project Toolkit TM methodology. Our independence from any vendors ensures that your priorities drive the evaluation process and we are sitting on your side of the desk to select the right vendor solution to meet your priorities.  C-CORE’s principals have worked in retail our entire professional careers, in Store Operations, Merchandising and IT.

Retail Systems Research (RSR) provides insight into business and technology challenges facing the retail industry ecosystem, and thought leadership and advice on navigating these challenges for specific companies and the industry at large. We cover all things retail: from store operations, to merchandise optimization, through cross-channel and multi-channel issues and private label management. From benchmark reports on the state of the industry, to analysis of breaking news, we turn data into easily digestible information.

  Cathy Hotka & Associates is retail's only marketing and communications firm focused solely on retail technology decision-makers. We connect people who want to get closer to retail CIOs. We work closely with those CIOs, and with technology firms, magazines, associations and analysts to create results.

Greg Buzek is the Founder and President of IHL Group and one of the Founders of the Retail Orphan Initiative (www.retailROI.org), a charitable foundation that seeks to help the 400 million orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. In 15 years, RetailROI has been involved in over 290 projects in 28 countries helping an estimated 311,000 children through clean water, education, computers, language training and care. Noted by RIS News as one of the Top 10 Influentials in Retail and the National Retail Federation as one of "The List of People Shaping Retail's [...]

In addition to having a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, Jerry also has an MBA from the University of Miami with a specialty in Marketing and Marketing Research. He brings over 20 years of business experience in engineering and management through assignments with Pratt Whitney - United Technologies, Georgia Tech School of Mathematics, and Milliken & Company. In 2022 he was named as one of the Top 100 Retail Influencers by RETHINK Retail. Jerry is our resident rocket scientist. In his previous [...]

In addition to an MBA from Pepperdine University and a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Lee has over 30 years of experience in a wide range of high technology. Beginning with his work on nuclear subs for the US Navy as an undergraduate, on through assignments with various defense contractors, Lee was been involved in the design, development, procurement and deployment of many projects used in various public and not-so-public settings. Since joining IHL in 1997, Lee has authored and co-authored many retail industry reports. [...]