Katherine Buckland is a global industry solutions specialist for the retail and consumer goods division of Boomi, an integration platform that intelligently connects your applications and automates your workflows. She’s also a Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) consultant member! In this member spotlight, we asked Buckland a series of questions so that you can get to know her better.

Women in Retail Leadership Circle: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your professional background.
Katherine Buckland: I’ve spent most of my career in London and recently moved back to the U.S. to be closer to family (and warmer weather!). I have over 20 years experience at retail and consumer goods companies. Prior to moving to my current company and shifting into another industry, I was at GameStop for several years where I held executive positions in loyalty, licensing, and private brand development. During my time in London I worked for Disney and Hasbro.

I’ve been an executive leader for over 10 years and have a passion for leading and coaching talented individuals, and a deep love of entertainment brands that started at Disney.

WIRLC: Tell us about your transition from retail to Boomi.
KB: Many people have asked me why I would transition to a new industry after so many years in retail and consumer goods. The simple answer is I wanted to add value and join a company and team where my expertise could help solve some of the pain points that so many retail lines of business are experiencing.

Boomi was looking for expertise and thought leadership in retail and CPG to build out its industry solutions team. I have a love of learning and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. So being able to mix my business acumen and learn more on the technical side is exciting for me.

WIRLC: How do you describe Boomi to people not familiar with the company?
KB: Boomi can help retailers power data-driven customer experiences by eliminating data silos and creating a 360-degree view of your customers with a single source of truth. We’ve always known creating memorable customer experiences is critical to customer loyalty. It’s essential that brands have the right data at the right time to deliver the desired customer experience.

From a technology perspective, Boomi is the largest vendor in the integration platform-as-a-service space, known as iPaaS. Boomi’s cloud-based platform lets organizations in any industry integrate data and applications, and provides capabilities for workflow automation, data integrity, and B2B transactions. Boomi struck me as an ideal solution to many of the data problems that retailers struggle with, especially with its strong presence in retail.

WIRLC: What would you like women working in retail to know about you and Boomi?
KB: I joined WIRLC while in my retail role at one of the group’s On the Road events and was instantly struck by the warmth and generosity of its members. I met so many wonderful women who were happy to share their story and offer support and encouragement on similar challenges I was facing.

What I’d like WIRLC members to know is regardless of what role you’re in, whether it’s business or IT, Boomi can connect what I call “Frankensteined” systems. We connect people to data, regardless of where it is. Retailers are continually challenged with needing more accurate customer insights and using data to drive better solutions and decisions. However, that data isn’t always accurate and in retail we spend far too much time deliberating if this is our “one source of truth.”

I saw a stat recently that said merchants spend more than 20 hours per week working on manual processes. Imagine the ways you could better spend that time, like improving product assortments or optimizing vendor relationships, if all your data was accurate and up-to-date. To make that happen, departmental leads should strengthen partnerships with IT to modernize systems and alleviate manual data work for internal teams. 

WIRLC: What was the most challenging time of your career, and how did you work through it?
KB: When I moved from an individual contributor role to a people manager role many years ago, it took me a while to get into the groove and feel comfortable in that space. I think this is an area that’s often overlooked. You often hear, “the skills you need to be successful as an individual contributor are different from the skills you need to be a leader and people manager.”

I’ve been very fortunate to have great leaders and coaches throughout my career. Typically, we promote people to leadership roles and expect them to know what to do. Balancing a continually changing work environment and learning to manage a team while managing up, down and sideways takes time.

For women starting out in a management role, take the initiative to reach out to leaders you respect and admire and ask for their advice. Find out what’s worked well for them and bounce ideas off them as you get comfortable in the managerial space.

WIRLC: What’s a retail trend you’re excited about in 2023?
KB: As a retail customer, a past retail professional, and now at Boomi, I’m especially excited about advances in personalization. Personalized offers and marketing are definitely very effective in boosting revenue and building customer loyalty.

But not all retailers are good at personalization. The biggest issue is that data is scattered across silos, so retailers don’t have that 360-degree view needed to understand customers and anticipate their needs. Boomi’s solution lets retailers solve that data problem. It also offers artificial intelligence/machine learning intelligence for retailers to predict and react to customer behavior. That to me is incredibly exciting and puts the ideal of “personalization with purpose” within reach.

WIRLC: What values are most important to you as a leader?
KB: Trust, positivity and perseverance

WIRLC: What are you most looking forward to, professionally or personally, in 2023?
KB: Professionally, I’m looking forward to learning more in this new industry and getting more engaged in my role and with WIRLC. On a personal level, I’m on the advisory board for a nonprofit retailer called Gifting Brands and it’s been a great experience for me. Not only in the people I’ve met but also in the good that it does. I’m looking forward to getting more involved with local charities and bringing my family along to help make a difference.

WIRLC: What do you do to recharge?
KB: I love being outdoors and traveling.

WIRLC: What woman inspires you right now and why?
KB: I had the pleasure of hearing Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall, the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, speak prior to the pandemic. Her energy and passion are infectious.

WIRLC: What do you enjoy about being a Women in Retail Leadership Circle consultant member?
KB: I’ve found a motivating group of women and through a number of introductions have been invited in to help and advise on different businesses and projects, which I’m grateful for. It’s a great forum to learn from each other, to lift each other up, and connect in a like-minded environment.

Interested in connecting with women like Katherine Buckland? Apply today to become a Women in Retail Leadership Circle consultant member!