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ROSEMONT, Ill.Jonathan Johnson, the CEO of Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond, will talk about the companys relaunch of Bed Bath & Beyond and his plans for expansion in home and housewares at a special fireside chat at the International Housewares Associations 2023 Chief Housewares Executive SuperSession (CHESS), Oct. 3-4.

Overstock acquired the Bed Bath & Beyond brand earlier this year and rebranded under the Bed Bath & Beyond name in August. At the keynote on Oct. 3, HomePage News Editor-in-Chief and CHESS facilitator Peter Giannetti will moderate the discussion with Johnson and the audience Q&A.

CHESS is IHAs strategic and networking event for industry leaders and this years theme is Transforming the Home + Housewares Business. Sessions will present actionable insights to encourage the next wave of change for the home and housewares business.

CHESS 2023 kicks off with the annual Housewares Hot Seat, and this year will examine how companies are identifying and executing brand and product diversification opportunities to optimize market reach, value to customers and growth prospects. Panelists include Sal Gabbay, CEO, Gibson Homewares, Evan Dash, founder and CEO, Storebound, and Bill McHenry, founder & CEO, Widgeteer.

Other CHESS sessions include:

IHA Government Affairs Update: With Craig Brightup, CEO, The Brightup Group and Rafe Morrissey, president, Morrissey Strategic Partners.

Solving the Regulatory Compliance Puzzle: A panel discussion examining surging regulatory compliance topics impacting the housewares business, including PFAS chemicals, California Prop 65 and Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Moderator: Craig Brightup, The Brightup Group. Panelists: Fran Groesbeck, managing director, Cookware & Bakeware Alliance; Thomas Lee, partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.

Retail Repositioning to Identify Growth Opportunities: Circana executives Don Unser, president, Thought Leadership, and Joe Derochowski, vice president and home industry advisor, will look at the $4 trillion-plus in global consumer spending to help identify indicators of where consumers and retailers are heading and to pinpoint growth opportunities.

Taking Control of Consumer Reviews: Laura Kegley, chief revenue officer, North America, Revuze, and David Rapps, president, Wholescale, will examine how to make consumer reviews a more influential component of housewares marketing strategies.

Critical Perspective of ESG: Benefits and Burdens of an Evolving Standard: Tom Mirabile, founder of Springboard Futures and IHAs consumer trend analyst, will discuss ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), a three-pillar framework for measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of a companys operations, while illuminating consumer perspectives on key issues crucial to determining a suppliers position and strategic initiatives on this growing concern.

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Trade Agreement Update: With Rafe Morrissey, Morrissey Strategic Partners

Mastering Disruption: Funding Strategies for a Post-Pandemic World: A panel of secured finance experts will unpack recent banking events, including the Silicon Valley and Signature Bank collapse, providing data and insights to help suppliers understand what this means to their business today and going forward. Moderated by Richard Gumbrecht, CEO, Secured Finance Network (SFNet), panelists include Jenn Palmer, CEO, JPalmer Collective, and Brian Martin, regional manager, CIT Commercial Services.

Grading the Housewares Retail Credit Climate: Gauging retailer credit risk is a mounting challenge in the post-pandemic housewares marketplace, which has seen some high-profile retail bankruptcies while some others confront ongoing financial uncertainty. Scott Friedman, chief credit officer of Pulse Ratings, will provide an overview of the retail business and its debt risk before taking a deep dive into credit factors affecting some key retailers.

Artificial Intelligence/Chat GPT: The Opportunity Is Real & Now: Artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots powered by generative pre-trained transformers (GPT) are transforming the way businesses communicate and interact with their customers. In this executive leadership Q&A moderated by Aaron Conant, co-founder and chief digital strategist at BWG Connect, Jordan Brannon, president and COO of Coalition Technologies, will share his insights and expertise on how to leverage AI and chatbots for business success while avoiding the pitfalls and perils of these emerging tools.

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What's next for Bed Bath? CEO will outline future at IHA CHESS ... - HFN