John Surdakowski

Founder & CEO, Avex – NYC-based Ecommerce Agency for High-Growth and Enterprise Brands

With two decades of experience in digital, I’ve worked through every major evolution of the web—from the early days of Web 1.0 and Flash to the rise of mobile commerce and now, Artificial Intelligence. I’ve led through constant change, staying ahead of the curve while helping brands do the same—with clarity, speed, and results.

I’m the Founder and CEO of Avex, a digital commerce agency based in New York City. We partner with high-growth and enterprise brands to scale their Shopify commerce experiences through conversion-optimized UX, custom development, and lifecycle retention strategy. What began as a solo consultancy in 2015 has grown into a 40+ person agency serving both category leaders and market disruptors.

Earlier in my career, I consulted for some of the world’s most respected agencies and brands—including JWT, Havas, Estée Lauder, BBDO, MRM Worldwide, NBC, MTV Networks, and Nickelodeon. That foundation shaped my approach: combining creative thinking with operational discipline and commercial outcomes.

Avex has since partnered with globally recognized brands such as Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, KITH, O’Neill, Quip, AriZona Beverages, Equinox, and more. In 2025, we were selected for the Shopify Premier Partner program—one of only a handful of agencies in the world to earn that designation.

I remain hands-on as a leader. I take pride in building high-performing teams, navigating complexity, and driving growth for our clients. My approach is grounded in experience, focused on execution, and always driven by outcomes that matter.


Founder & CEO

Ben Wright

Revenue @ Sendspark - On a campaign to get Americans to say football instead of soccer!

This is the section, where I tell you about how my degree in computer science catapulted me into the world of tech right?

That couldn't be further from the truth,  I did a law degree at the University of Sussex, and realized very quickly that I didn't want to spend anymore time reading case law.

Worked for a large engineering company in London for a while, started moving up the corporate ladder, before deciding to relocate to Salt Lake City ( just to let everyone know there are far less pubs here)

I then found the world of technology and start ups & I haven't looked back.

I am extremely passionate about building relationships and tackling tough problems, specifically in the customer success and partnerships space.

I also have a personal interest in social impact and corporate social responsibility, so much so that I decided to start a business that focuses on B2B charitable gifting (check out Go Give)

VP of Revenue

Fun little side project to help job seekers through the use of ChatGPT! Free for all!

You join companies, particularly startups, because of the potential.

The potential to grow.

The potential to learn.

And more importantly , the potential to disrupt an incumbent industry.

Levanta has long been the only solution in town if you wanted to grow your e-commerce business via affiliate marketing on Amazon.

Last year we added Walmart.

And today we add Shopify to the mix!

For those not in the e-commerce industry, the old way of running an affiliate program was buying and managing a separate solution for each marketplace you sell on.

That's why I'm excited that Levanta now supports Shopify, alongside Amazon and Walmart, brands can finally manage creators, affiliates, tracking, and payments across DTC and additional marketplaces, all in one platform.

For too long, the affiliate industry has been dominated by legacy platforms built for a different era.

It reminds me of the CRM world before HubSpot showed up.

Salesforce owned the market. Not because they were the best, but because there was no real alternative. They got bloated. They got slow. They stopped innovating for the customer and started innovating for the board.

Then HubSpot came along and said: "What if the software was actually easy to use? What if you could get started in minutes, not months? What if we built for the end user instead of the procurement team?"

The rest is history.

That's the exact playbook we're running at Levanta.

Excited to provide a solution to the market that brands have deserved and have been crying out for!

🚀 

#ecommerce #affiliate

Revenue @ Levanta - On a campaign to get Americans to say football instead of soccer!

Damn Ryan Roslansky

You know something I dont 👀

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The Battle

John Surdakowski

Ben Wright

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taplio

The Battle

John Surdakowski

Ben Wright

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ben Wright's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreBen Wright's LinkedIn Performance