John Surdakowski

Avex E-commerce

Leading eCommerce agency providing creative, development, email marketing & strategy for brands such as: Mondelez, Hugo Boss, KITH, O’Neil, HAUS, Undefeated, Marchesa, Balance Athletica, TomBoyX, Wolf & Shepherd, Badgley Mischka & Iconix Brand Group.

Founder & CEO

Agency-X Podcast

Agency X — Hosted by John Surdakowski, is a Podcast that takes a dive deep into the world of ecommerce, digital strategy, and the evolving landscape of marketing technology. From the challenges of building a brand to mastering the latest tools shaping the future of commerce, Agency X offers insights drawn from real experiences at Avex. Each week, we break down what works, what doesn’t, and the bold moves that drive growth for leading brands.

Host

Shogun

Shogun empowers brands and agencies to create unique ecommerce experiences by making it easy to build and optimize online stores. Shogun is seamlessly integrated with leading ecommerce platforms, and is trusted by over 12,000 eCommerce brands, including Leesa mattresses, MVMT watches, Gaiam yoga apparel, K-Swiss, and Chubbies shorts

Investor

GRIN

Grin is the #1 all-in-one influencer marketing platform designed to help brands own their influencer relationships. With our tools in your corner, you’ll build a pool of credible ambassadors and reap the financial and brand rewards that come with it. GRIN puts every aspect of your influencer marketing program at your fingertips, empowering you to own it every step of the way.

Inveterate, Inc

Govalo

Kinn

Consulting

Freelance creative direction, web design and development for various brands and agencies, including Google, Samsung, Havas, JWT, Campfire, USANetwork, Cinemax and Sony

Creative Contractor

Havas

Designed digital experiences such as: websites, mobile ads, video story boards and rich media campaigns.

Sr. Art Director Consultant

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

Designed and developed digital campaigns for Estee Lauder’s online creative department.

Art Director Consultant

Founder & CEO at Avex, a New York City based creative, technology and e-commerce agency for fashion & lifestyle brands. 

With 20 years of experience creating for the web, I’ve seen the digital landscape evolve. From Web 1.0 and Flash animation, to the explosion of mobile and e-commerce. I utilize my vast experience in creative, technology and business to help DTC brands achieve rapid growth. 

Throughout the years I've consulted for JWT, Havas, Estee Lauder, BBDO, NBC, MRM Worldwide, Nickelodeon, MTV Networks and many other New York based companies.

In 2015 I started growing my freelance business into a boutique digital agency, with focus on fashion, lifestyle and premium products. 

Avex has partnered with major brands such as: Hugo Boss, KITH, O’Neill, Undefeated, Simmons Serta Bedding, Marchesa, Eugenia Kim, Badgley Mishka, Ports V, Reem Acra, Iconix Brand Group, Google, PONY, Starter, Rocawear, Shutterstock, 88Rising, USANetwork, HBO, UBISoft, Sony Music and many more. 

Today, I continue to act as CEO and Founder (among other titles) of Avex. I’ve applied my experience and ability to adapt to creating a business that I am immensely passionate about. I love working with other creatives, building my team and taking on new challenges.

In 2019 Avex was invited to become a Shopify Plus Partner. Our agency focuses on helping brands navigate eCommerce.

Klaviyo

Driving strategic commercial partnerships and technical integration development to fuel Klaviyo's growth in Commerce and New Verticals. 

Leading recent initiatives such as commercetools and Klaviyo for Wellness, expanding our impact beyond ecommerce to deliver our unified customer platform to more businesses.

Principal - Strategic Product Partnerships

Reporting to the SVP of Global Partnerships - Responsible for exploring long tail business development opportunities, negotiating and launching GTM ecommerce platform integrations, along with implementing partnership strategies with Klaviyo's strategic platform partners at BigCommerce, Adobe Magento, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Senior Strategic Partnership Manager - Ecommerce

Supporting the strategic vision of our agency partners by focusing on long term goals and mutual alignment to achieve sustainable ecommerce brand growth for our mutual clients

Focus:

Collaborative discussion on agency business strategy and how Klaviyo can support the vision

Deep understanding of agency service offerings and alignment of Klaviyo’s unique value proposition to drive multichannel ecommerce marketing strategy for clients 

Providing support with my team to empower agency partners to fully understand and maximize Klaviyo’s prowess at growing merchants’ brands

Supporting co-marketing activities to showcase our strong, high quality agency partnerships

Providing engaging thought leadership in the marketing and ecommerce space, especially through content presentation and consulting

Senior Channel Manager-Agency Partnerships

Nacelle

Nacelle is the headless commerce platform for composing best-of-breed solutions. FTD, Something Navy, Boll & Branch and Barefoot Dreams have chosen Nacelle to go headless and accelerate time to value while seeing dramatic improvements in webstore performance, developer velocity, and flexibility. Nacelle is a 100% remote company that believes in core values of: forever learning, honesty and integrity, ownership, and teamwork. It is backed by Tiger Global, Inovia Capital, Index Ventures, Accomplice, Lerer Hippeau, High Alpha and Silas Capital. To learn more visit www.nacelle.com.

Seed Investor

NTMPKAI fotografi

My side passion project. 

Upon finishing my Masters of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications, I was determined to resume my photography. I started my company in August 2014 for NTMPKAI (which stands for Not Too Many People Know About It, as a tongue in cheek reference to people liking things more before they are adopted by others) and launched my website the same month. 

This business allows me to further establish my photography (where I am shooting with Canon and Fuji equipment and utilizing Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and 1Capture), but it is also allowing me to continue enhancing my Integrated Marketing skills. In addition to managing my personal website and sales, I am tracking performance goals through Google Analytics while building my brand through content generation with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Founder

Reynolds American, Inc.

Consulting, Marketing, and Business Development responsibility for 2 major Northeast retail accounts with over 800 locations across 8 states with $261.2M+ in annual sales revenue and 2 Direct Wholesale accounts  which supplies 3,900 + retail stores  across 6 states.
Managing the talent development of 3 Field Sales Direct Report Managers and aligning oversight of responsibilities for 7-11, Speedway, Circle K, and McLane Northeast & Concord

Achieved #1 ranking Nationally (based on our primary metric; SOM growth) within first 6 months through targeted contract signing and development of key growth brands for my accounts, along with providing support for my Direct Reports’ accounts.

Successfully negotiated and signed contracts with customer incentive packages worth over $7.1M while addressing customer needs through cooperation and partnership.

Advised C-Level, VPs, Directors, and other tactical teams about top line performance, capitalized on emerging trends through an analytical approach, product launches, and strategy development for addressing business development channels.

Work with wholesale suppliers to monitor budget management, in-stock levels, inventory, and vendor allocations while ensuring that all segments of our supply chain were functioning to meet our mutual business goals. 

Collaborative work with Finance, Marketing Operations, Strategy & Planning to ensure that not only are all current objectives being achieved, but also planning and developing programs to capitalize on marketplace opportunity conversion.

Senior Key Account Manager

Managed 8 Field Sales Direct Reports across a 3 state market, while responsible for business development in a competitive division that generated $51.1M+ in annual sales revenue through 830 convenience store locations. 

In 18 months, drove team from #64 (of 64) in the Eastern Sales Area to #1 in performance ranking. Achieved through analysis of multi-state business opportunities, creating strategic solutions, driving implementation through employees, and tracking performance throughout. Maintained a targeted focus on the business growth and account relationships with 7-11, Speedway, and Cumberland Farms.

Content development for a Productivity Workshop, primarily to enhance the skills of the 64 Direct Reports in the Boston Region. Collaborate with peers to ensure appropriate instructional design. Presentation to 5 divisions of the final program and learning solutions. The workshop was adapted into a National training program for 1,500+ employees to facilitate a smooth transition for a sales force merger.

Developed my team by demonstrating consistent leadership, utilizing their strengths, and identifying areas of opportunity to be coached against. Accomplished this through ability to develop training and the creation of actionable, personal development plans. Relied on frequent open and honest two-way communication. Team achieved above average performance rankings and had my only eligible employee promoted.

Trained with HR & Workplace Practices for a comprehensive and practical understanding of employee performance management as it relates to employment law. Specific areas of concentration include a disciplined approach to performance documentation and arbitration.

Senior Division Manager

Successfully managed business development for 13 retail and franchise accounts and 3 wholesale suppliers while enhancing our internal talent development through coaching. Oversaw strategy, planning, program execution, and retail merchandising for all 13 accounts.

Analyzed MSAi data and trends in order to create an overview and drive strategies for advising client accounts on selling specific tobacco products, in a competitive assignment producing $20.4M+ in annual sales revenue. Worked on creative marketing programs to execute strategic plans. Created targeted consumer market research to execute national marketing campaigns.

Ran SOM incentive pilot program to be implemented in major client accounts.  Was able to quickly influence and gain buy-in to implement corporate marketing plans. This resulted in achieving highest possible returns on the program as well as increasing one account’s yearly profitability by $72K within six months of testing.

Responsible for 6 Indirect Reports. Enhanced their development and demonstrated ability to coach for personal and professional development to enhance their business development performance.

Account Manager

Lead project management for a campaign as it related to RJRT’s flagship brand, Camel.

Directed and collaborated with teams in Marketing, PR, Operations, Legal, Innovation, and R&D to deliver three product changes to enhance sustainability.

Managed the creative process with our external advertising agency to develop integrated marketing campaign content across multiple consumer touch points: Social, Audio, Video, Web, Email, and Direct mail.

Managed national focus groups and market research to identify the most impactful consumer insights to incorporate in the campaign. 

Successfully identified potential product design and packaging options that resulted in cost savings of $1M.

Consumer & Brand Marketing Project Manager

Territory Sales Manager

Anheuser-Busch

Furthered AB’s brand equity by educating consumers on the full product portfolio. Delivered the benefits of using the AB brand, which led to experiential learning and positive brand association/awareness by consumers.

Enhanced client relations via interactions in the AB Hospitality House that increased overall brand value and generated sales partnerships in the Orlando market.

Marketing Brand Ambassador

I've had the benefit of learning and adapting skills through a variety of roles, in order to create a diverse background. These opportunities have allowed me to learn and build skillsets such as: Revenue Generation • Business Development • Partnerships & Program Development • Market Research & Analysis • Venture Capital • Startups • Marketing Automation • E-commerce • Product Management • Consulting • Channel Sales • Project Management • Emotional Intelligence •  Integrated Marketing Communication

Always looking to pursue unique opportunities, develop a vision, lead change with a team, and facilitate relationships in my network.

taplio

The Battle

John Surdakowski

Matthew Serwin

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