Hire Up: Bill Snowden Spent His Life Building Brands — Now He’s Helping Them Navigate E-Commerce
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Bill Snowden has footwear in his blood — and he’s spent decades building businesses. Now he’s taking on a new challenge: protecting brands against the perils of e-commerce.
The executive — who closed Snowden Brothers in April— recently joined G2 Web Services, a subsidiary of Verisk Financial. The company specializes in merchant monitoring, transaction laundering and client on-boarding. As the VP of business development, Snowden focuses on brand protection and reseller monitoring. “We scrub all of the 150+ worldwide seller marketplaces and help brands identify and enforce seller violators and product violations,” said Snowden.
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Here, he talks about his journey so far and the road ahead.
How I got here: “I was born into a family footwear business (Topline & Report) and raised in Seattle, a city thriving in tech, and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to blend them both into an exciting new career. Technology has turned shopping into a multidimensional experience in a blend of physical and digital spaces.”
Big goals/key challenges: “The biggest goals and key challenges feel similar: How to harness the power of data and information, and turn it into understandable and meaningful messages. Moving from a stable and predictable physical retail format into the ever-changing online world — and now losing control in the online marketplaces — has created fear and uncertainty for a lot of people. We aim to provide calm in the chaos that is retail today and defend the power of brands with our brand protection product and service.”
Typical day: “I don’t hear the word typical very often, but I spend most of my time on my keyboard and dual monitors, talking on my headset, in a meeting or writing on a whiteboard. The type of conversations we have are about finding ways to solve issues for people and companies.”
Best decision: “To work in the family shoe business. Not too many people get the opportunity to work for their father and with their brother. While it’s hard to appreciate the significance in the moment, you do once it’s over. I also met my wife in the shoe business, so I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Career mentors: “At the top of that list is my father, Bill Snowden Sr. He’s at the top of other people’s lists, too. I’ve actually been fortunate enough to be around a lot of footwear leaders and legends during my career. I’ve been lucky to witness and experience the industry as it went through some amazing growth cycles.”
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