Urvi Bhandari is passionate about changing the paradigm of how we live, work and play by connecting people, places and projects across the world. She is a transformational leader, connecting four key pillars, through her network and global experience. Corporation (Scale & Market) + Startup (Speed & Innovation) + Capital + Global Thought Leaders = Collaboration of our Expansive Future. This community collaborates and generates innovation that will expand the experiences of people’s lives. One long term project, (20 years) is to build floating cities providing a new life platform for innovators, futurists, global thinkers and nomads.
Urvi currently leads the internal / external marketing and governance for Walmart’s emerging technologies organization. Her role is to tell the story of the future of Walmart and bring in the right partners to make the vision come to life. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Seam Seer (a fashion tech company). Her vision is to create clothes that incorporate technology (AI + nanobots + IoT) to enhance our lives in many ways. Additionally, she is also very active in the global startup community. She continues to virtually mentor at Revtech, Dallas Entrepreneur Center, NEXT Startup, RealTech and Startup Week. Through her consultancy, Radical Roamer, she utilizes her 19 years as a corporate executive to support the interaction between corporations, startups and the rest of the community.
In her last role she lead Membership Innovation at Sam’s Club (Walmart), driving innovation to engage, retain and acquire members in a retail environment. Prior to that, she was the Partner and Chief Connection Officer of Crush Industries – media and insights company that is creating content and experiences that propel innovation.
In her final role at AT&T, she lead the industry practice within Agency | Entertainment | Hospitality | Media | Sports verticals for AT&T. Her role was to partner with the thought leaders in these industries to define the future vision of how people will live, work and play, utilizing technology innovation in their daily lives to generate revenue or cut costs.
In prior AT&T roles, Urvi has had a stream of experiences focused on innovation. She has been a Chief of Staff to the SVP of Brand Marketing, Advertising, Strategy, Design, Media & Sponsorships managing a budget of $200M+. More importantly she brought innovative thought leadership to the organization by changing the culture to build AT&T brand ambassadors through every employee. In her previous roles within sales and marketing she was part of the distinguished AT&T Management Leadership Program and led top performing teams and implemented new methods to decrease operational costs, increase efficiencies, and exceeded campaign objectives.
Before joining AT&T, Urvi served as an MBA innovation Intern for the Coca-Cola company where she was responsible for driving efforts to create a leading edge optimization frameworks. Her other previous experience includes leading the entire Jones Apparel CRM platform (6 brands) and digital marketing strategy; IBM’s Gold Service Accounts 5 year enterprise marketing strategy; Kmart’s – Jerzees launch strategy; and Global client service account management at McCann Erickson India.
Urvi is an avid endurance athlete completing a half ironman, multiple triathlons, marathons and long distance bike rides. Urvi has lead a very nomadic lifestyle and her current base is Bentonville, Arkansas. Urvi continues to travel across the world to experience and connect life through people and places.
