Wesley Wilson is the Head of the US and Canada for The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a CEO-led global organization advancing the future of retail and consumer goods. With a background in consumer goods investment and experience at Walmart and Mars, Wesley helps industry leaders collaborate on innovation, standards, intelligent commerce, adaptive value chains, and evolving consumer needs. He brings a global, multichannel perspective to conversations about data, AI, and the future of consumer goods. 

Justin Honaman is the Global Head of Worldwide Retail, Restaurants, and Consumer Goods Business Development at Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud platform helping companies build, scale, and modernize digital capabilities. Justin works with global retail and CPG leaders on supply chain, eCommerce, data, analytics, AI, digital engagement, and customer experience solutions. Recognized as the 2026 Top AI Thought-Leader by Rethink Retail, he brings practical insight into how brands can use generative and agentic AI while navigating data, governance, and talent challenges.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:00] Wesley Wilson discusses The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) work advancing retail and consumer goods innovation
• [2:21] Justin Honaman’s role at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and his connection to The CGF
• [3:36] Why clean, standardized data still creates roadblocks for agentic AI adoption
• [6:42] How enterprise teams balance AI experimentation with IT, security, and governance concerns
• [11:52] The talent gap in AI, machine learning, and data platforms across major CPG brands
• [14:49] Data as the new currency for personalization, customer acquisition, and future AI tools
• [23:01] Wesley talks about aligning agentic tools with a brand’s value proposition and customer experience
• [33:37] What Justin envisions next for AI, from accessible app-building to consulting support and new talent needs

In this episode…

AI has quickly moved from experimentation to expectation, but many organizations are still working through the foundations that make it useful. Clean data, strong governance, and the right talent are becoming just as important as the tools themselves. As agentic AI becomes more practical, how can companies move fast without losing control?

The answer lies in building flexible data systems, empowering teams, and choosing AI investments that align with real business value. Wesley Wilson brings expertise in retail and consumer goods strategy, while Justin Honaman adds a technology and cloud perspective on how brands are applying generative and agentic AI today. Wesley emphasizes the need for common standards, data control, and a clear customer value proposition, while Justin points to cloud adoption, talent development, and secure agent management as signs that companies are moving from curiosity to execution. Together, they suggest that success will come from balancing speed with structure, experimentation with governance, and innovation with practical use cases.

In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant chats with Wesley Wilson, Head of the US and Canada for The Consumer Goods Forum, and Justin Honaman, Global Head of Worldwide Retail, Restaurants, and Consumer Goods Business Development at Amazon Web Services. They focus on agentic AI and the data challenges shaping retail and consumer goods. Wesley and Justin discuss data readiness, AI governance, talent gaps, and touch on personalization, search, and what comes next for AI adoption.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron Conant on LinkedIn   
• BWG Connect  
• Wesley Wilson on LinkedIn 
• The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) 
• Justin Honaman on LinkedIn
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• “Amazon’s next-gen AI assistant for shopping is now even smarter, more capable, and more helpful” on Amazon News

Quotable Moments:

• “The tech is moving faster than most companies can keep up with.”
• “There is no such thing as a five-year plan anymore.”
• “Personalization is an excellent example of where AI has really ramped up.”
• “I think the democratization of the toolkit is the thing.”
• “Everyone knows it's all about who you know, and that's far more important to business.” 

Action Steps:

1. Audit and organize your data foundations: Clean, connected, and well-governed data is essential for making generative and agentic AI useful. Without reliable data, even the most advanced tools can produce inaccurate results or deliver limited business value.
2. Create clear AI governance standards: Establishing guardrails around security, access, and tool usage helps teams experiment without creating unnecessary risk. This also prevents fragmented adoption across departments and keeps AI initiatives aligned with business priorities.
3. Invest in AI talent and upskilling: Teams need both technical skills and the ability to ask better questions, test tools, and connect AI capabilities to business outcomes. Upskilling employees helps organizations move faster without relying entirely on outside consultants.
4. Focus AI investments on customer value: Instead of chasing every new tool, companies should identify where AI can improve personalization, search, supply chain, or in-store experiences. A clear value proposition helps teams choose the right use cases and avoid scattered experimentation.
5. Build flexible systems for what comes next: AI tools, models, and agentic capabilities are evolving quickly, so companies need platforms and processes that can adapt. Avoiding lock-in and maintaining control over data gives organizations more room to pivot as the technology changes.

About BWG Connect...

BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.

In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.

We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.

If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.

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