Minneapolis-Based Retail Media Veterans Launch Networking Nonprofit

A new nonprofit aims to fill an educational gap in commerce media. Commerce Media Meetup, which started as a casual get together in Minneapolis, has formalized as a nonprofit. The group organizes educational networking events for Minneapolis and Chicago-based commerce media professionals, with plans to expand to Atlanta and Boston. By forming a nonprofit, founders Mark Heitke and Derek Nelson hope that the group can expand to more cities while exploring opportunities to publish educational content digitally, host more meetups at major trade events, and simplify sponsorship opportunities. Heitke and Nelson met in 2005 as college students at the University of Minnesota studying film and TV production. And while neither ended up working in film, they both landed in an industry that most recent college graduates had never heard of: Commerce media. Heitke is now head of strategy at Symbiosys, the startup that DoorDash acquired for $175 million in 2025. Before taking the leap into startup life, he spent over nine years at Best Buy helping to build its retail media offering. Nelson is senior director of measurement and retail media consulting at Ovative, a retail media agency and consultancy in Minneapolis. He reconnected with Heitke during a three-year stint at Best Buy where the two worked together closely before Nelson left for Target in 2019. He joined Ovative in 2022. "We all stumbled into retail media," Heitke explained. And while the industry has grown rapidly over the past several years, with double-digit growth that’s accounting for an estimated $70 billion in ad spend this year in the U.S. alone, the career pipeline hasn’t become easier to navigate. Connecting the retail dots The idea for Commerce Media Meetup, initially called MN RM Meetup, was born in Heitke’s basement in 2022, as he and Nelson discussed the state of the industry that had brought them back together. "People that are getting into this market now don't have a way to connect with leaders in the space," Heitke said. The meetup group aims to create the conditions for those kinds of connections in the hubs where retail media talent has proliferated, including Minneapolis and Chicago. The events aim to educate newcomers while also giving veterans an opportunity to share what they know. "Commerce media is so hard," said Claire Wyatt, general manager of business development for the retail sector at The Trade Desk and organizer of the Chicago chapter of Commerce Media Meetup. "You're building out a media network inside of a business where media isn't their first priority. It's really important to have a group to talk to in order to validate how hard it is and help figure out how to navigate internal corporate politics." (L-R) Criteo's Amanda McCann, Symbiosys' Mark Heitke, The Trade Desk's Claire Wyatt, and Ovative's Derek Nelson. While there are several conferences that include commerce media-focused content and networking, those events are expensive and not accessible to people who are early in their careers, Wyatt continued. "We're trying to create a place that brings folks together, for free, to let them meet other people in the industry," she said. Alex Arnott, senior director of retail media monetization at dentsu’s New Stream Media, has been attending the meetups for about two years. He found his way to the industry working at Target early in his career. "We get more to brass tacks in the conversations, cutting through the fluff," Arnott told ADWEEK. "It's created a space for the Minnesota community to meet and strategize, compare notes, and understand what's going on in different retail media networks." Those topics include how retail media networks are incorporating AI. John Sharry, head of commerce media and retail sales at Newton Research, will lead the soon-to-launch Boston chapter. Criteo’s Amanda McCann, based in St. Paul, Minn., helps organize the Twin Cities chapter alongside Heitke and Nelson. "It really did start as just the people that I have text chains with, that I ask dumb questions to," Nelson said. The first step was turning those safe spaces into forums to build a community of people willing to ask—and answer—the "dumb questions" that only people who’ve spent years in this industry know how to answer. At the most practical level, the nonprofit status allows the group to have a bank account which makes it easier for companies to sponsor events. While Ovative’s support has been a consistent part of the Minneapolis group’s get togethers, Commerce Media Meetup has also been sponsored by Amperity, Attain, Criteo, Epsilon, Pacvue, Pinterest, PubMatic, QSIC, Symbiosys, Roundel, The Desire Company, and The Trade Desk. Looking ahead, Heitke said the group has talked about expanding its meetups to industry trade events, publishing educational content online, and growing to more cities where there’s an appetite.

Retail Media Networks

Minneapolis-Based Retail Media Veterans Launch Networking Nonprofit

Commerce Media Meetup aims to support a growing pool of industry talent in retail hubs

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Kathryn Lundstrom

Commerce

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