Chief Product and Technology Officer
Etsy, Inc.
Rafe Colburn is Chief Product and Technology Officer at Etsy, where he leads the company's product and technology strategy. Previously, he served as Chief Product and Technology Officer at Depop and as Vice President of Engineering at Etsy, overseeing teams across seller experience, ads, payments, trust and safety, fulfillment, and data engineering. Earlier in his career, Rafe was a Principal Engineer at IDology and a technology consultant. He is also the author of numerous articles, papers, and books on web development.
Sunday Jan 10
11:30am - 12:00pm
Insider One Stage, Javits North
Agentic AI is reshaping not just how consumers shop, but how retail businesses operate, from the way work gets done internally to how brands show up across every touchpoint of the consumer journey. Levi Strauss & Co. and Etsy are approaching this moment from opposite ends of the retail spectrum.
Levi’s, a 170-year-old global brand, is accelerating its push into direct-to-consumer and digital capability as it evolves into a head-to-toe lifestyle retailer. Etsy, the online marketplace for unique and creative goods, is leaning into its roots as the home for human creativity in an increasingly automated world. Both are asking the same fundamental questions about AI while undergoing significant business transformations— just from very different starting points.
In this conversation, the Chief Digital & Technology Officers of both companies will share how they are embedding AI into how their organizations work, how they are using it to deepen and personalize the consumer experience, and how they are preparing for a world in which AI agents play an active role in how shoppers discover, evaluate, and buy.
