A Beautiful Marriage

By Joe Keenan

About Brian Watkins

Family: Married, two children
Hobbies: "I love being up here in the Pacific Northwest [Ritani's e- commerce team is headquartered in Seattle]. Now in the summer when it's nice out, we try to get out and enjoy the island and beach as much as possible. I'm also a pretty passionate person who loves to travel and  enjoys running."
Favorite vacation spot: Los Cabos, Mexico
Favorite band: "I'm a huge fan of Pearl Jam. I've flown from Monoa, Hawaii to Madison Square Garden in New York City because it was Pearl Jam's first show ever. I'm that guy that would fly halfway around the world. I stayed in town for about nine-and-a-half hours, watched the show and caught my flight to get back before the weekend was over."
Organizations/causes: "I'm a very loyal alumnus to the University of California, Berkeley. I try to get down there as often as possible, both to the business school and to attend football and basketball games. I've been a season ticket holder for Cal basketball since the day I left. I like to get back on campus and interact."
Leadership style: "I have a vision set out of where we want to go. It's working across the board in terms of keeping things very transparent and open to my team. I think startups are very difficult; we're moving very,very quickly. We talked about the idea of building an airplane while we're flying it.  "When you talk about the office and across the entire team, we really want to make this a fun place to work. We have a team that's working on the cusp of redefining how retail operates today in the jewelry industry."

Buying an engagement ring ranks as one of the biggest purchases a consumer will ever make, both in terms of a sentimental and financial investment. Now imagine going through this entire process online — browsing a website to create the exact ring your future spouse will love, making sure it's sized just right and then paying for it via an e-commerce checkout page. Ritani is trying to make this experience the norm rather than the exception … with a healthy assist from traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts.

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Joe Keenan Author's page Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.

Cover Story: A Beautiful Marriage