James Gardner, digital innovator, CEO & Founder of CREATETHE GROUP, Founder and Chairman of Commerce Technology Solutions is an Englishman living in Soho, New York City.

James started out as a management consultant for Accenture in London, specializing in Strategy & Technology. He moved to NYC in 1994 to work on Wall Street first with Goldman Sachs and later with Merrill Lynch, where he was the youngest technology director and a key force in automated and algorithmic trading.

James founded CREATETHE GROUP in March 2004, the agency that has pioneered digital luxury for the world’s most successful fashion and retail brands. James, together with Allen Kung, first launched CTS Platform in 2006. CTS is the next generation digital commerce platform that delivers Creative Commerce without Constraints to drive brand-focused retailer ROI. Today, James oversees all of the CREATETHE GROUP divisions including CREATETHE AGENCY, MORPHEUS MEDIA, and CTS Platform with 250 employees in New York and London.

"For me, innovation is about delivering a solution that will propel our clients to new levels of success. Shopping today is as much about the user experience as it is about the product. The technology behind CTS Platform can bring every brand story to life across all channels.”

Allen Kung is CEO and Founder of Commerce Technology Solutions (CTS). He co-founded CREATETHE GROUP with James Gardner, and was Chief Technology Officer until 2011. Allen and James Gardner launched CTS Platform in 2006 to pioneer a fundamentally different approach to digital commerce. Together, they were on the forefront of dramatic change in the e-commerce industry, merging world-class technology with rich creativity that achieves dramatic results for their clients.

With CTS Platform, Allen has pioneered a vision for creating a next-generation digital commerce platform that would replace traditional solutions, by merging the powerful capabilities of cloud-computing with the developer tools needed to deliver cost-efficient customization. Allen has over 17 years of entrepreneurial, software, and e-commerce leadership, including managing the rollout of enterprise-wide systems for Fortune 100 companies at Publicis' Arc Worldwide.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard, and is a 77th direct descendent of Confucius.

Carl joined CREATETHE GROUP in December 2008 and brings over 14 years of financial experience with both public and privately held companies.

He previously spent nine years at DoubleClick, rising though the ranks to become VP and Divisional CFO of DoubleClick’s technology business, where he played a key role in the company’s $3.1 billion sale to Google.

Carl started his finance career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting & Finance from the University of Buffalo, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

John Hargreaves has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2008.

John Hargreaves serves as Group Chairman and Director of Matalan PLC. Mr. Hargreaves is a Founder of Matalan Retail Limited. Mr. Hargreaves has over 40 years’ experience in retail clothing. In 1985, he founded the multi-billion dollar Matalan business and has been responsible for a number of successful fashion & retail initiatives thereafter.

Steve Hook has served as member of our board of directors from the outset. Steve, a wall street technology veteran have led large scale global technology teams for firms such as Merril Lynch, JP Morgan, and Credit Suisse, has provided immense enterprise technology mentorship and guidance to the team.