Alert Innovation Beefs Up Its Ranks

Alert Innovation, which sells automated fulfillment solutions for retail, has added John Gargasz as vice president platform and business development. 

Gargasz, who reports to Alert Innovation CEO and Founder John Lert, is charged with expanding Alert’s grocery automation fulfillment business beyond the company’s anchor Walmart customer to the rest of the industry.

“John brings a breadth and depth of experience to Alert as an entrepreneur, manager and marketer to help our team realize the vision of Novastore and our mission to be the world’s leading supplier of automated grocery fulfillment solutions,” said Lert.  

Gargasz is responsible for sales, marketing, product roadmap and partnership development. 

“When I was introduced to Alert, I was very impressed by the years of forethought that John, Bill Fosnight and the team put into the Alphabot architecture to bring automation to the grocery business. It is a tremendous opportunity to market this solution to the grocery industry and help scale the business,” said Gargasz. 

Gargasz is a serial entrepreneur in tech and real estate and is also an early-stage tech investor. His career spans a number of industry verticals including retail tech, defense communications, IoT wireless and advanced materials with roles ranging from engineering to managing director and board member. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado. 

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates more than 11,300 stores under 56 banners in 27 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Walmart-owned Sam's Club ranks No. 9 on the list.