2025 Grocery Industry Icons & Innovators

Sanjiv Karani is a visionary AI-First Product Leader and Fortune 20 executive with over 15 years of trailblazing digital transformation across E-Commerce, Grocery, Retail, CPG, AdTech, and FinTech. Renowned for blending deep technical expertise with bold business strategy, he has architected game-changing innovations that have unlocked $500M to $6B+ in value across both SMBs and Fortune 20 giants—including Kroger and JPMorgan Chase.

 

Sanjiv is the Founder & Chief Product Officer of GrocerAI, the industry's first agentic AI platform purpose-built for grocery retail—powering intelligent search, simplified shopping, and retail media innovation. He also serves as CEO & Chief Evangelist of Valcrin, where he champions value creation through innovation. His product leadership has repeatedly delivered 10X–100X growth, fueled by next-gen AI, strategic GTM execution, and high-impact ecosystem partnerships.

Throughout his career, Sanjiv has held executive and leadership roles at Kroger, JPMorgan Chase, TEMPOE-CNG Corp, ZipScene, Cincom Systems, PointRoll-Gannett, and Convergys. He is also a serial entrepreneur and trusted advisor, serving as a board member and mentor with organizations such as Stanford Seed, CMO Council North America, Cintrifuse, OCEAN, American Marketing Association, and Frost & Sullivan's Growth Innovation Executive Council.

Sanjiv holds an MBA in Finance, Strategy, and Economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Computer Vision/AI from Wright State University. He has further sharpened his leadership through executive programs at Stanford GSB, Harvard Business School, Kellogg SM, and MIT Sloan SM.