Lead With Bold Vision: Guest-Centered Tech with Ulta Beauty's Mike Maresca

Patrick Emmons: Welcome back to Innovation and the Digital Enterprise. I'm Patrick Emmons and, as always, I'm joined by my co-host Shelli Nelson. Shelli Nelson: Hello everyone, great to be here. Patrick Emmons: Today's episode is a really special one for us. We're joined by Mike Maresca, Chief Technology and Transformation Officer at Ulta Beauty. Mike leads technology, digital transformation, and innovation at one of the most iconic consumer brands out there and recently wrapped up the largest technology transformation in Ulta's history - a multi-year effort known internally as Project SOAR. Shelli Nelson: And I would say what I love about Mike's story is that it isn't just technology for technology's sake. This is more about aligning teams, data, and platforms, and how customers actually shop, not only across stores but digitally - loyalty and everything in between. Patrick Emmons: Today, we're going to talk about what it really takes to modernize a platform at scale, how Ulta Beauty uses data and AI to personalize experience for millions of customers, guests, and members, how to build real innovation muscle inside a large enterprise, and how to balance speed, security, and governance in an AI-driven world. Mike, welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you. Mike Maresca: Pat, Shelli, it's great to be here. Patrick Emmons: Mike, before we jump into the deep transformation, the innovation muscle, we want to start with you. So you've had a really interesting journey into the role that you have - a very unique title. I was hoping that maybe you could walk us through your path, how you got here, and what experiences along the way most shaped how you think about technology, innovation, and leadership. Mike Maresca: Yeah no, thank you Pat and thanks Shelli for having me. I've been looking forward to this conversation for some time. My career journey has been constantly pushed by myself to explore and learn. I'm a lifelong learner. I'm an engineer by training but joined the consulting industry and, through retail consulting, technology consulting, went from an architect to someone who was driving digital transformation with our business. I had a deep passion for business, trying to find the intersection of business and technology to drive results. It took me from Accenture, where I started my career, to Walgreens Boots Alliance as their first global Chief Technology Officer to the role that I have today, which first started out as leading - I know I'm biased - one of the best technology teams in retail. And then earlier this year, I was asked to drive transformation, enterprise transformation across the business at Ulta Beauty. It's a labor of love. I think trying to find the intersection of business and transformation - as you said, it's a little bit of a unique role where I think we recognize here that technology is so much a part of how we serve our guests, but also how we run a twelve to thirteen billion dollar global retail company. I'm quite excited to be here and I think we've just started. We've had a great year in FY '25 and, as I say, you haven't seen anything yet. Shelli Nelson: That is awesome. And Mike, as your roles expanded over the years, just curious what had to change for you personally - maybe how you made decisions or how you showed up for your teams? Mike Maresca: Yeah, I'm a listener, right? When I started my role here at Ulta Beauty, I was focused solely on IT, so understanding the technology landscape. But I wanted to listen not only to the IT team but what the business needed and that first started with our guests. The first three months of my role here, I was listening to business leaders but also my own technology team alike and really formulated, I think, the IT strategy that really drove us to where we're at today. It's business-led, because I think everything we do is business-led. It started out with modern foundation and a focus on team and talent and making sure that we had a culture that is strong, focused on innovation - innovation for our guests, innovation for our business. I think that listening helped me prepare for the other side of how I show up: being a bold leader, calculated risks, always a teammate, always putting the power of team in place. And then again, I think our strategy is bold. It's putting the guest at the center and innovate - and innovate we have the last three years if not more. Patrick Emmons: I think the putting the guest at the center, it just feels more entrepreneurial than I see in a lot of large organizations and could you dig a little bit - I know you touched on it a little bit already - guests and members and customers. What is the philosophy that Ulta differentiates on in their experience and how do they engage with their guests? Mike Maresca: Yeah, first I think you need to zoom out and kind of understand what is beauty. It's deeply personal, it's experiential, it's actually even fun. And we're also moving into wellness, so we believe passionately we're not only the beauty authority but we can be the wellness authority because, as I often say, we want to look good and feel good. You know, trying to understand our guests' needs and I get back to the personalization. We've got 46 million loyalty members and that's a powerful program - 95% of our sales are connected to our loyalty members. We understand our guests and we try to show up in different ways, whether online or in the stores, but in a more personalized, fun way that allows them to explore. So it's an exciting category. I've been in many retail categories throughout my consulting careers but even beyond that, and this one is fun, built on newness. There's always kind of the next new product that you want to capitalize on and being able to be there for our guest, again whether it's online or in the stores, has been an important part of our formula and I think it's one that's winning. Patrick Emmons: That's awesome. I know that part of the big transition for the last year is, you know, you just completed a massive multi-year transformation, the largest in Ulta's history if I'm not mistaken. When you look back on it, it sounds like already seeing the theme, what problem were you trying to solve? And not sure if it's a problem but more of an expansion because I know you're a growth guy. So what is it that you were going to enhance, augment, 10x, level up? What was the goal there? Mike Maresca: Yeah, and I think you're talking about a few things. So when I joined here, we were in the midst of three or four different major transformations really focusing on the foundation - getting the foundation right. Once you get the foundation right, kind of understand modern ways of working, you want to be close to the business - and then from there, you can move with speed and, I like to say, innovate at the speed of business. So I'll go back: what were the programs? Well, one of them was SOAR, which was to modernize our core operations on S/4HANA - creating almost a new digital backbone for our company, improving our agility, streamlining our processes. When all was said and done, we were able to automate 25% to 30% of the core processes, which was massive. But we're pretty excited about that. In addition to that, we modernized our data foundation. We called it Darwin. We have a modern data foundation, centralized enterprise data. We create, as a business, a huge amount of digital exhaust whether it's our guests, whether it's our associates - we have nearly 55,000 associates. It's our stores - we just opened our 1,500th store here in the US and don't get me going on the international side, we're humming there as well. But also, you know, we've got 7 DCs. Think about all the enterprise data that we have there. We have it all concentrated into a single data platform that we can use to run our businesses better, to show up for our guests even better. So we're pretty excited about that. In addition to that, we were updating our digital store platform. We finished that about two years ago as well. So I think we are in an excellent position. If you go to some of these CIO discussions and they talk about the tech debt that they have across the organization and I just walk away from those so thankful that we've made this investment. It really is going to be our single platform for growth here at Ulta and I think you're starting to see that with some of the results and the number one beauty destination title that we have - and we're going to keep going. Shelli Nelson: That's fantastic. And then Mike, just from a people and change perspective, just curious what was the biggest challenge? Mike Maresca: Well, I often say: get the right strategy, get the right team and it's just math, right? The right team with the right strategy figures out the right plan. I go back to how we've kind of reshaped our IT organization and that was, you know, we moved aggressively to cloud. So what does that do? It gives me a modern resilient platform. It also gives me the innovation that comes through these strategic partnerships that we have. But I also reshaped the team here at Ulta and it's a much more business-forward team. You know, we trust our partners to run kind of our backbone, our foundation at the highest levels of reliability, but now I'm able to pivot the team to be more business-forward. And man, when we can get the business and IT working together, running that three-legged race as one, we've been able to really accelerate features and functions and just capabilities. For instance, if you look at our digital business, we've been able to roll out replenish and save, we've been able to roll out a new way of serving the guest through what we call our split cart technology and that is being able to pick up your basket in different channels - so that's been impressive. And then one else that I'll mention: we did just go live on a marketplace. So a marketplace went live in September - 130 sellers already and I signed that contract in December of last year. So for twelve months, in twelve months we've been able to go from concept to delivery in ten and then scaling that business to 130 sellers. That's the speed at which we're able to move with a modern foundation, the right team, and that innovative spirit that we have here at Ulta Beauty. Patrick Emmons: Yeah, it's been twelve months. Have you seen any impact from like the way the business overall operates with this? Has it impacted maybe the perspective of like what's possible or how the more traditional business operates? Mike Maresca: So that was something that we were very mindful of - we wanted to have it blend in and be a seamless customer experience. So while we do indicate that it does come from a third-party seller, the experience is seamless. You're able to earn points as part of our loyalty program, you're able to return in our stores. So again, when you put the guest first, you start to think through how exactly to deliver new capabilities and we think this is pretty seamless. It complements our assortment, it's a seamless guest experience, and we're looking forward to scaling it next year. Patrick Emmons: Wow, that's awesome. I think that's super cool. I don't think a lot of people are doing things like that where, again, that's putting the customer at the center of "how do I serve this person" is I think awesome and I think not the norm. So congratulations, I think that's tremendous. You've also said that more - your background is on the IT and the tech side, so you've said that tech and IT strategy should start with more listening and less talking. So what does that actually look like in practice at Ulta for you, for your team? Is this something you coach people to do? How does this walk around in the office? Mike Maresca: Well, I mean getting back to a question that Shelli asked me is like, you know, how have I navigated my career? I think part of the secret, if there is one, to my career has always been to show up as a business leader first, a technologist second. I'm fond of saying there's no such thing as an IT project; it's a business project that's tech enabled and I think if you get the strategy right and you listen to the business and understand what the business problem is you're trying to solve, I think that's where you start the conversation. Business-led, IT powered. Shelli Nelson: And then Mike, kind of aligning to what you just said, how do you make sure that the teams stay aligned to those business outcomes? You said business leader first, tech second. So how do you hold the team accountable not just to delivery milestones? Mike Maresca: Well, I think that's a very important question: how do you keep the transformation going? And I think we start out with a very strong vision statement. And that, you know, I believe it's been said: be rigid on the vision and agile on the details. So we always start out with a strong vision, a strong charter for what we want to do, a deep understanding of the problem statement - the business problem statement - and then we think through the details and sometimes the details change. Often say, you know, that the thought you started with is perhaps not the thought you finished because your understanding of how to accomplish the transformation goals can change through the journey. Like when we modernized our digital store platform, I was very mindful that if we don't change the ways we work at Ulta, we will not move at the pace we need to really drive value on some of these foundational assets or platforms that we developed. So I think through that work combined with a really deep connection with the business, we are constantly reaffirming and revisiting the business problem we're trying to solve and we iterate towards what the goals are. It does at times feel like a test and learn, which I think is best, particularly as you're dealing with our guest which, you know, guest needs are constantly changing, they're constantly evolving. We always want to be there with the guest. It goes back to Pat what I was saying earlier about putting the guest at the center. What the guest wanted a year ago is perhaps not what the guest wants today. So I think a combination of being bold, test and learn, and continuing to put the guest at the center, I think we continue to iterate towards what that North Star is, which frankly keeps moving, which makes our job really fun. But I think that's part of the formula at work here. Patrick Emmons: I love it. I think on the innovation side, you said "we're more right than we are wrong. Anybody who's always right is lying." Right? Of like you're not really doing innovation if you're not making a couple mistakes, right? Mike Maresca: Or they're not pushing the boundary far enough. So that's not to say we're not safe, but I think we're calculated. I like to say we're bold but balanced and we need to keep going. I think we're making great investments, the innovation is working, and it's fun. We have a lot of fun here. Patrick Emmons: It gets exciting. There's a great book called Courage is Calling and he talks about a little bit in that: reckless bravery is stupidity, right? Like you should be brave, you need to find courage, you gotta step into the unknown a little bit. That doesn't mean you jump off the cliff, right? That's not courage, that's stupidity. And I do think that when you deal with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, sometimes it's like "yeah we're going to be crazy brave." and it's like "nah, that's called reckless" and that's not good stewardship of the business or anything like that. I would like to dig in a little bit more on the innovation culture. Not everybody's wired for innovation in my experience and that's not a bad thing. I think sometimes the people who are good at keeping the business running sometimes feel like they get a negative feeling because they're not part of the innovation team. It's like "that's right, you're the guys making the profit that funds the innovation," right? There's no shame in like being part of the successful part of the business. But you've talked about building innovation muscle, not just running pilots or, you know, the innovation theater. So tell us about some of the wins, tell us about some of the losses. You know, how did you - how do you do that in a large growing - I mean growing, that alone is its own challenge for innovation of like how do you keep up with the scale while trying to refactor. And you said it was one of your core values, so how do you balance all of that? Because it seems like a big challenge. Mike Maresca: Well, it's a big challenge but a big opportunity and it's one that we've leaned into. I think, you know, your question is how do we keep the transformation going? How do we pace it? How do we make sure it's a team sport? Everybody's involved. Probably one of the best examples is how we're moving artificial intelligence or AI forward at Ulta Beauty. I mean, if you look at the pace of change in that particular segment of IT, right, or of technology in general, I mean, I sit really at the intersection of technology and business and I'd never been more energized by a trend, right? And I think the entire company is starting to realize like how can we evolve our guest experience, how can we involve our business, how can we evolve our associate experience with AI? We're seeing kind of one of those most consequential shifts I think in technology and, you know, we're leaning into this. And I think retail is really ground zero for this acceleration. You know, it's going to impact our whole company - every aspect of the retail value chain: forecasting, personalization, pricing. And I think it's an example where that innovative spirit is really really coming forward at Ulta Beauty. Real-time personalization is one. In terms of how we manage our inventory in our supply chain - how we plan it, how we route it - we've had some some great wins there. And you asked about any failures. We haven't had massive failures, but we've had learnings where we've had to recalibrate our approach. And it goes back to what I said earlier: iterate towards that North Star and, you know, just keep going. But we look at the opportunities right, AI is kind of opening those opportunities in real time in front of us. I mean, platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, the new shopping agents and stuff like that - I mean, they're starting to manage the end-to-end guest journey and you know, they're pretty good at it, certainly on the discovery side and soon they'll help us maybe from a replenishment perspective. I don't know Pat if you've read this article from MIT where it was called - I think it was called - the GenAI divide? It was actually quite critical of AI. And a little unfair, somewhat fair, where it said that I think 95% of the projects aren't showing much return. Patrick Emmons: I didn't read it but I saw the headline. Mike Maresca: You know, it's probably mostly true but I think it's less true at Ulta, right? We've been able to drive personalization at scale, we've been able to implement machine learning within our supply chain, we've been able to start using chatbots to actually advise our guests in guest services. So even in the early days of AI we've been able to kind of drive real differentiating change. But we're not done yet. And back to the foundation that we talked about: that investment, the modern data foundation that we made, the Guest 360 that we've implemented, some of the strategic partnerships that we've had but also back to that culture of experimentation has put us on the path to success and 2026 is going to be a great year for us. So anyway, you'd asked a question about how do we measure up, how do we level up and I think AI's probably the best example of where we're leveling up for our guests, for our business around how we deliver IT and capabilities in general at that next level. Patrick Emmons: So Mike, a lot of success so far. Looking forward, how are you going to sustain this innovation, this focus, this growth? Is there a North Star? How do you keep everybody focused and not sit back on their laurels because I think that's the big challenge. You get to a plateau and everybody gets comfortable. How do you - how do you continue growing? Mike Maresca: Well, I mean you mentioned Pat that North Star and we have a bold vision which we call the Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan. It's our strategy, it's our North Star, it's what's guided our investments, how we continue to raise the bar and how we operate, serve our guests every day. It was announced by Kecia Steelman just shortly after she took over as CEO and it's been really energizing and it's really put us clearly on the map as the number one beauty retailer not only in the US - we started this year as a US-based retailer - but also as we look forward, bold international growth. There's a few components to it: first is to always continue to focus on our core beauty business here in the US; the second is really how do we generate new businesses? And this is where it gets really exciting - we talked about wellness, which is part of our formula for growth, but also how we've grown that international business. You know, we opened stores both in Mexico and the Middle East the second half of this year and we're looking forward to scaling those throughout FY '26. So it's exciting times. We went from I think it was one country to now five countries in in a year, as well as the marketplace which I mentioned earlier - that went from concept to production. So, you know, it gets back to that bold strategy which I mentioned and it'll carry us forward in FY '26. And that's where we take it a step further: we continue to drive multi-year initiatives, for instance like our personalization agenda is one; we've got some work that we're going to do to level up our capabilities and how we get inventory to the right place at the right time, but also continue to scale our marketplace and continue to do bold things in wellness. So we're excited about this North Star, this Ulta Beauty Unleashed - I think it's the perfect way to describe our plan and we continue to push forward on it. Patrick Emmons: That's awesome. It's exciting. I love the boldness of the whole "hey, we gotta get people motivated, excited," but what an amazing opportunity. And I can tell you I'm not a customer but I'm going to go check it out because I'm curious to see what are these new offerings because one thing I do know is through people who I live with - my wife and my daughter specifically - that's the only place they shop, they love shopping there, that's where they go. And when you have trust and loyalty like that, I think about the brands that I trust: Abt Electronics here in Chicago, USAA is my insurance and my financial company to a certain extent. If they sold roofs, I'd buy their roofs, right? Like I don't really care, I trust them. What's interesting is I think people thought that digital was going to reduce the potential trust but I think it actually exposes who's really being honest, who's really trying to build trust through their offerings. So I know we're kind of wrapping up, Mike if I could ask you one more thing. You've had a tremendous amount of success in your life and I've got to know you personally, you're a brilliant guy, I love the way you think. What advice would you give other aspirational CTOs, CIOs, intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs trying to drive transformation inside the organizations that they're with? What is the one thing - and I think I already know the answer - but maybe we'll just bring it home on this one? What's the one thing they should start doing, stop doing, do more of, do less of? Mike Maresca: Oh, I'm curious what you think the answer is. I don't know if I've been that transparent. I think it's: be bold, listen, believe in the power of team. To go back to what I said earlier: deeply understand the strategy, be flexible with it, and approach every challenge with passion. If you build passionate lives, dedicated lives, you know, it stops becoming work and becomes really a lot of fun. So, you know, listen, get the right strategy, power of the team, and move forward with bold passion. I think you're going to like what you get. Patrick Emmons: Mike, thank you so much for taking the time. This has been fantastic. Mike Maresca: This has been fun. Thank you. Shelli Nelson: Yeah, thank you Mike. Mike Maresca: Thank you Shelli. Patrick Emmons: And thanks to everyone listening. We'll see you next time on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise.