Local Express Names Linda Yassen Vice President of Partnerships

Proven channel leader joins Local Express to expand strategic engagements across the Americas

GLENDALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Local Express, a SaaS vertical platform that powers unified, omnichannel e-commerce for grocery and food retailers, today announced that Linda Yassen has joined the company as Vice President of Partnerships, reporting to CEO Bagrat Safarian, effective immediately.

Why it matters:

• Yassen brings more than 20 years of experience building high impact channel and partnership programs across North America.
• She will accelerate Local Express growth through a comprehensive partner ecosystem that spans POS providers, resellers, wholesalers and industry associations.
• Her focus is helping independent and regional retailers own their data margins and customer relationships instead of handing them to third party marketplaces.

“Linda understands what it takes to build a high impact partner ecosystem around a modern technology platform,” said Bagrat Safarian, CEO of Local Express. “Her experience scaling channel programs and developing strategic alliances will help us expand our reach and create more value for retailers and partners alike.”

What she’ll do:
Yassen will help grow the Local Express partner network, educate resellers on the value of a unified commerce platform and strengthen relationships that help independent and regional retailers own their customer data, improve margins and deliver seamless online and mobile shopping experiences. Her priority is aligning partner offerings with how consumers actually shop today online and on mobile while still meeting the operational realities of brick and mortar stores.

By giving retailers better insight into baskets buying habits and fulfillment performance she aims to help them make smarter decisions about assortment pricing and promotions outside of marketplace constraints. That data driven approach will guide how Local Express and its partners build and package solutions for different retail formats and regions.

“I’m excited to join Local Express at a time when retailers are looking for better ways to unify operations, ecommerce and delivery while maintaining control of their customer relationships,” said Yassen. “There is a major opportunity to help partners and retailers move beyond marketplace dependency and build more profitable direct digital businesses.”

About Linda Yassen:
Yassen has led channel and alliance organizations for data cloud and network technology companies including senior roles at Calligo Storagepipe Thrive IIX and TELoIP where she helped move businesses from direct only sales to robust channel driven models. Her specialties include building channel programs designing joint go to market strategies negotiating contracts and creating incentive programs that increase partner sell through and brand exposure.

She has a track record of partnering with vendors and resellers to win awards for growth and impact while managing complex ecosystems at scale. Yassen is fluent in English Swedish and Kurdish, which supports her work with diverse partners and markets.

About Local Express
Founded in Glendale, California in 2018, Local Express is the leading Native-AI unified commerce platform purpose-built to accelerate omni-channel sales growth for grocery retailers. Designed for the unique needs of regional, independent and specialty food operators, Local Express empowers retailers to build, manage and scale seamless shopping experiences across e-commerce and in-store channels.

Our proprietary AI-powered catalog harmonization engine ensures data consistency, product accuracy, and personalized merchandising across every customer touchpoint, from online discovery to in-store purchase. Integrated with industry-leading POS, CRM and marketing automation, loyalty, coupon and retail media systems, Local Express unifies the tools grocers rely on into one intelligent platform that simplifies operations and drives growth.

Learn more at www.localexpress.io and connect with Edward Kim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-kim-473a1631/.