TK

About

Hello, I'm Tom Karels

AI & Digital Commerce Leader

I lead a 35-person global team driving $1.4B+ in enterprise digital commerce at Bunzl Distribution. From building AI practices from scratch to scaling B2B eCommerce platforms, I bring 20+ years of hands-on experience turning strategy into shipped products.

I created Bunzl's enterprise AI strategy, built agentic tools like FORGE and the Context Intelligence Platform, and grew eCommerce revenue from $1.18B to $1.31B. I'm also a builder at heart — I design, code, and ship alongside my team.

tom@tomkarels.com

Career

Experience

Sr. Director, Digital

Oct 2022 - Present

Bunzl

• Leading a 45-person global team (25 onshore, 20 offshore) overseeing e-commerce, AI, digital marketing, digital operations, and master/PIM/customer/vendor data for a $1.3B B2B platform. • Secured a $100M e-commerce account through strategic pre-sale engagement, customer-centric design, and seamless onboarding. • Drove 20M revenue growth in 2024, current 60M 2025 as of Q2, by engaging customer feedback and educating Sales /National Accounts on the value of digital commerce. • Onboarded agentic mindset for all team members, not just developers, by creating a framework focusing on context with customer experience. • Nominated for and graduated from the WashU Executive Program; authored business plan to modernize customer service with AI, projected to save $3.3M in PBIT over five years.

  • Lead team of 10 onshore 35 offshore
  • Lead Ai for Bunzl
  • Secured a $100M e-commerce account through strategic pre-sale engagement, customer-centric design, and seamless onboarding

Director, eCommerce & UX

Oct 2021 - Oct 2022

Avatria

Lead a team of designers and developers to build, nurture and optimize the conversion funnel for barcodesinc.com

  • Owned full P&L responsibility for North America eCommerce; drove 22% YoY revenue growth.
  • Led cross-functional team of 10+ including eCommerce specialists, designers, developers, SEO leads, copywriters, and PIM specialists.
  • Designed and led SEO program that contributed to 50% of total online revenue through a multi-site organic strategy and back linking strategy.
  • Implemented SearchSpring, recommendations engine, Eloqua marketing automation, and Live Chat platform.
  • Led migration from legacy custom eCommerce platform to Adobe Magento.

Sr. Director, Digital Experience

Mar 2010 - Oct 2021

American Hotel Register Company

Key responsibilities: Lead enterprise eCommerce technology stack including SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Marketing Cloud, Adobe Target, Zendesk, IBM Watson and Qualtrics. Function as technology lead and full stack developer, driving sales and leads via digital channels such as SEO, on site search (Solr), email marketing and eCom programs. Lead a team of designers, UX designers and developers to deliver relevant, timely, digital experience and marketing.

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Sr. Web Designer & Developer

Feb 2007 - Mar 2010

Reader's Digest

Lead all design, deve and SEO for Reader's Digest Brands

  • • Managed eCommerce operations for rdstore.com, shoptasteofhome.com, and countrystore.com.
  • • Led digital campaigns including SEO, display, affiliate marketing, and on-site promotions.
  • • Spearheaded UX, front-end development, and marketing automation.
  • • Increased rdstore.com profitability by 83% and shoptasteofhome.com by 41% through coupon program implementation.
  • • Directed full redesigns of all three eCommerce websites to improve performance and user experience.

Sr. Web Designer & Developer

Jan 2003 - Jan 2007

Staples

Lead dev and design at Staples

  • • Directed digital marketing and UX for Quill.com, focusing on usability testing and conversion optimization.
  • • Created AD Core: a personalized ad-builder web application saving 100+ developer hours.
  • • Invented and launched an award-winning product for Staples.com recognized for innovation.