Our Team
David polinchock, president and co-founder
David is the Co-founder and President of the Unified Brand Experience Lab, with a long history of introducing retailers, brands, and agencies to emerging technologies. He was an early pioneer in the use of virtual reality for advertising and marketing, having started experiential advertising using VR in 1991. He was the Director of the 1st AT&T AdWorks Lab; worked at the PwC Experience Center and worked on a variety of emerging technology launches. His work on the AudienceGames cinema AR program won several major awards, including a Bronze Lion and 2 gold Pencils. He has also directed several TechX programs at Advertising Week, in both New York & London.
Over the years, David has covered a lot of ground, but one thing has remained consistent: He’s looked for innovative ways to create compelling, authentic, and relevant brand experiences.
He’s been very fortunate to have traveled with his daughter Sydney, who helps him remember that the most important experiences are the ones you share with people you love.
Jim Ackerman,
CEO and co-founder of BEL & Unified RID
Jim is the CEO of Unified Resources & Brand Experience Lab. He began his career as a practicing attorney specializing in corporate, securities, and mergers and acquisition law. His client base included many large manufacturing, service, financial, and real estate companies.
For over a decade, Jim was a principal of the Ackerman Consulting Group serving as an advisor to many companies in the paper, packaging, and point of purchase display industries for mergers, acquisitions, financings, and strategic alliances. He was the founder & CEO of Sloan Securities Corp., an investment bank and stock brokerage firm with nine offices throughout the US. Sloan was an early adopter of institutional online trading, spearheading the creation of a prime brokerage unit for small institutions providing capital to emerging public technology companies.
He has & currently serves on the board of directors for several Charitable Associations. Jim graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his Juris Doctor from Villanova University School of Law and is admitted to the bar in New York and New Jersey.
Mitchell edelman,
President of Unified RID &
Co-Founder of BEL
Mitchell has vast experience creating, growing, and leading some of the In-Store Marketing & Retail Packaging Industries’ most successful companies. He has been responsible for the acquisition, integration, and sale of numerous manufacturing operations, sales & design offices, and supply chain facilities globally. Mitchell participated in building & operating the first 100% recycled liner board paper mill in the US. In 1990 he co-founded Phoenix Display & Packaging, the first combined Point of Purchase Display Manufacturing and In-Store Marketing Agency. It was sold to Union Camp Corp. Some of the high-level highlights accomplished during his tenure at UCC/IP were opening the first design center in Bentonville to support Walmart.
As well as, the creation of the first J&J non-company owned GMP facility for Direct to Retail distribution. In 2005 he co-founded Visual Image Display. An early stage leader in the Venue Based Media & Digital OOH space. VID created and executed many high-profile programs, networks & technology experiences for companies like Estee Lauder, Victoria Secrets, Disney, and Mercedes Benz, for which they launched and ran a narrow-cast network scheduling & delivering custom content to every MB dealership in North America.
Alexandra Zelcer,
Marketing and project manager
As the marketing and project manager at Brand Experience Lab, Alexandra’s focus is creating elevated experiences through technology solutions that benefit brands and their customers. Her background is in marketing and economics, with a focus on luxury. Her previous experiences range from special project/events marketing at Moda Operandi to working in production backstage during NYFW for Rebecca Minkoff, KidSuper, and more.
Luxury and fashion are her passion and she believes that through technological innovation, the industry can become more sustainable and create valuable experiences. Digital fashion, virtual try on, and blockchain product authentication are just some of the innovations that will bring the industry closer to their customers and help to reach goals of sustainability and inclusion.
david bayliss,
head of european development
David, before getting a proper job, spent 21 years in the Royal Air Force flying around the world drinking wine in many different countries. Next on his career path, David was quick to embrace the internet and all it had to offer and worked with several software companies to bring their products to market.
David has worked on many technology projects but ultimately found himself trying to find ways these solutions could help brick and mortar retail evolve in a digital world and even headed up a project called “Saving the High Street”.
David, now based in France, works as the European Lead seeking out technologies to bring to the lab. He uses his connections and experience to help companies realize their potential, and of course would be happy to discuss more about how the lab can help you, if you are interested.
Paul Klutes,
Strategic Business Development Consultant
Paul has over thirty years of food industry experience in sales leadership, brand management and new product innovation for companies like Coca-Cola, Welch’s and C. H. Robinson Worldwide, and working on products as diverse as nationally branded fresh produce imported from Latin America, to shelf-life extended fresh fruit sold here in North America, to confectionary fruit snacks that are now sold globally.
Paul is also passionate about health and nutrition and spent over a decade working to improve the American diet by participating in the volunteer leadership of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, culminating in a term as Chairman in 2010. He is also an avid offshore sailor and the proud father of one recently graduated aspiring artist and one college student/soon-to-be-certified fly-fishing instructor!
Paul joined BEL because he believes that contactless transactions are going to be a critical component of on-premises food delivery in workplaces around the world and that BEL technology provides best-in-class solutions for facilitating those transactions.