Crisp hires ex-Nielsen exec Dirk Herdes to lead NWA growth

Crisp, the open data retail tech firm headquartered in New York, has hired Dirk Herdes of Rogers as senior vice president of sales and general manager for its growing Northwest Arkansas operations.

Herdes brings over 20 years of industry experience, particularly in leading retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, navigating the complexities of data and analytics.

Crisp entered the Northwest Arkansas market in late 2023 by acquiring CPG analytics provider Atlas Technology Group in Rogers from Advantage Solutions.

The company has about 40 employees in Northwest Arkansas. Founder and CEO Are Traasdahl said he plans for the Crisp workforce in the region to grow substantially in the next two years, with jobs across all departments including sales, customer support and engineering.

“We already have fully integrated teams in Northwest Arkansas following our acquisition of Atlas,” Traasdahl said. “Dirk’s experience building, growing and expanding high-performing teams, along with his retail data expertise and strong ties to Bentonville, will be an important asset as we continue to broaden our services for enterprise brands.

“With Dirk leading our Bentonville operations, we are poised to deepen our relationships with current partners and forge new ones.”

Crisp recently announced a $50 million funding round. The company leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to connect CPG brands and developers to real-time data from over 40 retailers and distributors. The result is better insights, demand forecasting and other information that can help those companies make informed decisions about their inventory.

“This region is at the heart of the retail and CPG industry and plays a pivotal role for innovation,” Herdes said. “I am excited to join Crisp and help our clients succeed through data innovation and analytics while building a high-caliber team dedicated to delivering outstanding results for our clients and partners and having a positive impact on Northwest Arkansas.”

Crisp has five offices outside of Northwest Arkansas and about 140 full-time workers. The company’s largest workforce is in Northwest Arkansas.