Digital gifting company CashStar taps new marketing chief

CashStar, a digital gifting company, has named John Caron as chief marketing officer to lead all strategic corporate and product marketing efforts in support of the company’s aggressive growth plans.



Caron has more than 20 years of marketing, management and entrepreneurial experience in retail e-commerce, promotions and mobile. Most recently, he served as VP of marketing at Catalina Marketing, the world’s largest personalized digital media network for CPG retailers and brands. Caron played an integral role in the company’s growth into a digital and mobile leader, helping drive its acquisition in April by Berkshire Partners.



“John’s experience working with retailers and his success in the e-commerce, mobile and digital media industries make him a perfect fit for CashStar,” said Ben Kaplan, president and CEO of CashStar. “CashStar’s incredible growth reflects huge demand by omnichannel retailers for our digital gifting and mobile marketing solutions. John’s expertise, leadership and energy will help CashStar and our clients take full advantage of this market opportunity.”



Caron joined Catalina through its acquisition of Modiv Media, the leading provider of in-store mobile commerce solutions, where he was SVP of marketing. Earlier in his career, Caron held senior marketing roles at several early-stage and high-growth companies, including ATG (acquired by Oracle), Gartner Group, NuMega (acquired by Compuware) and Open Environment (acquired by Borland).



“CashStar is the market leader in digital gifting and the transformation of the simple gift card into a strategic marketing and promotions platform for retailers and restaurants,” said Caron. “With CashStar, digital gift cards can be deeply integrated in digital marketing strategies as branded promotional currencies to attract new customers, introduce new products and reward their most loyal customers across any channel. Retailers are looking for promotional innovation and CashStar is leading that charge. This is a very exciting time for CashStar and I’m excited to be part of such a ground-breaking company.”