Retail analytics leader builds the data foundation behind faster, higher-performing agentic AI, as the company invests in its East Coast presence
Robots & Pencils, an applied AI partner that deploys frontier AI for measurable business outcomes, today announced the appointment of Helen Vetrano as Vice President of Data and Decision Science.
Vetrano leads the company’s Data & Decision Science practice, which ties data quality and business intelligence to the velocity and performance of the agentic AI systems Robots & Pencils builds for clients. She brings 20 years of analytics experience, including agency work at Digitas and Cramer, followed by nearly 15 years in retail at Crocs, Talbots, J. Jill, and her own consultancy advising mid-market retailers on analytics and data strategy. Based in Boston, Vetrano anchors an investment in the East Coast that puts Robots & Pencils closer to clients in the region.
“Agentic AI is only as fast and as capable as the data underneath it,” said Len Pagon, CEO of Robots & Pencils. “You bring agents to the data party, not the other way around. Helen is wicked smart, brings deep domain expertise, and is practical. Every client starts at a different level of data maturity, and she knows it. She prescribes the right solution for where they are, and that is how they get the business outcomes they are seeking.”
Enterprise executives are under pressure to grow with flat budgets, optimize costs and keep security tight, all while delivering a platinum customer experience. Fall short and they risk handing market share to competitors. “Excelling in uncertainty requires great decisions, and great decisions are made with great insight,” said Vetrano. “This practice gives enterprise leaders the data foundations and intelligent systems to make confident, accelerated decisions.”
Enterprises move fast and need answers quickly, but data systems often can’t keep up. “I’ve seen this challenge from both the commercial and IT side; AI can help close that gap, but only if the platform underneath is built to support it,” said Vetrano. “Robots & Pencils delivers resilient engineering focused on business outcomes. It’s an offering I would buy, and I joined to help scale it.”
The practice meets the client at the point of their greatest need. “For some organizations that means surfacing critical context and a shared language across teams or developing the predictive models that matter,” said Vetrano. “For others it means just getting data into reports consistently. With a solid data foundation, clients can focus on outcomes, like planning where to spend the next marketing dollar, allocating resources where they are most needed, or intercepting a struggling student.”
The practice builds client data foundations on leading platforms, including AWS, Databricks, and Snowflake, so people and agents reach a working system of truth quickly.
“Helen brings a retail leader’s instinct for data, built on business outcomes,” said Jeff Kirk, EVP of Applied AI at Robots & Pencils. “She pairs that instinct with the business and data context platform work our clients depend on, so every agentic AI system we build starts on data clients can trust.”
