Team
Meet our team
Navio (or nao in Old Spanish) was the primary ship used by early Spanish and Portuguese explorers during the Age of Discovery. The ships’ design made them ideal for navigating through uncharted waters to unknown territories.
Just like the navios of old, we help clients navigate the challenges of a transformation. With multi-disciplinary expertise from technology to store management, we help you build and lead programs to drive transformation and fuel growth.
Carlos D. Castelán
Founder & Managing Director
Before founding The Navio Group, Carlos was a Partner & Chief Strategy Officer at Conlego, a premier negotiations and … partnership firm. There he advised on growth strategy …
Kate McDonald
Senior Principal
Kate is a former Principal in Target Corporation’s corporate strategy group in Minneapolis, MN …
Jadesola Arowolo
Senior Analyst
Before joining The Navio Group, Jadesola built her career in retail in merchandising and operations roles at Office Depot and …
Stefan A. Castelán
Head of Marketing Practice
Stefan is the Head of Marketing Practice at The Navio Group and holds a B.A. from Stanford University. Before joining Navio, he was the first marketer at DataFox and helped scale it for five years until its acquisition by Oracle.
Blog
Packaging EPR: New Supply Chain Costs Hitting Your Bottom Line in 2025–26
Remember paying a nickel deposit on a soda can? Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) brings that idea to packaging—only the brand pays. Starting next year, five
Tariffs, Tactics, and Cash: The Operator’s Edge in 2025
Tariffs usually mean higher costs and frozen cash. Smart operators are flipping the script. In the fog of 2025’s tariff chaos, most companies see only margin
The Three Strategic Pillars Shaping Retail’s Back Half in 2025
Q1 earnings calls make one thing clear: retailers aren’t sitting still. Amid renewed tariff pressures, volatile costs, and consumer pullbacks, the largest players—Walmart, Amazon, Costco,
