Les Haut-Parleurs

Carolyn Wright is Senior Vice President, Product and Planning at Holt Renfrew, Canada’s leading fashion and lifestyle destination. She leads all product categories comprehensive of the concession business which includes global luxury brands.

With more than 20 years of leadership experience across top brands like Adidas, Aritzia, and Joe Fresh, Carolyn brings deep expertise in brand development, retail strategy, and international growth. At Holt Renfrew, she leads a dynamic team shaping the company’s strategic roadmap and driving growth through customer-focused, sustainable, and inclusive product initiatives. Her leadership has been instrumental in evolving Holt Renfrew’s offering to reflect a more accessible, diverse, and responsible vision for modern Canadian luxury. Carolyn holds a BCOMM and an Accelerated MBA from Queen’s University. Passionate about mentorship and empowerment, she actively supports female and student programs and is part of Be Uninterrupted, a new network for women navigating career transitions. She also sits on the Board of Directors at Toronto’s Badminton and Racquet Club, contributing to its Sports Committee and DE&I Task Force. A former ski racer turned avid sports enthusiast, she now shares her love of athletics—and its life lessons—with her young son.

Sean McCormick is an expert in consumer spending data. Sean joined Moneris in 2015 and is the Vice President of Business Development, Moneris Data Services, which enables private and public sector organizations to use payment data to improve their economic forecasting capabilities and inform their economic development strategy. Sean specialized in SaaS products until the onset of the pandemic when governments needed trusted and reliable consumer spending data to make crucial policy decisions that were necessitated by the historical shift in consumer spending behaviour.  

Working with both the public and private sectors, Sean created a network of like-minded researchers, analysts and economists who leveraged Moneris data as an input to pandemic support and recovery strategy. This network continues to leverage Moneris spending insights to support a wide range of research objectives to better understand the impact of economic trends in different categories across Canada, including retail. 

David Boone is the Chief Executive Officer of The Michaels Companies, Inc.

Since assuming the role in February 2025, David has seized every opportunity to drive transformation and growth, solidifying Michaels as the leading destination for creativity and celebration in North America. 

Prior to joining Michaels, David was the interim CEO of Essendant, a wholesale, e-commerce, and 3PL company. David’s retail leadership experience includes previously serving as CEO of Staples Canada, where he led a six-year transformation, redefining its retail experience, expanding merchandise offerings, and scaling its services and B2B businesses through acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Before Staples, he held leadership roles at TD Bank USA, driving growth in financial services for major U.S. retailers. He also held a variety of executive positions during his 16 years at Loblaw Companies, Canada’s largest retailer, where he led its National Wholesale Club Division and played a key role in merchandising strategy and category management across several businesses. 

David holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University and an MBA from Kellogg (Northwestern) and Schulich (York University).

Jean-Pierre Lacroix is President of Shikatani Lacroix Design (SLD), a global branding firm specializing in transforming customer experiences. With a thorough background in graphic design and strategic foresight, Lacroix is a future-focused innovator who has been instrumental in assisting brands to remain relevant.

He is coauthor of the best-selling book The Business of Graphic Design and author of The Belonging Experience, Desire by Design, and most recently ThinkBlink Manifesto: Creating Deep, Lasting Emotional Brand Connections in the Blink of an Eye.

Lacroix has been running design firms for the past forty-six years, the last thirty-six at SLD, helping manage the transformation of major organizations around the world.