The AI Advantage in Retail 

Keran McGuire is Senior Vice-President of AI and Technology Platforms at Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC), overseeing a comprehensive portfolio that includes AI integration, data centre operations, IT service management, end user services, and data management across CTC.

Keran joined CTC in 2023 and now leads the scaling and activation of AI within the enterprise to create a more agile, customer-focused organization – a pivotal part of CTC’s True North strategy.

With over 20 years of industry experience, Keran is a seasoned technology executive with a proven track record of leadership and execution across the finance, technology, and healthcare sectors, including senior roles at Microsoft Canada, IGM Financial, GoEasy, CIBC and e-Health.

Samir Kulkarni is CEO of Showcase, a national 150-store retailer spanning the USA and Canada.  Known for its hashtag #ShowcaseMadeMeBuyIt with 300 million views on TikTok, Showcase is “The Home of the Hottest Trends”, specializing in emerging social media trends across health, beauty, home, toys, tech, and food – all joyfully retailed in a “fun and interactive” environment in major shopping malls where you can “try it before you buy it”.  Showcase’s proprietary trend-identification technology (increasingly fueled by AI) and social media marketing savvy has propelled it to win Deloitte’s Best Managed Companies Award for 4 years running, as well as the YPO Top 10 Global Innovators Award and the Omnichannel Excellence in Retailing Awards.  Beyond leading Showcase for the last 25 years, Samir appears regularly in national media speaking about the trend retailing industry, including Bloomberg, Inc. Magazine, The Globe and Mail, New York Business Journal, CTV, Retail Insider, Authority Magazine, The Playground Podcast, and more.  Samir also serves on the Board of Directors of Retail Council of Canada to promote retail advocacy and sound public policy.  Samir holds an MBA from Yale University and lives near Toronto with his wife Divya and two kids.

Sharon Gai is an expert in AI and innovation. She helps organizations become agile disruptors in their industries so they can increase revenue and retain users. In her tenure at Alibaba, she advised brands and heads of state in crafting their digital strategy with programmatic marketing and AI. She has worked with TEDx, Singularity University, UBS, Deloitte, Walmart, LVMH, Nestle, Tetra Pak, Twilio and many others. She is in the AAE list of Top Keynote Speakers in 2023. She is a RETHINK Retail’s Top Retail Expert and a LinkedIn Community Top Voice in 2024. She has appeared on Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC, CBC, CCTV, TechCrunch, Retail Asia, Wired, and The Next Web. She is the author of the book, Ecommerce Reimagined. Sharon has an Honors Bachelor’s degree in International Development from McGill and a Masters in Information Management from Columbia University. When she is not globetrotting (thank you, speaking gigs!), she is jamming on the keyboards or chatting up cool entrepreneurs for Alibaba’s podcast, B2B Breakthrough.