Tuesday, June 2
11:30 am
- 12:15 pm
Speakers:
Mark Innes
Associate Partner Retail and CPG
IBM Consulting
Associate Partner Retail and CPG
35+ years as a retail executive in Food, Mass, Entertainment and Pharmacy. Mark held key leadership roles in Marketing, Merchandising and Operations with Loblaws, Target, Empire Co. and Pharmasave. As a retail consultant for IBM, Mark uses his knowledge of the industry combined with IBM’s global expertise across the retail spectrum to help retailers achieve their goals.
Speaking at:
Adrian Lang
Chief People and Legal Officer
Staples Canada
Chief People and Legal Officer
Adrian holds the responsibility for all people, culture, talent, communications, legal, regulatory, and compliance matters. She previously held senior leadership roles at Bank of Montreal, including Head of Operations and Small Business Solutions and Associate General Counsel, Prior to that she was a partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP. A recognized leader in the legal profession, she has received the Canadian General Counsel Award for Litigation Management, the Community Builder Award from the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, and has been recognized for her expertise by numerous organizations, including Lexpert, Benchmark Canada, and Best Lawyers. Ms. Lang has extensive board experience, currently serving on the boards of War Child Canada and Women General Counsel Canada.
Speaking at:
Concurrent A
Retail’s next productivity leap won’t come from working harder—it will come from redesigning work. Agentic AI is reshaping how work gets done, and retail leaders face a critical choice: lead the shift or fall behind. Join Adrian Lang, Chief People and Legal Officer at Staples Canada, research leaders from IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) and Mark Innes, Associate Partner at IBM, for a candid executive discussion on turning agentic AI momentum into real business results. IBM’s IBV 2026 CEO Study shows that 59% of CEOs expect CHRO influence to rise, signaling a fundamental shift in who owns transformation and value creation. This session cuts through the hype to focus on what truly drives impact—how to redesign workflows, build the right skills, and realign culture to unlock productivity at scale and convert AI investment into measurable ROI.
Sponsored by:
Booth #229
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
