Welcoming Remarks

Santo Ligotti is the VP of Member Services and Marketing at Retail Council of Canada and brings over 20 years of experience of marketing leadership. Santo began his career in data sciences and progressed to lead B2B/B2C marketing teams across financial, technology and payments industries including companies such as TD Canada Trust, Rogers Communications, CIBC, Moneris and JPMorgan Chase.

In addition, Santo is the President Elect for the  American Marketing Association, Toronto Chapter and teaches part time at George Brown College and York University. Santo holds an undergraduate degree in statistics from McMaster University, a Master’s in Information Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from York University.

Diane J. Brisebois, CAE, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Retail Council of Canada (RCC). She oversees the largest retail association in Canada serving over 45,000 retail establishments including independent merchants, chain stores, mass merchants, big box and online retailers. RCC’s membership covers all segments of the retail market including general merchandise, grocery and pharmacy.

Diane joined RCC as its President and CEO in January 1995. Diane has held CEO positions in the not-for-profit sector representing various industries for the past 35 years.

Diane has and continues to serve on a variety of Boards across North America.

Ms. Brisebois is Immediate Past Chair of the Fair Factory Clearinghouse (FFC), an organization established to enable collaboration between vendors and retailers in assessing and improving workplace conditions globally.

Ms. Brisebois is also the Immediate Past Chair and a member of the Executive Committee of the Forum of International Retail Association Executives (FIRAE) which represents retail associations from more than 30 countries brought together to collaborate on issues affecting the retail sector globally.

Ms. Brisebois also served for many years on the Board of Covenant House Toronto, on the Board and as Chairman of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation and on the Board and as Chairman of the Canadian Society of Association Executives.

She currently serves on:

• The Ted Rogers School of Retail Management Advisory Council
• The Advisory Board of the University of Alberta’s School of Retailing
• The Board of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, and
• The Board of Stewardship Ontario (Ontario Blue Box Program)

Ms. Brisebois is a native of Montreal, Quebec and now resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Jayme Johnson is a Partner in IBM Consulting, Canada where she leads the Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and Travel & Transportation (T&T) industries. She is a passionate leader who helps her clients not only drive change into business with technology but also realize the associated benefits from those initiatives. 

Jayme has 25+ years’ experience evolving organizations into resilient virtual enterprises fueled by data, powered by intelligent workflows, enabled by digital technologies, and activated by inspired talent. She leads a team that is partnering with clients coast to coast on many large enterprise-wide digital programs. 

Throughout Jayme’s career at IBM, she has guided organizations through national and global transformations in the areas of Finance, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Marketing and Human Resources. In addition, she possesses a strong background in program governance and change management – the people side of change. 

Jayme is a member of IBM’s Women Executive Council, where she is commited to building and growing diverse teams. She has participated in many internal and external events sharing her experiences and perspectives with our future leaders. She also presented at the Think Conference in Toronto on “How the AI Revolution is Reshaping the Future of Work for Retailers and Consumer Product Companies through AI-powered Intelligent Automation.” 

Jayme is a graduate of Babson College and has completed executive education programs on Understanding and Shaping Transformative Change with the Harvard Business School, as well as the The Judy Project: An Enlightened Leadership Forum for Executive Women with the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management.