Speakers

Michèle Boudria, President & Chief Executive Officer, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada, is responsible for the business operations across more than 1,400 McDonald’s restaurants from coast to coast. A people-first leader, Michèle is focused on driving business results and creating a bigger impact to deliver on McDonald’s purpose of feeding and fostering communities. 

As McDonald’s Canada’s first woman President & CEO who started her career behind the front counter more than 35 years ago, Michèle is committed to using the organization’s scale to realize its purpose to feed and foster communities.  She will ensure McDonald’s lives up to its promise to be a leader of positive change here in Canada. 

Before leading the Canadian business, Michèle served as Managing Director of McDonald’s Netherlands. During this time, she was pivotal in focusing the organization on operations, helping the brand to secure a top position in the market. Together with the leadership team, she also refined the organizational structure to ensure the entire market was able to deliver strong results. 

Michèle began her career with McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited in 1984 as restaurant crew in Aylmer, Quebec. From there, she moved on to regional, national, and international leadership roles of increasing responsibility, including Worldwide Operations teams in 2014. In 2015, she joined the Canada Leadership Team as McCafé Officer. In that role she helped define the vision for McCafé coffee leadership and guided her teams to sustained and consistent periods of growth. In 2018, Michèle was appointed West Regional Vice President, where she established herself as a strong partner to the Owner/Operators in the region.  

Passionate about DE&I, Michèle is a former Chair of the Canadian McDonald’s Women’s Leadership Network and a former Vice-Chair for the US Women’s Leadership Network, she has also held the positions of Canadian Women’s Leadership Network Sponsor and Canadian Representative on the Global Women’s Leadership Network. 

Andrew is an accomplished Sales Leader with over 25 years of sales experience leading high performance sales teams in growth industries including Cloud and Analytics.  He is never afraid to dream big and be creative; thrives on building winning, customer obsessed cultures by modeling a disciplined approach to revenue growth and value based selling.  

Prior to MicroStrategy, Andrew held sales leadership roles with Sisense, Honeywell and IBM Corporation. 

Andrew is a proud MUN Alumni, graduating from Business with a Bcomm Honors in 1995.  An avid cyclist, die hard sports fan and hobby golfer.  He now lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his wife, Suanne, and daughter, Leah. 

He is never afraid to dream big and be creative; thrives on building winning, customer obsessed cultures by modeling a disciplined approach to revenue growth and value based selling.  

Darrell is an advocate of effecting social change through the economic empowerment of 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurs. He is the co-founder and CEO of the CGLCC, Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce, a national not-for-profit organization with a mission to expand the opportunities and advancement of the 2SLGBTQI+ business community in Canada. 

Darrell is a founding member of Supplier Diversity Alliance Canada, a national organization dedicated to the advancement of research, education, and advocacy of supplier diversity in Canada. He sits on the Supplier Advisory Committee (Public Services and Procurement Canada) to provide support in identifying potential improvements to Federal Government procurement.  

He is also the co-founder of the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Business Education Foundation and Travel Gay Canada.   

 
Darrell completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree at the University of Calgary, and completed his Executive MBA from Richard Ivey School of Business, Western University. 

Terry, a veteran of the LP/AP industry, continues to help shape the industry through retail crime intelligence and building partnerships with law enforcement to combat crime, violence and the challenges of organized retail crime.  Before joining Auror, Terry led two of the industry’s premier brands for education and media by overseeing the operations of The Loss Prevention Foundation and LP Magazine. Prior to taking on the role of President of the LPF, Terry spent 29 years in the retail loss prevention industry, holding various senior leadership roles with Lowe’s and with American Stores/Albertsons.

Sangita Patel is one of Canada’s most engaging media personalities. Previously a co-host of ET Canada, she has interviewed many of the biggest stars from around the globe, both in-studio and on the red carpet. Today, she’s the host of TLC’s newest lifestyle show, Love and Translation, following her hit four-season run as host of HGTV Canada’s Home to Win. Whether hosting an event or sharing her personal story, Patel infuses everything she does with passion and professionalism.
In 2022, Patel won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Host of a Web Program or Series for her work with ET Canada Live. She has also been nominated for Best Host in the lifestyle category for her work on Home to Win. In addition, Patel is the recipient of a Trailblazer Award from the Reelworld film festival, named Anokhi magazine’s “Television Personality of The Year”, and was featured in Vogue India as one of the “50 Most Influential Global South Asians.”
Patel has a passion for giving back to her community, stepping up when it’s needed most, from delivering food to frontline workers during the pandemic to hosting national fundraisers for charitable causes

Maya Colombani has been appointed Chief Sustainability and Human Rights Officer of L’Oréal Canada in April 2022. With an international career of over 20 years at L’Oréal, Maya is distinguished by a rich and comprehensive professional background. She began her career in France, working for leading design and advertising agencies such as Dragon Rouge, Publicis, and Euro RSCG. She then joined L’Oréal’s Professional Products division in 2001. There, she held positions in operational marketing and DMI (Direction Marketing International), for Kérastase and L’Oréal Professionnel. She carried out assignments in India and in the Western Europe zone, before moving to Brazil in June 2010 where she worked in marketing functions. Since the end of 2016, she has been Director of Sustainable Development for Brazil. 

In this role, she profoundly transformed L’Oréal Brazil’s approach to sustainable development and human rights. She has implemented actions that inspired the L’Oréal Group and positioned L’Oréal Brazil as a national benchmark. L’Oréal Brazil is indeed regularly cited as an example and is used to fuel new reflections, both on environmental issues and on human rights issues, as well as with respect to the relations with the indigenous people of Brazil.  

Her projects have been rewarded by the best rankings such as Guia Exame 2017/2018/2019; recognized as the best company in climate change as well as biodiversity management; and has received the WEP gold award 2021 on women empowerment supported by ONU Women and Compact Global.  

In 2022, thanks to her strong inclusive social programs for indigenous and communities, the GLOBO recognized L’Oréal Brazil as “The company that makes the difference in term of inclusion and diversity.” 

In Canada, Maya’s mission is to increase the positive footprint internally and externally in terms of sustainable development and human rights, and to accelerate the actions carried out within the framework of “L’Oréal For the Future.” Among her first projects, she has already focused, with the Canadian teams, on achieving the company’s full carbon neutrality on all its sites, as well as accelerating ambitious targets on water management and implementing cleantech partnership and eco-design business with committed brands. 

Thanks to impactful projects in Canada, earned her the prestigious “Canada’s Clean 50” award that “recognized the most impactful 50 individual LEADERs that have demonstrated measurable leadership in fighting climate change and helping Canada transition to a low-carbon economy.” Another important achievement for Maya is being named President of the “Positive Impact Club” of the French CCI in Canada, to have a positive impact on our society and reinforce the bond between France and Canada.  

Maya graduated from Reims Business School and completed an MBA semester of International Business Strategy in Victoria University, Australia. She now lives in Montreal, Québec, Canada with her family.  

Selwyn Crittendon is CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA Canada, a world-leading home furnishing retailer. For more than 40 years, Canadians have welcomed IKEA into their homes, and have been strong supporters of the IKEA brand, product range and its vision “to create a better everyday life for the many people”. Selwyn joined IKEA in 2002 at the IKEA Woodbridge, VA store as the Customer Convenience Manager. During the last 20 years, Selwyn has held numerous roles across the organization from driving an excellent customer experience to developing and strengthening leaders.  

Today, Selwyn leads the ongoing transformation of the Canadian business to create a more affordable, accessible, convenient, and sustainable shopping experience for the IKEA customer and more importantly, a rewarding place to work for IKEA co-workers nationally. Throughout this omnichannel, people-focused transformation, IKEA continues to explore new store formats, enhance the in-store experience, invest in new digital experiences, improve its service offer, and optimize its distribution networks. 

Selwyn’s passion for people, transformation, and change, fuels his focus on strategic growth that will propel IKEA Canada for many years to come.  

An avid foodie and father of two, Selwyn has settled with his family in Oakville, ON. 

Diana S. Dimitian is the Senior Vice- President, and Managing Director of South Europe for Levi Strauss & Company.  She leads the important region within Levi Strauss Europe, including 17 countries.  Dimitian was appointed to this position in October 2018, and the company moved her to Paris in January 2019 to manage and grow this important cluster of countries for Europe, Africa.  Dimitian was recruited by Levi Strauss & Company, the America’s Region, in May 2015, and appointed Vice-President, and Managing Director for Canada. Within her first three years leading the market, she tripled the women’s Levi’s business, grew both Levi’s & Dockers Men’s market share, expanded the denim leader into new lifestyle categories, launched Ecommerce within Canadian market, and practically doubled the country’s business whilst losing their second largest retailer. Prior to Levi Strauss & Company, Dimitian was a highly accomplished, and regarded footwear executive. She worked for Wolverine World Wide for over sixteen years holding various senior executive positions in both the Canadian, and USA markets.  She led sales, marketing, merchandising, brand management teams for International brands such as Hush Puppies, and Harley-Davidson.   

From a young age, Derrick Emsley has been actively involved with environmental stewardship. At 16, he and his brother founded a tree planting company that sold carbon credits to businesses, a venture that saw over $1 million dollars in contracts, and planted 150,000 trees. This venture helped pave the way to the founding of tentree in 2012, where Derrick has operated as the CEO ever since, guiding the company’s vision. tentree is a lifestyle brand that plants trees for every product sold. In just under a decade, tentree has set new standards in the sustainable apparel world, sold >10MM units, and contributed to the planting of over 100 million trees. Today, Derrick also serves as the CEO of veritree, a technology platform built to verify, report, and monitor global reforestation projects. veritree now offers “reforestation-as-a-service” to over 200 companies across the globe looking integrate sustainability and restoration into their business model. Named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2020, Derrick has dedicated his career to making saving the planet simple. 

Thomas Haupt is a seasoned retailer with over 20 years of experience working for both mass consumer and luxury retailers. Prior to joining Sephora Canada, he was with Louis Vuitton as Senior Vice President of U.S. Retail, where he successfully led the LV U.S. retail teams through unprecedented growth during his five-year tenure. At Sephora Canada, Thomas is focused on propelling the business forward through his passion and commitment to developing teams, challenging the status quo and his ability to drive results. A true people leader, Thomas is also the executive sponsor of Sephora Canada’s ONYX INCommunity employee resource group dedicated to cultivating, strengthening and maintaining positive relationships between Black employees and the broader company.

A believer in well-being and mindfulness, Thomas enjoys travelling and staying active outdoors.

A true change agent, Achille has helped many leading global organizations build out impactful analytics programs. These programs have repeatedly realized a significant ROI by embedding Achille’s framework for making data-based decisions into corporate culture.

The data strategies Achille implemented enhanced operational efficiencies across 2,400+ stores. The analytics team also provided key support for integrations involving Loblaw’s notable acquisitions of Shoppers Drug Mart and Zellers’ prescription files.

After transforming one of the largest supply chains in North America at Loblaw Companies Ltd., Achille developed the organization’s first-ever analytics program in collaboration with Queens University. The successful program grew to become one of the country’s largest, with 500+ analytics practitioners.

Achille was invited to replicate his success in driving change as an Executive Consultant at the International Institute of Analytics. He is also a Founding Member of the Advisory Board for the Smith School of Business’s ground-breaking Management Analytics and Artificial Intelligence master’s degree programs. Additionally, Achille serves on the Editorial Board for the UK-based Journal of AI, Robotics & Workplace Automation. He is also Co-Chair of the Canadian Operational Research Society’s Industry Practitioners Committee.

President and Founder of Environics Analytics, Jan Kestle, has been a leader in data and analytics for over five decades. An expert in using statistics and mathematics to solve social and business challenges, she has worked with hundreds of organizations in all sectors to support their data-driven decision-making. She is a member of the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council, Western University’s Morrissette School of Entrepreneurship and the Ted Rogers School of Management’s Dean’s Advisory Council. Jan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics from Western University.

Eric Morris is the Managing Director and Head of Google’s Retail practice in Canada, where since 2002, he has worked alongside the country’s top marketers and advertising agencies.

Eric has held several leadership roles at Google Canada, leading sales, operations, research, strategy and analytics for Google’s advertising business. Most recently, he led Google Canada’s search and performance advertising business.

In 2016 Eric was named inventor and issued a patent in the United States for identifying rising search queries and trends at scale for advertisers worldwide.

Eric was elected to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada’s board of directors in 2009, and elected Chair of the board in 2015.

Doug Stephens is one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists. His intellectual work and thinking has influenced many of the most widely known international retailers, agencies and brands including Walmart, Google, L’Oreal, BMW and LVMH.

Prior to founding the consultancy Retail Prophet, Doug spent over 20 years in the retail industry, holding senior international leadership roles.

Doug has most recently released highly anticipated book in Spring 2021 entitled Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World. He is also the author of two International bestselling books – Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World and The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism. Doug is the nationally syndicated retail columnist for CBC Radio and sits on multiple corporate and academic advisory boards.

His unique perspectives on retailing, business and consumer behavior have been featured in many of the world’s leading publications and media outlets including The New York Times, The BBC, TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company.

Kimi Walker leads a team that manages product safety and compliance, responsible sourcing, and environmental stewardship across the Canadian Tire family of companies.  In addition, she drives circular economy initiatives by sharing internal and external best practices, finding collaborative partners and celebrating our many successes.

Kimi also actively participates as a Board Member of the Canadian Electrical Stewardship Association, as a Board Member of the Trade Facilitation Organization, and as Treasurer of Nirapon, an organization to drive a culture of worker safety in Bangladesh.

Kimi joined Canadian Tire Corporation in 1994 as a Financial Analyst and has contributed to a number of different functions within Canadian Tire, including Retail Finance, Retail Strategy, Financial Systems, Business Intelligence, Sourcing, Product Quality and Reverse Flow.  Prior to coming to Canadian Tire, Kimi taught English for two towns in Ehime, Japan and earlier had been a Marketing Services Analyst for Petro-Canada Retail.

Kimi has an MBA in International Business from McMaster University and a Honours Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University.

As Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer at AIR MILES, Jason Beales leads the Client Services and Business Development teams, driving strategy and ensuring partner success. He excels in working with clients to uncover their inherent value, advising on growth driven corporate development, and has successfully assisted countless clients in optimizing their businesses. With entrepreneurial experience and a background in marketing and technology, Jason brings a wealth of expertise to his role.

As the GM of Global Business Solutions for TikTok Canada, Joshua Bloom leads with a vision for thought leadership and cultural development, shaping a world-class sales team dedicated to empowering marketers with innovative solutions that foster authentic connections and drive tangible business outcomes. Joshua brings over 24 years of digital media expertise to his role, having pioneered impactful strategies at Facebook, where he was the inaugural Canadian employee, and cultivated trusted partnerships with major brands and agencies. With a career spanning pivotal roles at DoubleClick Media, Conducive, WhenU, and MySpace, Joshua’s deep market insights and creative prowess continue to drive growth and innovation in the ever-evolving landscape of digital media.

Meaghan Brophy is the Senior Director, Sales at Walmart Connect Canada, which is Walmart’s advertising and omnichannel media business. With over 15 years of experience in media sales, Meaghan excels in driving revenue growth and fostering strategic partnerships. Meaghan is known for her collaborative spirit and commitment to delivering value to client partners. She is eager to share insights on sales strategies, key trends and challenges facing the retail media industry, and how Walmart Connect is looking to solve those challenges in partnership with clients. 

In this Customer Success Manager role, Dale is responsible for driving the successful integration of Canada Post’s ecommerce value proposition with the strategic goals of some of the largest retailers across Canada. His experience in business development, client acquisition, and executing complex sales strategies has enabled Dale to have a rich understanding of the market and the needs of retailers. Dale is the a recipient of numerous sales excellence awards for his commitment to the successful business outcomes of his retail partners, for putting customers first, and for embodying Canada Post’s overarching purpose: A Stronger Canada – Delivered.

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.

Francesca Cardarelli leads Strategy & Insights for McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada, marrying data with insights to elevate decision making and setting strategies of the future to drive business growth. Prior, Francesca led Digital Strategy & Marketing Planning for McDonald’s Canada, which included launching its loyalty program and advancing its personalization strategies to build stronger connections with the millions of Canadians that visit the restaurants each day.

An established leader in the Canadian Food & Beverage Industry, Francesca brings with her deep CPG and QSR experience from PepsiCo Foods, Starbucks and Jamieson Vitamins.

Her focus on growth goes beyond the business – she is passionate about talent development and building future Canadian marketing leaders, bringing to life this commitment as a member of the Marketing Advisory Committee for the Ted Roger’s School of Business

Committed to serving communities across Canada and helping families in need, Francesca sits on the National Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada.

Outside of the office, she can be found running, at a yoga class, or underwater scuba diving.

With over 20 years of marketing research experience, Lisa started at Leger in 2003 and is a highly respected professional. As a senior vice-president at Leger, Lisa manages the Communications and Public Affairs practice and is a senior member of the Toronto office. Her clients include government, most of the top PR agencies in Canada, and communications practitioners at several corporations, food associations and pharmaceutical companies.
She focuses her practice on public affairs and research for media attention across numerous industries. She also conducts research with associations, not-for-profits, government, retail, and financial institutions. She is well-versed in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. With over 300 studies completed each year, Lisa’s team regularly assesses reputation, advertisements, public opinion, attitudes, behaviour, and key satisfaction metrics across various industries.
Lisa is an active member of the CPRS as a national board director. Lisa is also a spokesperson for Leger and is happy to speak on a variety of topics

Mamta has over a decade of experience leading initiatives that directly address customer needs and support business growth. Her deep understanding of the market and customer influences has enabled her to launch direct marketing products and online solutions, develop communication strategies that are customer focused and curate segment-based content to support business development. Mamta was recently responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies with a focus on driving growth of the parcels business and nurturing customer relationships. She now leads a team of marketing professionals responsible for crafting and delivering the voice of business in market – defining value propositions and messaging by segment, channel, and audience – reaching businesses through effective communication, marketing, and selling strategies.

Andrea is considered a transformative and thought provoking leader with more than 25 years of retail executive experience with best in class corporation globally. Her extensive retail and board expertise has Andrea spending a great deal of time in strategy, revenue growth opportunities, digital businesses, organizational transformation, people and culture movements.

Andrea currently leads Moose Knuckles direct to consumer business globally. Previously she managed her own consulting business supporting international and domestic retailers driving strategic growth and improving profitability metrics. Prior to R2 – Retail Resources she managed PVH Canada Retail, successfully launching four retail divisions into Canada. Andrea also worked for Karabus Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of PwC, for over seven years as the COO and EVP, driving the firms largest practice, Performance Improvement. Prior to Karabus, as the Director of Canada Operations, she led the introduction of Williams-Sonoma Inc. brands into Canada, which included Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids. Andrea started her career as a senior executive at Gap Inc. in San Francisco within the International Division.

John Francis is currently serving as the Vice President, Insights & Customer Engagement at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC), where he focuses on delivering exceptional customer experiences and achieving organizational objectives. With a track record of success in national marketing campaigns and sales plans, John values meaningful connections and leverages data and insights to solve challenges. Having previous experience at Western Financial Group and Molson Coors, he brings a wealth of cross-sector expertise to his role.

Chris brings a wealth of healthcare experience, having worked in pharmacy retail for over 28 years. Most recently, Chris served as President, CEO, and board member for Neighbourly Pharmacy. He led the company’s growth from its early stages to becoming the third-largest national retail pharmacy network in Canada. Under his leadership, Neighbourly grew over 600% through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth, and now has nearly 300 locations across Canada. Chris also guided the company through its initial public offering in 2021 and continues to provide support and counsel as Strategic Advisor.

Chris also spent 23 years at Shoppers Drug Mart in various leadership positions overseeing merchandising, district operations, and optimization projects, with his last role being Vice President of National Operations. Chris sits on several private company boards and is a private investor and advisor for several multisite retail and healthcare businesses.

Adam is the Senior Vice President of Product & Marketing at Flipp, a leading retail technology company. In his role, Adam is focused on building products and technologies that help people make smart shopping decisions while enabling retailers and brands to influence those decisions through digital merchandising experiences.

Adam is an experienced, charismatic speaker, who most recently delivered the Concurrent Session at RCC’s Retail Marketing Conference in September 2023, alongside Matthew Cheung. Adam is an accomplished public speaker with the ability to distill complex and large ideas into relatable real-life analogies and examples that bring context and inclusivity to multiple audiences.

Before joining Flipp, Adam led various businesses at Procter & Gamble including Retail Innovation, eCommerce, Market Strategy & Planning, and the Amazon Business Development Team. Adam graduated from the University of Toronto where he studied Computer Science and Political Science. Before graduation, Adam took a four-year break from University to tour the world as a member of a critically acclaimed reggae-rock band called Panic & the Rebel Emergency.

Driven by the imperative to meet the evolving needs of EV drivers and site hosts for efficient EV charging solutions, Jose is responsible for leading strategic initiatives across various market verticals at FLO. A dedicated EV enthusiast and owner himself, Jose amassed over a decade of invaluable experience spanning Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Research, and Manufacturing industries prior to embarking his electrical journey. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Memorial University.

Peter has worked across the globe advising some of the biggest, most influential brands in Retail and beyond. Peter and KPMG in Canada’s Customer practice is a highly sought after strategy consultancy specializing in shaping an ambitious path for clients in the areas of Unified Commerce, Customer Experience and Service Design. However, Peter’s work goes beyond strategy – his portfolio of work includes dozens of technology enablement platforms bridging strategy through to execution. Peter is a Partner at KPMG in Canada and part of the global Customer practice leadership team.

Victor is an Account Director with TC Transcontinental Premedia with over 20 years in the industry serving some of Canada’s largest retailers, specializing in providing omnichannel solutions for clients in areas of print, ecommerce, and instore marketing.  As part of the innovation team, Victor assisted in launching the Advanced Digital Flyer, leveraging a combination of traditional and digital channels to maximize engagement as part of the path to purchase.

Viktoriia is a seasoned digital marketing professional with a wealth of experience guiding clients in adopting a data-driven approach, utilizing deeper insights and practical applications that yield measurable outcomes. With a proven track record in increasing revenue, profits, market share, and customer satisfaction, Viktoriia is a results-driven expert in her field.

Viktoriia’s mandate as a Group Account Director at DAC is to work with clients and internal teams to address business challenges through the development of personalized, integrated, and data-driven strategies that align with the needs of consumers at the brand level down to the local.

Viktoriia hold a BComm degree from the University of British Columbia and C.A.A.P. designation from the Institute of Canadian Agencies.

Matt Kropp is a core member of the Marketing, Sales & Pricing, Social Impact, and Technology, Media & Telecommunications practices at Boston Consulting Group. He focuses on leveraging generative AI (Gen AI) to create competitive advantage for clients across industries, and driving growth for SaaS companies through pricing strategy.

Matt has experience in: GenAI strategy; use-case build and transformation programs; B2B pricing strategy for tech, software, semiconductors, and industrial goods; digital transformation including cloud transformation; digital product innovation; the future of transportation and logistics; and large-scale business transformations.

Before joining the firm, Matt spent nine years as an entrepreneur building and running several technology consulting firms, a medical informatics software company, and a digital freight marketplace. He has served on the boards of Transplant Connect, a SaaS platform managing EMRs for 80% of organs transplanted in the US, and North Bridge Academy, a non-profit independent school in Marin County dedicated to teaching students with dyslexia.

As Vice President of Client Management for Global Merchant Services at American Express Canada, Kimberly Kuzmak is a dynamic leader who champions innovation and drives growth. Leading her team with a keen focus, Kimberly plays a key role in developing and maintaining strong relationships with the company’s largest and most significant Canadian merchants. She oversees a dedicated team, focused on delivering exceptional solutions that enhance merchant operations and foster deep, lasting relationships.

Her advocacy for small business and focus on creating customer-centric solutions reflects her dedication to creating value for both merchants and consumers alike.

Kimberly champions workplace diversity and inclusion, leading by example as the Executive Sponsor of the Virtual Office Network in Canada. This role underscores her commitment to nurturing an inclusive environment where diverse talent thrives.

Throughout her impressive 20-year career with American Express, Kimberly has demonstrated an exceptional ability to thrive across various roles, consistently guiding her teams to success. Her leadership excellence has been recognized as a three-time winner of the American Express President’s Club Award, highlighting her leadership and strategic acumen.

Living in Toronto with her family, Kimberly’s professional achievements are complemented by her personal commitment to her community, making her a well-rounded leader whose influence extends beyond the corporate world.

Adam Luck is a digital agency leader with 20+ years driving results for clients and agencies alike. Adam focuses on understanding client challenges/opportunities and assembling talented people to help solve the problem collaboratively. Currently Adam is serving as the Managing Director, Canada for DAC, an international digital performance agency recognized by Forrester as one of the top Performance Marketing Agencies globally. Previously Adam has worked at some of Canada’s finest media and creative agencies including Initiative, Reprise, Grip Limited, and Cossette. Adam is an HBA graduate from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Michael is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Secure conference with leaders from The Gap and Kroger talking about violence in retail stores, keynotes on the state & future of retail in Orlando and Halifax, and at the 2023 Canadian GroceryConnex conference, hosting the CEOs of Walmart Canada, Longo’s and Save-On-Foods Canada.   Michael brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi’s, Black & Decker, Hudson’s Bay, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael also produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in North America, Remarkable Retail,

Canada’s top retail industry podcast; the Voice of Retail; Canada’s top food industry and the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor, with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail influencers for the fourth year in a row, Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer, and you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Colleen Martin is Caddle’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and is passionate about customer-centric retail, marketing strategies, and omnichannel retail technology. Colleen has been working in the Retail industry for nearly 25 years with a proven track record in growing businesses by providing strategic direction and leadership to merchandising and marketing teams. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or at colleen.martin@caddle.ca.

Sean McCormick is the subject matter expert for Moneris consumer spending data, helping the private and public sectors leverage the infinite utility of payment data to improve forecasting capabilities, acquire new customers, and inform policy decisions. Sean joined Moneris in 2015 and works exclusively with the Moneris Data Services team, supporting our retail clients who use payment data to enable deeper dives into the customer journey, helping them target new customers more efficiently.

Sander Meijers is the Canada Country Manager for Adyen. With over 14 years of experience in the technology industry, including leading growth partnerships with Spotify, Netflix, and Blendle. He has been working at Adyen since 2017 leading a team and the main accounts in the headquarters of the company in Amsterdam.

In 2022, he decided to take the next step in his career and moved to Toronto with his family to lead the Canadian team in the heart of “Silicon Valley North”. Now, Sander is currently spearheading innovation in the payments industry in Canada. As the driving force behind Adyen, he is leading a team in shaping the future of retail and payments, aiming to deliver a seamless experience for customers across all touchpoints, whether online or in-store, by leveraging the power of unified commerce.

A digital marketing expert with notable success in launching Canadian brands online. With 20 years’ experience, Chris was a key member of leadership for Walmart Canada Corporation during the launch of Walmart.ca. Chris’ accolades include working in the Pets Category where he significantly increased Big Al’s and Ren’s Pets online sales while working cross-functionally with store teams. He worked for newegg.ca as the National Manager and launched 8 Global Markets for the organization. As Sr Director of Omni- Channel Marketing at Home Hardware, Chris is responsible for Home’s eCommerce, Print and Promotions, Paid Media and Research and Insights.

Andy is responsible for connecting the dots between TC’s design studio, digital teams and their print, structural and industrial production facilities, to grow the envelope of what’s possible in-store, while maximizing sales lift, customer engagement and ROI for both brands and retailers.  Andy’s previous roles in distribution and as a brand owner, working with supply chain, operations, finance, sales and marketing, gives him a unique, holistic lens to problem solving for current in-store challenges

As President at AIR MILES, Shawn Stewart spearheads the strategic direction of Canada’s most recognized loyalty program with a specific view to driving meaningful engagement for consumers and partners alike. With stints at Canadian Tire, McKinsey & Company and Accenture, Shawn has been an industry leader in loyalty, customer experience, and digital transformation throughout his career and has a passion for building new capabilities and transforming organizations and brands.

Ryan Webber is the VP of Sales, Marketing and Client Success at Advance powered by LoblawTM, the retail media network of Loblaws Companies Limited. He is a dynamic business leader with a remarkable track record of over 20 years in sales, marketing, media, and executive management roles. As a visionary and passionate professional, Ryan’s career spans across diverse industries, including media, technology and telecommunications. With a unique blend of strategic acumen, emotional intelligence, and an unwavering commitment to fostering a culture of empathy and inclusivity, he has consistently driven exceptional results throughout his career.

Meet Steve Worthy, the visionary leader of Worthy Retail Global. As Founder and CEO, Steve blends executive coaching and leadership training for senior retail professionals worldwide.

Steve draws from over 27 years of executive retail experience to provide invaluable insights. His clients include top leaders from global retail brands. 

An authority on leadership development, Steve’s coaching practice began in 2006. Holding an MBA and certifications in Enneagram, DISC, and Myers Briggs, he cultivates impactful capabilities. Steve also heads THE CAMPUS, Worthy Retail’s global learning community.

His perspective shines on his podcast Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy podcast. Up next authoring “The Approachable Retail Leader” to be released in the fall of 2024.

With a solution-driven approach, Steve empowers senior retail leaders and teams to become change-makers driving personal and business success. His mission reshapes retail leadership globally.