Speakers

Yvonne Anyon

General Manager, Marketing
London Drugs

Bio coming soon

Christian Bourque

Executive Vice-President and Senior Partner
Leger

Christian has over 20 years of experience in the fields of public opinion and market research. Christian is Executive Vice-President at Leger and manages its Montreal research team. He is also a partner in the firm and acts as a senior consultant to the firm’s major clients. As a spokesperson for the company, Christian is a political commentator for the CBC and consumer trends columnist on Radio-Canada. One of the many projects that Christian oversees is the Leger annual WOW Customer Experience Index which is an industry benchmark that provides amazing insights for Retailers. Christian still teaches research methodology at Université de Montréal

Adam Coates

Chief Commercial Officer
Westleaf Inc.

With nearly a decade of business, marketing, operations and sales experience, Adam Coates possesses strong business acumen, paired with an intrinsic ability to produce robust brand and marketing strategies. With an intuitive business perspective and ability to offer strategic direction, Adam cultivates strong teams while delivering productive business solutions that effectively drive sales and heighten consumer experiences. As the Chief Commercial Officer for Westleaf Inc. and its retail banner, Prairie Records, Adam has played a pivotal role in defining the company’s value proposition and brand identity, while developing the retail brand and in-store experience. His past experience working in a highly regulated industry allows for him to provide meaningful insights on key trends and consumer behavior.

Karly de Lange

Founder
Influence Media Canada

Karly, a digital marketing strategist and founder of Influence Media, helps her clients to be found and loved through Email Marketing, SEO, Google & Facebook Ads, Content Marketing and more. She grows small to medium businesses by expanding their reach, growing their subscriber list, acquiring new customers and nurturing their community through strategic campaigns.

Handles:

Instagram & Facebook: @influencemedia.ca

Twitter: @inflmedia

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlygerlach/

Website: www.influencemedia.ca

Geoff Dear

President
Muse Cannabis

As President of Muse Cannabis, Geoff Dear combines his passion for people, design, branding, and construction. Geoff’s favourite part of leading Muse is connecting over cannabis and
learning something new every day, whether it’s about products, production, or innovations in the space. While Geoff is new to the recreational cannabis industry, he brings a decade of experience in liquor retail from his role as Director of Operations at JAK’S Beer Wine & Spirits, where he was responsible for leading the in-store design, branding, and construction process. Today he plays a similar leadership role at Muse.

Before his career in retail, Geoff was a helicopter engineer for 10 years, which took him to Angola, Taiwan, and the Peruvian Andes. He was eventually convinced to join the JAK’S family
business when he was at a crossroads about taking a contract in Afghanistan. He chose to take a chance on retail and hasn’t looked back! When Geoff isn’t at Muse’s flagship South Granville store, or spearheading the design and build of its next location, he can be found at the local hockey rink, coaching his two sons or playing himself. Geoff is also an avid golfer and surfer and is happiest when he’s near the water with his family.

Kevin Graff

President
Graff Retail TV

Kevin Graff is the President of Graff Retail, based in Toronto, Ontario. Since 1988, Graff Retail has specialized in working with retailers around the globe to increase their revenue through improved staff performance. Kevin is widely respected as one of North America’s best retail speakers and trainers and was recently chosen as one of the Top 50 Retail Influencers. His principle belief is that retailers are losing too many sales each day in their stores that they should be capturing. Kevin’s approach to store operations and his intense focus on real, bottom-line issues continually produce outstanding results. Kevin is also the creator of Graff Retail TV, the retail community’s leading source of online sales and management training. Since being launched in 2008, Graff Retail TV has provided thousands of sales associates and store management teams with the skills they need to succeed.

Peter Higgins

Executive Vice President
LUSH North America

Peter’s career has been focused in retail - specifically with high profile Consumer brands that are uniquely vertically integrated - currently working with LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics and prior to that as the President of Purdys Chocolatier.

Peter has recently taken on the role as the Executive Vice President with LUSH North America. LUSH North America is based out of Vancouver BC and has 250 stores across North America and is in the process of a continuing expansion phase with plans to open 100 new stores in the next 3 years while operating a strong e-commerce business.

Peter has wide experience in leading all aspects of a vertically integrated retailer and has a deep belief and focus on understanding the customer and ensuring the most relevant and highest standards of customer experience is at the heart of all decisions.

Peter is a people first leader where he is been a driving force in ensuring culture of high employee engagement as recognized by multiple Best Employer awards.

Peter is a member of YPO and has served on many different boards including most recently in his position as the Chair of the Board of the Retail Council of Canada.

Peter has been instrumental in establishing vertical integrated supply chains through his career and is passionate about sustainability having setup Sustainable farming operations. LUSH owns farms throughout the world to directly produce their own raw materials and providing improved livelihoods for our farming partners.

Dan Howe

Vice President of Marketing, Loyalty and Digital Strategies
Save On Foods

Dan Howe is currently Vice President of marketing, loyalty and digital strategies at Save On Foods. Save On Foods is a leading Western Canada grocery chain with 179 locations, extensive e-com business, with a strong focus on building powerful differentiated consumer brands. Over the past 6 years Dan and then entire Save On Foods has been working to balance and innovate the traditional paper flyer while also building digital consumer experiences. Dan also brings flyer experience from his time as Chief Marketing Officer of Yum Restaurants Europe and Canada developing strategies for Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell.

Eleanor Lynch

Senior Vice President of Retail Operations
Kiaro

Eleanor is a skilled retail executive with twenty years of experience across multiple leadership roles. Working with large national retailers, Eleanor has a track record in growing brands across Canada with both significant brick and mortar presence and experience in executing omni channel excellence. She focuses on building world class retail teams who deliver premium experiences and is excited to work with her team to bring this to the cannabis retail space.

Dave Mathews

Managing Director / Partner
Prospect Media Group Ltd.

Dave leads a team of rock stars at Prospect Media, comprised of data geeks, strategy addicts, integrated media experts and retail-aholics. He is responsible for overseeing the agency team, leading PMG’s growth strategy as a retail focused, data-driven, integrated media agency— from digital to print to omni-channel. With 25+ years in the media and retail marketing industry, he is focused on using data to drive traffic & sales growth for retailers. His passion is to deliver actionable consumer insights, combined with integrated media strategy to create joyful retail client experiences that make working with agencies cool again!

Dave has served on multiple boards within the marketing industry such as the RAC Board, the RCC Marketing Committee, as well as for the charitable organization Youth Without Shelter. He is the founding partner of Cover Me Urban, an annual fundraising event that supports YWS, raising over $600,000 for the shelter since inception in 2010.

Frank Monteleone

Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Corporate Relations
Rexall Pharmacy Group

Frank Monteleone joined Rexall Pharmacy Group in 2008 and is the Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Relations at Rexall. As a member of the Executive Operating Committee, Frank oversees a diverse portfolio of strategic HR initiatives for Rexall, Claimsecure and Medicentres. He is responsible for all aspects of Employee & Labour Relations, Total Rewards (including Benefits), Talent Strategy and Acquisition, Organization Effectiveness, Learning and Development, and HR Shared Services for both the corporate office and over 400 retail locations. Frank also oversees the Communications and Corporate Relations functions for the organization. In his nearly 20 years of human resources experience, Frank has distinguished himself as a trusted advisor, a change champion, and a devoted employee advocate – leadership qualities that help to unlock the potential of Rexall employees and strengthen the brand. Prior to joining Rexall, Frank worked for Indigo Books and Music Inc. and RONA in a variety of progressive HR positions. Frank has been involved with supporting key priorities critical to the success of the business, such as employee engagement, cultural transformation, leadership talent planning, and strategic total rewards. Under Frank’s leadership, his team is currently stewarding diversity and inclusion efforts to advance diversity and women in business. Frank has completed his certified human resources executive designation (CHRE) from the Human Resources Professional Association, as well as being Prosci ADKAR certified in change management. He also has a Masters Certificate in Adult Training and Development from the Schulich Executive Education Centre. Frank holds a Bachelors of Arts, Mathematics for Commerce from York University in Toronto and also has a diploma in Human Resources Management from Humber College. Frank is proud to be the President & Chair of the Board for the Rexall Foundation. Since 2002, the Foundation has been helping build strong and vibrant communities by supporting numerous charitable organizations.

Steve Mossop

President
Inights West

Steve Mossop is President of Insights West, a progressive, full-service marketing research company that offers insights-driven solutions via leading-edge tools and normative databases to public and private sector clients in Western Canada. Incorporated 7 years ago, Insights West now has 20 employees does over $3M in billings annually. We have publicly released over 350+ different opinion polls on topics diverse as municipal and provincial elections, bridge tolls, bike lanes, charitable giving, road safety, cyber-bullying, employee satisfaction, smart phone attitudes, and many other topics, and have correctly predicted the outcomes of 23/24 elections we have covered. Steve’s accomplishments include launching Insights West to be the fastest growing BC market research company, winning BCAMA’s 2001 Marketer of the Year Award, and winning Business in Vancouver’s “Top 40 Under 40” award in 2006 and in 2019 becoming a finalist in Small Business BC’s Best Employer award. Steve was chair of the BCAMA’s Senior Executive Program for four years, an exclusive group of BC’s top marketers that meets once per month, and was a five year member of EO Vancouver. Steve is a frequent media commentator and spokesperson, appearing frequently on CTV, News 1130, CFAX, CKNW, CBC and Global News. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in Marketing, and can be found weekends playing beach volleyball and mountain biking in the summer and hockey and snowboarding in the winters.

Sally Parrott

Senior Vice President of Marketing
Aritzia

Sally Parrott is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Aritzia. Sally began her career in Beauty Care at Proctor and Gamble where she worked in Brand Management on global brands like Olay. She joined the team at Aritzia in 2004, where she was integral in the development of the company's marketing programming. After taking a few years away to work as an independent brand strategist, Sally returned to Aritzia in 2017 as Vice President of Marketing. She was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2018 and now leads a team of 65, overseeing Digital and Retail Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, and Creative.

James Pelletier

Director, Marketing
Best Buy Canada

Bio coming soon

Matthew Seniuk

Head of Growth
Raange

Matthew is a relationship builder, problem solver and creative thinker who is passionate about activating innovative ideas. He brings a diverse background of Politics, Business Development, Performance Marketing, and Product Management to Raange.

He believes the success of a business is realized by remaining focused on solving a problem for its customer. This concept has guided him as he’s worked on several successful startups in the Non-Profit, AutoTech and RetailTech spaces.

Believe it or not, Matt’s love for problem solving was cultivated while working in politics at Queen’s Park, where he spent several years as a senior advisor managing high profile issues for several Ministries.

Janelle Shiplett

Vice President, Digital
Saje Natural Wellness

Janelle Shiplett recently joined Saje as their VP of Digital in late Spring of 2019. Janelle’s previous experience in the marketing, creative and digital space includes incredible growth stories with two iconic Canadian brands – Aritzia and WestJet Airlines. Throughout her career, Janelle has been instrumental in leading high performance teams to accelerate growth, build brand awareness, elevate digital experiences, and scale operations. Janelle brings her dedication to testing new ideas and building best-in-class experiences to Saje where she will oversee digital marketing and eCommerce portfolio for the growing brand.

Harrison Stoker

Vice President Brand & Culture
Donnelly Group (Hobo)

Bio coming soon

Greg Wilson

Director, Government Relations (BC)
Retail Council of Canada

Bio coming soon

Interested in speaking at our 2019 conference?