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Sgt. Craig Reynolds has been a member of the Vancouver Police Department for 17 years. He began his career in the Operations Division, where he served in District One (downtown core) and District Four (south west). His assignments included roles as a plain clothes officer, beat officer, and field trainer. For six years, Craig worked as a Detective in the Investigation Division, working across various specialized sections, including the Major Crime Section’s Robbery Assault Arson Unit and the Youth Investigative Unit.

In 2022, Craig transitioned to the role of VPD Business Liaison, where he became the Co-Chair for the Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Task Force. In this role, he has coordinated national efforts to combat retail theft and has played a pivotal role in Vancouver’s Project Barcode, targeting violent chronic offenders.

In February 2024, Craig was promoted and is now the Sergeant for the VPD Operational Support Unit.

Dr. Lana Porter specializes in retail and branding research and has spearheaded the strategic research initiatives for some of the world’s leading brands. As a native Vancouverite, she brings her wealth of global expertise and insights to assist Canadian clients develop and optimize their strategic and tactical initiatives for local, national, and international markets.

Lana has had a front row seat in the theater of consumer behaviour around the world for over 25 years. She is a world-renowned hybrid researcher and has conducted more than 4,000 focus groups in 20 countries and 15 languages alongside thousands of quantitative surveys in North and South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Building on her Ph.D. in Experimental Social Psychology, her quantitative research expertise spans an array of business objectives, from consumer segmentation and brand positioning to advanced statistical analyses and applications.

Before joining Leger, Lana was the President of Lana Porter Group Inc., a full-service market research firm she led for 20 years. Under her leadership, the firm became known for its innovative and integrated qualitative-quantitative research methodologies, conducting studies on a local, national, and international scale.

As a Senior Vice President in the Consumer Insights Division at Leger, Lana continues to provide strategic insights to clients across various sectors, including restaurants, food & beverage manufacturers, grocery stores, apparel retailers, jewelry and accessories retailers, department stores, athletic footwear manufacturers, toys & games manufacturers, financial services, and many more. Whether she is speaking to industry professionals, corporate leaders, or academic audiences, Lana’s presentations are recognized for their clarity, depth, and practical relevance. Her presentation style is both dynamic and insightful, characterized by her ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable insights. She is known for her engaging storytelling, which not only captivates but also educates her audiences, ensuring that the information she presents is both accessible and impactful. Her ability to blend rigorous data analysis with real-world examples and narrative flair ensures that her insights resonate long after the presentation ends.

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.

Ivano Pirro is an experienced sales leader with over two decades of telecommunications leadership. He currently supports more than 3500 team members across Bell, Virgin+ Best Buy Express and Lucky Mobile. As a strategic leader he is passionate about customer experience and talent development and driving high performance. Ivano’s leadership ensures Bell’s retail stores are a go-to for personalized customer service, innovation and simplifying complex technical problems into everyday value add solutions.

Ivano is a seasoned business leader whose contribution has been felt throughout Bell in a range of progressively senior roles. Ivano began his career with Bell as a technician, later serving in various call center roles, and then in 2006 he joined Bell retail stores leading the successful nationwide integration of brands like Solo Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

Ivano holds a Diploma in Business Administration from Dawson College and a Bachelor’s degree from Concordia University with a Major in Sociology and a Minor in Law.

As vice president of Best Buy Express, Jennifer leads this strategic partnership including guiding the success of a joint operating model with Bell and launching Best Buy Express stores in Canada. 

Jennifer is an experienced merchandise leader who began her career with Best Buy more than 18 years ago. After working in various categories as a buyer, she became director of the dual brand wireless business in 2013. Following brand consolidation, she led Best Buy’s major and small appliance businesses, playing a key role in expanding major appliances across Canada and introducing key brands to a rapidly growing small appliances business. She returned to wireless as category officer and added wearables and portable audio to her portfolio in 2021. 

As a values-driven leader, Jennifer has a track record for developing people, building cross-functional business strategy, and providing mentorship to create opportunities for growth, including being a champion for women leaders. Jennifer is committed to contributing to the community through various volunteer work and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the UBC Sauder School of Business. 

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.   

As President of Big Box Outlet Store, Jeff has spearheaded an aggressive growth strategy, doubling the size of the 39-year-old company in just over a year.

Retail is in Jeff’s blood, having grown up behind the counter in his families’ retail store.  Following university Jeff was a part of the early growth of Starbucks Coffee Company in Canada and New York City.  He went on to have senior roles in a Berkshire Hathaway company before moving into consulting.

Over more than 43 years in the grocery industry, Brenda Kirk has honed her reputation as a dynamic, strategic and committed leader who’s focused on achieving results and doing what’s right for her team and customers.
Brenda began her career as a cashier in 1980. She quickly advanced through a variety of progressively senior leadership positions in retail operations, including the development, launch and management of the industry-leading automated supermarket concept, Smart Market, in Vancouver, B.C. in the early 1990s. From there, Brenda added key strategic roles to her portfolio, including regional manager of Save-On-Foods, director of front-end operations and general manager of centre of store merchandising for Save-On-Foods, before joining the company’s senior leadership team as vice president of centre of store merchandising in 2015.
As part of Save-On-Foods’ team of vice presidents, Brenda has held a number of titles, including vice president of innovation and strategic initiatives (2018), senior vice president of health, wellness and our brands (2019), senior vice president of merchandising (2020) and in 2024, Brenda took on her current role as senior vice president of operations for strategic banners, including speciality, discount, and ethnic. In this role she is an instrumental part of the Pattison Food Group’s senior leadership team, overseeing an integral part of the company’s growth platform.
A key contributor to the development of the company’s strategic plan and evolving innovation strategy, Brenda was named Save-On-Foods’ 2014 Business Leader of the Year—the organization’s highest accolade. She is also the recipient of a Star Women in Grocery Award from Canadian Grocer Magazine and a Special Achievement Award from the Jim Pattison Group. Most recently, Brenda was inducted into the Grocery Business Hall of Fame and is a board member of both the Canadian Health Food Association and GS1 Canada.
As a founding member and now executive sponsor of the Pattison Food Group’s TogetHER Network, which is aimed at driving change around diversity and inclusion, Brenda is a strong advocate for making a positive and measurable difference in the workplace.
About The Pattison Food Group Pattison Food Group is a Jim Pattison business and Canada’s largest Western-based provider of food and health products. Headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, we have been in business for 107 years. We proudly employ more than 30,000 team members who are committed to achieving long-term growth and share a passion for giving back to the communities where we do business. Together, we leverage each other’s collective strengths to enhance efficiencies across our respective organizations. Our largest and signature company is Save-On-Foods. With 11 retail banners operating nearly 300 food and drug retail locations through Western Canada, in Whitehorse Yukon, Washington State, and Oregon each uniquely positioned to cater to the needs of their community; 4 wholesale businesses catering to the diverse needs of their customer base across Canada; 5 food and pharmacy production facilities focused on high quality distinct offerings; an industry-leading loyalty program and a world-class set of proprietary consumer brands, Pattison Food Group businesses are proud to be recognized as leaders in customer service and innovation.

Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide.

Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and all major podcast platforms.