Innovating Retail: Insider Insights from Retail Leaders 

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.

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.