2017 Speakers

Scott Adel currently serves as Head of Omnichanel for the Canadian lifestyle brand Frank & Oak. He is a seasoned retail sales and operations professional whose main responsibilities include leading their omnichannel efforts, store operations and growth strategies, and developing and overseeing the execution of the in-store customer experience. Scott is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) in good standing who has built an extensive 17 year retail career integrating technology and business processes in unique ways to drive engagement and business growth.

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.

Sarah is a well-rounded marketing professional with 7+ years of experience both creating and implementing digital strategies across affiliates, paid search, paid social, display and SEO. She currently leads a team at Loblaw Digital that manages all paid online media for Joe Fresh, beautyBOUTIQUE.ca and Click & Collect (Loblaws, Superstore & Zehrs). Prior to joining Loblaw, she worked at some of Canada’s other major retailers including Walmart and Indigo. Sarah is also currently Co–Chair for the annual charity event Get Lit – in support of First Book Canada, an organization focused on providing books to children who need them most. She’s also a huge Raptors fan and can be caught playing soccer at a field near you.

Steve Buors is a leading authority on digital marketing for multi-location businesses. He works with national and international brands to develop inventive strategies using existing and emerging technologies to find new customers, increase sales, and combine the best of national brand strength with local relevance. Steve is CEO and co-founder of Reshift Media, a full-service digital agency that specializes in developing and implementing industry-leading social media, search and website/mobile strategies to enable brands to achieve tangible business results. Reshift Media often collaborates with other advertising agencies to develop, implement and manage digital strategies that amplify existing media campaigns. Prior to co-founding Reshift Media, Steve was a senior executive in the news media sector where he led teams responsible for bringing numerous digital innovations to market. An early adopter of new technologies, Steve was at the forefront of the industry during the birth and rapid growth of search, social media and of course, mobile. Anticipating the radical impact mobile content consumption would have on the media industry, Steve and his team were the first news organization in Canada to launch on both the iPhone and iPad during the early days of mobile news and video consumption.

Hubba's resident Retail Expert. Phil's been around the block when it comes to all things retail with experience at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Pfizer and Target. He's done everything from being a sales guy to a buyer to global franchise. From price points and margins, to the best products in any industry - he's the guy you go to when you're looking for answers on retail industry trends and analytics, what the industry is thinking about today, tomorrow and a year from now. If you have any questions about how to grow your business, you can find him on Twitter @RetailPhil

Darrell is currently the Vice-President of Retail Strategy at Geomedia, a consumer research analytics and media company focused on retail marketing. His career as an executive leader spans a wide range of marketing and technology companies throughout North America and the UK. For the past 10 years, Darrell has consulted with retailers helping build their offline & online marketing strategies. He is a former Board of Director for IAB and RAC and has spoken at many retail conferences in both Canada and the United States.

George A Curtis III is a Massachusetts born, New Jersey raised , "country boy at heart" who recently retired from a 30 year career as Director of Newspaper Inserts at Macy's Inc. headquartered in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Rutgers University, and began his career at Bamberger's (then a subsidiary of Macy's) right out of college. His responsibilities included Project Management, Newspaper production, Direct Mail/Database Marketing, and Newspaper Inserts Database Marketing and strategy implementation. 18 of George's 30 year career were spent as Director of Direct/Database marketing, with responsibilities for all Direct Mail distribution as well as database marketing and analytics for Macy's credit card customers. He oversaw the design, installation and execution of 3 company wide comprehensive direct marketing database tools, and developed successful strategies for one to one marketing for direct marketing customers, along with concise back end analyses to shape future mailings. George took that direct marketing analytic knowledge when named Director of Newspaper inserts 7 years ago and customized another database for newspaper inserts, applying existing Macy's private direct marketing intelligence to the public medium of newspaper inserts.

Tobiasz Dankiewicz is the co-founder and director at reebee – A leader in Canada's digital flyer space. Through Tobiasz's direction, reebee has been helping shape the digital flyer ecosystem, long before the release of the first smart phone. While attaining a degree in mechatronic engineering from the University of Waterloo, Tobiasz was unable to find his local flyers digitally and recognized the enormous untapped opportunity for the flyer industry. From there, reebee was born with the mission to empower consumers to access their favourite flyers anywhere, anytime. Today, reebee is at the helm of flyer innovation working daily with Canada's leading retailers to develop and test new age flyer strategies.

Michelle Digulla is the Vice President of Marketing at Metroland Media, a dynamic media company with a long and proud history of connecting communities across Ontario. A passionate community-builder, Michelle leads a Metroland team responsible for helping tens of thousands of businesses connect with their consumers where they work and live. Prior to Metroland, Michelle held leadership roles at TELUS, Sony Mobile and Motorola Mobility. A pioneer in wireless, she helped launch new mobile services that we now take for granted - including text messaging, picture messaging and web browsing on our phones. Michelle is also on the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater Toronto and, together with her husband, started a charity that builds public outdoor playgrounds for children.

Monique Duquette is a marketing and customer experience executive with over 18 years of marketing and technology experience centered around driving revenue and superior customer experience. Working throughout North America, Monique has consulted with Fortune 500 companies across media & entertainment, retail, financial services, telecommunications, and consumer packaged goods on elevating their marketing and analytics to the next level. Monique began her career in public relations and marketing where she devised and executed compelling initiatives in B2B and B2C marketing organizations. During this time, Monique developed a deep appreciation and unique understanding of how technology can be applied to better empower marketing organizations. Monique then transitioned into marketing technology consulting where she helped senior-level executives of Fortune 500 brands develop, refine and execute on strategies related to digital asset management, direct response marketing, improved marketing operations and customer-centric marketing strategies.

Allison Fraser is a builder of bridges between traditional and digital media. She led the evolution of flyer distribution strategy at Home Depot, leveraging location intelligence and the unique aspects of both print and digital mediums. Fraser serves as FDSA Board Chair. A tech and electronics lover, in previous roles she’s marketed B2B/B2C electronics and B2B technology to government, banking and insurance.

Jeff Goldenberg is a Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Abacus, a Facebook ad agency focused on performance marketing. Prior to launching Abacus, Jeff was the Head of Growth at Borrowell, a leading Canadian online marketplace lender. During his time there, he helped Borrowell achieve rapid month-over-month growth in their loan origination business, and was instrumental in helping launch their Free Credit Score program, the first of its kind in Canada, which resulted in over 100,000 Canadians getting their credit score for free. His tenure culminated in a partnership between Borrowell and CIBC, also the first of its kind in the world. Jeff has been leading B2C startups for the past 15 years. He is the co-author of The Growth Hacker's Guide to the Galaxy - 100 Proven growth hacks for the digital marketer. He is a sought after expert and keynote speaker in the areas of Facebook marketing, growth hacking and digital marketing for innovative, high-growth companies. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at MaRS Discovery District as well as a mentor at the TechStars/Startup Next accelerator and 500 Startups Disto Dojo.

Jen Lee Koss is Co-founder and Builder of BRIKA. Jen is a Juilliard-trained cellist, a mother of three, and a graduate of Harvard University, Oxford University, and Harvard Business School. She spent over a decade working in management, consulting, investment banking, and private equity before Co-Founding BRIKA with her partner Kena Paranjape

Frederick Lecoq is Vice President, Marketing & e-Commerce for Golf Town.

Senior Director, Marketing Communications Walmart Canada Heather Loosemore leads Walmart Canada's creative,content, media investment, social and PR strategy as the Sr. Director of Marketing Communications. With over a decade of client, agency and network experience Loosemore has contributed to iconic brand identities such as Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, RIM, HGTV, Food Network, Microsoft and Rogers.

Mark Mandato is the current subject matter expert for the Rogers GeoTxt, Hyper Local Mobile and Audience Intelligence Platforms. He is a veteran of the Canadian media industry having worked in senior sales roles for traditional broadcasting networks as well as with digital ad networks and niche digital ventures in the Canadian start-up space. He has been at Rogers since 2012. Over the past 20 years Mark has developed integrated marketing programs for blue-chip clients in the automotive, telco, entertainment, banking & finance, healthcare and CPG verticals.

Kim O’Keefe is the Senior Manager, Digital Media Sales at Rogers Communications. Kim has spent over a decade helping businesses of all sizes understand the digital landscape, adapt to the pace of change, and harness the power of digital products to meet their business objectives. She has educated and consulted thousands of owner/operators and executives of national and local businesses across the country. Kim’s digital career began in hyper local search then moved to radio digital, and now includes tv, sports, publishing, social, SMS, data, mobile and location. Kim has worked with many of Canada’s largest media companies to develop go-to-market strategies with digital products, and then transform them into marketing solutions and campaigns for her clients.

Lisa Orpen is the Vice-President of National and Multi-Market Sales at Metroland Media, a dynamic media company with a proud history of connecting communities across Ontario. With over 25 years of sales experience at Metroland, Orpen leads the team responsible for building and executing cross-platform campaigns on behalf of some of the country’s largest advertisers. Orpen sits on the board of directors for the Retail Council of Canada’s RAC (Retail Marketing & Advertising Canada) and is a CCAB Canadian Newspaper Advisory Board Member.

Paule Racine is Director of Marketing Communications for five Canadian pharmacy banners: Guardian, I.D.A. The Medicine Shoppe Canada, Proxim and Remedy’sRx. Her strategic approach is growing the average basket, increase patient loyalty and medication adherence. Prior in her career, she held senior positions in sales, operations and marketing at Liz Claiborne Canada, Hudson’s Bay Company and Hanes Brands Inc. She is a seasoned marketer with a 360-degree view of the retail industry.

Marlon explores the intersection of art and science that is the hallmark of great, humane marketing. He is currently the head of marketing at Demac Media, the team behind 80+ eCommerce sites like Mackage, Umbra and Bench. Before that, he led marketing at Polar, 500px and Tulip Retail. Marlon is an alumnus of the University of Waterloo, where he studied math. He invests in and advises early-stage startups that pulls the future a little closer to our reality.

Oscar Roque is the AVP, Mobile Platform and Products at Interac responsible for the digital commerce strategy. Previous to joining Interac, Oscar led the strategy development and innovation in FinTech partnerships across several business areas including Retail Payments, Channels, and Personal & Small Business Banking. Oscar speaks frequently to diverse groups about innovation and emerging technologies and has a passion for forward-thinking designs.

Julia has been developing engaging and award-winning marketing campaigns for over 15 years. As a retail marketing expert, she is a passionate believer in the vital role that communications plays in delivering engaging and memorable customer experiences. She is currently the Director of Marketing for Wines, Vintages and Corporate Social Responsibility at the LCBO. Julia is an Ontario Wines enthusiast. Her favourite style? A fresh flute of sparkling from our local regions.

Jennifer is Vice President of Integrated Communications at APEX Public Relations, an independently owned Toronto-based communications agency. As an innovative strategist, Jennifer leads planning and ideation for APEX clients leading to full 360 degree programs that include earned and owned media, digital and social. She works in tandem with account teams to develop breakthrough brand campaigns. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Jennifer has contributed to iconic brand identities such as Walmart, Samsung, Husqvarna and Google.

Jeff is a senior marketing leader with over 10 years’ experience developing high profile omni-channel marketing campaigns and strategies with the largest brands and retailers in Canada. Prior to leading the Marketing and Ecommerce divisions at Henry’s Jeff has held multiple marketing and strategy management roles at companies such as Canadian Tire, The Home Depot and Walmart Canada.

Matthew Vernhout is the Chief Privacy Officer & Manager, Deliverability at Inbox Marketer Corp. and a Certified International Privacy Professional (Canada) with more than 14 years of experience in email marketing. Matthew ensures that Inbox Marketer’s clients are compliant with all relevant industry regulations including: CAN-SPAM, PIPEDA, and Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). Matthew is also involved as director at large of CAUCE and chair of the eec’s Advocacy subcommittee, as well as the co-author of “A Complete Guide to e-Marketing Under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation.” Matthew graduated from St Clair College in 2000 with a diploma in Computer Science and Information Programming.

Richard Wong is the VP Marketing at #paid, the world's leading influencer marketing platform for authentic brand collaborations. He is a seasoned, classically trained marketer who came from the world of CPG marketing and moved into the tech world, including launching and growing Google’s source for insights, trends, and research in digital marketing, Think with Google. He also teaches the digital marketing classes at Canadian tech schools, RED Academy and Brainstation.

Viktor Yakovlev is the sales lead at reebee – A leader in Canada's digital flyer space. Responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with Canada's largest retailers across various categories, Viktor has a strong understanding of the trends and challenges in today's retail marketing environment. A graduate from the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, Viktor has always had a passion for data driven results. He utilizes this passion at reebee while working with Canadian retailers to systematically develop and optimize digital flyer strategies.

Fatima Zaidi has had over eight years of experience in Business Development, Marketing, Sales, and strategy. Her expertise in sales effectiveness, and partnerships led her to the role as VP of Business Development for 88 Creative, a Toronto-based creative communications agency. Prior to 88 Creative she was Head of Business Development at Rent frock Repeat and was responsible for the overall management of all strategic business development, marketing, and customer relationship activities nationwide. She also took ownership of the management of the sales and corporate strategy functions. Fatima is a fashion commentator for Global News and was named one of marketing magazines top 30 under 30 marketers and brand developers for 2016.

Jennifer Zedic is the Senior Director of Marketing and Advertising at Rexall and has over 25 years of experience in retail marketing. She loves the challenge of reinventing retail brands and how you innovatively communicate those exciting new messages to the consumer. She started her career at a high end fashion wholesaler, then with Cashway Building Centers, followed with her 15 years at HBC and most recently the past 4 plus years marketing at Rexall Pharmacy Group Ltd. She has played an integral role in the adaption of Rexall’s new brand look and feel. Responsible for the full marketing portfolio at Rexall, she understands the importance of a holistic approach to managing campaigns to ensure consistency through all consumer touchpoints. Jennifer is excited to lead how Rexall will evolve and break through with their messages of Beauty, Convenience and most importantly Health and Wellness with the Canadian consumer.

Mark Zwicker currently operates as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Business Development with St. Joseph Communications (SJC’), where he is responsible for developing and strengthening enterprise relationships with major organizations. Additionally, Mark is leading the company's expansion into the US marketplace. Mark has also been instrumental in aligning SJC’s internal resources to offer clients a true Omnichannel Marketing solution, including strategic planning, creative development, content marketing solutions, package design, photography, video, out-of-home digital media production and full pre-media services.