| 2008 Retail Human Resources Conference Speakers
The following speakers participated in the 2008 Retail Human Resources Conference:
John T. Anderson, Global Practice Leader of Retail, Kronos Incorporated
As global practice leader of retail at Kronos Incorporated, John Anderson is tasked with determining the company's strategic direction in the retail industry.
Prior to joining Kronos, Anderson founded JTA Workforce Management Consulting where he developed labor management consultancy services to assist businesses with improving workforce productivity. Earlier, he held several senior-level positions at SimplexGrinnell LP, a business unit of Tyco Fire & Security. In this role he led the workforce solutions division in the areas of product development, marketing, and major account business development. Anderson began his professional career at Sobeys Inc., one of Canada's two national retail grocery and food distributors, where he was responsible for labor standards development and implementation.
Based on his expertise and knowledge within the retail industry, Anderson is a sought-after speaker at leading events such as Retail Systems and is frequently quoted in publications such as Integrated Solutions for Retailers, RIS News, and STORES. |
Janice Antaya-Finlayson, Vice President of Corporate Human Resources, Best Buy Canada Ltd.
Janice is responsible for leading the charge on Best Buy Canada's HR strategy — a comprehensive long-term plan that taps into the unique contribution of each employee and drives a path to creating the "best employee experience."
Janice joined Best Buy Canada Ltd. in 2004 as Director, Corporate HR and has been in her current role as Vice President since the beginning of 2007. Prior to joining Best Buy Canada Ltd., Janice held the position of Director, Human Resources for an international aerospace division of DaimlerChrysler, where she worked with business units in Germany, China, the United States and Canada. She has also held senior HR roles with Starbucks and Shoppers Drug Mart.
Originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, Janice graduated with honours from the British Columbia Institute of Technology with a specialization in HR and received her CHRP designation (Certified Human Resources Professional) in 1996. She is currently a member of the Human Resources Management Association of British Columbia. |
Brent Barr, Professor, Ted Rogers School of Retail Management, Ryerson University
Brent has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience and has worked with several companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Colgate Palmolive. He is also the co-founder of KIRE Company, a strategic marketing agency. Founded in 1999, Falcon Innovation Group Inc. specializes in helping entrepreneurs truly understand their customers and leverage that understanding to properly develop innovative and integrated marketing and business plans. Brent was also instrumental in the founding of Falcon Innovation Group Inc. in 2006, a marketing, visual communications and business development firm.
Brent is an active volunteer and an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and Ryerson University. Through his work at Ryerson, Brent has worked with numerous large and small retailers and the Canadian Franchise Association to understand and promote retail practices. |
Gill Borowy, Manager, People & Culture, TELUS Corporate Stores
Gill Borowy manages a team responsible for the employee lifecycle from recruitment through training, compensation, performance metrics, incentives and leadership development. Gill has extensive retail experience in the clothing and book industries and a track record of designing and implementing programs in the fields of training and development, recruitment, and workforce planning. |
Sheryl Bruell, Director, Front End Operations, Thrifty Foods
Sheryl began her career with Thrifty Foods over 20 years ago, starting out as a part-time cashier. She quickly worked her way up to the position of Front End Manager and eventually was promoted to Director of Front End Operations, a position she had held for the past nine years. In this capacity, Sheryl oversees the management of the Online Shopping/Home Delivery service as well as the creation and monitoring of Front End policies and procedures. |
Kelly Cardwell, Director- Rewards & HRIS, Human Resources, Best Buy Canada Ltd.
Kelly Cardwell is the Director of Rewards and HRIS for Best Buy Canada, Ltd. In her role, Kelly is responsible for managing the compensation, benefits, payroll and HRIS functions within Future Shop, Best Buy, Distribution and Service Centres and the corporate Head Office. Kelly's responsibilities also include developing the total rewards strategy, which in turn supports the creation of the "best employee experience" for all Best Buy Canada Ltd. employees.
Kelly joined Best Buy Canada in 2004 in her current role. Prior to joining Best Buy, Kelly worked as an HR generalist in Finning International's head-office in Vancouver and worked as a Compensation Consultant with Towers Perrin in Montreal prior to that. Originally from Montreal, Kelly holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. She is a member of the Human Resources Management Association of British Columbia and World at Work. |
Carole Cooper, Vice-President, Leisure North America, Flight Centre Ltd.
Carole Cooper joined Flight Centre as a retail consultant in Vancouver in 1998. In 1999, she was promoted to Team Leader and in March of 2000, she moved into the Peopleworks department. Later that year, Carole became the Area Leader covering both Vancouver and Calgary. In 2002, she left the company to head up Travel Choice American Express & Sun Holidays branches but returned in August 2004 as General Manager Retail Canada. Today as Vice President Leisure North America, Carole's responsibilities include all retail operations for both Canada and the USA. |
Ted Emond, Senior Consultant, Hewitt Associates
Ted Emond has over 30 years' experience in the human resources and organization effectiveness consulting fields. A senior consultant in Hewitt Associates' Toronto office, Ted is experienced in the design, development and implementation of organization, workforce and human resource strategies, performance management, staffing, and reward and recognition programs. Ted also helps coordinate Hewitt's analysis and interpretation of the Best Employers in Canada research. He has presented the results from the annual study to industry and client groups across Canada. Prior to joining Hewitt 19 years ago, Ted operated his own consulting firm. He holds a degree in economics and political science from the University of Toronto. |
Mike Farrell, Partner and Chief Strategic Officer — Youthography Inc.
Mike has been deeply involved with youth trends and values studies for 13 years and is one of North America's leading lights on this broad and ever-changing topic. As a founding partner and CSO at Youthography, Mike has taken his insight and creativity to new heights in an environment that he and his partners have modeled fully for, and around, the intersection between marketing and youth – with youthful culture and young consumers sitting squarely at the epicenter.
Over the past number of years, Mike's work and perspective has been cited in a wide number of nationally and internationally significant periodicals, television programs and radio shows. Topping this all off, Mike speaks regularly to various business groups and participates in industry panels throughout Canada, the U.S. and the E.U. |
Craig Foster, Vice-President, Human Resources and Customer Services, Mark's Work Wearhouse
Craig Foster has been the Vice President, Human Resources and Customer Services with Mark's Work Wearhouse for the last three years. He joined Mark's from its parent company, Canadian Tire, where he held positions as Director, Human Resources Development and Director, Customer Contact Relations. Craig's efforts at Mark's centre on developing integrated HR practices that assist the company's significant growth and he dedicates much attention to working in partnership with Store Operations leadership to develop a store of the future... Craig and his team provide aligned and integrated HR practices that support Mark's business strategy. |
Marg French, Worldwide Partner, Mercer (Canada) Ltd.
Marg French is a Principal and Worldwide Partner of Mercer. Prior to joining Mercer, Marg was an underwriter with a major life insurance company, and developed experience in renewal rating, underwriting procedures and plan funding. She has over 25 years of experience in the employment benefits industry.
Marg specializes in the design, pricing and implementation of flexible benefit plans, and consults on a wide range of employee benefit issues and delivery mechanisms. She also has extensive experience in the marketing, financial analysis, and projections for the funding and accounting of group insurance programs.
Marg is a member of the YWCA Women of Distinction committee and sits as a member of the Advocacy Committee to the YWCA Board. |
Frances Gunn, M.A., Ted Rogers School of Retail Management, Ryerson University
A faculty member of the Ted Rogers School of Retail Management degree at Ryerson University since its inception, Frances Gunn has designed and taught courses in service management, human resources and organizational behaviour. Also as a member of the Learning and Teaching Office team, she provides teaching and learning development resources to Ryerson faculty. The hallmark of Frances' programs is their dynamic and topical style. Throughout her work with Ryerson, she has consulted with and tailored programs to meet the specific learning needs of organizations across Canada. Her research interests include the use of interactive online learning techniques and the alignment of service quality and human resource strategies. |
David Hannigan, Human Resources Manager, R.C. Purdy's Chocolates Ltd.
David Hannigan is a graduate of Humber College Hotel and Restaurant Management and is currently enrolled in the HR Management Certificate Program at British Columbia Institute of Technology. During his many years in Hospitality and Retail Management, David has had great success in the areas of recruiting, hiring, training and developing many employees and managers. Recently he was a finalist in the BCHRMA (British Columbia Human Resources Management Assocation) Awards of Excellence for his expertise in those areas. He is pleased and excited to share his experience as one of the Top 50 Employers in Canada at the 2008 Retail Human Resources Conference. |
Eileen Kirk, Director, Organizational Development and Effectiveness, Human Resources, Holt Renfrew & Co. Ltd.
Eileen has more than 12 years of experience managing transformations like the one currently happening at Holt Renfrew, where she is Director, Organizational Development and Effectiveness. Eileen has played a central role in fast-tracking organizations undergoing cultural transformations and changing the way leaders think and talk about competing, working and winning. |
Stu Laurie, Senior Account Manager – Enterprise Retail Vertical , TELUS Business Solutions
Stu Laurie is a Senior Account Manager with TELUS Business Solutions in their Enterprise Retail Vertical. He is responsible for managing the TELUS relationship with a select number of enterprise retail customers. In addition to representing TELUS at a senior level within these accounts he also leads a virtual team of solution specialists dedicated to helping these companies achieve their strategic business objectives through the application of innovative communication solutions. Prior to joining TELUS, Stu spent a number of years working for a leading Third-Party Logistics provider and one of the Big 5 Consulting firms where he focused on the Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods industries. |
John C. Marshall, President, Self Management Group
As President and Founder of Self Management Group, John C. Marshall has helped hundreds of organizations develop into self-managed, high performance cultures. John's doctoral thesis was on the effects and influences of competitive environments — the type of environments he encountered during his careers as a professional hockey player and a hockey coach at York University and abroad. John has developed several programs that deal with attitude management, motivation, commitment, and team development. He has authored and co-authored several books and articles on the subjects of organizational growth, training, competition in sports and business. |
Rob McHardy, Managing Partner, The Self Management Group
Rob McHardy has been with The Self Management Group for five years and has sold and facilitated training programs with leading sales and service organizations across North America. The son of the co-author of the book Principles of Self Management, Rob has had the unique experience of being raised and coached in a self-management environment and has had the opportunity to see the benefits of living these principles throughout his life. |
Iain Morris, Principal, Mercer (Canada) Ltd.
Iain Morris is a Principal with Mercer. He consults to a broad cross-section of organizations in both the private and public sectors. His main area of consulting activity is in the development and implementation of compensation strategies for employees and executives. This includes the design and implementation of broad-based incentive programs, sales compensation, and total rewards strategies.
Iain has designed pay and rewards systems for organizations in a number of industries including: information technology, consumer products, financial services, retail, and manufacturing.
He joined Mercer in 1995 after 13 years with another major compensation consulting firm. Iain is a member of the Canadian Research Centre of Conference Board of Canada and is on Mercer's Global Total Reward Strategy Faculty. |
Nick Nissley, Executive Director, Leadership Development, The Banff Centre
Nick Nissley serves as Executive Director, Leadership Development, for The Banff Centre, Canada's premier leadership development retreat centre. An accomplished academic, Nick Nissley has been a professor in the Department of Organizational Learning and Development at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, where he held the roles of Co-Chair, Department of Organization Learning and Development, and Program Director for the Master's Program in Human Resource Development. Frequently invited to speak on the topic of arts-based learning in management, he has been published in scholarly journals including the British Journal of Management, Organizational Studies, Culture and Organization, and the International Journal of Training and Development. |
Stephen O'Keefe, Vice President of Loss Prevention and Risk Management, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Stephen O'Keefe is responsible for overseeing the Loss Prevention and Risk Management initiatives for Wal-Mart Canada Corp. He has been active in the Retail Loss Prevention field since 1983, working with companies such as Sears Canada Inc. and Hudson's Bay Company in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. During his tenure with Wal-Mart, Stephen had an opportunity to provide Leadership to the Wal-Mart Puerto Rico Loss Prevention division for two years. He also completed a three-month assignment in Japan in 2005, and a two-month Due Diligence assignment in Russia in 2006, to assess the market for foreign retail readiness.
Stephen is an active committee member on the Retail Council of Canada's Loss Prevention Network and is the Chair of the Government Relations sub-committee of the LP Network. |
Stuart E. Rudner, Partner, Miller Thomson LLP
Stuart Rudner has a legal practice focused on employment law. He counsels and represents clients at all stages of the employment relationship, from the initial offer of employment to the termination of the relationship. He helps clients to create effective employment policies, procedures and agreements and represents his clients before courts, mediators, and tribunals. Recently, he appeared at the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of the Human Resources Professionals of Ontario in a case that is widely-regarded as the most important employment law case of the last decade. Stuart has also acted as a mediator on several employment-related disputes, and has assisted parties and their legal counsel in reaching a reasonable, cost-effective resolution.
Stuart speaks and writes extensively on employment law and litigation topics. His comments have been featured in Canadian Human Resources Reporter, Canadian Employment Law Today, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and on 680 News, Workopolis and the Business News Network. |
Gail Tanaka, Manager, Training & Development, Shoppers Drug Mart
Gail Tanaka is the Manager of Training and Development at Shoppers Drug Mart. Gail is responsible for the Cosmetics and Front Store training along with providing training for head office employees.
Gail has been with Shoppers Drug Mart for 14 years. She has had exposure to various departments including Operations, Communications and Training and Development. Her first job, while attending, high school and university, was as a part-time Cosmetician at a store in Toronto. |
Sandy Williams, Director, Human Resources, Edward Jones
Sandy joined Edward Jones in March 2007 as Director of Human Resources. Edward Jones is a growing financial services firm focused on serving the individual, serious long term investor.
Prior to joining Edward Jones, Sandy held HR roles at Bell Canada Enterprises as an Associate Director, with specialty in organizational excellence, leading change and leadership development. Sandy has also worked as a human resources consultant in other large Canadian organizations such as Ontario Hydro, Wardair and Canadian Airlines, Canon Canada, and as an independent consultant. |
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