Welcome to this entertaining and insightful episode as I chat with the hosts of The She Means Business Podcast, a new and welcome addition to the Canadian podcasting universe focussed on aspiring leaders looking for inspiration, motivation and mentorship in the business world, co-hosted by Gail Banack and Ilana Santone.  

Gail and Ilana also happen to be two of Canada's foremost retail leaders, with tours of duty at Loblaw, Home Depot, Target Canada, Indigo, and Canadian Tire between them.   Gail was mostly the Senior Vice President of Merchandising at Indigo Books, and Ilana is currently the Senior Vice President, Digital, Connected Retail & Business Architecture, Canadian Tire Corporation.  So, in addition to talking about their new podcast and leadership in general, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to ask them both about their thoughts on the current and future state of retail and what it would take to survive and even thrive in 2025.   

About Gail 

Senior Vice President

Gail Banack is a results-driven executive with over 20 years of experience in retail and consumer packaged goods, specializing in strategic planning, brand strategy, marketing, and management. Renowned for her ability to drive growth, transform businesses, and deliver exceptional customer experiences, she has held leadership roles at prominent retailers, including Canadian Tire, Loblaw, and Target.

Most recently, she was the Senior Vice President of Merchandising at Indigo Books, where Gail led omni-channel revenue growth for IndigoKids and IndigoBaby. Now, as co-host of The She Means Business Podcast, she leverages her extensive expertise to inspire and guide others in leadership and career development.

About Ilana 

Ilana Santone is a strategic team leader who is currently the SVP, Digital, Connected Retail & Business Architecture at Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). In her current role, Ilana leads a high-performing team of leaders who are accountable for delivering a seamless customer experience and driving omni-channel growth. In addition, Ilana is accountable for working with senior leaders across the organization as well as the company’s Dealer partners to ensure Canadian Tire’s aggressive growth plans are achieved over the strategic outlook. Ilana has a proven track record of building and executing strategic initiatives and programs across all aspects of retail. With over 20 years of retail experience, Ilana started her career at Canadian Tire, and held progressively senior positions in HR, Merchandising, Operations and Transformation. Prior to returning to CTC’s Digital team in 2017, she served in various positions at The Body Shop, Target Canada, and The Home Depot Canada.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.