Content of this podcast is intended for 21+.

Welcome to the Voice of Retail special O’Cannabiz Conference retail cannabis edition I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this special edition podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

I recently attended the April O’Cannabiz cannabis conference [https://ocannabiz.com/], a multi-day event in Toronto and as always met and heard lots of really interesting cannabis industry thought leaders in this close-knit and expanding community. I thought for this episode I’d let my interviews speak for themselves to give you a good flavour for the issues and the insights from the conference. I was fortunate to interview three amazing thought leaders from different perspectives on retail recreational cannabis - a top global retail industry thought leader, the CEO of a top cannabis retailer looking to re-imagine the retail experience and the customer they serve, and a U.S. based integrated LP and retailer to help us see around the corner to what is next and upcoming for retail recreational cannabis in Canada.

So first I chat with the one and only Tony Chapman back on the voice of retail for a second week in a row this time talking about retail cannabis in his role as the MC for this event. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonychapmanreactions/

Next I chat with me Tom Dyck, CEO of mihi Cannabis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-dyck/] who was drawn out of retirement from a successful career at a major Canadian banking institution into a whole new industry, and last but certainly not least I talk with California-based NUG CEO & Founder John Oram [https://www.linkedin.com/in/oramjj/] who takes us through his journey from scientists to fully integrated producer and retailer in the U.S.

So let’s listen in as I sit down first with Tony Chapman and talk about the Bong Shows and moonshots:

Special thanks again to my guests Tony, Tom and John for chatting with me on the podcast today, apologies to Tom for the technical gremlins towards the end of our interview the mushed up our interview tracks together to make it sound like we were talking over each other, and to John for a bit of echo as the very beginning of our interview.

That’s a wrap on this very special O’Cannabiz edition of The Voice of Retail. You can learn about their upcoming September conference , GrowUp, happing in beautiful Niagara Falls Ontario September 12-14th at https://growupconference.com/

I’m Michael LeBlanc Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc., and you can learn more about me at www.meleblanc.co or on LInkedIn, and stay tuned for our next regular edition of the podcast available each and every Friday. If you like this edition please subscribe, rate it on iTunes and tell all your LinkedIn friends! Until next time, have a great week!

The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact.

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 fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, 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.

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