Matt & Nat CEO Manny Kohli, retail sales leader Kevin Graff helps us bring home the sales, and omNovos CEO Alan Zander puts on a retail data masterclass

Welcome to The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

First up recorded live at the Retail Council of Canada DTLQC conference in Montreal where he was on the main stage, we meet Manny Kohli, President and CEO of innovative retailer Matt & Nat. Recognized as the leader in cruelty free vegan fashion and lifestyle accessories worldwide, Matt & Nat is available in over 100 countries, through wholesale, online and bricks and mortar locations.

We talk about the excitement of launching the first store through to locations recently opened in the U.S., influencer marketing, how celebrities find the brand, building an organic brand organically and the importance of value based retailing.

Next recorded live at the RCC Bricks & Mortar Forum live in Toronto we check in with the man retailers seek out to help them guide their in-store teams to success - Kevin Graff, President of Graff retail. Our focus is the very short term for this conversation - what retailers should do today and for the rest of the year to help bring the year home on the sales floor.

Lastly Alan Zander CEO of omNovos joins me recorded live after the Kevin Macnab (CEO of Home Hardware) Leaders in Retail breakfast and takes us through the marketplace opportunities that are turning retailers minds towards the optimal use of data and analytics, and puts on a masterclass in the use and vision behind harnessing multiple data pieces into a powerful enterprise level tool.

Lastly I’ll hit the highlights from Retail This Week for the week of December 2, but first, let’s jump into my interview with Manny from Matt & Nat

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Thanks to Manny, Kevin and Alan for being my guests on this episode, now let’s hit the highlights from Retail This Week.

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of RetailIf you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

Until next time, have a great week!

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.