Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

Recorded live on the main stage at RCC's Toronto STORE 2022 conference in June, Ron Wilson, President of Best Buy Canada and Mat Povse, Senior Vice President Retail, Geek Squad Services & Best Buy Business, sit down with me for a lively, wide-ranging discussion covering the nature of the post-COVID era consumer, retail marketplaces, new format locations and talk about enriching retail through technology.

Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail.  If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast.  Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!

I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat  follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!  Have a safe week everyone!

About Ron

Ron Wilson is president of international for Best Buy Co. Inc. In this role, he guides the vision and strategic direction for the company’s operations in Canada and Mexico. Mr. Wilson began his career at Best Buy more than 25 years ago on the front lines of a Future Shop store in Edmonton, Alberta. Since then, he has worked in numerous leadership areas of the company, including merchandising, operations, marketing, and e-commerce. Since March 2013, Mr. Wilson has overseen a strategic plan that has driven the company toward providing a seamless “Total Retail” experience for customers’ connected worlds. His leadership has been instrumental in introducing and implementing an in-store and online experience that builds long-term relationships with customers and provides excellent support and service before, during and after purchase. Mr. Wilson continues to lead the charge through introducing innovative ideas, including the company’s recent growth into expanded product assortment online, reserve and pick-up in store program, and optimizing the company’s delivery and fulfillment systems. Most recently, he led the successful consolidation of Future Shop into the Best Buy brand.

About Mat

Mat Povse is the Senior Vice President of Best Buy Retail Stores and Operations, Geek Squad Services, and Best Buy Business at Best Buy Canada. In this role, he is responsible for the employee and customer experience, sales and profits for over 180 retail stores across Canada as well as the development and fulfilment of Geek Squad programs and services. Mat joined Best Buy in March of 2014 as Vice President of Merchandising responsible for Home Theatre, Audio, Wireless, Digital Imaging, Geek Squad, and was instrumental in the development and execution of the Major Appliances expansion plan in Canada. Since then, he has held numerous leadership roles, most recently as Vice President of Geek Squad Services. Mat has a passion for inspiring people and teams, and has a knack for facilitating productive alignment between organizations. Mat’s multi-faceted experiences and work including service centric organizations has proven valuable in areas of convergence where he leads the optimization of current capabilities for future state, develops new and innovative partnerships, and integrates services at retail - all of which have helped to enhance Best Buy’s Total Retail experience and set foundations for future growth. Prior to Best Buy, Mat was Vice President of Sales for LG Electronics and has also held key positions at Compaq, TELUS & XM Satellite Radio. Mat holds a Bachelor of General Studies, Business and Liberal Arts from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

About Michael

Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide.  Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in  2022.

Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.  Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms.   Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.

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.