Catie Riordan from Enterprise Ireland and a Irish Retail Tech Summit with Chris Parsons from Home Hardware, Scott Adel from Mckesson, Michelle Read-Kulig from Pizza Pizza and digital pioneer Shelly Nandkeolyar

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

Recorded live in Dublin and then Waterford Ireland, first up is an interview with Catie Riordan, Vice President of Consumer Retail & Retail Technology for Enterprise Ireland. We talk about her work in the U.S. , the connection to retail and their long-standing QVC partnership, the wonders of St. Patrick’s Day, and finally the Showcase Ireland buying show that connects retailers from around the world to vendors from Ireland.

Next a live and interactive panel introduced by Catie and recorded on the main stage at the Waterford Ireland Tech Summit. I’m joined on the stage by four outstanding Canadian and U.S retail visionaries talking about leading and managing change and harnessing disruption in the modern retail age. On the panel is Chis Parsons Director of eCommerce from Home Hardware, Scott Adel, Leader of Shopper Outcomes from McKesson, Michelle Read-Kulig Director of Digital Marketing & Loyalty from Pizza Pizza and the one and only Shelley Nandkeolyar, retail and digital pioneer with brands such as Levis, Home Depot, William Sonoma, Martha Stewart Living.

But first lets start out with my interview from Dublin with Catie

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail and thanks to Catie and my host Enterprise Irelad, Chris, Scott, Michelle and Shelley for being my guests on this special episode. If 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.