Welcome to the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with CommerceNext and presented by CommX.

On this episode Charlie Cole, FTD CEO joins the podcast to share notes on transforming a legacy company from the ground up,  creating your own story for accelerating career growth, creating context for workplace excellence and tells us the smartest thing he did at FTD.   Charlie also talks about the remarkable value of working with technology suppliers to understand table stakes versus differentiators in your marketing tech stack.

About Charlie

Charlie Cole is Chief Executive Officer of FTD, the modern florist collective, where he oversees people and operations. Charlie brings extensive digital and retail leadership experience to the 110-year-old brand, which he joined in March 2020. Before joining FTD, Charlie served as the first Global Chief eCommerce Officer for Samsonite while simultaneously serving as Chief Digital Officer for Tumi. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions and led digital transformations at Assembled Brands, Schiff Nutrition and Lucky Brand Jeans. Charlie holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

ABOUT US: 
Scott Silverman

An ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org’s scholarship fund.

Veronika Sonsev

Veronika Sonsev is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. She also leads the retail practice for Chameleon Collective and is a contributor for Forbes on how to grow retail and ecommerce in the age of Amazon. Having spent the last 10+ years working with some of the largest retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, Veronika has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing retail and ecommerce today. She is also an advocate for women in business and founded the global non-profit mBolden, which is now part of SheRunsit. 

Michael LeBlanc  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.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus        Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  and       The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.  You can learn more about Michael       here  or on       LinkedIn.