Canadian Tire (CTC), the Canadian retail company operating in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors, named Susan O’Brien, formerly SVP of marketing, chief brand and customer officer. She will oversee all aspects of CTC’s brands, aligning the curation of the entire customer experience across all channels and leading the long-term strategy around customer insights. She is also responsible for the CSR strategy and roadmap. In addition, Paul Draffin was promoted to chief supply chain officer. In this role, he leads the supply chain and procurement functions for all banners of CTC and also oversee the $4 billion Consumer Brands division, including brand management, assortment planning, product design, development and engineering, costing, sourcing and vendor management. Stephen Brinkley was promoted to president of SportChek, responsible for the overall strategic direction and growth of more than 400 retail locations across Canada.
In May 2011, CTC purchased the Forzani Group, a Canadian sporting goods retailer that operates various brands, including SportChek, Atmosphere, Intersport, Hockey Experts, National Sports, Nevada Bob’s Golf, S3, Sport Mart, Sports Experts, Tech Shop, Pro Hockey Life, and The Fitness Source. In 2018, CTC acquired the Norwegian outdoor, skiing and sailing brand Helly Hansen for nearly one billion Canadian dollars.
