David Smith
National VP of Retail Strategy & Sustainability, Sobeys, Inc.
David has spoken frequently on sustainability to groups of up to 1,000 in the past year, in meetings and conferences across Canada, in Florida (twice), California (twice), Paris, France, and Dalian, China. Audiences have included Fortune 1000 CEOs, industry trade associations, NGOs, academics, the Canadian federal departments of Fisheries and Oceans and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and suppliers. Sustainability topics include carbon footprints, waste management and packaging, seafood, agriculture, social compliance, collaborative supply chain initiatives, traceability and consumer transparency, leadership development and sustainability, and driving consumer demand for “green” products. During his career, David has developed an expertise in driving consumer adoption of new trends from early adopter to the mainstream, having done it with emergent technology (Wi-Fi), organics, sustainability, and health and wellness.
David’s role with Sobeys is focused on comprehensive retail and business strategies for sustainability. His sustainability leadership includes engaging with numerous stakeholders to address both direct retail operations and the supply chain. David has participated in industry sustainability committees in Canada, US, and globally. He is the only representative from Canada on the 20 person global sustainability steering committee of The Consumer Goods Forum (a new global association of the 400 largest consumer facing retailers and manufacturers such as Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, P&G, Unilever, Nestle), which recently announced global initiatives on deforestation and refrigerants. He has also served on the steering committee of the Global Packaging Project, engaged in the GS1 product bar coding initiative, and participates in the Global Social Compliance Program.
In his previous position with Sobeys, David was General Manager of its new small urban store concept. Prior to Sobeys, David was National VP of Marketing for Whole Foods Market, Austin, Texas, during which time he was on the Organic Trade Association marketing committee, was on the inaugural Wi-Fi industry marketing committee while with a California-based wireless networking start-up, was with McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada, and was with a developing country master franchisee for Pizza Hut and KFC. David has an undergraduate degree in biology and environmental studies and a MBA.
