TJ Flood

TJ was the President of FGL Sports Ltd., the largest national sporting goods retailer in Canada. He was responsible for the overall strategic direction and growth of the Company’s more than 400 retail locations across Canada, including Sport Chek, Sports Experts, Atmosphere, National Sports, Pro Hockey Life, Hockey Experts and Intersport.

TJ was the Senior Vice-President of Consumer Brands and a key member of the executive team at one of Canada’s most trusted and storied companies, Canadian Tire Corporation. Built on a foundation of legacy brands, including NOMA, Woods, CANVAS, Motomaster and Mastercraft, TJ’s team focused on expanding and continually evolving the organization’s consumer brands assets, offering an unprecedented value proposition to customers in Canada and abroad. With one of the largest, and growing, consumer brands portfolios in Canada, TJ and his team were responsible for everything from brand/product concept, development, commercialization and management, across the Canadian Tire family of companies.

As the former Senior Vice-President of Marketing, TJ managed a broad portfolio that included strategic marketing functions and the iconic Canadian Tire flyer. Under his leadership the team successfully reinvigorated the Canadian Tire brand, introducing the wildly successful "Canada's Store" and "We All Play for Canada" marketing campaigns, which earned national recognition and positioned Canadian Tire as an innovative leader in the retail space. TJ’s combination of merchandise and marketing experience has proven invaluable to understanding an organization of such magnitude, enabling Canadian Tire’s marketing division to continue bringing strategic and impactful campaigns to fruition.

Oversaw merchandising functions of Canadian Tire’s $2.2-billion Living division, including the key $600-million Kitchen category. During his tenure he led a team of 50 who helped Canadian Tire to revolutionize its offering and presentation of Living categories and to take the number one share position in small appliances, cookware, bakeware, floor care and home organization categories. Responsible for negotiating several exclusivity agreements with top tier national brands, including Cesar Milan pet products, as well as Cuisinart, Debbie Travis and “the Cake Boss.” Managed P&L, including a $40-million marketing budget, and a $4-million OPEX budget. Also responsible for overseeing product margin plan of more than $500-million and inventory plan of $165-million in average inventory.

Responsible for managing marketing and procurement functions for Canadian Tire’s $1-billion Kitchen, home organization and home décor categories. Led a team of 23 to deliver 7% sales growth and a 5 point share gain via innovative assortment content decisions, the development of a new product innovation pipeline, flyer activity and renewed advertising support. Created a new five-year strategic and implementation plan to deliver double digit top and bottom line growth. Project lead for the team tasked with delivering a new store format for the entire CTC chain.

Oversaw marketing and procurement for Canadian Tire’s $800-million Kitchen, Home Comfort and Consumables category. Under his watch, his team of 14 delivered 9% sales growth and a share gain of three points.

Responsible for overseeing marketing and sales functions for customize vitamin supplement startup, helping drive sales by 50% in one year, while reducing operating burn by 75%. Developed strategic plan to alter focus towards corporate partnerships and contributed to reduction in operating burn. Built customer pipeline by attracting major corporate partners in health insurance, pharmacy benefits management, retail pharmacy and multi-level marketing industries.

After holding increasingly senior positions and helping to manage brands such as Dentyne, Clorets and Halls, eventually responsible for managing multiple cough drop sub-brands under the iconic Halls brand. Under his leadership, Halls brand franchise enjoyed a seven share point gain and 64 consecutive months of share point growth. Profitability jumped 7% as a result of full line 12% price increase, inclusive of sales strategy development, elasticity analysis and working with major accounts through implementation. In just six months, grew the Halls Fruit Breezers brand from zero to a 7% share of the market, making it the second largest brand in the U.S. cough drop category, with sales of $20-million in 2002.

Responsible for developing financial models and assortment strategies for more than 440 retail stores across Canada. Implemented key marketing plan for product line representing more than $200-million in retail sales. Negotiated unit costs and co-op advertising to increase category profitability by 21%. Aided in the refinement of private label strategy resulting in a five point increase in market share.

Designed and developed five new innovative hockey equipment products, including goalie pad covers for both ice hockey and roller hockey. Performed extensive industry research into production, marketing distribution, advertising and financing availability. Created a comprehensive business plan to secure more than $25,000 in bank and venture capital funding. Negotiated a comprehensive licensing arrangement with Irwin Toy Ltd. For worldwide distribution rights to products. Received more than $50,000 in case and 5.5% royalty on gross sales.

Spent one semester studying Business Administration at L'École des hautes études commerciales