Sarah Davis

A self-described “mathy” executive at the top of Loblaw Companies—which comprises nearly 2,400 grocery stores and pharmacies across Canada—Davis is the data-obsessed president behind the nuts and bolts of the group, which brought in over $36 billion last year. That includes a push to expand the group’s e-commerce business, a fortuitous decision ahead of the pandemic. The company saw basket sizes quadruple in the early days of the pandemic. While online sales had already nearly doubled year on year in 2019, sales were up by 280% in just the second quarter of 2020. It hasn’t been easy to capitalize on that jump: the costs of safeguarding employees and customers has largely reversed profit gains—but the nature of shopping has changed for good.

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