Our Team
The JCWG team is a blend of multi-generational and diverse individuals including the most seasoned retail senior advisors in Canada complimented with operating and senior partners who manage execution and implementation of all projects.
At JCWG, we are committed to supporting Canadian Culture and Arts, and attempt to blend this into our practice and projects wherever appropriate. As such, we represent ourselves in the form of portraits by Gerard Collins (born 1957) a Canadian painter. In 2001 Collins received the Strathbutler Award for New Brunswick artists. Collins’ work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and the New Brunswick Museum.
Lisa Hutcheson
Managing Partner, Retail Strategy, Master Planning, Operations, and Expert Witness
Lisa began her retail career more than 30 years ago on the sales floor. Since then, Lisa has led multi-store retail organizations with strategy, operations, and human resources.
Lisa began her consulting career in 2003 when she decided she wanted to put her skills into action and support retailers who wish to strengthen their competitive position.
Patrick Watt
Senior Partner, Retail Strategy and Foodservice
Patrick utilizes his 40+ years of experience in the retail and foodservice industry as a toolbox to meet client’s needs. Patrick has over 10 years of experience in front-line positions including the supervision of retail outlets and operations management within a multi-unit restaurant company environment. Patrick has been an independent retail and foodservice consultant for over 30 years having personally managed and completed over 1200 client projects.
Along with his Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Patrick has been credentialed as a professional consultant member (FCSI designate) of the Foodservice Consultants Society International.
Maureen Atkinson
Senior Advisor, Research and Insights
For Maureen, retail research has been a lifelong passion. Digging deeply into gnarly problems and finding the less-than-obvious insights has continued to provide a rewarding career. Being a member of various research organizations has kept Maureen’s approaches to subjects fresh and up-to-date.
With a background in retail operations and merchandising, Maureen understands that information must help retailers solve the many challenges they face in engaging and exciting the ever more demanding customer.
John Torella
Senior Advisor, Marketing and Branding
With over three decades of experience with some of Canada’s most successful brands – Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), Mark’s, Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen, Sobeys – John brings a sense of trust and confidence.
His credibility is enhanced by his books: Evolution of Retail Marketing, re|Think Retail Branding, Whole-Being Retail Branding, and Stop Talking Start Doing Retail Branding.
Graham Heuman
Research and Insights Associate
Graham is a retail professional specializing in research, operations, and experiential retail.
Graham started his career in fashion retail as a part-time sales associate. He quickly moved into the premium technology industry as a sales associate and began assisting the visual merchandiser with stores for all of Ontario. He handled sales accounts for small-medium businesses, and assisted in inventory forecasting.
A graduate of the Retail Management program, Graham assisted with innovations research in Italy with the Ted Rogers School of Management. The project’s scope was to identify Italian innovations in the luxury retail industry and reproduce these findings in Canada.
Graham joined JCWG in 2021 and has worked on a wide breadth of projects to date. He has since become the team’s lead coordinator with our international Ebeltoft partners, as the Canadian member of the expert jury for global trends and innovation. Graham sits on the board of the “Young Ebbers” initiative at Ebeltoft, as well as the Toronto Metropolitan University Program Advisory Council for the Retail Management program.