Current Speakers

Ashley Buchanan is the Chief Executive Officer of The Michaels Companies.

Ashley joined Michaels in early 2020 after a distinctive and successful career at Walmart. He served in various roles of increased leadership and responsibility across the company. His final role at that company was Chief Merchandising and Chief Operating Officer for Walmart U.S. eCommerce.

Prior to joining the U.S. eCommerce team, he was the Chief Merchant at Sam’s Club where he led a merchandising team and oversaw activities including assortment, private brand strategy, pricing, global sourcing, packaging, replenishment, and supply chain. He also previously served in a broad set of senior merchandising roles at Walmart. Earlier in his career, he spent time at Dell where he held a variety of positions in finance, after spending five years at Accenture focused on the retail industry.

Ashley earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Real Estate as well as a Master of Business Administration from Baylor University.