Connection & Momentum: commonsku's December HQ

We just wrapped our December HQ at The Kingbridge Centre with the entire team. No screens between us. Just people, conversations, and frankly, concerning levels of coffee consumption.

Here's the thing about 2025: it was BIG. We grew the team. Built new features. Expanded partnerships. We talked to countless distributors and suppliers navigating the complexity of modern merch. We needed this. Not to slow down, but to come together, look at what we've built, and where we're headed next. Also, there were creepy dolls involved, but we'll get to that.

Three Days of Big Conversations

Year in Review and Look Ahead

commonsku CEO Catherine Graham opened day one with a year-in-review before sharing our 2026 strategic initiatives. She outlined our primary focus on automation and intelligence, detailing how these investments will transform our platform and our customers' experience and strengthen our competitive position in the year ahead. 

AI in Action

Bobby Lehew, Chief Content Officer, and Aaron Kucherawy, VP of Customer Success, then shared AI survey results from customers. But here's the fun part: they built the entire presentation using Gemini 3. 

It was a perfect snapshot of where we are: experimenting, learning, iterating. Not every test is perfect, but we're leaning in.

Bobby also sat down with Eku Malcolm, Director of AI Operations, for a deeper conversation about AI and commonsku. Not the hype—the reality. How do we bring automation and intelligence to users and our team in ways that solve real problems? How do we augment what teams already do well?

Learning from the Best: Mitch Freed (Genumark) & Kathy Cheng (Redwood Classics)

Hearing from Mitch Freed (Genumark) and Kathy Cheng (Redwood Classics Apparel) was one of the best parts of HQ. These are people in the thick of it every day and were kind enough to pull back the curtain.

• Mitch's operation: over $60M in revenue, 100+ employees, daily shipments, e-commerce, fulfillment, and uniform programs for hundreds of thousands of people.
• Kathy's operation: 80-person team running specialized made-in-Canada manufacturing, incubating for brands and emerging streetwear labels

They were brutally honest. Every project is more complicated than it used to be. Everyone wants everything yesterday. And the old ways of doing things? They're dead.

But the through-line was partnership. Mitch talked about commonsku as the connective tissue for his team, connecting sales to suppliers to execution. Kathy explained why she joined as a supplier, and it came down to this: the community here actually gets it.

Here's what stuck: collaboration between distributors, suppliers, and tech isn't a nice-to-have. It's how good work actually happens.

Building What's Next

Charlie Moscoe, VP of Product Management, led a product workshop on Intelligence and Automation. There were flowcharts involved (so many flowcharts!!).
Ideas were flying. We're keeping most of them under wraps for now, but let's just say there's a lot to be excited about.

David Shultz, Chief Partnerships Officer, shared the Partnerships roadmap. Not simply adding integrations, but building ecosystems. Where partnerships multiply value instead of just adding features. We brainstormed which partnerships would help build that world and which ones we absolutely need to get right. The conversation got strategic fast.

Martha Carscadden, Vice President of People, presented engagement survey results. Standout finding:  Seeing how many people genuinely feel proud to work here (Shoutout to "Prod"). She shared where we're thriving, where we have room to grow, and what keeps people choosing to be here.

Celebrating the Team: skudos Awards

Catherine and Mark hosted the skudos Awards ceremony—our way of celebrating people who embody what commonsku is all about.

This year's winners:

• Amalina Radwan – Community First: For consistently putting people first and building genuine connections across the team
• Nathan Poch – Fast Forward: For driving innovation and keeping us moving ahead
• David Cha – Ten Steps Ahead: For strategic thinking and always anticipating what's next
• Jea Shin – Delightful Work: For making every project better and bringing joy to the process

Each winner got a video tribute from their teammates.
Cue the laughter and the tears. 

The Fun Stuff (and Those Creepy Dolls)

The Dolls Are Back

Last year, Charlie gave Nathan a collection of deeply unsettling dolls at White Elephant. This year, Nathan brought them back—with an extra doll, new outfits, and individual backstories. He passed them to Xiaohan.
We're calling it: official HQ tradition. (Sorry, Xiaohan.)

Family Feud

We played Family Feud (shoutout Abbey Road Entertainment). Teams competed. Ridiculous answers got shouted across the room. The highlight? Mark and Catherine going head-to-head in a face-off. The room went nuts. Peak HQ moment.

Candle Making

Candle-making workshop courtesy of Elisa Candles.
Early holiday shopping? Done! Aaron was making the rounds collecting supplies from every table like he was building the ultimate candle. It was a nice change of pace from all the sessions—slower, tactile, just making something together.

Much More: We're leaving a lot out—cookie competitions, random moments, the stuff that's better lived than written about and is honestly what you remember most.

Also, can't not mention Sam Bridges and the amazing HQ committee. We could feel how much planning and care went into making these three days together happen. Thank you for making us all feel taken care of.

What's Next

After three days, the feeling was clear: We're ready. Ready to build on 2025. Ready to bring smarter automation and intelligence to workflows. Ready to expand partnerships. Ready to support distributors and suppliers doing great work.

The best part of gathering as a team? We leave more connected than when we arrived. That connection—between teammates, between distributors and suppliers, between people and the workflows powering their businesses—drives everything we do. Bring on 2026!