Meet Bernadette Hunter (aka Bern)

Born the daughter of a coal miner, Bern Hunter considers herself Pittsburgh-born but San Francisco Bay Area–raised. Canary Cross Border is named after the "canary in a coal mine" saying — a nod to her roots and the company's mission: helping brands identify risks before they become costly problems.

Bern is an operator, speaker, and investor with deep experience in international ecommerce, logistics, and global growth. Over the course of her career, she has helped hundreds of brands — from emerging Shopify merchants to enterprise retailers — determine how to scale internationally in ways that improve conversion, protect margin, and create better customer experiences.

She has helped hundreds of brands — from emerging Shopify merchants to enterprise retailers — scale internationally in ways that improve conversion, protect margin, and create better customer experiences.

She began her career in 1998 and has held roles at Microsoft, Yahoo, and Meta, advising large-scale businesses on growth, strategy, and digital commerce.

In the ecommerce and logistics space, Bern was an early employee at FlavorCloud, helping build cross-border infrastructure for global brands. She later co-founded ReturnBear and served as its Chief Revenue Officer, helping build a reverse logistics company focused on simplifying international returns. ReturnBear was acquired by Redo Tech, Inc. in January 2026.

Through her work at ReturnBear, she partnered closely with leading cross-border platforms and vendors in the Shopify ecosystem, including Global-e, Zonos, Avalara, Passport, OpenBorder, Swap, and others — giving her a practical, operator-level understanding of how these systems perform in the real world.

Bern brings a pragmatic, execution-focused mindset to every engagement: identifying what matters, prioritizing what moves the needle, and helping brands move quickly with confidence.

Bern is also a seven-time startup veteran, industry speaker, and startup advisor who regularly participates in ecommerce and logistics events focused on global commerce, operations, and retail innovation. As an investor and operator, she brings a pragmatic, execution-focused mindset to every engagement: identifying what matters, prioritizing what moves the needle, and helping brands move quickly with confidence.

After spending nearly two decades in the San Francisco Bay Area, she returned to her home state of Pennsylvania in 2017 to be closer to family. Today, she works with brands globally through Canary Cross Border — helping them see risks before they cost them revenue.