As CEO of ADI, Tariq oversees all development from negotiating complex land acquisitions and assemblies, planning approvals, sales and marketing, debt syndication, private equity placement, and project close out. Tariq has grown the company from a $10M joint venture to currently over $2.1B in development in under 7 years. His day-to-day management activities involve business development, lender and investor liaison and corporate strategy. Acting as COO, Saud is actively involved in key operations across the company with a specialized focus in construction, engineering and operational strategy including establishing an in-house construction team and shortening construction cycles. Saud oversees the construction process including building science and design, value engineering, bid procurement, construction logistics, site engineering, and general construction management. In an industry with incredibly high barriers to entry, the Adi brothers have relentlessly pursued and realized success, one win at a time, with a focus on creating a better product as their driving force.

Carey is President of Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners.  Her passion for the 62-year-old pipeline construction firm and its people are translating into respectable growth and success despite a structural downturn in the sector.  This passion extends to the industry where she lends her time as Board Chair for the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Foundation, and on the Board of Governors as Chair of the Membership, Marketing and Communications Committee for one of Canada’s most active business hosting venues, the Calgary Petroleum Club.  

Kathy Baig's commitment to the profession is not limited to the OIQ (the Order of Engineers of Quebec) and the boards of directors on which she serves (VIA Rail, Engineers Canada and Maison Saint-Gabriel). She also cares a great deal about the contributions of immigrants and women to the profession and in this regard, she has initiated and participated in programs that assist and which encourage their participation in the various fields of engineering. Kathy has often been an inspirational keynote speaker in various events targeting young women to empower them in less traditional fields. She stands out as a result of her incredible ability to rally diverging opinions around common interests and is renowned for her infectious energy. She is also a great leader who has brought about a tremendous change of culture at the OIQ as well as the perception and valorization of engineers, for which she is widely recognized by many stakeholders and organizations. In recognition of her positive influence in her field and her exceptional career, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Québec awarded her the Germaine-Gibara Mercury Award for Young Leaders in 2017.

With more than a decade of experience as a top executive, Bram’s mission is to make the education system more efficient by removing cash from schools. As the head of KEV Group, North America’s leading provider of online payments and cash management software for K-12 schools, Bram has changed the way student fees are collected, helping to reduce fraud and allowing teachers to spend less time counting money and more time teaching. A passionate and dedicated executive, Bram led the development of KEV’s online payments platform, oversaw the growth of the company to more than 16,500 schools across North America, and led the acquisition of its largest U.S. competitor, TRA Software. An active member of Canada’s Jewish community, Bram founded the Annex Shul, a synagogue and community centre to help recent graduates and young families remain connected to their faith. Bram graduated with Great Distinction from McGill University and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Rob leads Stealth’s global strategy, finance, technology, talent management, and operations. Under his leadership, the company has grown to become the industry leader in remote monitoring services. Rob has been profiled in numerous publications such as Forbes, Bloomberg, BNN, The Globe and Mail, and Profit. Prior to Stealth, Rob worked in strategy and business management at Morgan Stanley in New York. There he led a team of professionals in a successful turnaround effort in the Global Wealth Management Division. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Toronto. Rob has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is currently Stanford GSB’s Toronto Chapter President. He also received an Honors Business Administration (HBA) from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, where he was an Ivey Scholar.

Aida Cipolla is the Executive Vice-President and CFO at Toronto Hydro. As a member of the executive management team, she is responsible for providing strategic leadership and guidance for strategy and business planning, accounting and financial reporting, treasury, taxation, internal audit, and compliance functions for Toronto Hydro Corporation and its subsidiaries. Since 2008, she has held various senior leadership roles within the organization, most recently Controller. Throughout her career Aida has acquired more than 16 years of financial and senior leadership experience within the energy, manufacturing, retail and financial services industries. Prior to joining Toronto Hydro, Aida worked for KPMG LLP in Toronto and Dublin, Ireland, leading audit and advisory engagements. Aida was recently named chair of the Canadian Electricity Association's (CEA) CFO Committee, and previously served as chair of the CEA's Accounting and Finance Committee. Aida is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario. Aida obtained an Honours Bachelor Commerce Diploma with minor in Economics from McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote School of Business. Aida is the Treasurer and executive member of the parent school council and coaches children’s soccer.

For more than a decade, Kate has had the privilege of learning the art of the possible from Canadian Inuit across Inuit Nunangat. It is with tremendous gratitude that Kate has dedicated her career to the Arctic and its Peoples. In Nunavut, Kate worked to protect and revitalize Inuktut through international advocacy and the development of novel laws and policies. With Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Kate supported initiatives to improve economic development opportunities in the four Inuit regions. In Inuvik with the Inuvialuit Corporate Group Kate has worked to improve energy security, the management of offshore resources, housing conditions and the lives of Inuvialuit children in care. Kate has a BA in International Relations from UBC, an LLB from Dalhousie University, and, an LLM from the University of Melbourne. Kate is a member of many Canadian law societies. She is a mom, wife, skier, surfer and avid coffee drinker.

As a leader in social finance, Narinder catalyzes large-scale change and equips the next generation of leaders to “do good, better”. Narinder is the Managing Director of LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact, an innovator in venture philanthropy. LEAP drives impact by scaling breakthrough social ventures, unlocking talent across the private sector (with BCG, McCarthy Tétrault, H+K Strategies, Offord Group, EY and Google) and helping donors allocate capital most effectively.  Dedicating her life to social impact, Narinder has been recognized as a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader and formerly sat on the Global Council for Pro Bono. She is the founding Executive Director of Rise Asset Development, where she designed and scaled a Rotman/CAMH financial initiative to provide an entrepreneurial path to employment for those with a history of mental health and addiction challenges. Narinder has worked across West Africa, growing the Première Agence de Microfinance (PAMF) across Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire and deploying impact investments to social enterprises across Ghana and Nigeria with Acumen. As a lecturer at the University of Toronto, Narinder created the first course in Impact Investing. She currently teaches at Ryerson University in Social Innovation and Social Finance.

Dr. Caitlin Dunne is a partner and co-director at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM). She specializes in fertility and egg freezing. With locations throughout western Canada, PCRM is one of the country’s largest and fastest growing fertility clinics. It was named one of Canada's Best Managed Companies in 2019. Caitlin is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia and a widely published health advocate in the popular media. She serves as a director of Fertile Future, which provides fertility preservation for young people with cancer. 

Mark Galardo is Vice President, Network Planning at Air Canada.  Over his 15-year career at the award-winning carrier, he has held many key strategic roles. These roles include leading the successful development, implementation and profitable expansion of Air Canada’s global network, and the deeper expansion of three globally competitive and international aviation hubs (Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal). He was also part of concluding the decision to purchase the technologically leading Canadian-built Airbus A220 (formerly known as the Bombardier C-Series). Mark holds an Executive MBA from Concordia University.

Jeff Gallant and Kyle MacDonald co-founded Capitalize for Kids ("C4K"), an organization striving to make Canada’s youth mental health system the most efficient in the world by working with service providers to build capacity. Beyond C4K, they serve as Portfolio Managers with Gallant MacDonald, a specialized family wealth practice at CIBC Private Wealth Management. They are on the Campaign Cabinet for the SickKids Foundation, were recognized as Global Shapers by the World Economic Forum and received the Toronto Board of Trade Business Excellence Award in Community Service. Jeff also serves on the Board of the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health. Kyle serves on the Boards of the IWK Foundation and Ontario Brain Institute.

Girish is the Head of Talent for TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, where he's responsible for talent acquisition, talent management, learning and development, organizational design, employee experience, and diversity and inclusion. Prior to this role, Girish was the Vice President of HR Solutions and Enablement for TD Bank Group, leading transformational initiatives to improve the experience of more than 85,000 employees, globally. He had oversight for HR Technology, Workforce Analytics, and Project and Change Management. Before joining TD, Girish held a variety of HR roles at Manulife and Accenture. He has worked in North America and Asia, with exposure to over 50 jurisdictions worldwide.  Girish holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), post-graduate education in HR Management, and the Certified HR Leader (CHRL) designation. He is a known leader among diverse communities, mentoring newcomers, internationally trained professionals and LGBTQ2+ community members. Girish was named HR Professional of the Year by HR Magazine Singapore, and Top Future Leader by HR.com.

Mustafa Humayun is a Partner at Sagard Holdings and the Portfolio Manager of its Private Credit business. He is also a member of the firm's investment and credit committees and is based in Toronto. Prior to this role, he led CPPIB’s energy credit team in North America as well its Latin American credit investment platform. Before that, Mustafa was an investment professional in the Special Situations Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co in New York, where he invested across the capital structure in a number of different sectors. Mustafa is currently serving or has served on the corporate boards of Laricina Energy, LongPoint Minerals, Founders Advantage (Observer) and Seisa Medical (Observer). He is active in the community and has served on the non-profit boards of America Needs You, A Alfred Taubman Medical Institute at the University of Michigan, Youth Empowering Parents and LIFT. He is proud to be involved with his alma mater, Queen's University, where he was an elected representative on one of its governing bodies and remains involved with Queen's University Investment Counsel as past board member and current alumni advisory board member.

Also Assistant Professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto

Dr. George Ibrahim is a Paediatric Neurosurgeon and Associate Scientist in the Neurosciences and Mental Health program at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) where he treats children with medically-intractable epilepsy, spasticity and functional disorders, playing an active role in the hospital’s cutting-edge epilepsy, dorsal rhizotomy and deep brain stimulation programs. His lab has yielded insights into personalized treatments for children with epilepsy and functional disorders by targeting specific network impairments and developing novel devices and treatment strategies.

Justine Janssen is SVP of Strategic Initiatives at Ceridian, a global Human Capital Management technology company, where she leads the organization’s growth and transformation initiatives. In 2018, Justine led Ceridian’s IPO, which raised over CAD $800 million and marked the largest technology IPO ever in Canada. Prior to joining Dayforce in 2011, Justine worked as a Management Consultant at Oliver Wyman, where she led organizational change and growth strategy projects for Fortune 1000 companies. Justine is Chair of the Board for Ceridian Cares Canada, an employee-driven charity supporting those in need in local communities, and serves as a board member for WEtech Alliance and Entegrus Powerlines Inc. A champion of women in STEM, Justine acts as an advisor to #MoveTheDial and Build a Dream. Justine has an Honors Business Administration Degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Outside of work, Justine spends time with her husband Eric, and children Jack and Grace.

Francois Lafortune is an entrepreneur and investor with fifteen years’ experience in building businesses and the financial technology sector. He is the co-founder and CEO of Diagram Ventures, an $85M venture builder that cofounds technology companies pursuing transformative innovation in the financial, insurance and healthcare sectors. Since 2016, Diagram was instrumental in building 5 companies from the ground up, hiring more than 250 full-time employees and creating more than $175M in enterprise value. Francois is also a Partner of Portag3 Ventures, he is a member of the Board of Directors of Hydro-Québec, he sits on Minister of Finance Bill Morneau’s advisory committee on Open Banking, and he is a member of the AMF’s Technological Innovation advisory committee. Prior to founding Diagram, Francois spent seven years at McKinsey & Company, during which time he served as co-leader of McKinsey’s Canadian Technology practice. Francois is an entrepreneur at heart, having launched his first business, assembling and selling personal computers, at the age of 13. Francois earned an Honours Bachelor of Engineering, with Distinction, from McGill University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. At McGill, Francois received the J.W. McConnell Scholarship for outstanding academic performance and John D. Thompson Prize for Entrepreneurship in Engineering.

Dr. Zachary Laksman is a Cardiac Electrophysiologist and Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. Zachary is the Director of the St. Paul’s Hospital Atrial Fibrillation Clinic and the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic. Zachary specializes in the management of heart rhythm disorders including heart rhythm surgeries and devices. He is a Clinician Scientist with a specific focus on stem cell disease modeling and drug screening, cardiogenetics, and personalized medicine. His research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health and Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Stem Cell Network, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation, and the UBC Division of Cardiology. Zachary holds the Inaugural Dr. Charles Kerr distinguished Scholar in Cardiovascular Genetics and a Professional Investigator Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Steve is a Partner at Whitecap Venture Partners, a leading Toronto based venture capital fund focused on early stage technology investing. Previously, he was co-CEO of FieldEdge, a service management software provider for the home contractor market that he acquired in 2015. In three years, Steve scaled FieldEdge from 25 to 200 employees, transformed the business from server-based to cloud-based, and sold the company to Advent International for more than 5x the acquisition price. Early in his career, Steve spent several years with CPPIB where he completed $11B in private equity transactions. He also worked in investment banking at TD Securities. In 2018, Steve received an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. He has a BBA from the University of Toronto, where he is now a lecturer in the management program. He is also a graduate of the Wharton Business School’s MBA program.

For the past decade, Janet has been focused on creating wealth through well-selected real estate investment. She has grown her precise business strategy from more than 50 residential transactions in Arizona to the purchase of multi-family buildings. Under Janet’s leadership, WWC has acquired over 60 multi-family properties, comprising more than 12,000 rental units, with a transactional value of more than US$1.6 billion. Janet is co-author of ‘Real Estate Action 2.0’, released in 2016 by Jurock Publishing Ltd. In 2017, Janet was named entrepreneur of the Year (Real Estate/Construction/Pacific region) by Ernst & Young. In 2016, Janet was named one of Business in Vancouver’s Forty Under 40 and was awarded the Veuve Cliquot Canadian New Generation Award, which recognizes young female entrepreneurs. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science and Business Administration (Simon Fraser University) and a Project Management Professional designation. 

Mo is the Chief Executive Officer at Prime Quadrant. Prior to Prime Quadrant, Mo founded and led organizations in industries as diverse as education, auto restoration, non-profit and microfinance. Philanthropically, Mo is the current Chairman of CAF Canada and the Prime Quadrant Foundation, while also sitting on the boards of CJPAC, Hebrew University and Holland Bloorview Hospital. As an author, Mo has four books including Partners in Preservation, The Philanthropic Mind, In Search of the Prime Quadrant and his next book, Selling Snake Oil, will be released in August 2019. Mo holds multiple degrees, Magna Cum Laude, from Yeshiva University, and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. 

Michael Litt is the CEO and co-founder of Vidyard, the leading video platform for businesses. Thought leader, surfer and serial entrepreneur, Michael leads the development one of the most innovative video analytics platform technologies in the world, used by global organizations to power more personalized marketing, sales and customer service experiences. Michael is an authority on entrepreneurship, innovation, and connecting with millennial audiences in the age of customer experience. He is a regular byline contributor to Fast Company, Globe and Mail, VentureBeat, Financial Post, and Inc., and has been quoted in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TechCrunch and others for his thoughts on the future of work. Michael is also an engaging and inspiring public speaker with global experience presenting to both large and intimate audiences. He’s been called upon to address diverse groups at TEDx, SaaStock, SaaS North, RISE, Web Summit, The Digital Collective and Y Combinator’s Ad-Innovation Conference. His personal accomplishments have also been recognized in his winning of The Peter Brojde Award for Canada’s Next Generation Executive Leadership, Marketing Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30, and Ernst Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mitchell is the founder and Artistic & Managing Director of The Musical Stage Company – Canada’s leading not-for-profit musical theatre company. Over fifteen years, the company’s work has been recognized with 96 Dora Award nominations, 18 Dora Awards and 17 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards, and its attendance now surpasses 30,000 people per year. Outside of The Musical Stage Company, Mitchell was the Associate Producer for the inaugural six years of Luminato, the Creative Producer for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize, and the producer of the Dora Awards. As well, Mitchell has held positions in the arts management departments at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. He is the recipient of the 2017 Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award for Outstanding Leadership in Administration, and he was a finalist for the 2018 Roy Thomson Hall Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation recognizing contribution to Toronto’s musical life.

Sam is a Canadian scientist and entrepreneur who has focused his work on the problem of how scientific information is organized in the modern world. Inspired by the challenges he faced as a cancer genomics researcher at the University of Toronto, Sam co-founded Meta, an artificial intelligence company that is transforming how scientific knowledge is experienced and consumed. In 2017 Meta was acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to scale up and make its technologies and tools freely available for researchers around the world. Sam has received several honours for his work in both scientific research and in business, including the 2016 Martin Walmsley Fellowship Award and the Banting & Best Doctoral Fellowship. Sam was named #20 on Fast Company Magazine's 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2017. Meta was recognized as one of the Top 10 Innovations of 2014 by The Scientist Magazine, and has been written about in MIT Technology Review, TechCrunch, Fortune, ReCode, Engadget, Wired, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, NewsWeek, and Communications of the ACM among others. Meta's acquisition by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was covered in more than 160 news and magazine outlets. Sam's research has been published in Nature Genetics, Nature Cell Biology, Science Translational Medicine, Cancer Cell, PNAS, and JCI, among others. He is a frequent speaker on the future of scientific information, and for three years running, at the United Nations on AI for Good.

A successful Canadian entrepreneur at a young age, Kendall speaks professionally to thousands of people worldwide on resilience, leadership and the power of telling your story. He is the founder of Neechie Gear®, the author of Driven To Succeed and he has received over 25 business awards. Kendal is on a mission to empower leaders and organizations through high impact speaking engagements and coaching programs.

At CIBC, Hratch is a champion for innovation, diversity, and next-gen talent, a leading supporter of persons with disabilities, and co-leads CIBC’s SickKids Leaders campaign. Prior to his current role, he was CIBC’s Head of Strategy & Corporate Development. Before CIBC, Hratch held strategy and corporate development roles at TD Bank, and was a management consultant with Oliver Wyman. Hratch is a board member of NPower Canada, The Writers’ Trust of Canada, and is on the Silver Ball Committee of Providence Healthcare.

Stephen founded The Luxus Group in 2007 and through his role as CEO & President has been primarily responsible for the vision of the company directly overseeing the growth, brand development, strategy, philanthropic endeavors and corporate culture of the organization. In addition to luxury property development, a key goal of the organization is to help people live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives through expanding their world to new travel opportunities. Stephen thrives with a busy mix of career, community, family and adventure. Along with his wife Carrie Doll, and children Kash and Allegra, as a family they remain incredibly active in the community in supporting many causes important to them; including, the Stollery Children’s Hospital, Mental Health Foundation, and their newest endeavor, The Inner Circle with Carrie Doll podcast.

Also Campus Alberta Innovates Program Chair in Nutrition, Food and Health and Associate Professor, University of Alberta

Dr. Carla Prado is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta and a Registered Dietitian. She holds a Campus Alberta Innovates Chair in Nutrition, Food and Health and is the Director of the Human Nutrition Research Unit, a state-of-the-art research and training facility. Carla is an internationally recognized expert in body composition assessment. Her research program focuses on the identification and treatment of abnormalities in body composition (such as low muscle mass), with a special interest in cancer, a disease that affects one in four Canadians. Her research has shown that body composition predicts both response to therapy and survival in cancer. She is now designing targeted lifestyle interventions to change body composition and improve the health of people with cancer. Her vision and leadership on this topic are changing the way an individual is assessed and treated. Carla is also pioneering a number of community engagement endeavours. Her excellence spans the three pillars of academic commitment, having won several awards for her research, teaching and service. In 2017, Avenue Magazine Edmonton named Carla to its Top 40 Under 40 list, an award that celebrates Alberta’s most exceptional young leaders. She has shared her expertise in over 100 meetings worldwide and in many high-profile media outlets such as Forbes, The Atlantic, Marie Claire and Women’s Health. As a champion for women in science, Carla was recently featured as a prominent Canadian scientist on the CBC documentary Ms. Scientist. 

Courtney is a respected corporate and community leader because of a commitment made early in her career to balance business with beliefs. Today as Vice President, External Affairs for Atlantic Lottery, a $1.2 billion dollar corporation, she oversees regulatory affairs, shareholder relations, information management, communications, corporate brand, social media and corporate reputation. During her rapid rise to the senior leadership team, Courtney still maintained a deep dedication to public service and life-long learning. She has run for provincial office, has served on numerous charitable boards, chaired fundraising galas for the Canadian Cancer Society that raised over $200,000, and is a past member of the Order of New Brunswick Advisory Council. She was honored with the Canada 150 award and named a YWCA Woman of Distinction in 2018. She has completed programs with the Schools of Public Health and Law at Harvard University and is currently finishing her MPA at Dalhousie University.

Also Vice President, Canadian Retina Society

Cynthia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and the Director of the electrophysiology laboratory and inherited retinal diseases clinic and the pediatric retina service at the Université de Montréal. She is currently Vice President of the Canadian Retina Society and also chairs the Early Career section of the Society. With her colleague Dr. Flavio Rezende, she successfully implanted the first “Bionic Eye” retinal prosthesis in the province of Quebec. She is currently one of only three surgeons in Canada to perform this surgery. She has been recognized for her work both as a leader in medicine and as a rising star in ophthalmology by the Young Physician Leaders Program at the World Health Summit. Last year, she was named Young Professional of the Year by the Young Chamber of Commerce of Montreal and was also chosen as the prestigious Personality of the week by La Presse-Radio Canada twice within the last five years.

Tech titan Michele Romanow is an engineer and a serial entrepreneur who started five companies before her 33rd birthday. Michele is the co-founder of Clearbanc, which gave entrepreneurs more than $150M in funding this year. She previously co-founded SnapSaves, which was acquired by American tech giant, Groupon in 2014. Michele was also the co-Founder of Buytopia.ca, which acquired ten competitors including Shop.ca and WagJag and was ranked #3 on the Profit Hot 50 list of fastest growing companies. She’s ranked in WXN’s “100 Most Powerful in Canada” and listed as the only Canadian on Forbes magazine’s “Millennial on a Mission” list.

Maya is the CEO of YWCA Canada, the largest women's charity in the country for the past 150 years. Annually, YWCAs invest over $230 million to support 330,000 women and girls, in 300 communities across Canada.  She is a diversity specialist with 22 years of experience in a variety of sectors in public policy development, adult education and social work. Maya was a member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council for Canada’s G7 Presidency. She is currently part of Young Global Leaders with the World Economic Forum and sits on the board of Women’s College Hospital. She has a Bachelor of Social Work from the Ryerson School of Social Work, and has a Masters in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics. Her work has taken her to Thailand and the UK where she worked with NGOs to support violence prevention. Her essays have been published in Going Beyond the Journey (2013) by Insomniac Press, and she is the winner of the 2013 CASSA Gender Advocate Award and the Toronto Community Foundation's Vital People award in 2014.  

Daniel Schlaepfer is the President and CEO of Select Vantage Inc (SVI), and its affiliates Select Vantage Canada Inc, Epic Vantage Inc and Elite Vantage Placement Ltd. SVI is a global leader in electronic market-making, employing over 2,700 staff in 39 countries. On any given day, the firm can trade upwards of US$3 billion on global stock markets. Prior to SVI, Daniel was employed by and consulted for a privately-owned trading technology firm, where he was responsible for the product development of the firm’s trading system and negotiated market access agreements in NCSA, EMEA and Asia. He has operated two successful trading floors and early on in his career he worked as a day trader. Educated in Canada, Daniel received an MBA from the John Molson School of Business, Goodman Institute of Investment Management at Concordia University, and a Bachelor in Commerce from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He is a CFA charter holder and passed the FINRA series 7 and 24 exams as well as CSI courses, CSC and PDO.

Parag and Frank are in the business of solving problems for homeowners. Over the past decade, the co-founders and Ivey classmates have quietly built a privately-held business that’s achieved over $100 million in annual revenue and established offices in 3 countries. NewAge Products is a disruptive manufacturing and distribution company leading the Home Improvement industry with its best-in-class online shopping experience and suite of expertly engineered, innovative organizational solutions.  As President, Parag oversees Product Design, Marketing and Sales. As Chief Operating Officer, Frank drives the company to reach Supply Chain, Logistics, Customer Service, and Financial targets. Together, they have grown the company to the point of national recognition both in Canada and in the United States by delivering greater value at every stage of the buyer journey – making it easier and faster for customers to beautify their living spaces and to realize the full potential of their homes.

Dr. Karlee Silver and Ms. Jocelyn Mackie are Co-Chief Executive Officers of Grand Challenges Canada (www.grandchallenges.ca), together providing leadership for all aspects of the innovation platform. Karlee focuses on setting strategy to enable the programs, investments, and knowledge management teams to source, support, and transition to scale promising innovations for social impact in low- and middle-income countries and soon with Indigenous innovators in Canada. Jocelyn focuses on setting and communicating the platform’s strategy and impact with funders and partners, while overseeing the organization’s operations, deal structuring and negotiations, risk mitigation and financial management. Karlee received her doctorate in genetics and immunology as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. Jocelyn received her Honours Business degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business, and her Masters of Science and Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto. While not focused on saving & improving the lives of vulnerable people through innovation, Karlee spends her time with her partner and dog at her country home in Prince Edward County, and Jocelyn spends her time with her husband, three kids, two step-daughters, and when she can, taking dance lessons!

Craig is the President and CEO of Olympia Trust Company. He is a Founder and Vice Chair of the Private Capital Markets Association and a member of the Alberta Securities Commission’s Exempt Market Dealer Advisory Committee. He was previously a member of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Small and Medium Enterprises Committee and Exempt Market Advisory Committee. Craig established his company’s charitable foundation which donates approximately $300,000 annually. He is happily married and has two children ages 6 and 3.

Ian is Dean of the School of Music at Memorial University. An expert in leadership studies, creativity and innovation, he has developed a dynamic global career as an academic leader, scholar, speaker, and consultant, working across numerous industries in more than 40 countries. He has served as Associate Dean for Research and Director of PhD Studies at IEDC-Bled School of Management (Slovenia), Research Fellow of the Centre for Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter (UK), Adjunct Professor of Leadership at the Warsaw University of Technology Business School (Poland), Fellow of the Peter Pribilla Stiftung (Germany). Holding B.Mus., M.Mus. and PhD degrees his work occurs in the nexus of sociology, philosophy, creativity, music and leadership studies. He is author/co-author of award winning articles appearing in a number of peer reviewed and practitioner outlets, and co-author of the book "Key Concepts in Leadership" (Sage, 2012).

Sean became a licensed optician and joined his family’s optical business where he was instrumental in the company’s growth and eventual sale to a local group of Optometrists in 2008. In 2016, Sean was approached by the Winnipeg School Division to create a mobile vision care clinic that could provide comprehensive eye examinations and dispense prescription eyeglasses directly on-site at various school locations. Since the program began in 2016, the Winnipeg School Division has reported improvements in student attendance, behaviour as well as an average literacy gain of 1.4 grade levels by the end of the school year for those students receiving eyeglasses. Moving forward, Sean hopes to expand the program with the goal of eliminating poor vision as a barrier to education for all students across Canada.

Nicole Verkindt is the Founder & CEO of Canadian technology company, OMX (theomx.com). OMX is the world’s most powerful procurement platform specialized in driving socio-economic returns. Previously, she led a global, high tech manufacturing business. Nicole is on the Board of the Canadian Crown Corporation, CCC (Canadian Commercial Corporation) that performs government to government contracts between Canada and other countries around the world. She is a frequent technology commentator on CBC and columnist for Vanguard magazine focusing on technology. She was a “Dragon” on CBC’s Next Gen Dragon’s Den, which was dedicated to early stage technology businesses.  She was named Start Up Canada’s national woman entrepreneur of the year in 2017 and received the Canadian Advanced Technology Peter Brojde award for Next Generation leadership. She also joined Gimlet media’s show “The Pitch” as the 4th investor for the 2018 season. She is on the board of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a Next Gen member of the Business Council of Canada, as well as the Co-Chair of the BCC’s Task Force on Canada’s Economic Growth. In 2019, she was named StartUp Canada’s Woman Ambassador of the year. 

As the CEO of Landmark Cinemas Canada, Bill is leading innovation in the Canadian Cinema industry. Since joining Landmark in 2014 as its Chief Operating Officer, Bill has led the organization to 35% revenue growth and an over 600% increase in profitability. The primary driver of these results was a customer centric strategy that introduced the first recliner seating experience to Canadian moviegoers. This success led to a sale of the organization in late 2017, at which point Bill was named CEO of the Canadian organization. Now owned by Kinepolis Group NV of Belgium, Bill and the team are continuing to grow through investment in experience upgrades and construction of new locations. Prior to joining Landmark Cinemas Bill was the Vice President Operations for Crombie REIT and the Vice President of Operations for Empire Theatres. Bill has an Executive MBA from the Sobey School of Business at St. Mary’s University.

Annesley has developed a highly successful track record as a leader across various industries and roles in engineering, finance and pension fund operations. Currently Annesley is Senior Vice President, Pensions and Communications at OMERS, leading a team that delivers exceptional services to 500,000 pension plan members across Ontario. In addition, Annesley is responsible for OMERS organization-wide communications and global brand strategy. Prior to Pensions and Communications, Annesley was a Managing Director at OMERS Infrastructure, responsible for a multi-billion dollar portfolio of investments across energy, transportation and social infrastructure sectors delivering long-term value for the pension fund. Annesley is currently a Director on the Boards of Bruce Power, Alectra Utilities and Infrastructure Ontario.