Dr. Wendy Cukier
Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management, Founder, Diversity Institute at Ryerson University
The Diversity Institute has 100 research staff, 100 research associates from around the world, 200 industry partners and focuses on dimensions of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, future skills, and entrepreneurship and innovation. Harnessing the power of innovation, it promotes the advancement of underrepresented groups. The Diversity Institute is also a research lead for the $300 million Future Skills Centre and the $8.6 million Women Entrepreneurship Hub.
Wendy has been recognized with the Harry Jerome Diversity Award, the Bob Marley Award, the Canada-Pakistan Business Council’s Female Professional of the Year, the Metropolis Research Award, the CATA Alliance, Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN. She has been named a YWCA Woman of Distinction and one of the International Women’s Forum 2020 Women Who Make a Difference, a Woman of Influence and one of the "100 Alumni who shaped the Century" by the University of Toronto.
Wendy holds a PhD, an MBA, an MA, and honorary doctorates from Laval and Concordia.
Darren Menabney
Lead, Global Employee Engagement, Ricoh Company Ltd
He is the creator of the Presentation Design Thinking methodology, which melds design thinking and storytelling to create compelling, human-centered narratives.
He is a contributing writer for Forbes and Fast Company, a TEDx speaker, and is part of the IDEO U teaching team.
Mohammed Chahdi
Head of Americas HR Operations Services, Dell Technologies
With his 20+ years Technology experience and passion for people and leadership, Mohammed is continuously exploring how Technology has shifted the nature of work and the critical role the HR function plays with people and culture strategies to enable business success in a digital economy.
Carl Oxholm
Founder and CEO, Virtue Compass Inc.
He is a certified Optimize coach and was PwC Canada’s National Partner Coaching Leader, where he led a faculty of professional external coaches, sat on several of PwC’s global steering committees, and was a founding member of both the PwC Canada Charitable Foundation and its Women in Leadership programs.
Carl continues to respond to numerous ongoing requests to be a keynote speaker – sharing practical insights derived from his many years of experience, and the unique roles that he has enjoyed within the professional services industry. Carl has travelled the world providing talks and facilitating workshops that involve culture change, EI and leadership development. Having helped numerous global companies, not-for-profit organizations and Professional Associations alike, he often says that it is his privilege and pleasure to serve where needed.
Ayleen Farnood
Disruptor, The Knowledge Society
Mishaal Lakhani
Activator, The Knowledge Society
She has worked with companies such as The Knowledge Society: TKS Foundations Associate Director, Ending Maternal Mortality as a Learning Strategy Developer to aid curriculum administration to reduce rates of death while giving birth in Nigeria, Downtown streets team: Solving the Youth Homelessness Crisis in San Francisco, Zappos: Innovation Intern working on food waste, Cellular Agriculture Society: Design intern, Consulting Projects with The Knowledge Society: Working with Sidewalk Labs for affordable housing, Kidogo for early childhood education in East Africa, Wealthsimple for financing higher education and CIBC Digital: Digital strategist
Currently, she is studying at the innovative Minerva University, her first year curriculum is based on learning transferrable skills to prepare us for the world of the future, teaching core competencies of thinking critically and creatively, and interacting and communicating effectively. This is done through an evolved teaching model, grounding in active learning, and learning through doing, by applying these skills to real-world problems. They also spend their 4 years in 7 different cities across 4 different continents (San Francisco, USA ; Seoul, South Korea; Taipei, Taiwan; Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, England; Berlin, Germany; Hyderabad, India)
She is passionate about sustainable development goals (specifically women's health) and the future of food.
Seyone Chithrananda
Innovator, The Knowledge Society
Soula Courlas
Managing Director, Talent & Organization/Human Potential, Accenture
A frequent speaker at HR and industry conferences, and an avid writer on topics related to organization and HR transformation, future of work, culture shifting, and organizational readiness, Soula is a thought leader inspiring audiences and promoting a mind-set shift in how we interpret the dynamics impacting the world of work.
Nikolas Badminton FRSA
Chief Futurist, Futurist.com
Nikolas has advised the world's most impactful companies, including NASA, Google, Microsoft, United Nations, United Way, Bank of Canada, Government of Canada, UK Home Office, Government of Cayman Islands, American Express, AT&T, Thales, Rolls Royce, Heineken, Procter & Gamble, IDEO, and many more..
His research and thinking has been featured by CTV, Global News, BBC, VICE, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Techcrunch, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Forbes, Sputnik and Venturebeat. .
Nikolas’ thinking can be seen in the opening chapter for the new book ‘The Future Starts Now’. He’s also writing a new book that equips world leaders and executives with the tools to imagine new futures, see unforeseen risks and strengthen strategic planning.
Lisa Kimmel
Chair and CEO, Edelman Canada
Lisa’s fresh, collaborative and authentic approach has not only resulted in award-winning programs for clients but has fostered a corporate culture based on innovation, teamwork and integrity. Edelman Canada has been recognized as one of the Great Place to Work® Best Workplaces in Canada and Best Workplaces for Women for nine consecutive years. .
Passionate about advancing women in business, Lisa is chair of the firm’s Global Women’s Equality Network (GWEN), which is committed to fostering an environment where women of all backgrounds can enjoy equal opportunities. She is committed to supporting future leaders and championing women’s causes. She is a sought-after speaker and commentator at events and in the media. In recognition of her efforts, Lisa is a recipient of both the Financial Times and HERoes Champions of Women in Business Top 100 Female Executives, and a 2019 YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction award for Corporate Leadership. She has also been inducted into the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada Hall of Fame. .
Lisa is actively involved with several mentorship programs through the Women’s Executive Network, American Marketing Association and Women in Communications and Technology Protégé Program. She sits on the Boards of Directors of the Toronto Region Board of Trade and CivicAction. Lisa also sits on the Global Advisory Board for G(irls)20, and is a member of the United Nations Women’s Empower Advisory Group and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Council for Women’s Advocacy.
Phil Buckley
Founder and Managing Director, Change With Confidence
Over Phil’s career, he has held senior leadership positions, including Global HR Director Commercial, Global Organizational Change Director, Americas VP Organization Change and Vice President HR Canada. His change assignments include mergers, divestitures, organization restructurings, growth capability developments, efficiency drives, culture initiatives and systems implementations..
Phil is the founder and managing director of Change with Confidence, a management consulting firm that helps leaders and their teams be their best as they create a better future. Through expertise, advice and skill-building, their purpose is to enable organizations regardless of the changes they must champion..
Phil is the author of two books, Change on the Run: 44 Ways to Survive Workplace Uncertainty and Change with Confidence: Answering the 50 Biggest Questions that Keep Change Leaders Up at Night. His work has been featured in Forbes, Businessweek, The Globe and Mail and many other business publications..
You can find Phil’s podcast, Change on the Run, blog and monthly newsletter at changewithconfidence.com.
Founder and CEO , The Digital Economist
Navroop is currently a Connection Science Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, part of a curated group of top scholars and entrepreneurs in emerging technologies with a track record of outstanding achievement, who are building the future of Distributed Ledger Technologies, Digital Identity and Digital Networks. She was listed as one of the Top Blockchain Influencers in 2018 by Media Shower. .
Navroop is frequently interviewed by Forbes as a subject matter expert on the economics of emerging tech. She has co-authored Hyperledger’s "Blockchain for Business" online course - the biggest on the subject - with over 170,000 students so far and is regularly requested as a keynote speaker at industry conferences. She holds three masters in IP Management, Economics of Innovation and Applied Economics. Previously, she worked at Harvard University and the United Nations Environment Programme. In 2017, Navroop served as a United Nations Youth Delegate.
Guy Pearce
Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data Officer, Convergence.tech
He was awarded the ISACA® Michael Cangemi Best Author award in Los Angeles for peer-reviewed contributions to the field of IT governance, some of which have been translated into French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. He serves as Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data Officer at Convergence.Tech, a Canada-based digital transformation firm operating globally. He holds degrees in computer science and business, as well as certifications in IT governance (CGEIT) and privacy (CDPSE).
Jennifer Campbell
Founder, Action Impact Movement
Clients seek her out because of her diverse management consulting and leadership coaching background and her ability to create beneficial and sustainable change in people and organizations.
Jen holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from Queen’s University and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through the Coaches Training Institute. After living and working in Toronto for two decades, Jen and her family moved to the mountains on the west coast of Canada where she loves to ski and mountain bike.
Siriphone Maldonaldo
Director People Engagement, Harbinger
Strive Mazunga
Director Scotia Digital, Scotiabank & Co-Chair of Scotiabank’s Black Employee Network
Having worked in finance, media, retail, and loyalty I have seen an opportunity for better equity and diversity in the corporate world. Currently co-chair of Scotiabank's grassroots employee Resource Group.....Scotiabank Black Employee Network(SBEN) I working to see better representation of black professionals in big enterprises.
Tim Morton
Founder and President of Prompta & Prompta AI®
Tim founded Prompta (which means Readiness in Latin), Canada’s first certified diverse management consulting firm by the CGLCC and Canada’s 2018 LGBT+ Business Enterprise of the Year. In 2019, Tim launched Prompta AI® a change management accelerator which utilizes NLP & Machine Learning to uncover employee/stakeholder sentiment to improve change effectiveness, business adoption and enhance employee engagement.
Tim has focused his career on improving corporate cultures, and enhancing working lives. To date, he’s supported over 30 organizations to thrive through transition, including having enabled M&A integrations valued at $32 billion in aggregate.
His change management experience includes IT,CRM & ERP implementations, digital transformations, merger integration, restructuring, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) culture change support, Executive and Team Coaching and most recently the future of work.
Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta
Change Strategist, and Founder, The Change Leadership