11th Edition
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
Leading in a changing environment
Kathy Dunderdale (Keynote Speaker)
Former Premier
Newfoundland and Labrador
Navigating gender
Kathy Dunderdale has navigated her way through the world of politics for 30 years. In this time she has seen women excluded across many political and economic sectors. It was often never noticed that women’s expertise, perspective and talent were on the missing list. As a leader she has applied her gender and diversity lens in many different areas, and started conversations about inclusiveness: what it looks like and the benefits. The recent #metoo movement amongst others, has shown there is still much work to be done.
- • Have courage being that unique voice in the room
- • Lead knowing that inclusion is a critical part of success
- • Continuously create an environment where norms can be respectfully challenged
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Beth McGrath
Partner
McInnes Cooper
Attitude is everything!
Does it seem some people have more ‘luck’ and ‘opportunity’ afforded to them than others? Is it by chance? Not likely! Across all industries and socioeconomic boundaries, people are attracted to positive ‘can-do’ personal brands. The old adage ‘hire for attitude and train for skill’ is more important today than ever before. Whether you are dealing internally with colleagues or externally with clients, in this session we will explore how attitude is everything.
- • Attitude & outlook are the building blocks to personal and professional success
- • Resilience and Balance go hand in hand and both require the right attitude
- • You can have it all!
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Lisa Sparkes
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Provincial Aerospace
Be a leader that people will want to follow
There are two types of leaders, the kind people have to follow and the kind that people want to follow. Having a leadership title does not automatically ensure you will be an effective leader, to become an effective leader you must understand the difference between being a leader by rank or position and being a leader who makes a positive impact. Ask yourself “Would I follow me?” Often people believe that becoming a leader is a result of length of service and that leadership is progressive based on experience in a role. While experience is an important part of becoming a leader there are other “softer” qualities that are as crucial to becoming the kind of leader others want to emulate.
- • Humility
- • Accountability
- • Empathy
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Andrea Stack
Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager
CIBC Wood Gundy
Chair, St. John’s Board of Trade
Making commitment to excellence a team effort
As the saying goes; “a team is only as strong as its weakest member”. Successful leaders are able to inspire and drive team members so that a commitment to excellence becomes second nature to everyone. The individual commitment to a group effort is what sets the framework for success.
- • Commitment to team
- • Motivating each player
- • Defining success
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David S. Diamond
President and Chief Executive Officer
Eastern Regional Health Authority
Building a strong executive team
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson. Any great organization needs a strong executive team that can lead the organization forward and achieve success. Building that executive team means developing the right mix of skilled individuals who bring a diversity of backgrounds and experiences to be effective as a team.
- • Recruitment and performance
- • Team dynamics
- • Developing leaders within the organization
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Cori-Jane Radford
Vice President, Marketing & Development
DSF Granite and Tile
Committing to continuous learning
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.” – Henry Ford. Continuous learning is the desire to continually improve your skill set by gathering new knowledge. Those who aspire to continuous learning naturally take the initiative to learn and implement new ideas. They understand that there is always more to know, and have a practical commitment to increasing aptitude. Leaders must embrace continuous learning as both a personal and an organizational value in order to create a culture of growth and competitiveness.
- • Techniques to help pique and sustain your interest in continuous learning
- • Dimensions of Continuous Learning
- • Teaching is Learning
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Dr. Isabelle Dostaler
Dean, Faculty of Business Administration
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Towards more diversity in academic leadership
Leading an academic institution can be a challenging endeavor: universities are professional bureaucracies in which core employees (the professors) benefit from considerable freedom. Academic freedom benefits society because it ensures that professors are free to challenge false arguments and conventional wisdom. Yet, professional bureaucracies can make the job of the leader quite complex. One could think that female leaders would thrive in this particular context given that, as extensive research shows, women value reciprocal relationships and are good at collaborating. It is therefore surprising that less than a fifth of university presidents in Canada are women and that this percentage has not changed in decades.
- • The contextual elements of academic leadership
- • Potential reasons why it seems difficult for women to move up the academic ladder
- • Solutions for more diversity and parity in academic leadership
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Jennifer Williams
VP, Production
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro
Diversity and inclusion as a cultural value
Jennifer Williams will discuss the journey that Nalcor Energy and Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro have embarked upon in order to ensure continued commitment and improvement towards being a diverse and inclusive company.
- • How diversity and inclusion contributes to business success
- • The progress and impacts on the internal culture at her organization and how people communicate
- • Some of the challenges faced along the journey
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Victoria Belbin
Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Home Builders’ Association – NL
Effective decision-making is the core of effective leadership
We are in an era of unprecedented change; effective decision-making is becoming the core of our ability to respond to change and strategically impact change. Whether or not you’re sitting at the Board Table, in the C-Suite / Management, or support decision makers, everyone plays a role in effective decision-making. Leadership doesn’t start at the top. Strong communication practices among confident voices with diverse perspectives are the building blocks of leadership, individually and collectively. Learn through Victoria Belbin’s experiences how:
- • Communications lead to good conversations / discussions
- • Confidence leads to the question that everyone is thinking
- • Empathy leads to the decision with a greater understanding of impact
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Kendra MacDonald
Partner
Deloitte
Innovative leadership
In a world of exponential change, keeping teams motivated and focused on the right things is increasingly challenging. Successful teams are not defined by their technical skills but rather diversity of thought, resilience, creativity, ability to innovate and adapt to rapidly changing environments. Companies are challenged by decreasing levels of employee engagement impacting productivity and increasing costs. Organizations are managing through changing demographics and the introduction of increasing levels of automation (“the robots are coming”) into the way we work. How do we evolve our leadership approaches to continue to build and motivate teams to meet the needs of today and tomorrow? In this presentation, Kendra MacDonald will explore:
- • Key trends impacting the Canadian workforce
- • Expectations of digital natives
- • Key trends to engage and build strong teams in this new world
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Natalie Templeman
General Manager – Information Technology and CIO
Nalcor Energy
Morning Chair
Natalie Templeman has over 18 years of progressive leadership experience in the Information Technology field with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. From 2012 to 2016, Natalie was the Executive Director of Solution Delivery with the OCIO where she was accountable for project delivery, enterprise architecture, client services, and the project management office. Natalie has strong leadership skills with broad and deep experience, including leading large teams, large complex projects, and managing significant budgets. Natalie joined Nalcor as the General Manager – Information Technology and CIO in November 2016. Natalie brings a strong focus on IT strategy and on ensuring the needs of the business take top priority. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Memorial University and also holds a Masters Certificate in Project Management.
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Elizabeth Kidd
Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
College of the North Atlantic
Afternoon Chair
Elizabeth Kidd brings a wealth of experience to her position, having worked more than 20 years in leadership roles in both the private and public sectors, over 10 of which have been in post-secondary education. Prior to her role at CNA, she was the Vice President, Corporate Services, with Collège Boréal in Sudbury, Ontario. Prior to that, she worked for a number of years as Director of Finance and Information Technology with Boréal, and was the Director General, Accounting and Financial Reporting, for Hudson’s Bay Company in Toronto. Born and raised in Rosemère, Québec (just outside of Montreal), Ms. Kidd is fluent in both French and English. She is a Certified Professional Accountant, and completed her undergraduate studies in Business Administration at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
EVENT DATE, TIME & VENUE
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
8:45 AM – 4:10 PM
Murray’s Pond Country Club
1464 Portugal Cove Road, Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, NL
LOCATION
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Register today… and save $200 per person.
Early Bird deadline: March 31, 2018
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Special Group Rate:
Register 3 people and get a free registration for a 4th person.
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For full details, please consult the conference brochure.
What attendees are saying!
“The calibre of the speakers was very impressive.”
– ANN BROWNE, Associate Vice President Facilities, Memorial University
“Always very motivating and a great networking opportunity. Fantastic group of strong, wise women!”
– KRISTIE COCHRANE, Communications Specialist, Vale
“The topics certainly make you think about your own experiences and how you conduct yourself in the workplace.”
– JOCELYN PERRY, President and CEO, Newfoundland Power Inc.
“This conference allowed me invaluable time to listen, learn and network with some fabulous women leaders.”
– BRENDA TOBIN, Dean, Academics, Applied Arts & Tourism, College of the North Atlantic
“I enjoyed all topics. Was introduced to strong women from my community.”
– GLORIA YOUNG, CFO, Cox & Palmer