The Women in Leadership Conference brings together professional women to talk about the challenges that they face, exchange views, and learn from peers and leaders.

The event provides an invaluable opportunity to listen to industry leaders as they share best practices and insights to help women in leadership roles become more effective leaders and be on top of their game.

Join us at this in-person event. Learn, connect & reconnect, and have fun!

JESSICA CARLSON (Keynote Speaker)
Chief Operating Officer
Alberta Infrastructure

Promoting health and wellness in the workplace

Wellness is an active process of developing awareness and making choices that foster a healthy work environment. Rather than focusing on individual solutions or interventions aimed at fixing deficiencies, Jessica Carlson will discuss how to incorporate wellness into one’s leadership style by:

• • Actively listening
• • Being aware of workplace and personal issues
• • Committing to collaborating
• • Making reasonable requests of team members

JADE BOXRUD
Regional Vice President – Edmonton South
RBC Royal Bank

Building your team of engaged leaders

Today’s workplace is a complex environment, and the role of a leader is increasingly more critical than ever before. Building a team of engaged leaders starts with 3 key pieces:

• • Empowering leaders through clarity of expectations and ownership
• • Leadership must be modelled across all levels and is a series of behaviours rather than a role
• • Create a common vision and goal that connects a greater purpose to the desired outcomes, which drives engagement and a stronger commitment to the goals

CRISTAL GLASS-PAINCHAUD
CHRO & Executive Director | People & Culture
Red Deer Polytechnic

Embracing change: Transforming disruption into guidance

What happens when bold institutional ambition runs headlong into sweeping government policy shifts and rapid technological disruption? As Chief Human Resources Officer at Red Deer Polytechnic, Cristal Glass-Painchaud has helped lead transformation from college to polytechnic at a time when the post-secondary sector is being called to evolve faster than ever. With the rise of AI, shifting learner expectations, and complex public sector demands, institutions like Red Deer Polytechnic are under pressure to respond with both speed and strategy. In this session, Cristal will share what it looks like to turn disruption into direction, both as an executive leader navigating complex institutional change and as a human being figuring it out in real time. Through honest stories, a little humour, and hard-won insights, we’ll explore how to stay grounded, move forward, and lead with courage when the path ahead keeps shifting.

• • Transform uncertainty into momentum through purpose-driven leadership
• • Mobilize people, culture, and systems to stay anchored through disruption
• • Lead with courage, creativity, and care in fast-changing environments

SALIMA EBRAHIM
Chief of Staff
City of Edmonton

From conflict to collaboration in city building

Edmonton’s municipal government aims to build a prosperous, healthy city for its million residents, and operates in more than 70 lines of business, spanning assessment to zoo keeping. A multi-year engagement with thousands of Edmontonians resulted in The City Plan, which sets a long-term vision for the community, and the Office of the City Manager is tasked with advancing that Plan while stewarding the daily challenges of operating a multi-billion-dollar organization in an environment of a rapidly-growing population, changing demographics, limited financial resources, and diverse political and community priorities. To align officials within the city, senior leaders are focusing their attention on key medium-term priorities that move closer to the vision of the long-term City Plan: defining this work is reducing internal conflicts of competing priorities and setting the stage for a collaborative, results-oriented management approach.

• • Listening for priorities and outcomes
• • Learning for opportunities and capacity
• • Leading in saying “not now

JOUMANA GHANDOUR
General Manager, The Westin Edmonton
Marriott International

Resiliency in leadership

This presentation explores the key components of resiliency in leadership. In the face of adversity, uncertainty and change, leaders need the ability to adapt, recover, and grow.  It is not about bouncing back, it is about bouncing forward with greater insight, strength and clarity.

• • Adaptability and agility
• • Core values, decisions and actions
• • Communication and trust
• • Moving from resiliency to thriving

JACQUELINE SMITH
Vice President, Regulatory
ATCO Energy Systems

Listening with more empathy

Empathic listening is actively paying attention to understand the emotions behind the words and showing genuine concern for the speaker’s perspective. This requires patience, open-mindedness, and an absence of judgment. It’s not about responding to fix problems; rather, it is creating space for authenticity and openness. Some of the benefits of empathetic listening include:

• • Building trust and fostering a safe environment
• • Resolving conflicts by uncovering the root cause of disagreements and navigating them with sensitivity
• • Motivating teams as individuals to feel heard and understood

KRISTY SKWARUK
Vice President, People & Culture
Rohit Group

Influencing across generations

Balancing the needs of multiple generations requires both understanding and a willingness to challenge assumptions. Each generation brings distinct lived experiences that shape how they view leadership. Successful collaboration relies on finding common ground while valuing the differences that make each group unique.

• • Understanding the priorities and work styles of each generation
• • Creating opportunities for cross-generational teamwork
• • Fostering a future of mutual respect to strengthen unity

AMANDA KNIGHT
SM, Organizational Culture and Development
AGLC

Making an impact as a quiet leader

What if your quiet nature is your greatest leadership strength? How can emotional intelligence help you lead with impact—without needing to be the loudest voice in the room? In this session, we’ll explore how quiet leaders can harness the power of self-awareness, empathy, and intentional connection to lead with clarity, confidence, and authenticity. Discover how your calm presence and reflective mindset can become your most powerful leadership tools.

• • Align your quiet strengths with your leadership vision and inspire with authenticity
• • Leverage empathy and deep listening to build trust and foster meaningful one-on-one connections
• • Embrace your presence to lead with integrity, resilience, and quiet confidence

RIA AMES
Associate Vice-President, Shared Services
University of Alberta

Optimizing organizational effectiveness

Leading change in a dynamic environment can sometimes feel like Ross, Rachel, and Chandler trying to get that sofa up the stairs: you are yelling “PIVOT!” at the top of your lungs, everyone’s pushing in a different direction, and you are pretty sure someone’s about to get stuck. But just like they (eventually) got that couch to its destination, leading change isn’t about avoiding the struggle; it’s about finding:

• • Your pivot strategy
• • Getting everyone on the same page
• • Maybe even having a few laughs (or frustrated yells) along the way – So let’s learn how to navigate those tight corners and emerge victorious, without anyone losing an eyebrow!

NICOLE ELTOM (Morning Chair)
Vice President
TELUS

KATHRYN MILLER (Afternoon Chair)
Director, Member Services
APS