POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Wendy Luther (Keynote Speaker)
President & Chief Executive Officer
Halifax Partnership

Women supporting women

Women have made great strides over past decades in reaching their career aspirations and attaining positions of leadership in the work place. Despite this progress, there is still much work to be done on areas such as pay equity and female representation in elected office, C-suite roles, and Board positions. In this presentation, Wendy Luther will address:

• • What we can do as women to assist each other in moving the needle on these areas of needed improvement
• • Whether existing leadership research provide insights into what we can do as women leaders to actively support women to reach their personal and career leadership aspirations

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Jillian Murray
Partner
Grant Thornton LLP

Are you an authentic leader?

Being authentic simply means being genuine, whether at work or at home. As Michael Jordan said: “Authenticity is being true to who you are.” Authentic leadership is therefore built on one’s character. An authentic leader gains people’s trust. In this session, Jillian Murray will discuss:

• • The characteristics of an authentic leader
• • The role of authenticity in leadership
• • Why authenticity leads to success

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Mary Dable Arab
President
BARA Management Group

Being a goal setter that gets results

The one major factor that separates the most successful people from the rest begins with a single thought. This single thought – if cultivated – grows over time into the empowering habit of Thinking Big. Mary Dable Arab is known for creating roadmaps for success through having a Growth Mindset. She inspires you to go beyond what you think is possible. She will share her insight and experience on why expanding and transforming your thinking is critical for goal setting and surpassing your expectations.

• • Disrupt your OWN thinking to accelerate success
• • Go beyond self-imposed limitations
• • A Successful Mindset Comes From a Growth Mindset

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Juanita Spencer
Chief Executive Officer
Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities

Fostering leadership at all levels

Fostering leadership at all levels is about guiding diverse and sometimes distinct relationships, bringing them together with a common goal. It’s also about helping those around you define and achieve their full potential while seeing the bigger organizational picture and the importance of their role in it. You have to be able to:

• • Read your environment
• • Adapt to the shifting landscape
• • Predict outcomes and be prepared to pivot

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Anita Swamy
VP Operations
Medavie Blue Cross

Innovative leadership

Jeff Bezos, Travis Kalanick & Garrett Camp, Mark Zuckerburg are all leaders in an innovative time. They have led organizations into places that we would never have thought were possible 10 years ago. It takes a different type of leadership to be able to drive unique results.

• • Embedding creativity and communication back into the business
• • Enhancing our culture to reach new heights for our customers
• • Reshaping the boundaries of popular thinking

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Paul Empey
President/CEO
Precision BioLogic Inc

Building your team of engaged leaders

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Steve Jobs. Developing a team of engaged leaders starts with you. Knowing what engages you enables you to engage your leaders, who influence their employees’ performance. Organizations with engaged leaders generally outperform those with disengaged leaders. In this presentation, Paul Empey will address the following questions:

• • Are you committed to the success of your team?
• • Are you willing to put the success of your team and organization ahead of your personal success?
• • How do you define success?

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Courtney Pringle-Carver
Vice President, External Affairs
Atlantic Lottery

Taking smart risks

When making difficult decisions, our greatest degree of power comes through effectively assessing and managing risks. In this discussion, Courtney Pringle-Carver will talk about her path from business to politics to being appointed as a senior executive of a $1.2 billion corporation. She will share insights from her experiences speaking truth to power, seizing unlikely opportunities, and knowing when it’s time to change course. Through the use of personal anecdotes, she will illustrate that effective risk-taking is a three-part process that includes:

• • Recognizing the difference between risk and uncertainty
• • Remembering execution matters as much as the decision
• • Separating outcome from emotion

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Catherine J. Woodman
Associate
KBRS

The art of negotiating

As women we are innate negotiators but too often we lack the confidence, skills and sense of timing to self-advocate in our professional milieu.  We can be short-sighted and selfless leaving our own best interests aside.  We’ll address this reality and work on the skills and awareness to elevating our influence. Together we will:

• • Unpack concepts of power and political acumen
• • Explore how to speak with a point of view that is heard
• • Discuss setting boundaries and saying no

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Nancy MacLellan
Deputy Minister, Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing
CEO, Housing Nova Scotia

Women on Boards

Current StatsCan data indicates that women occupy less than 20% director positions on corporate boards. Current research and publications, including the Harvard Business Review, indicate that more women on boards provides a stronger candidate pool and broadens deliberation and perspectives when making decisions.  We need to take action to inspire greater representation.

• • Why is representation by women important in Board composition?
• • What are the current trends in Board composition and ensuring women (and diverse candidates) are represented?
• • What is our call to action?

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Telaina Kelly
Vice President, Legal & Corporate Secretary
Clearwater Seafoods L.P.

Work-life effectiveness

Juggling the demands at work and at home is an ongoing challenge. In today’s world, never has work-life effectiveness been so important. But is achieving success at work and at home possible at all? In this session, Telaina Kelly will talk about:

• • Why work-life effectiveness is essential
• • What organizations can do
• • Tools to achieve work-life effectiveness

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Michele Saran
CEO
Tourism Nova Scotia

Morning Chair

Michele Saran became the first permanent CEO of Tourism Nova Scotia in May 2016. As CEO, Michele is focused on establishing strong relationships with industry stakeholders and leading the implementation of an export-focused tourism growth strategy. Her commitment to understanding global best practices; research-based decision-making; and leveraging national, regional and local partnership opportunities is producing positive results for Tourism Nova Scotia.

Michele has more than 18 years of sales and leadership experience in the tourism industry. Prior to joining Tourism Nova Scotia, she served 7 years as the Executive Director of Business Events Canada (BEC), a unit of Destination Canada, where she oversaw the development of a new brand and led her team in implementing a strategy that aligned with Canada’s private-sector trade and investment growth priorities. Michele also oversaw the expansion of BEC’s target markets from a US-only focus to include the UK, Germany, France and Belgium. Prior to that, she was Director of Incentive Sales Development for 11 years where she helped drive international tourism to Canada and private-sector growth by aligning her unit with global trade and commerce strategies.

Michele holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Ryerson University in Toronto. Her background includes sales positions with Tourism Toronto, Schenker International and several major hotel chains.

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Dr. Alice B. Aiken
Vice-President, Research & Innovation
Dalhousie University

Afternoon Chair

Dr. Alice Aiken is the Vice-President Research & Innovation at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. She is an active researcher focused on health systems transformation and evidence-informed policy-making. Dr. Aiken is currently the Vice-Chair of the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and chairs the board of Research Nova Scotia. She is elected to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada.

She was formerly the Dean of the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie. She is a co-founder and the former Scientific Director of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, a unique consortium of over 41 Canadian and 7 international universities dedicated to researching the health needs of military personnel, Veterans and their families.

She received her PhD and Master from Queen’s University, Canada, her Physical Therapy degree from Dalhousie University, and a BSc in Kinesiology from the University of Ottawa. She also proudly served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 14 years, first as a ship’s navigator in the Royal Canadian Navy, then as a physiotherapist.

She is currently the Honorary Captain (Navy) for Canadian Forces Health Services Atlantic, and a Dame of the Order of St George. For her commitment to the health and well-being of military personnel, Veterans, and their families, she has received the Canadian Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Chapel of the Four Chaplains Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion (USA).