Sharon Ramalho (Keynote Speaker)
Senior Vice President & Chief People Officer (Retired)
McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd.

Effecting change through collaboration

Changing and evolving are necessary for continuous growth and success. And a collaborative leadership style is key: leading the process, but not necessarily the outcome. The process involves bringing the right people together in order to bring about a change. In this presentation, Sharon Ramalho will discuss:

• • Identifying the need to change
• • How to build the case for change
• • Effective change techniques through collaborative efforts

________________________________________________________________________

Karen Adams
President & CEO
Fundserv Inc

Our work is not done!

Women in leadership positions today have a responsibility to pave the way for younger women to progress in their careers. We have a responsibility to our daughters – and our sons – to demonstrate how women and men can work together to effect change. This engaging and entertaining talk will give you practical advice on:

• • What to stop doing
• • What to start doing
• • Why it matters to all of us

________________________________________________________________________

Katherine Cooligan
Ottawa – Regional Managing Partner
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Credibility matters

The goal of any leader is to have those we lead know the answer to the question: Why should I follow you? One of the most important qualities a leader must possess is credibility. Credibility is measured by several important traits including:

• • Walking the talk and leading by example, with consistency
• • Honesty, sincerity and respect through the span of experiences, good and bad
• • Competence and accountability

A leader who portrays these traits will gain the respect she needs to establish a loyal following and accomplish her goals.

________________________________________________________________________

Nathalie Clark
Vice-President, HR TD Securities & Risk Management
TD Bank Group

Choosing your attitude

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz. Attitude is more than a way of thinking. In the workplace, your attitude is the way you choose to behave and the way others ultimately view you. Your attitude becomes part of your personal brand. In this presentation, Nathalie Clark will talk about:

• • Why attitude matters
• • Controlling your attitude
• • Attitudes are contagious

________________________________________________________________________

Frances Martin-DiGiuseppe
Founder and Principal
Q4 Architects

How to bring out the best in others

Learning how to empower employees is a powerful tool for every organization. Building a positive corporate culture and helping employees to reach their full professional potential requires multiple strategies and opportunities for growth. Frances Martin-DiGiuseppe will discuss how Q4’s Independent Development Program focuses on education, mentorship and experience, along with employee empowerment strategies including:

• • Fostering positive team accountability
• • Empowering employees to maximize their potential
• • Providing feedback and learning how to listen
• • Recognizing limitations
• • Teaching employees how to positively learn from mistakes

________________________________________________________________________

Lianne Thompson
Director, Quality
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada

Fostering a culture of innovation

Innovate! We hear this all the time – a call to organizations to change, transform, create in order to succeed. But the concept of innovation cannot stand alone – it needs to be part of an organization-wide commitment to excellence and evolving the company’s culture to support imagination and resourcefulness. Lianne Thompson will discuss the trials and exciting triumphs in leading an organization on an excellence journey and the key elements that support innovation:

• • Leaders who welcome, promote and support creativity
• • Continual improvement – planned, progressive improvement over time
• • Employee involvement and true engagement in innovation

________________________________________________________________________

Carla Carmichael
Vice President, Project Assurance & Contract Management, Nuclear Projects
Ontario Power Generation (OPG)

Building resilience

Resilience, leadership and performance are inextricably linked. Resilient leaders regain footing quickly when things go wrong, and use adversity to their advantage. How can we build resilience as individuals and as leaders? This presentation will discuss the personal and professional benefits of building resilience, including:

• • Bouncing back from adversity
• • Thriving on challenge
• • Creating a culture of resilience

________________________________________________________________________

Catherine Gaulton
CEO
Health Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC)

Employment engagement: A critical leadership challenge

Until relatively recently, employee engagement piece was long considered a “back-burner” issue for leaders. Even today, many employers are steeped in the language of employee satisfaction if they are dealing with the issue at all. Many strategic plans do not name employee engagement as a priority. Catherine Gaulton believes that organizational success cannot be fully realized in the absence of employee engagement. Leaders not placing it on their priority list may well be holding back their brand / organization. During her talk, Catherine will:

• • Provide some of the latest research and practice in employee engagement
• • Clarify the current definitional quagmire
• • Identify priorities and opportunities for action to have a truly engaged workforce

________________________________________________________________________

Josie Scioli
Deputy City Manager, Internal Corporate Services
City of Toronto

Designing and implementing new initiatives

Leveraging human capital and increasing engagement is a primary focus for addressing the disruptive digital economy at the City of Toronto. To begin, a strategic city-wide response to business driven transformation and the rise of tech savvy millennials in the workplace includes the war room concept, office modernization and maximizing the value and efficient use of the City’s land and property assets to name a few. The collaborative power of the best talent designing and implementing new initiatives will bring the City of Toronto into the 21^st century.

• • Investing in change by investing in people
• • Employee Engagement as top priority
• • Dedicating resources specific to transformation

________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Claudette Knight
Vice President, Talent Management and Development
Meridian Credit Union

Committing to continuous learning

The global pace of change demands that we all continuously learn in order to thrive personally and professionally. The challenge for many of us is where to focus and how to approach learning efficiently and effectively given the busyness of our lives. This interactive session will present some ideas and tools to help you craft an approach that can work for you by addressing the following questions:

• • What mindset do I need to maximize my learning?
• • Where should I focus my learning?
• • How do I make continuous learning enjoyable and sustainable?

________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Wendy Cukier
Professor, Information Technology Management
Ted Rogers School of Management
Director, Diversity Institute

Morning Chair

For almost 30 years, Dr. Wendy Cukier has worked as a multidisciplinary researcher, teacher and leader, committed to advancing innovation and social justice. A Professor in the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, she is the coauthor of the bestseller Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Java to Jurassic Park and recognized as an authority of dis-ruptive technologies. She has received many awards for her leadership – a YWCA Woman of Distinction, one of the top 25 Women of Influence, one of 100 Alumni who shaped the Century (at the University of Toronto), recipient of the City of Toronto’s Bob Marley award and most recently, winner of the Black Business Professional Association’s Harry Jerome Award for Diver-sity. She founded the Diversity Institute to develop research-based strategies to promote inclu-sion with a particular focus on the intersection of issues such as gender, race, social economic status, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability and indigeneity. While committed to data driven analysis, she has also explored the lived experience of particular groups including Racialized Women, Somalian-Canadians, LGBTQ Black Youth and Muslim Women. She has just completed a successful term as Vice-President of Research and Innovation at Ryerson University, and led the University’s strategy to grow research and to promote innova-tion and commercialization. She has served as the Associate Dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management, Canada’s largest AACSB accredited business school. She has written more than 200 papers or reports on enabling technologies and innovation including the recent report called Transformation of Work, which explores the role of mobile technologies in the Canadian workforce. She holds a PhD in management science (York); an MBA and an MA (Toronto) and honorary doctorates from Laval and Concordia.

________________________________________________________________________

Lynn M. McGrade
Partner
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Afternoon Chair

Lynn McGrade is a Partner and the Toronto regional leader of BLG’s Investment Management Group.  She specializes in issues relating to the investment management industry in Canada. She is the Chair of the Women’s Leadership Development Committee and head of BLG’s UK desk. Lynn is the past Chair of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) and is a past Chair of the Investment Funds Committee of the IBA.  She is the recipient of the Women’s Executive Network’s (WXN) 2013 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards and the 2013 Lexpert® Zenith Awards – Celebrating Women Leaders in the Legal Profession. Past Chairman of the IBA Investment Funds Committee.  Past President of the Osgoode Hall Alumni Association.  President of The Duke of Edinburgh Award’s Program (Ontario).  Board member and member, Investment Committee, Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation. Recognized by Lexpert® magazine as one of “Canada’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40” (2002); and as one of the “Top 40 Corporate Lawyers to Watch” in The 2006 Lexpert® Guide to the 100 Most Creative Lawyers in Canada.  Recognized by The Best Lawyers in Canada 2015;The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory 2014; Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (Investment Funds & Asset Management); Who’s Who Legal; and PLC Which Lawyer?