9th Edition
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
Leading the way
Jo-anne Marr (Keynote Speaker)
President & CEO
Markham Stouffville Hospital
Taking smart risks
Hospitals are complex organizations – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, caring for patients in life and death situations. The professionals caring for these patients are a diverse group, comprised of multiple unionized workers, health care professional staff, volunteers and physicians, who are not employees of the hospital. The ability to move a complex organization forward requires a thoughtful approach to risk. In Jo-anne Marr’s leadership experience, these smart risks can be categorized in three ways:
- • When to take a risk, be courageous and go it alone
- • When to encourage others first, then take smart risk
- • When not to take the risk at all
This is the anatomy of taking smart risks.
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Natalie Benitah
Sr. Director, Partner Strategy and Go-To-Market
Microsoft Canada
Creating enthusiasm at work
High performing teams deliver better results for organizations. There’s an old saying, “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” This is also true in the context of business. Enthusiasm. Excitement. Energy. Once it’s in the air, everybody seems to feed off it.
- • What does enthusiasm in the workplace look like?
- • How do you harness that enthusiasm to help deliver business results?
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Karen Thomson
Vice-President, Corporate Services
George Brown College
Be a leader that strives for excellence
To strive is to thrive. An organization is either regressing, static in a changing world, or leading. In todays’ world of constant change, creativity, innovation and disruption, one cannot truly ‘lead’ without ‘being’ excellent. That simply means being better than expected.
- • Better than your competitors
- • Seeing and tapping the potential in the team around you – even when they can’t see it themselves
- • Be the first at being the best and never let them catch you
This theme can apply to any discipline in any organization. The rewards are innumerable.
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Brian Gallant
Special Advisor on Innovation, Cybersecurity and Law
Office of the President, Ryerson University
Former Premier of New Brunswick
Setting and achieving goals
To achieve your goals, you must begin by properly reflecting on who you are as a person and what impact you want to have on this world. By understanding your purpose, by deciding what you want out of life, and by being as productive as possible, you will be able to lay out and deliver a detailed plan to achieving your personal definition of success. During this session, we will discuss how best to:
- • Set your goals through reflection
- • Achieve your goals through productivity
- • Evaluate your success through your perspective on life and the world
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Gordana Terkalas
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Aecon Group Inc.
Strategic risk taking
Taking professional risk can be a daunting endeavor, especially for anyone struggling with developing critical thinking capability, confidence, and political astuteness. But strategic risk taking is a critical competency for any leader. Knowing how to navigate and make difficult decisions is one of the most important ways for women to evolve and enhance their careers. This talk will aim to explore practical ways to:
- • Understand and evaluate risk
- • Leverage critical and creative thinking
- • Building the confidence required to take strategic risk
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Kathleen Chevalier
Partner
Stikeman Elliott LLP
Dealing with cannabis in the workplace
The legalization of cannabis raises challenges for Canadian employers as they face various cannabis-related issues with respect to accommodation, policy intersection and health and safety. In this session, lawyer Kathleen Chevalier will address:
- • The potential workplace impacts of cannabis legislation
- • What employers anticipated and what has occurred since cannabis legalization
- • The need for employers to amend existing policies to address cannabis in the workplace
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Vittoria Varalli
VP Sustainability and Chief of Staff
Sobeys Inc.
Empowering teams
It’s impossible to make progress in Sustainability without working cross-functionally and building integrated strategies, goals and plans. Empowering your cross-functional teams and partners is just as important as ensuring your team understands your strategy. In this presentation, Vittoria Varalli will talk about:
- • Strategy should always define structure
- • Setting goals that your cross-functional partners can stand behind
- • The relationship between trust and performance
- • Fostering innovation through empowerment
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Charles Brown
President & CEO
LifeLabs
Innovative leadership
Creating a climate of innovation to stay competitive and relevant has never been more important in business today, as we are operating in unpredictable environments. After driving innovation across a range of rapidly-changing industries, Charles has built a career of being an agent of change. What is the secret sauce? Charles will speak to his perspective on the ingredients required to embed innovation (and innovative thinking) within an organization, including:
- • Taking a customer-centred approach, and building a disciplined focus around it
- • Focusing on culture, because as they say, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”
- • Fostering diversity of thought at the decision-making table, both personally and professionally
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Katherine Cooligan
Regional Managing Partner – Ottawa
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Clearing roadblocks to senior leadership
Women can unleash their full potential even in the face of seemingly insurmountable roadblocks. Perspective, turning challenges into opportunities, and finding resources can make all the difference. Hear one story about paving way into senior leadership, persevering in the face of obstacles, including gender-related biases and traumatic life events, by:
- • Making bolder moves
- • Seeking out and saying yes to intimidating opportunities
- • Forging ahead and reaping the personal and professional rewards
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Sepanta Dorri
Vice President, Corporate Development
Teck Resources
Overcoming the Imposter Syndrome
On occasion, each one of us has felt like an imposter in our own workplace. This is particularly true when we start a new job, progress to a more senior position, or lead a new team or project. Sepanta Dorri would like to share her own experiences with the imposter syndrome, and share tactics that have helped her overcome it.
- • Come prepared
- • Believe in what you say
- • Act first, feel second
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Terri Mann
Vice President, Financing
BDC
Morning Chair
Terri Mann was appointed Vice President, Financing for GTA Central and East at BDC in 2019, and is responsible for the Financing and Advisory Services activities in that region. Her team’s goal is to maximize the competitiveness of entrepreneurs, whether through advisory services or financing, or a combination of both. Prior to that she spent five years working in the BDC Advisory Services team as a Vice-President managing the business development activities for Ontario and Atlantic Canada. In that role she was responsible for the development and implementation of regional and national business development strategies to create value for BDC’s clients across Atlantic Canada and Ontario. Terri joined BDC in 2001 as a student. Since then, she has held numerous account management and managerial positions focusing on recovery, loan administration and disbursement, and business development to accelerate the acceptance of financing and advisory services by small and medium enterprises in Canada. Terri has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a Major in Finance from Dalhousie University.
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Donna Pascal
Vice-President, Human Resources and Talent Management
Dynacare
Afternoon Chair
Donna Pascal has 20 years of experience in Human Resources, the last 13 years serving as a Senior HR Executive for a number of fortune 500 companies. Donna currently leads the human resources function at Dynacare, a leading health and wellness solutions provider. As Vice President Human Resources, Donna leads a team of 29 professionals and oversees organizational effectiveness, learning and development, talent management, talent acquisition and wellness, health and safety. Donna and the HR team are focused on creating an internal culture that inspires employees, grows talent and allows people to thrive at work and at home. Prior to that, Donna served as Vice President Human Resources at Acklands-Grainger from 2012-2015, and Staples North American Delivery from 2007-2012. Donna possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario as well as professional certifications in Advanced Human Resource Management from the Rotman School of Business, and Alternative Dispute Resolution from the University of Windsor Law, in addition to professional training in Executive Coaching. Donna holds the Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) designation (formerly CHRP) from the Human Resources Professional Association.
EVENT DATE, TIME & VENUE
Thursday, November 21, 2019
8:45 AM – 4:10 PM
RCMI
426 University Avenue, Toronto
LOCATION
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Register today… and save $200 per person.
Early Bird deadline: October 4, 2019
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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!
“Great tips. Fabulous energy. Great crowd.”
– MARA ABOLINS, Project Management, LCBO
“Phenomenal group of inspiring female leaders. Listening to stories about their unique journeys was fascinating and eye opening.”
– AKILAH ALLEN-SILVERSTEIN, Financial Consultant, Investors Group
“Lots of great content and reflection opportunities. It was valuable to take the time out of an extremely busy schedule to level set and spent time just mainly listening.”
– ALEX BAKKER, National Director, Andrew Peller Limited
“What a great day listening to so many amazing Canadian women leaders.”
– NATALIE BENITAH, VP Printing, HP Canada Co.
“Heard from great women leaders. One of the best conferences I have ever attended. The quality of the speakers was awesome.”
– DIDHITI BHOUMIK, Senior Director, McCart hy Tétrault