Author, Analyst, Thought Leader, Keynote Speaker, Consultant;

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, LeapGen

As Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jason is a leading analyst, thought leader, consultant and keynote speaker in the area of human resources, the future of work and the impact technology has on that future. He has co-founded LeapGen to help organizations around the world realize that the Future of Work is NOW and the time to leap our HR and workforce technologies to new heights is upon us.

Jason co-founded Knowledge Infusion LLC in 2005 until 2012 when the company was sold to Appirio and served as its Chief Executive Officer. He was responsible for the groundbreaking vision and strategy. He served as the Chief Business Innovation Officer at Appirio Inc where led Appirio’s human capital management business. He held the position of CEO of The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) from 2014 through 2016 until recently leaving to focus on his next venture, LeapGen! Jason is the author of the book “HR From Now To Next” which is used in over 20 educational institutions around the world to teach HR and workforce technologies as well as being considered one of the top 5 thought leaders worldwide in the field.

He has more than 20 years of experience in the HR and technology industry. He worked with industry leading companies around the world to help them transform their HR organizations into strategic partners. Prior to founding Knowledge Infusion, he served as Senior Director of PeopleSoft Global Product Marketing at PeopleSoft, where he was responsible for the marketing including packaging and positioning for PeopleSoft’s flagship product line. Prior to PeopleSoft, he served as Director of Organizational Readiness at Ceridian Corporation, an HR and payroll outsourcing company.

SVP, Global Partners & Alliances, Ceridian

Jim Jensen joined Ceridian in June 2016 as Senior Vice President of Global Partners & Alliances. He is responsible for leading Ceridian’s global partner network, advisory relations, software alliances, broker relations, master business agreements, private equity, and channel partners. Prior to Ceridian, Jim held senior leadership roles in technology, global partner and alliances, and software development for 22 years at Ultimate Software. A seasoned executive with a strong background in financial management, software development, business development, and corporate strategy, Jim has presented nationally at IHRM, APA, SHRM, HRTech, Microsoft’s Developer Conference, and other technology conferences.

Chief HR Officer, HRWize

Sally De Rosa, CRHA, has been an HR professional since 2007 and an entrepreneur since 2013. With 10 years of experience in HR management, Sally was inspired by the growing need for strategic people management in small to medium businesses, so she founded HRWize.

Whilst simultaneously heading up HRWize, Sally is the Human Resources Business Partner at Diabsolut Inc., a technology implementation and consulting business. She holds a BA from Concordia University with double majors in Psychology and Human Relations, a graduate certificate in HR Management from HEC Montreal and a certificate in Comprehensive Project Management from McGill University.

She is active in the HR community and has contributed as a committee member at Dress for Success Montreal, a board member at CACEE, and has been invited to speak, panel and contribute as a subject matter expert at HEC Montreal, Concordia University and McGill University. As a tireless entrepreneur, business partner, blogger, podcaster, coffee elitist and mother, Sally is truly a dynamo to pay close attention to in the HR Tech space.

Stay connected with Sally here:
sderosa@hrwize.com
http://hrwize.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sderosa/

Business Development and Operations Manager, BoostHQ

 Senior Product Owner, ADP

Kevin is a Senior Product Owner at ADP, responsible for product portfolio management for the Canadian market. Kevin has more than 10 years of experience driving product strategy and leading product management teams, having held a number of senior positions at a variety of enterprise software companies. Kevin holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool and is a Chartered Member of the Canadian Institute of Management.

Leading Business and Analytics Expert, Speaker, Author; Top 15 HR and People Analytics Experts to Follow For 2017

Tracey Smith is regarded as a thought leader in the field of analytics and speaks extensively at conferences and corporate events. She has over 25 years of experience in mathematics, statistics and data visualization and holds degrees in Applied Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering and Business from well-recognized universities in Canada and the U.S.

Ms. Smith’s career spans the areas of mechanical engineering, supply chain and human resources. Prior to forming Numerical Insights LLC, Ms. Smith led global strategic initiatives for FedEx Express World Headquarters, process improvement projects in supply chain and mathematical simulation creation for an automotive company.

She has been recognized as one of the “Top 50 Global Influencers in HR Analytics” and one of the “Top 15 HR Analytics Experts to Follow in 2017.”

VP, Duo Security; Co-Founder, HR Open Source

Ambrosia is committed to fostering innovation in the changing talent landscape through employee-centric and emerging people practices.She has a passionate curiosity for storytellers, social hr, employer branding, disruptive technologies, and entrepreneurial approaches.

Ambrosia was most recently Vice President of Talent at Hootsuite, where she spearheaded the company’s hyper growth – from twenty to nearly a thousand employees with various top employer recognitions. In addition to her role with Duo, Ambrosia is the co-founder of Open Source HR #HROS. An industry leader in emerging practices such as social hr and employer branding, she most recently keynoted at Linkedin Talent Connect and HR Tech World Conference. Last year she took the stage at HR Tech Fest 2016, HRMA 2016, SHRM Annual 2016, Australasian Talent Conference 2016, and ERE Recruiting Conference 2016. Recognized as one of the “Top 16 Influencers of 2016” in employer brand, she is a strong advocate for social HR. Connect with her on Twitter: @hambrody and LinkedIn.

CEO and Founder, League

A rocket scientist who once developed jet propulsion systems at age 16, Michael is known as a serial entrepreneur who has built multiple transformative technology platforms across several industries, with over $1B of exits.

Michael Serbinis is the CEO and Founder of League Inc., a next generation health platform that is set to disrupt the world of insurance. Prior to League, Michael was the Founder and CEO of Kobo, a global leader in ebooks, and docSpace, a pioneer in cloud storage. Michael got his start building one of the first search engines, Zip2 at the start of the Internet boom.

A member of the Perimeter Institute’s Board of Directors and the Vector Institute’s Board of Directors, MaRS Discovery District Board of Directors, Board of Trustees at the Ontario Science Centre, a member of the Creative Destruction Lab Board and YPO. Michael is also a mentor & investor in new technology companies through his company Three Angels Capital.

CEO and Co-Founder, Collage HR

Elijah is an alumnus of the Ivey School of Business and the Next 36. He spent the early part of his career as an investment banker for early-stage public companies at IBK Capital Corp. He launched his first startup in 2013 as a solo founder. He launched Collage with two cofounders in 2016. Elijah is passionate about startups, business strategy, design, and NBA basketball.

Account Director, Disruptor and Global Insights Leader, Virgin Pulse

After his professional baseball career, Jason has taken his passion for health and performance to an even more competitive field of play, the workplace. He’s spoken on mental health at DisruptHR, the roundtable for prevention at the Conference Board of Canada and as a podcast guest on the HR Gazette and Workingtech. Over the past 5 years, Jason has been working along side HR leaders to cultivate cultural change and a mentality of “take care of your people, and they will take care of your business.” Well versed in extracting the real story behind analytics, he’s worked with over 100 organizations across Canada, both large and small, to excite employees into taking ownership for their health and changing their lives and businesses for good.

Head of Human Resources, SAP Canada Inc.

As the Head of HR for SAP Canada, Agnes has been working with the SAP Executive Leadership Teams across Canada to drive business execution through best in class Human Capital practices and employee engagement. Her team is responsible to bring SAP's People Strategy to life for SAP Canada's close to 3000 employees across 6 major Canadian locations. Agnes and her team are committed to creating an exceptional end-to- end HR experience to SAP Canada's leaders and employees, driving innovative projects within all elements of the HR portfolio. In 2016, Agnes’ Canadian HR team was the first within SAP to go live with the new HR operating model within the company, experiencing first-hand SAP’s digital HR transformation.

In her previous role as a Senior Human Resources Business Partner at SAP Canada she supported all the major departments. Agnes became a strategic partner to her business leaders advising them on a variety of HR focus areas including workforce planning, organizational design, change management, talent acquisition, compensation, leadership / employee development and performance management.

With over 15 years of progressive Human Resources experience, Agnes has worked in a variety of organizations such as Electronic Arts and Eagle Professional Resources prior to SAP.

Agnes holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Europe and she is a Chartered Professional in Human Resources.

Agnes lives in North Vancouver with her family. Outside of work, she keeps busy with her two young children and she is also a recreational athlete training for off-road triathlons and trail running races.

Senior Vice President of HR, NexJ Systems

As Senior Vice President of HR for NexJ Systems, Jennifer is the talent architect charged with scaling the organization for the next stage of growth.

Jennifer has a wealth of experience spending 20 years working for global technology companies such as Janna Software, Workbrain, SAP, Kobo and ARGUS where she was responsible for talent strategies resulting in high growth and transformation. She has also played global leadership roles moving the talent needle forward at RBC and Manulife. She is recognized as a global expert in this field by companies such as LinkedIn, Work4Labs.com, Socialmedia.org and Forbes.com. Passionate about students and education, Jennifer is a past President of CACEE (Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers) and a mentor at Futurepreneur. Married with 2 young children, Jennifer and her husband live in Aurora and juggle weekly travel, Hockey Manager duties and play-date schedules.

Head of People Operations, Jobber

Danielle Strang is a talent strategist, a marketing enthusiast and a disrupter at heart. Taking a non-traditional and opportunistic approach to her own career, she stepped away from years of corporate HR experience to launch herself into the executive recruiting industry. Now, as the Head of People for a tech startup, Danielle is passionate about sharing her learnings from the executive search industry to help modernize HR and in-house recruiting. Her focus on design thinking has helped shape a culture that wholly considers what the employee experience should be.

Danielle is currently a city organizer for the Tech Ladies organization and sits on several advisory boards in Edmonton. An avid speaker, Danielle recently spoke at the Top Talent Summit in Toronto and frequents the DisruptHR stage.

National Director, Human Resources, DIALOG Design

As the national director of human resources at DIALOG, Tania Oppedisano manages the design firms’ diverse culture across Canada. In addition to culture development and mentorship, Oppedisano works to identify business strategies and relevant metrics to ensure retention and success rates remain strong in DIALOG’ studios in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. The company has been named a Top 100 Employer in Canada several times and Oppedisano has been instrumental in its growth and success. DIALOG is a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary design firm, with a focus on architecture, engineering, interior design, urban planning design and landscape architecture. They most recently opened an office in San Francisco.

Oppedisano is actively involved in the community, having been a key contributor to the company’s support of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), The United Way, Jane’s Walk, and a variety of other community and charity initiatives. She holds Masters in human resources and BA in sociology from York University, and a certification in human resource management from Humber College.

Director, Executive Education, Future Design School (FDS)

ANNA FOAT believes engaging employees in practical solution design creates a problem-solving mindset critical to future proof large organizations. After a decade inside BlackBerry (1999-2011) and a subsequent role at IBM as Worldwide Managing Editor of IBM MobileFirst Platform she has an earned wide angle view of the opportunities and the challenges facing companies growing, adapting and disrupting. Anna joined FDS to inspire and challenge status quo thinking inside large organizations, directly engage employees looking to have an impact and to provide a path forward and the tools necessary for success.

Vice President of Human Capital Management (HCM) Innovation, Ultimate Software

Cecile Alper-Leroux is Vice President of Human Capital Management (HCM) Innovation at Ultimate Software. Since 2010, she has focused on fostering a culture of innovation at Ultimate, resulting in the delivery of advanced, people-centric HCM technology solutions and services. She also has served as Ultimate’s VP of Product Strategy and Product Management. With more than 20 years of experience in the HCM industry, Cecile has served in several capacities across the globe, including as Director of Global HCM Product Strategy, where she led globalization efforts and strategic direction for the next generation talent management solutions. Cecile has worked in North America, Europe and Latin America. Passionate about people and technology in the workplace, Cecile is a sought-out speaker and thought leader on HCM trends and global strategies.

National Education Manager, Kronos Canada

A dynamic force in the Education arena, Johanna Francis believes intelligent growth is a life-long process of proactive engagement and relationship building. She has dedicated more than 20 years to improving Learning & Development and Change Management processes in the education, healthcare, technology, banking and finance, retail, and manufacturing industries.
For the past 14 years, Johanna has worked at Kronos Canada as its National Education Manager where she leads national, multi-site and multi-disciplinary teams across different lines of business. As her work is integral to Kronos’ services and project implementation team, she is well versed in all aspects of successful technology implementations. Johanna believes authenticity is a powerful character trait, therefore chances are you’ll hear her before you see her.
She holds a Bachelor of Education from York University, an e-Learning Graduate Level Education Diploma from The University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Arts Psychology from York University, and is Prosci Change Management Certified. Her passion for learning continues as she pursues a valuable life skill: how to swim.

Founder, SocialHRCamp

Jeff Waldman is a senior HR practitioner who works with growing Canadian SMB technology companies on people strategy, employer branding, advisory and training. He was recently the Head of Talent at Security Compass, a growing Toronto-based software security company with operations in Canada, United States and India. In this leadership role Jeff designed their first-ever HR strategy and built their HR infrastructure while playing a pivotal role on the company’s senior executive team. He is also Founder at SocialHRCamp and inaugural organizer at DisruptHR Toronto. Jeff has been leading the way in a growing niche that brings together human resources, employer branding, social media, marketing and business. With a diverse career spanning all facets of HR Jeff founded SocialHRCamp in 2012, a growing global interactive learning platform that helps the HR Community adopt social media and emerging HR/Recruitment technology in the workplace.

Jeff is an avid speaker, blogger and volunteer with diverse organizations and initiatives such as the Achievers Customer Experience conference and 50 Most Engaged Workplaces awards, SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition, HR Technology Conference, Illinois State SHRM, Louisiana State SHRM, HR Metrics Summit Canada and many more. Jeff also continues to advise emerging HR and Recruitment technology companies on their business strategies.

Originally from Vancouver, and currently living in North Toronto, Jeff has three awesome young boys who he spends his personal time with. He also coaches his kids’ sports teams and is an avid hockey player and snowboarder.

He can be reached on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Co Founder, WorkTango

Rob Catalano is passionate about helping companies succeed – by leveraging technology to make employees successful. With his unique experience in HR Technology as a founding employee at Achievers, Rob co-founded WorkTango – a platform that offers real-time employee insights and agile performance management that positively impacts alignment, accountability and engagement of employees. He has recently been named as a 2017 Top Global Employee Engagement Influencer, has had the privilege of speaking in over 30 cities the past three years, and loves the opportunity to connect with passionate HR leaders across the globe. He is an avid hockey and volleyball player, used to play guitar in a metal band, and is a point-aholic (likes collecting points for anything and everything)! You can reach him at rob@worktango.io or @RobCatalano on twitter.

People Person, Traction on Demand

Manu is an HR professional with over 15 years of experience in high tech, utilities and finance. He has had the good fortune of partnering with all job functions in all his roles. He has crafted a broad base of human resources skills as a generalist and as a specialist predominantly in organizational development around the world in China, India, France, the US and throughout Canada. He is a champion of creating solid people practices with specialties in employee engagement, recruitment, change management, training and leadership development, succession planning while also supporting the transactional side of HR. His two passions are people and bringing technology to the HR realm.

Now, at Traction on Demand, he is using Traction’s own cloud based apps with other apps in the Salesforce ecosystem, to revolutionize how companies leverage traditional HR practices with new and innovative tools. HR can really bring value and secure its seat at the table. The “People Cloud” is constantly looking for ways to create “more time for play” for HR professionals, their business partners and employees. Manu really believes in innovative people practices and using technology to make that happen.

Founder, Reddin Global

An effectiveness advocate with an in-depth understanding of the intricate issues leader-managers face, Doug Emerson is a visionary in the world of leadership and management consulting. With over 40 years of experience helping leader-managers excel, Doug is a world-renowned consultant and trusted advisor to business leaders all over the world.

Doug gained international status through his work at a highly successful management consulting company he founded in 1974 and recently sold to a Big Four consulting firm. He is also credited as the co-designer of the award winning “Getting It Done” course for second year MBA students at The Rotman School of Management.

His latest venture is Reddin Global, a Canadian technology start-up he founded to bring effective management into the 21 st century. The company’s flagship Team Effectiveness Solution, The Emerson Suite, is an online platform of leader-directed and employee-driven team management tools.

Reddin Global owns the intellectual copyrights of Dr. William J. Reddin, Author, behavioral scientists and famed management expert. The Emerson Suite is based on his pioneering work on managerial effectiveness and is the culmination of Doug’s decades of consulting expertise.

Doug can be reached on Email, LinkedIn

Vice-President, Customer Success, Reddin Global

Sandy Lee is the Vice-President, Customer Success at Reddin Global. She leads her team to create high performance cultures at customer organizations through team use of The Emerson Suite. She helps customers foster excellence in management practices to drive employee engagement and business results.

Sandy comes from a Senior HR Professional background and is the former Director, Staff & Volunteer Resources with the Toronto International Film Festival Inc. (TIFF). She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the WorkInCulture Board of Directors where she provides guidance on building HR business skills for the arts and culture sector. Sandy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware.

Sandy can be reached on Email, LinkedIn

Global HR Leader, Transformation & Culture Builder

Jodi is a senior human resources consultant with 20 years of global corporate experience working closely with C-Suite executives. She focuses on bringing her expertise to young companies and start-ups with an emphasis on Talent Management and Total Rewards. She has proven success in helping start-ups through early growing pains and guiding them as they grow to a global scale.

Jodi’s impressive experience is founded in time spent with corporate leaders such as Deloitte, Blackbery, Cisco and Telus. The range of her experience includes managing a $2 million budget and leading a team of 35 to acting as a sole entity on a shoestring budget.

She sees the whole picture and can address key areas such as talent acquisition, on-boarding, total rewards, program implementation, vendor selection, process assessment and integration with IT systems. Jodi identifies what is possible and attains it. She understands that these elements are always tied to the objectives of the business and are integral to moving it forward. Jodi has secured benefits for organizations around the world including; Canada, the US, the UK, France and the Asia-Pacific Rim. Jodi understands the talent requirements of young companies because she immerses herself what that company is facing.

She has the ability to see down the road without losing focus on the immediate challenges facing young companies. She knows what is around each corner because she has been there before.

Jodi’s high energy, positive outlook is aptly suited to the culture of start-up companies. She inspires the team through actions not words and is ready to roll up her sleeves and do whatever is necessary for the company to succeed. Jodi’s success is derived from her innate ability to foster productive relationships. Jodi aspires to continue to do interesting work with smart people.

Head of Talent, Diagram

Co-founder and CEO, Karen.ai

Noel Webb is co-founder and CEO of Karen.ai. A veteran of business development and out-of-the-box thinking, Noel has been a leader in his roles over the years for several companies, including Innosphere, Bam Digital, and Agnition.

During his career as a technology leader, Noel has developed a passion for products and innovations and has been the driving force behind products such as OOLYO, Tech & Design, and TeamHQ. Also, Noel has been a strategic advisor to high profile clients such as Torstar Digital, Syngenta, Toyota, and Modis and helped them to build a product-driven approach to business.

CTO & Co-founder, Helpful

Farhan Thawar is the CTO and Co-Founder of Helpful.com, a video messenger for work. Most recently he was the CTO Mobile at Pivotal and the Vice President of Engineering at Pivotal Labs. Farhan is best known for scaling Xtreme Labs from 10 to 350 people and building the most popular mobile apps in the world. He is an avid writer and speaker and was named one of Toronto’s 25 most powerful people. Prior to Xtreme, Farhan held senior technical positions at Achievers, Microsoft, Celestica and Trilogy. Farhan completed his MBA in Financial Engineering at Rotman and Computer Science/EE at Waterlo.

Chief Technology Officer, Rangle.io

Yuri is Rangle.io’s second developer, a former faculty member at the University of Toronto, and a published author. He is an expert in front-end and test-driven development, server-side development, UX and design. Yuri holds a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Information Management and Systems from the University of California, Berkeley. To hear more from Yuri, follow him on Twitter at @qaramazov.

Co-founder, Acquird.io; former VP, People Operations, Rangle.io

Rup Jolly has lead HR/Talent for some of the fastest growing technology firms over the last 10 plus years. Rup now consults after helping build five companies, and most recently was the VP of People Operations (HR/Talent) for Rangle.io (one of the top JavaScript Consulting Firms in North America). Prior to that, Rup was the Director of Talent for Flipp, recognized as one of the Top 50 Best Workplaces in Canada and Most Admired Corporate Culture.

Rup is a thought leader on Talent and Culture. He’s built talent strategies for multiple companies from the ground up and also built and lead multiple high performing HR & Talent teams.

Managing Director, Talent Tech Labs

Jonathan Kestenbaum is the Managing Director of Talent Tech Labs. He is a lawyer by education, and an entrepreneur and investor by trade. Jonathan has embodied an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, having started and run two successful businesses before the age of twenty-one. Jonathan is passionate about being on the cutting edge of innovation and capitalizing on industry trends. He currently spends his days managing TTL’s innovation lab and advising the recruitment technology companies of tomorrow. Jonathan can be found at HR technology conferences all over the world as a sought-after speaker and panelist sharing deep insights into the evolution of the Talent Acquisition Ecosystem.

Director, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund

Michelle McBane is passionate about working with amazing technology entrepreneurs. As a Director at the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, she leads investments in early-stage technology companies. Michelle is a skilled business professional with over 25 years of combined operational and venture capital experience. Her background includes 15 years of venture capital investing early-stage companies as well as sales and marketing roles in both engineering and scientific industries. Since 2010, she has led over 20 investments in her role at IAF. Notable investments include Rubikloud, Figure1, Sampler, OMX, Nudge Rewards, Rank Software, gShift Labs and Profound Medical. Past exits include Cytochroma (acquired by OPKO) and Locationary (acquired by APPL).

Prior to IAF, Michelle was a venture investor with VG Partners and Primaxis Technology Ventures.

She is active in the technology community and is an advisor at the Biomedical Zone at Ryerson, a volunteer with the Next 36 and CIX and an instructor in the entrepreneurship department at Ryerson University.

Vice President, Wealth Creation, Crowdmatrix

Leah is currently the Vice President of Wealth Creation at Crowdmatrix, an online marketplace for investors and startups in Canada. Leah comes from AceTech where she worked with the CEOs and senior Executives of over 100 of Ontario’s top tech companies. Leah loves working with startups and helping them grow and is thrilled to be a part of a team that is changing the way capital is raised.