Marissa Andrada

Kindness Catalyst & Culture Master/Chief Transformation Officer, WUF World
Board Director, Krispy Kreme Inc.

Marissa Andrada is a master of activating organizational hyper-growth and turnaround through the transformation and creation of dynamic, diverse and inclusive cultures. With over 25 years of experience of integrating people and leadership capability into the foundation of business strategies, she has energized brands to codify their purpose and values while accelerating company growth and industry-wide change, inspiring a movement for employee well-being and opportunity. 

Gren Austin

Head of Wealthsimple Work
Wealthsimple

Gren Austin is the Head of Wealthsimple Work —  He is responsible for the day to day operations of Wealthsimple’s Group Retirement business. 

Wealthsimple helps grow wealth, through simple, delightful, human experiences, and Gren is a big believer that that extends into the workplace too. Passionate about helping Canadians achieve their own version of financial freedom, Gren knows that employer programs like Group RRSPs can help Canadians get started on their retirement plans.  

Prior to Wealthsimple, Gren spent time at League, supporting the company’s growth at the intersection of Health, Benefits, and Technology. 

Leif Baradoy

CEO
Giftbit

Leif Baradoy is an entrepreneur, a founder, and current CEO of Giftbit—a digital reward platform and API. Leif is focused on business innovation and growth while remaining steadfastly focussed on maintaining a company culture where everyone can prosper in a principled, growth-oriented environment. 

Leif’s experience and insights have earned him recognition as a thought leader in tech, entrepreneurial, and corporate culture communities. 

Adam Benn

Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
VHA Home HealthCare

Adam Benn, M.A., M.Ed., is an experienced facilitator and educator, with over ten years of experience in education and community healthcare. Adam has wide and ranging experience working with diverse populations with unique needs. This experience, coupled with an academic background in conflict management and adult education, has cultivated a practice that is focused on engaging with individuals to support their learning and growth, and is rooted in critical pedagogy and anti-oppression practice. Adam holds a Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University and a Master of Education in Adult Education and Community Development from OISE/University of Toronto. 

Adam has had the privilege of working in non-profits and community health centres in a number of communities across Toronto. Through his work, Adam has developed a passion for leadership, broader advocacy/lobbying and education; and has had the opportunity to deliver a number of trainings/workshops to service providers and youth. Adam currently works as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at VHA Home Healthcare and teaches part time as a Professor in the Faculty of Community and Social Service at Humber College. Adam is also on the roster of consultants with DiversiPro, a Trainer and Motivational Speaker with Positive Gear and Certified Personal Trainer with a number of publications on equity. 

Adam has previously worked as the Manager of Education and Training at the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion at Humber College and as the Manager of 2SLGBTQ Community Programs at Sherbourne Health. 

Danielle Bushen

Global Head People Analytics Data Governance and Stewardship
Sanofi

Danielle Bushen is a digital transformation, HR operations and people analytics leader with more than 25 years of experience in HR information management. She is currently the Global Head of People Data Governance & Stewardship at Sanofi, a global healthcare research company that discovers, develops and delivers medicines and vaccines for millions of people around the world. Prior to joining Sanofi, she led the Talent Data & Analytics centre of excellence for the HR function at the Royal Bank of Canada. Over a two decade tenure at Mercer where she held the title of Partner, Danielle took on a variety of roles in the Human Capital practice’s information business including client industry segmentation, global operations and publishing, and global workforce metrics and benchmarking product leadership. Danielle volunteers as the VP of Social Enterprise for the Harvard Business School (HBS) Club of Toronto managing the not-for-profit scholarship programs funded by the Club. She is a graduate of the HBS General Management Program, holds an MA from the University of Waterloo, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Toronto, Trinity College. 

Arjun Bhanot

Value Advisor Principal
Dayforce Canada Ltd.

Arjun is a seasoned expert in management consulting and SaaS led transformations.  With a deep understanding of business strategy, HR strategy and SaaS technology, Arjun has helped companies position and quantify the value of their transformation with CXOs. His professional experience has been with EY and PwC where he has leveraged technology to solve for people and organizational issues. 

Tiffany Heimpel

Vice President of Partnerships
Hireguide

Tiffany Heimpel is the Vice President of Partnerships at Hireguide, a company she joined after LinkedIn, founded by 11 ex LinkedIn’ers. There, she spearheads sales and client success initiatives aimed at revolutionizing hiring and interviewing processes. With over two decades of experience in sales strategy development and execution, Tiffany has consistently delivered transformative solutions, achieving a remarkable 5X revenue growth. Passionate about pioneering change, she leverages structured interviewing, analytics, and Gen AI to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce. 

Leigh-Ann Ing

Head of Wellness
Gowling WLG

As the inaugural Head of Wellness at Gowling WLG Canada, Leigh-Ann Ing is accountable for developing and driving the Firm’s strategy and innovation around well-being, health and work-life integration. Her goal is to empower everyone to be well so they can perform their best in both their professional and personal lives. This includes partnering across all levels of the organization, and in alignment with other strategic priorities, to ensure well-being is integrated and fostered in every area of the firm. 

Leigh-Ann has more than 20 years’ experience in the health and productivity field, working with national and global employers in a variety of industries. She has developed and implemented impactful organizational health and wellness strategies for groups ranging in size from 100 to more than 80,000 people.  

Leigh-Ann specializes in helping organizations transform their approach to managing well-being from a reactive treatment model to a holistic prevention model. She has successfully supported numerous employers in achieving best-in-class, externally recognized work cultures that champion improved employee health, well-being and engagement.  

A recognized subject matter expert in her field, Leigh-Ann is a sought-after speaker on the importance of mental fitness, health and resilience as key constructs to employee performance and productivity, and organizational culture.  

Prior to joining Gowling WLG, Leigh-Ann held progressively senior roles with OMERS Administration Corporation, Mercer Canada, Sun Life Financial and the Government of Ontario. 

Mark Edgar

Chief People Officer
Wajax

Mark Edgar is a people-centric, strategic and innovative Chief People Officer and community builder with global experience developing and delivering impactful and business focused people strategies across a range of sectors. He has over 25 years’ experience building HR solutions across the broad HR agenda including transformational change, talent management, engagement and organizational effectiveness.  

Mark has run his own consulting Goat Rodeo Project designed to help organizations avoid train wrecks. He currently works for Wajax as Chief People Officer where he is excited to be building a people-first company. 

An enthusiastic collaborator, he is the co-founder of future foHRward – a community for HR professionals to build their capabilities and confidence in leveraging the opportunities that come from the new world of work. This includes a weekly newsletter and co-hosting foHRsight the podcast. 

Mark lives in Canada with his wife and has two grown up daughters. He spends his time enjoying soccer – or what he calls football – and his RV Ramsay! 

Damir Kostic

Partner, National Practice Leader IBM Consulting
IBM Canada

Damir Kostic is a thought leader specializing in digital HR transformations. As the Partner and National Practice Leader for HR & Talent Technologies at IBM Consulting Canada, he has a wealth of experience, advising clients in more than 60 countries and 20 industries. Damir excels at the dynamic intersection of technology and human resources, offering insights into how emerging technologies like AI and digital transformation can impact businesses. He has expertise in using these technologies to augment the workforce and drive innovation across an enterprise. Through his work with leading Canadian and global organizations, he not only shapes strategies and policies but also fosters positive corporate cultures that drive productivity and prepare workers for the future of work. 

Christine Schmidt

People Analytics Lead
Rippling

Christine Schmidt leads people analytics & data at Rippling, the all-in-one workforce management platform for Canadian businesses to simplify their HR, IT, Analytics, and Finance and help employees automate key HR processes. Christine has spent 10+ years as a People Analytics expert specializing in Data Infrastrastructure and Storytelling. She works to bring the best practices of analytics to support People Teams in supporting their Businesses. Christine joined Rippling with the goal of democratizing People Analytics – building a platform with organized data and intuitive interface such that any size organization can safely and securely analyze their People Data. Prior to Rippling, Christine was the Head of People Analytics at Cruise and worked on strategic workforce planning & people analytics at Meta. 

Dominica Sortisio

Principal, Product Research & Strategy
UKG

Dominica Sortisio, Principal in Product Research and Strategy at UKG, brings more than 20 years of industry experience and expertise in qualitative research analysis and directional leadership on the future of work. Dominica has been instrumental in propelling innovation at UKG, notably identifying opportunity in human capital management (HCM) and Fintech convergence. During her five-year tenure, she has conducted comprehensive reviews of HCM vendors and market practices and is recognized for her keen insights into emerging trends and disruptive products and services. Dominica collaboratively shapes a cutting-edge strategy with product development and partner alliance leaders, generating innovative product ideas and identifying start-up for UKG Lab cohorts.  

 Prior to UKG, Dominica made impactful contributions as an Enterprise Account Executive at Benefitfocus Inc. and an HR Outsourcing Sales Executive at Aon Hewitt, achieving remarkable revenue growth through highly effective sales strategies. Throughout her career, she has garnered many professional distinctions, including UKG All Star, President’s Club, and Top Producer awards, showcasing her unwavering commitment to excellence. Holding a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the State University of New York, Buffalo, Dominica most recently honed her strategic skills with a Certificate of Completion in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business School.  

Sharaf Sultan

Principal Lawyer
Sultan Lawyers

Sharaf Sultan focuses his practice on both employment and workplace immigration law.

Sharaf has extensive experience in all aspects of employment law, including wrongful dismissal, design of policies and procedures, as well as workplace human rights matters.

Sharaf advises both large and small employers on a wide range of workplace employment matters, including hiring and termination, performance management, drafting of workplace employment policies, restrictive covenants, and employment contracts. Sharaf also regularly manages employment litigation and human rights applications.

Sharaf further advises employers on a wide range of immigration matters for companies involved in the relocation or hiring of foreigners into the Canadian labour market. He has extensive experience preparing and providing advice with respect to business visitor visa applications, intra-company transfers, and Labour Market Impact Assessment applications. Sharaf’s clients include large Canadian, American, and multinational corporations.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Sharaf worked at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was responsible for the design of statistical analyses of child labour practices across various global jurisdictions.

Sharaf regularly writes and speaks on both employment and workplace immigration matters. He has also taught at the university level (including at Dalhousie and Queen’s University) on advocacy, employment, and immigration law.

Prior to founding Sultan Lawyers, Sharaf was a lawyer within Heenan Blaikie LLP’s labour and employment group.

Sharaf has also been recognised through several awards including Best Lawyers, Top Choice, and Client Choice awards

Annabella Tamburro

Vice President, Human & Corporate Capital
Canso Investment Counsel

Annabella Tamburro is an HR leader with 20+ years of experience in HR Strategy, Change Management, Leadership & Learning, Talent Management, Organization Design and Performance Management. Throughout her career, in both consulting and corporate, she has worked with senior leaders to clarify and articulate their business issues; collaboratively developing talent solutions and strategies to deliver business results. Annabella is the Vice President of Human & Corporate Capital at Canso Investment Counsel. Prior to joining Canso, she held progressively senior roles at Extendicare, TD Bank, Tangerine Bank (formerly ING Direct) Oliver Wyman and Accenture. Annabella has an International MBA from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of International Business from Carleton University. She is a certified Change Management Practitioner and Adler Coach. She currently lives in Richmond Hill with her husband and two children. 

Jimmy Tristovski

Vice President Talent Acquisition & People Operations
Score Media & Gaming

Jimmy is currently the Vice President, Talent Acquisition & People Operations at Score Media & Gaming Inc and Penn Interactive. He currently heads up the Talent Acquisition, People Operations, People Analytics, and Employment Branding departments.Jimmy’s passion has always been engraved in entrepreneurship, leadership, and technology. Intertwining these three passions has been his life work. His career progression has led him down a path where he’s helped build and lead multiple companies from a people perspective to achieve organizational goals. His philosophy as a leader of an organization is to build an environment that is free of politics, creating a space where ideas flow freely, and differences of opinions are encouraged in order to grow its people.Jimmy has vast experience consulting for (and working within) some top companies across Canada & the USA, including theScore/Penn Interactive, Top Hat, RBC, Build with Assembly, and CareerBuilder. His work has led to many companies receiving funding, mergers & acquisitions, and one of the largest Tech Company sales in Canadian history.Jimmy attended the University of Windsor and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours Business Administration) and a Minor in Applied Information Technology. He also holds multiple certifications in People Analytics.

Konstantin Tskhay

Managing Partner & Founder
Tskhay & Associates

Konstantin is a Managing Partner and a Founder of Tskhay and Associates, Inc. Inspired by working with many clients as a management consultant at Deloitte and later as a Chief of Staff and an HR leader at a successful education technology start-up, Top Hat, Konstantin started a boutique consulting firm, squarely focused on helping organizations use their people data to drive retention, engagement, and performance.

Konstantin has worked with clients across financial services, consumer goods, manufacturing, energy and resources, and public services sectors, helping them with leadership strategy and assessments, diversity and inclusion, and general HR programming. In addition to that, as an operational leader, Konstantin established several effective talent management and measurement programs consistently used across the organization today, driving a 31% improvement in retention and a 37% improvement in engagement in only 18 months.

He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Toronto, writes a weekly Strategic People Analytics newsletter, and teaches people analytics in his online course, Practical People Analytics.

Greg Ward

Talent Development Director
Americas GPS/SE&O, Microsoft

As Talent Development Lead for the America’s regions, Greg is responsible for developing and implementing the Talent Strategy for Microsoft Americas with a focus developing senior leadership talent. 

Greg has a passion for Microsoft Culture and for our customers.  He has been at Microsoft for 20 years with experiences spanning Canada, US, LATAM and the Middle East Region where he has held numerous positions within Microsoft including HR Manager, HR Business Partner and Compensation Lead. Greg obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at McMaster University and attended Sheridan College’s Human Resource Program. 

Christine Wilson

Chief Talent & Enablement Officer
OMD Canada

A curious contributor, coach, creator and collaborator, a very abundant and grateful human.

Christine brings 30+ years of media agency and client marketing experience in top tier categories such as finance, automotive and CPG.  Where she has expertly managed multinational, complex business assignments.

In her role at Chief Talent and Enablement Officer she strives to support talent to show up authentically and bring their passions and purpose into the corporate world.  To deliver transformative thought leadership, exceptional business relationship management and advanced understanding of the constantly changing industry and how to accelerate client growth opportunities.

Recently completed ACSTH education certificate for holistic life, career, and executive coaching from Goal Imagery Institute and soon to complete the ICF ACC accreditation path.”

Travis Windling

Director, Talent Acquisition Strategy & Insights
RBC

Travis Windling is currently the Global Head of Strategy, Transformation & Analytics for RBC Talent Acquisition.  In his role, he is responsible for modernizing Technology and Analytics to create a best-in-class, data-driven function.  Travis brings nearly 15 years of experience in driving transformation with data and people analytics at its core.  He has implemented everything from people analytics platforms to global career frameworks and specializes in quantifying value around outcomes and building the business case for change.  Fun fact in his time at Manulife Travis has created his own job on multiple occasions!  A proud father of 2, Travis spends his spare time doing Kung Fu with his 5-year-old son or practicing dance routines with his 8-year-old daughter.