Anil Arora is an experienced senior public official, having worked at Statistics Canada for over 25 years leading significant programs and transformations. He was appointed Chief Statistician of Canada in September, 2016. He has also served in policy and regulatory roles in the Government of Canada at Natural Resources Canada and Health Canada. Mr. Arora has led substantive international initiatives, working with the United Nations and the OECD, and received numerous prestigious awards for leadership. He serves on a number of Boards and is active in community events and social causes. Mr. Arora received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Alberta, with subsequent studies in computer science. He holds a graduate certificate in public sector management and governance from the University of Ottawa and the Government of Canada’s Advanced Leadership Development Program.

Anneke Auer-Olvera is the Director at the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) responsible for Programs and Operations in the Strategy and Stakeholder Engagement branch. Anneke leads various teams in the implementing government funded programs focused on delivering standardization solutions in areas such as Infrastructure and Climate Change, Innovation and IP, Data Governance, and Artificial Intelligence. Anneke is the Secretary of the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative, which recently published its first Roadmap mapping the standardization landscape for data governance in Canada. For more information, please visit. https://www.scc.ca/en/flagships/data-governance

Daniel Capriles is a professional with more than 10 years of experience in advance analytics in industries like telecom and finance, in different departments like marketing, sales and operations.  Currently he leads a team of Data Scientist that helps National Bank contact center improving its operational efficiency and client satisfaction by leveraging data, analytics and machine learning.

Daniel received a Bachelor on Electronic Engineering, a Master in Business Administration specialized in Marketing, a Professional Certification on Data Analytics for Business from McGill and Organizational Leadership Specialization from Northwestern University.

Drawing on 25 years as a technology risk advisor, Cathy is the Global Trusted AI Advisory Leader at Ernst and Young LLP. She leads a global team that considers the ethical and control implications of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. Cathy leverages her unique background as a CPA and her involvement with the EY Climate Change & Sustainability practice to consider the full spectrum of technological and societal implications in intelligent automation development.  Cathy serves on a number of technical advisory committees to develop industry and regulatory standards for emerging technology, such as:

• Technical and Working Committee Members for the CIO Strategy Council’s Technical and Draft Working Committees to develop a standard for ethical use of autonomous decision making, and data access & privacy
• Steering Committee member on the IEEE’s Ethical Certification Program for the use of AI and Autonomous Systems (ECPAIS), and a draft committee member for the Bias subject area
• Committee member for CPA Canada’s newly created Data Governance Committee
• Committee member for CPA Canada’s Audit & Assurance Technical Committee, with a focus on emerging technology

Gigi Dawe leads the Corporate Oversight and Governance department at the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada). As such, she oversees CPA Canada’s development of influential, thought leading resources and events that improve board performance. Gigi launched the governance discipline at CPA Canada to facilitate enhanced board and executive response to market demands. Recently she has been actively involved with CPA Canada’s initiative to reimagine the future of the accounting profession with particular attention on data governance. Her history includes consulting in organizational development in a variety of industries.

Gigi is a board member of Youthdale Treatment Centres. She also sits on the advisory board of Simon Fraser University’s Next Generation Governance Project, the Advisory Committee of the Canada Climate Law Initiative and the International Corporate Governance Network’s (ICGN) Human Capital Committee.  She is a past board member of Active Healthy Kids Canada and Family Daycare Services Toronto and was co-chair of the ICGN’s Corporate Board Governance Committee. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Institute of Corporate Directors, and the International Corporate Governance Network.

Gigi obtained a Master of Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School. She teaches Corporate Responsibility and Ethics in the Master of Financial Accountability program at York University.

JoAnne is Senior Manager, Data & Analytics, Smart Metering at the Independent Electricity System Operator (“IESO”).

The Smart Metering Entity (“SME”) manages Ontario’s central hub for providing a reliable and safe processing platform for electricity consumption data from over 5 million smart meters, in support of the province’s Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) customers’ billing and for various analytics applications.

JoAnne and her team provide insight into smart meter data trends and patterns that can support the design of provincial or regional level programs such as: conservation and demand management programs, assessment of the effectiveness of pricing plans, community energy plans, and to create new value through innovation.

JoAnne also brings her previous rich experience of the IESO’s forecasting and operations into her current role by leveraging the smart meter data for advanced IESO forecasting, conservation and economic models, enabling machine learning applications for high value analytics use cases, while ensuring a solid foundation for data governance across the organization.

She has a Master’s degree from the University of Western Ontario in Astrophysics and Scientific Computing as well as a Graduate Diploma from the University of Waterloo in Power System Engineering.

Sorana is Director, Smart Metering at the Independent Electricity System Operator (“IESO”).

The IESO works at the heart of Ontario’s power system and delivers key services across the electricity sector including: managing the power system in real-time, planning for the province’s future energy needs, enabling conservation and designing a more efficient electricity marketplace to support sector evolution. As the province’s designated Smart Metering Entity, the IESO is also responsible for operating Ontario’s Meter Data Management and Repository (“MDM/R”), a complex and unique platform in North-America that enables processing of electricity consumption data from over five million smart meters. The MDM/R supports Ontario’s 60 local distribution companies’ billing, while also contributing to the IESO’s grid operations through optimized electricity demand forecasting.

Sorana also leads the IESO’s Data Excellence program, an initiative that brings together good data governance practices and a modern approach to technology and analytics, while fostering a culture of data within the organization.

As the energy sector progresses in the digital grid transformation, the IESO continues its work with key market players to maximize Ontario’s investment in the smart metering infrastructure and to leverage new opportunities for ratepayer value creation through advanced data-driven decisions.

Colin Kemp is a Defense Scientist at the Department of National Defense, where he conducts applied research in the domains of industrial-organizational psychology, psychometrics, and data science.

Michael recently retired from the public service after 35 years of combined military and civil service.  His last position in the public service was Director General, Cost Estimating and Transfer Payments Centres of Expertise.  While in this position, he was seconded to CPA Canada where he worked on the Foresight Initiative.  This initiative focused on reimagining the accounting profession in the digital economy.  Michael has also taught at the Master’s level for the Sprott School of Business and the Telfer Certificate in Complex Procurement and Project Leadership.  He has received several awards for his work in predictive modeling. Michael is currently the Managing Director, Technomics Canada, a decision support company focused on developing data-driven insights to support decision-making.

Anthony Mantione is a senior economist with the Labor Market Information Council (LMIC), where he conducts research and analysis primarily related to the skill needs of the Canadian labor market. Some of his work includes designing an LMI micro-credential for Career Development Practitioners, identifying and measuring labor and skills shortages in Canada, managing stakeholder engagement.  In addition to studying labor-related issues, Anthony has previous experience in both the health care and education sectors.

Gaetano Mazzuca wants to live in a world where the government integrates into a larger political and digital fabric of the area it serves, providing an enmeshed understanding and toolset for its citizens. One that sees smaller communities flourish in terms of resiliency and self-empowerment.

As a senior IT leader with more than 20 years of experience in public sector – academia, provincial and municipal government, Gaetano has worked to support the smaller players: the value of the small business, the small town, the college – and has successfully built shared services, collaborative open data systems, and resilient digital engagement that speak to the people that live, work and play locally.  A passionate advocate for the small/medium sized organization: towns, rural communities, colleges, smaller business and institutions, he has built up regional networks and shared relationships in support of empowering outlier common-wealths.

Gaetano was recently appointed as the new Chief Information Officer for the City of Red Deer, Alberta.

Jason Oliver is a Project Leader, Senior Compliance Analyst & Data Scientist with the Canada Revenue Agency, who manages a team of data scientists in the pursuit of predictive analytics for tax related data. He has used SAS extensively, as well as R studio, Python, and IBM SPSS.  His past experience and certifications include the realms of information security, anti-fraud techniques, and business systems and process analysis. He holds an MBA so is well versed in business acumen and strategic analysis.  Jason has been a delegate to the J5 (joint 5 tax) consortium as a collaborator on complex issues such as global tax avoidance and AML (anti-money laundering, which also stands for automated machine learning).  He has two wonderful daughters that he loves spending quality time with, and resides in Ottawa, Canada.

Janice Sharpe has been the Senior Director of the Government of Canada’s Federal Geospatial Platform since 2018. Ms. Sharpe joined the management team at Natural Resources Canada 5 years ago. Previously, she held leadership positions at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in environment, science and technology policy and program delivery; during this time, she also led a number of strategic planning and transformation initiatives at senior levels in the department. She first joined the federal government as a Project Manager at Public Works and Government Services Canada after leaving the private sector as Area Manager of Triathlon Inc. Ms. Sharpe possesses ITIL and Balanced Scorecard certification, and holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Guelph.

Eric Sutherland has been called a data guy with a personality with a passion for driving meaningful use of data for the public good while respecting individuals’ privacy. He is a recovering banker, following 20 years at a major Canadian bank with senior roles in IT, strategy, and data leadership. He is currently driving development of a Pan-Canadian strategy for health data to realize better outcomes for individuals, communities, and jurisdictions.

Sukriti Trehan is a data scientist with the Labor Market Information Council (LMIC). Sukriti contributes to building the data architecture for LMIC and provides analytics solutions for ongoing Canadian labor market projects. Her work with the organization aims to facilitate easy access to structured and unstructured labor market data. Sukriti previously worked as a data analyst with the Government of India on course-correction projects for various government programmes.