Rob is the Chief Engagement Officer at WorkTango, and has spent the last 18 years consulting organizations and building HR technology and advisory companies… all with a lifelong passion to “improve (work) lives.” He is the Canadian Chairperson for The Enterprise Engagement Alliance, with a mandate to lead and help educate corporate, government and not-for-profit management on a formal process for implementing engagement across the enterprise community, and was recently named one of the 100 Top Global Employee Engagement Influencers in 2020. Rob is an Official Member of the Forbes Human Resources Council and when he isn’t speaking or writing about improving the workplace, he is an avid hockey and volleyball player, traveler, used to play guitar in a metal band, and in his own terms a ‘pointaholic’ – he collects loyalty points  for everything and anything!

Dr. Wendy Cukier is the Diversity Institute Founder, Academic Director of the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and Research Lead of the Future Skills Centre. She is the co-author of the bestseller, Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Java to Jurassic Park and former VP of Research and Innovation. The Diversity Institute has 100 research staff, 100 research associates from around the world, 200 industry partners and focuses on dimensions of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, future skills, and entrepreneurship and innovation. Harnessing the power of innovation, it promotes the advancement of underrepresented groups. The Diversity Institute is also a research lead for the $300 million Future Skills Centre and the $8.6 million Women Entrepreneurship Hub. Wendy has been recognized with the Harry Jerome Diversity Award, the Bob Marley Award, the Canada-Pakistan Business Council’s Female Professional of the Year, the Metropolis Research Award, the CATA Alliance, Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN. She has been named a YWCA Woman of Distinction and one of the International Women’s Forum 2020 Women Who Make a Difference, a Woman of Influence and one of the “100 Alumni who shaped the Century” by the University of Toronto. Wendy holds a PhD, an MBA, an MA, and honorary doctorates from Laval and Concordia.

Nicole is an agile global human resources executive with a passion for building high performance teams, cultures and organizations. Business-minded and practical, Nicole has deep experience in partnering with executives in union and non-union environments. During her career, she has worked across industries including healthcare, manufacturing and financial technology.

Nicole is a trusted advisor to CEOs and Boards of Directors for publicly and privately traded companies. Her reputation is built on providing a balanced and honest perspective on how organizations need to transform to achieve their business goals.

With a strong commitment to making talent and culture a competitive advantage, Nicole is adept at uniting teams to lead innovative and complex corporate initiatives. Fluently bilingual, she combines her HR experience with a strong knowledge of customer service and operations to make a powerful impact at all levels of an organization.

Blaine Donais B.A., LL.B., LL.M. (ADR), RPDR, C. Med., Q.Arb., PHSA, WFA author of Workplaces That Work, Engaging Unionized Employees, and The Art and Science of Workplace Mediation all published by Carswell, has spent many years working with public and private sector professionals. He is President and Founder of Workplace Fairness International. He has represented professionals as a labour lawyer from 1995 to 2017. He is an expert in both the practice and theory of assisted labour/management negotiation, mediation-arbitration, investigation, occupational health and safety assessments and facilitation. He is Adjunct Professor of Workplace Conflict Management at York University and University of Toronto (Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources). He has performed numerous workplace health assessments and violence and harassment risk assessments for organizations across the country.

Recognized as a leading lawyer by Who’s Who Legal® (National Leader), Sundeep’s broad practice is focused on the representation of management in many areas of employment and labour law, including:

• Advising the Multinational and Multi-Jurisdictional Employer
• Attendance Management
• Collective Agreement Administration
• Collective Bargaining
• Compensation and Benefit Plans
• Construction Labour Relations
• Employee Relations
• Employment Contracts
• Employment Screening and Hiring
• Employment Standards
• Grievance Arbitration
• Human Rights and Accommodation
• Labour Relations Board Proceedings
• Management Training
• Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Policy Development and Implementation
• Pay Equity
• Responding to Union Organizing and Applications for Certification
• Sale or Closure
• Strike or Lock-Out Preparation and Business Continuity Planning
• Wrongful and Constructive Dismissal Litigation

Sundeep is frequently asked to speak at industry conferences and lead webinars on a variety of topics related to his practice.

Sundeep is a member of the Sports and Entertainment Committee of Black North Initiative.  
He is also a member of the Canadian Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association (Labour & Employment, Construction Law, Civil Litigation, Constitutional, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Workers’ Compensation), South Asian Bar Association (Toronto Chapter), Law Society of Upper Canada, and Retail Council of Canada.  Sundeep volunteers his time to Ovarian Cancer Canada and has taught employment and labour law at Conestoga College.

Sundeep began his career as a student with Sherrard Kuzz LLP during which time he was seconded with the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

Dr. Geoff Ho is an expert in diagnosing & prescribing people solutions at scale. By day, he directs a People Research & Analytics department using science, analytics, and consulting to shape Rogers’ people strategy for its 26,000+ employees. By night, he lectures for York University’s People Analytics Certificate Program which he co-developed. Prior to this, Dr. Ho worked at Google’s People Analytics team and 4 Fortune/Forbes Global 1000 Companies, received a PhD specializing in Organizational Behavior at UCLA, and obtained both a Master of Industrial Relations and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto. His award-winning research has shaped government legislation and organizational policies, been published in prestigious academic journals and best-selling books, and received global media coverage.

President & founder of Howatt HR Consulting, behavioural scientist Dr. Bill Howatt and is known as one of Canada’s top experts in mental health issues in the workplace and has more than 30 years of experience in the field of mental health, addiction, and HR consulting most recently focusing on psychological safety in the workplace. He is a highly-respected columnist for the Globe and Mail and Chronicle Herald, author, clinician, consultant and speaker.

Dr. Howatt is the creator of the Certified Management Essential (CME), Mental Fitness Practice, Pathway to Coping and Psychological Safe Leaders for the University of New Brunswick.

Dr. Howatt Chair of CSA Standard 21008: Management of Substance-Related Impairment in the Workplace.

Dr. Howatt filled the role of Chief of Research and Workforce Productivity at The Conference Board of Canada, leading the Board’s applied research programs in workplace wellness, mental health, and workforce productivity. Dr. Howatt is also the former Chief of Research and Development, Workforce Productivity at Morneau Shepell where he launched a total health consulting strategy designed to improve health engagement and productivity in Canadian organizations, as well as co-creator of The Globe and Mail and Morneau Shepell Employee Recommended Workplace Award. Dr. Howatt also filled different roles as a consultant over a 12 year period working in Wall Street in the financial district.

He has published numerous books such as Stop Hiding and Start Living: How to Say F-IT to Fear and Develop Mental Fitness, The Coping Crisis, the Wiley Series on addictions, The Human Services Counseling Toolbox, and The Addiction Counselor’s Desk Reference.

Bill Howatt, is Ph.D., Ed.D., Post Doctorate Behavioural Science, University of California.

CAREER & WORK EXPERIENCE
Howatt HR Consulting (1993-Present), Founder and President
University of New Brunswick (2012-Present), Instructor CEL
Chair of National CSA standard on impairment substance use related (2019-Present)
Canadian Safety Association – OHS National steering committee (2019-Present)
International Research Advisory Council (IRAC) at Pacific Coast University of Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS) (2019-Present)
Regular contributor to The Globe Mail (2013-Present)
Regular contributor to the Chronicle Herald (2018-Present)
Regular contributor to Talent Canada (2019-Present)
The Conference Board of Canada (2018-2020), Chief Research and Development Officer, Workforce Productivity
Morneau Shepell (2015-2018), Chief Research and Development Officer, Workforce Productivity

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION
University of California, Los Angeles, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour, Post Doctorate in Behavioural Science (2012)
Walden University, Ph.D., Organizational Psychology (2010)

RSW, RTC, ICADC, CADC

PASSIONS
Golf, Boating, Bulldogs, and Granddaughter

Norm Keith is a management-side employment and labour lawyer, most notably he is one of the leading Occupational Health and Safety (“OHS”) lawyers in Canada. Additionally, Norm represents businesses in regulatory and white-collar crime investigations. He has successfully defended more than 1,000 OHS regulatory, criminal and related charges.

Norm’s advisory practice includes executive compensation, employment contracts, restrictive covenants, HR policies, COVID-19 vaccine policies, ethical practices, fraud prevention, and workers compensation claims management. Norm’s litigation practice includes wrongful dismissal, restrictive covenants, fraud recovery, whistle-blower complaints, work refusals, human rights claims, OHS prosecutions, labour arbitrations, OLRB hearings, and fiduciary duty lawsuits.

Norm has extensive experience in the complex subjects of alcohol & drugs and harassment & violence in the workplace.

Dr. Lisette Reyes is an award-winning learning strategist, researcher, and human performance professional. She has consulted with client organizations across multiple industries such as Dell Technologies, the United Nations, and Teck Resources on the design of data-driven learning development initiatives. Currently, Dr. Reyes oversees Rogers’ Employee Experience Research team to shape and scale a continuous employee listening strategy across the organization. Previously, she pioneered an innovative research and analytics approach to measure the impact of Rogers’ learning strategy and training programs. Dr. Reyes, a former Fulbright scholar, holds a Ph.D. and a M.S. in Education from Purdue University where she has served as an Adjunct Faculty member for its online Master in Learning Design & Technology.

Richard has worked within the Canadian Federal Public Service for over 25 years. He is currently the Director of the Equity, Anti-racism, Diversity and Inclusion Leading the Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Secretariat at the Department of Justice Canada where his work focusses on ensuring equity and inclusion for all equity seeking groups within the organization. Over the years, his work has involved leading initiatives in support of Government of Canada commitments to the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent. Richard is one of the founders of the Federal Black Employee Caucus that has been working with federal public service and union leadership to address anti-black racism in the federal public service. Richard’s work regionally, nationally and within the federal public service is intended to improve the condition of Black and African diaspora communities in Canada. Over the last few years Richard has been a speaker on addressing systemic racism, anti-black racism and how to be an ally within the Black Lives Matter movement.

Dr. David S. Weiss, ICD.D is President & CEO of Weiss International Ltd., a Toronto‐based firm specializing in innovation, leadership, and executive coaching for Fortune 500, social enterprise and public‐sector organizations. David and his team of consultants generate business, organizational and people solutions for executives and Boards globally. Some projects include:

• Executive coaching and executive developmental assessments
• Facilitating strategic planning, restructuring, & change management
• Designing executive team governance and alignment agreements
• Facilitating innovative thinking to gain insight into complex issues
• Designing and delivering innovation, change & leadership workshops

David has consulted on more than 1000 business and organizational projects on five continents including in Canada, USA, England, Holland, France, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Russia, China, Malaysia, Uganda, South Africa, and Chile. He also delivered over 220 conference presentations, presented at over 150 University Executive Development Programs, and wrote over 60 journal articles. He is the author or co‐author of seven books that have been translated into four languages including Innovative Intelligence (Publisher: Wiley, also available in Chinese) which was reported by CBC News as a “top 5 business book” in the year it was published and Leadership‐Driven HR which was listed by the Globe & Mail Report on Business as a bestseller in the year it was published.

In addition to his consulting work, David is affiliate faculty at executive development programs at Schulich, Queen’s, and St. Mary’s University. He is also a Certified HR Executive (CHRE) and on the CHRE Review Committee for the HRPA, an Institute Certified Board Director (ICD.D) with the Institute of Corporate Directors, and a Canadian Registered Health Service Provider in Psychology (CRHSP). He also is a Certified Life and Wellness Coach with Canada Coach Academy, and he is certified in the Hogan personality assessments and the emotional intelligence EQi assessments.

David’s doctorate is from the University of Toronto and he has three master’s degrees, in Education, Psychology and Philosophy. Previously, Dr. Weiss was an Affiliate Professor of the Rotman School of Management, a Senior Research Fellow at Queen’s University, a Director on the Board of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, the Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of a multi‐national consulting firm, and President of the Section of Industrial and Organizational Psychology of the Ontario Psychological Association and a Director on the OPA Board.

Dr. David Weiss has received numerous international honours, among them:

• The “Distinguished Lecturer” certificate from the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario
• Most Innovative HR Consultancy CEO (Canada) by the Global CEO Excellence Awards 2020
• The “HR Leadership Award” by the Asia‐Pacific HR Congress
• The “HR Distinction Award” by the Israel HR Association
• The first lifetime “Fellow” of the Institute for Performance and Learning (formally CSTD)
• The fourth lifetime “Fellow” of the Human Resources Professionals Association (FHRPA)
• “Lifetime Member” of the “Global Directory of Who’s Who” and the “Presidential Who’s Who”