Speakers

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Executive Director, HR Analytics & Planning

Alberta Health Services

Tony is the Executive Director for HR Analytics & Planning with Alberta Health Services as well as being a CPHR and UVic graduate with a Master’s in Public Administration.

HR Analytics & Planning leads and supports evidence-based decision-making, planning and action within AHS and its leadership through workforce data management, deeper analytics, workforce planning and organization design. Tony has worked in HR for over 30 years covering compensation, labor relations, organization design, HRIS, human capital metrics, strategy/policy development and general human resources operations and administration. He strongly believes Human Resources provides important value added, innovative services to an organization through the development and management of strategy-based services while providing practical value to their clients.

Jill Birch

Jill Birch

National Director, Leadership & Strategy National Director, Leadership & Strategy

Phelps

Chelsea Dahl

Chelsea Dahl

Director, Service Enhancement

Government of Alberta

Chelsea Dahl is the Director, Service Enhancements with the Talent Acquisition, Classification and Compensation Services branch in the Government of Alberta’s Public Service Commission. Over her ten years with the Government of Alberta, Mrs. Dahl has lead several initiatives to drive innovation including enabling data-driven HR through building workforce analytics as a function and through leading the implementation of a modern enterprise resource planning system. In her current role, she leads her team in modernizing talent acquisition services in the Government of Alberta to meet the ever-growing demand for talent.

Stacey Ileleji

Stacey Ileleji

Change Management Specialist

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Stacey is a transformational leader with a proven track record in the change and transformation space. She has over twenty years of experience building collaborative relationships and diverse, effective teams that deliver superior policy, program development, and service delivery.  She led the planning and implementation of the change management framework, strategy, communications and engagement plan, and developed resources for managing the people side of change for a recent classification modernization project impacting over 60 federal public service organizations.

Stacey is the co-chair of the Interdepartmental Organizational Change Network (IOCN) — the public service Change Management Community of Practice. You can find out more about the IOCN here: https://wiki.gccollab.ca/Interdepartmental_Organizational_Change_Network_/_R%C3%A9seau_interminist%C3%A9riel_du_changement_organisationnel. She also co-chairs the Human Resources Council’s (HRC) Community Engagement Hub, along with the HRC’s Executive Director.

Stacey earned a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Adler University and a four-year Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honors from Carleton University, specializing in economics, strategic human resources management, and organization development. She is also ProSci Certified in Change Management.

Stacey enjoys having fun by a lake with her husband, two children, and extended family. She loves music and many years ago sang with her band on the SuperEX young talent stage.

Riaz J. Kara

Riaz J. Kara

Vice President, Equity

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Riaz J. Kara is Vice-President, Equity at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a federal crown corporation. He was formerly Executive Director of the Employment Equity Act Review Secretariat at Employment & Social Development Canada – Labour Program. Since joining the Labour Program in 2017, Riaz held other executive positions including Regional Director, Ontario Region; Director, National Change Leadership; and, Director General, Federal Employment Equity & Workers’ Compensation. He holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration (Honours) degree from Trent University, and graduated with a Master’s of Science degree in Economic History from the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Previously, Riaz was with the federal public service from 2006 to 2012, and held progressively senior roles in policy, data & research, human resources and organizational effectiveness consulting. From 2012 to 2015, Riaz led organizational effectiveness consulting work in the Government of British Columbia, an opportunity that saw him work directly with Deputy Ministers and heads of organizations in improving management accountability and outcomes across a variety of ministries and agencies. He returned to the federal public service in 2015, to take on the role of Director, Business & Client Service Strategies at Public Services & Procurement Canada.

He is a lifelong learner, having completed an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2019. He is bilingual and holds a Lean Green Belt (McMaster University), certifications in Organizational Development as well as Building Organizational Capacity (Queen’s University) and is certified in Change Management (PROSCI) and Strategic Workforce Planning (Human Capital Institute). Riaz spends any free time staying active with his wonderful wife and toddler daughter!

Ilia Maor

Manager, HR Technology and Analytics

York Region (The Regional Municipality of York)

Zac Nichol

Senior Consultant - Digital Advisory

MNP Digital

David Weiss

David Weiss

President & CEO

Weiss International Ltd.

Dr. David S. Weiss, ICD.D is President & CEO of Weiss International Ltd., a Toronto-based firm specializing in innovation consulting, leadership coaching, and HR solutions for Fortune 500, social enterprise, and public-sector organizations.

David leads a team of highly skilled associates in many assignments including:

  • Engaging in executive and leadership coaching
  • Facilitating executive team development and alignment processes
  • Designing and delivering innovation, change, & leadership workshops
  • Facilitating Board governance and strategic planning sessions
  • Facilitating innovative thinking to gain insight into complex issues

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 ExecEd and at 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, a Certified Psychologist in the Province of Ontario (C. Psych.), and a Canadian Registered Health Service Provider in Psychology (CRHSP). He also is a Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, a 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 multinational 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 honors, 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”

You can download free over 50 of David’s published articles at www.weissinternational.ca/articles, read a comprehensive article about David’s innovative concepts on Wikipedia at wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Solomon_Weiss and follow David’s daily insightful posts on LinkedIn along with his more than 100,000 LinkedIn followers at https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdavidweiss/ .