Brian’s responsibilities include providing strategic direction and operational support to AFSC’s digital business solutions supporting AFSC’s programs and services delivered to clients. Brian has experience modernizing IT organization and practices and leveraging technology to transform operating organizational models.

Sherin Emmanuel considers herself a data and information nerd. She is passionate about transforming the Information and data domain to leverage the full potential of the digital world. She is equally passionate about simplifying all things data, and loves to help improve Senior Management’s data acumen, by simplifying complex data concepts, using analogies.

Sherin is the Enterprise Information and Data Architect at the Canada Revenue Agency. She is a strong advocate for change and has been working tirelessly to transform the data and information domain within the CRA as well as the Government of Canada.
She spearheaded the drive to standardize data and metadata at the Agency so as to leverage advanced technologies to enable better outcomes for the Agency. Currently she is engaged in integrating and aligning CRA’s Enterprise Business, Information and Data architectures and implementation of the CRA enterprise metadata standard within systems “by design”.

Prior to joining the Canada Revenue Agency Sherin worked at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Nortel Networks where she managed many successful projects.
Sherin has been a project manager for over 20 years and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. She also has a B.Sc. and a Masters in Information Studies (MIS) from the University of Ottawa.

Sherin enjoys many creative hobbies such as painting, fashion design and writing poetry. She is also an avid traveller and has lived in and visited many countries around the world. She is looking forward to retirement for greater enjoyment of these interests.

Sébastien Fleurant is currently the Director for Data Foundation and Modernization under the Chief Data Officer at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.  He is championing Data Quality, Data Strategy and Governance, and Enterprise Data Architecture to ensure a strong data foundation on which data analysis can flourish in anticipation of a major platform modernization for the organisation.  Sébastien has been with IRCC for over 17 years. He has a background in Privacy, service delivery and user experience. Connect with Sébastien via LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sebastien-fleurant

Vanessa is an attorney specializing in data governance, product security and supply chain risks, as well as the cofounder of Henri & Wolf, a law firm specialized in cybersecurity. Recognized among Canada’s Top 20 influential women in cybersecurity in 2020, she has since garnered significant accolades, including the Canadian Women in Cybersecurity Trailblazer award for her entrepreneurship. Vanessa is also an experienced board member, a published author, and a global keynote speaker. She often participates in advisory board for industry conferences such as Blackhat and is part of Quebec’s Cybersecurity Ministry’s committee of industry experts.

Francis Loughheed is a distinguished senior policy advisor with expertise in performance measurement, strategic planning, data analytics, and data culture change management. His work is at the intersection of culture, change management, and data/digital transformation.

Over the past three years, Francis has spearheaded a unique project at the Canadian Forest Service. The project, known as the Data Culture Enablement Process (DCEP), is designed to deliver and implement a comprehensive organizational approach to data culture change management. This complete toolkit is based on benchmark change management principles and is aimed at promoting and enhancing an organizational data culture. The goal of the project is to transform data into impact through people, culture, and technology. This initiative has led to innovative work in assisting senior management and executives in developing data as a core strategic asset.

In addition to his professional achievements, Mr. Loughheed serves as the co-chair of the Government of Canada People and Culture Community of Practice and is a frequent speaker at data-related events.

Outside of work, Francis is an accomplished oboe and English horn player, performing with community-based orchestras and bands in the Eastern Ontario and Montreal areas.

Mr. Celio Oliveira is a Lead Data Scientist for the Government of Canada. His mandate is to build Data Governance Strategy Plans with wide leadership for the management of information and data. His expertise extends to artificial intelligence, data science, data governance, and process automation, ensuring data-driven decision-making across organizations.

With over 15 years of combined experience in data science, networks, and operations across three different countries, Mr. Celio Oliveira built substantial credibility with stakeholders from partner organizations and internationally. As a highly effective leader, his proven track record includes being a guest speaker at numerous conferences in Canada and abroad.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Oliveira was working collaboratively within the Data Science Division at Statistics Canada to build a unified Data Science Strategy within the department. His contributions at the Privy Council Office include developing innovative applications for onboarding and departure processes, and at the National Research Council Canada, he pioneered predictive algorithms for climate-resilient building materials.

Excellence in leading machine learning and natural language processing projects, optimizing software testing automation and mentoring a team of software developers and engineers, which resulted in a nomination to the North America Software Testing and QE Awards in 2019, under the category of the Best use of technology in a Project.

Mr. Oliveira holds a Master of Information in Human-Centred Data Science from the University of Toronto, two Professional Data Science certifications from IBM and We Cloud Data. Furthermore, he holds an MBA and an undergraduate degree from foreign universities. You can join him on LinkedIn.

Mark leads the direction and coordination of strategy and innovation by overseeing innovation, actuarial, business intelligence, project management and the development of AFSC’s strategy and products. Mark has held a variety of senior leadership roles in government and the financial sector.

George Shi works as the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Technical Lead at Canada Energy Regulator (CER). With a robust background in data management, software development and geomatics engineering, George has worked as a technical leader for diverse projects across both public and industry sectors. In his current role at the CER, George leads the GIS team to leverage advanced GIS technologies in processing geospatial data and application development. He continuously seeks innovative approaches to enhance geospatial data management processes, ensuring alignment with industry best practices and emerging trends.

Steven is a partner at INQ Law and a senior legal and privacy professional with a focus on data sharing frameworks and strategic data governance and stewardship.

He served as General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) for over 12 years. In this capacity, he led the development of the General Health Information Sharing Agreement (GHISA), a unified, overarching agreement signed in 2013 between the BC Ministry of Health and all BC health authorities. Today, the GHISA continues to be the foundational legal, policy and data governance framework that governs almost all sharing of health information across the province for provision of care, research, quality improvement and healthcare planning. He also played a key role in influencing recent changes to theFreedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that reformed its data residency provisions to better support health innovation and technology adoption.

Most recently, prior to joining INQ Law, he served as VCH’s Chief Data Governance Officer where he worked to transform how data is strategically governed and managed so that higher quality data is made accessible more quickly to clinicians, researchers and administrators to deliver better care and improve our healthcare system, while enhancing data security, privacy and ethical use of health data.

In addition to a Bachelor of Laws degree from UBC, Steven holds a Masters in E-Business law from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC.

Wally Trenholm is a deep technology operative with executive and policy development experience.  He started his professional career in the late 90s building networks and implementing the first open-source installations in the Canadian government, developing early ecommerce platforms for Bell Canada, and being one of the first mobile app developers (as the founder of Epoch Integration which was acquired by RIM in 2006).

Wally’s core role has been as an architect for complex enterprise networks, data platforms, sensor systems, and machine learning / data platforms – leveraging his 20+ years of focus on the Python programming language.  His current work is in Generative AI and Web3 through a new open-source peer-to-peer architecture called ZeroServer.  He also supports innovation companies as an investor and consultant, and works as a think tank operative covering AI/data, economics, and national security.

Jenny presently serves as the Director, Data Engineering at Canada Energy Regulator, bringing more than 20 years of robust expertise in data, software development, and IT leadership. With a passion for leveraging technology and data solutions to address challenges, Jenny is dedicated to solving problems innovatively. Jenny fully understands the many challenges organizations face with data and continuously looks for opportunities to improve the organization’s data practices.