HRPA 2021 Fall Conference Nov 16 - 18

Lindsay Recknell

President & CEO, Paradigm Corporate Wellness Inc.

Lindsay gets people talking, teaches self-awareness and brain science, and helps as many people as she can use positive psychology to motivate positive change. As President & CEO of Paradigm Corporate Wellness Inc, she continues to raise mental health maturity in organizations while making conversations about mental health in the workplace as normalized as any other conversation.  

A certified Psychological Health & Safety Advisor, Lindsay works with leaders and HR professionals to give them the knowledge and confidence to know what to say about mental health at work, how to help while considering the moral, ethical and legal considerations and how to make mental health-related decisions in the best interest of the company, their individual teams and themselves. 

She empowers individuals, strengthens teams and transforms organizations through her podcast, Mental Health for Leaders, a certificate program for leaders and HR professionals titled, Mental Health Skills Training, a digital subscription of conversation starters titled, Language of Mental Health, and a live, virtual or in-person workshop titled, From Burnout to Hope. Lindsay lives in Calgary with her husband and their two Golden Retrievers. 

Louise Taylor Green, ICD.D., MBA, CMC, PCC, CHRL, CHRE

Chief Executive Officer, HRPA

Louise Taylor Green is Chief Executive Officer of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), the regulatory association for the HR profession in Ontario, with 26 chapters and over 24,000 members.

Louise is one of those rare Chief Human Resources Officers who has transitioned in and out of HR and into running a line of business. In fact, she’s done this several times in multi-billion-dollar corporations in aviation, financial services, property and casualty insurance, and healthcare.

Over the course of her career, Louise has held an unwavering belief that an organization’s talent is the key to unlocking and elevating organizational performance. By advocating for a talent-first agenda, she believes that the HR leadership must assume responsibility as the architect of optimal organizational effectiveness through intentional culture design, a dynamic HR operating model and an HR team that has real skin-in-the-game for their clients’ success. She believes that HR has never been more influential to business than right now.

Louise is a certified HR professional (holding the CHRP, CHRL and CHRE designations), an ICF-certified coach (PCC), a certified management consultant with the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Ontario (CMC), and an accredited director with the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D).

Patricia DeGuire, Chief Commissioner

Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission

Patricia DeGuire is a woman of colour who pushes boundaries to ensure access to justice, equality and equity. She has a passion for the rule of law and a commitment to public service, mentoring, coaching and legal education.

A member of the Ontario bar since February 1993, she is a professional adjudicator/ arbitrator/ mediator/ coach and was a Deputy Judge with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice – SCC Division. For over 25 years, she has served on provincial and federal tribunals, including as Vice-Chair at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Immigration Appeal Division/IRB, and the OLRB/Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal. She has also held senior leadership roles with JusticeNet, Legal Aid Ontario, the Ontario and Canadian Bar Associations, and the Women’s Law Association of Ontario (WLAO). Patricia was a member of the CABL, OBA, LSUC and WLAO mentorship programs and is an avid mentor and coach for many youths and adults in the legal and other professions. She is a constitutional law scholar, holds a Fellow of Chartered Insurance Professionals of Canada – Claims Major; and is co-author and co-editor of the first Canadian Insurance Dictionary.

Patricia has served in leading roles with the Black North Initiative and is a founder of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers and the Black Law Student Association Canada (BLSAC). She was also a frequent lecturer at the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bars Association International Law Forum, and with the Faculty of Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators. She is the founder of the Forum for Education for At-Risk Youths and speaks often to students at all levels of schooling. Patricia’s many career honours include the BLSA-C 2021 Impact Award, Canadian Bar Association 2020 Touchstone Award, CBA Rare-Find in April 2012, and the OBA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2020. She also received Legal Aid Ontario’s 2007 GEM Award for outstanding public service for providing access to justice access for low-income individuals and communities, the 2006 Law Society of Upper Canada Lincoln Alexander Award, and the BLSAC named the cup for the Julius Alexander Diversity Moot in her honour – the Patricia DeGuire Diversity Moot Cup.

Carolyn Byer

Human Resources Lead, Microsoft Canada

Carolyn works closely with President Kevin Peesker and the Leadership Team to develop and execute the people strategy for Microsoft Canada. She leads a team of HR professionals focused on developing Microsoft’s talent, organization and culture to accelerate the company’s own business transformation and impact the broader Microsoft ecosystem.

A strong business leader with proven experience in the C-suite and across all levels of management, Carolyn is a champion of Microsoft’s “learn it all” and growth mindset” tenets and is committed to continuing to grow Microsoft’s diverse and inclusive workforce.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Carolyn served in a variety of HR disciplines globally at IBM for more than 17 years. She has a Bachelor of Psychology from University of Guelph and a Masters in Human Resources from Rutgers University. Outside of work, Carolyn focuses on her family. She enjoys conversing with others and expanding her perspectives and can typically be found on a soccer field or a lake.

Naomi Titleman Colla

Co-Founder, future foHRward

As Co-Founder of future foHRward, Naomi brings an unmatched wealth of experience and perspective to developing leading-edge content, events, and thought leadership for HR leaders. She is also the Founder of Collaborativity Inc., a Toronto-based consultancy focused on driving progressive talent strategy in the new world of work and a monthly contributor to the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business. She has proven success leading teams and collaborating with senior executives and boards of directors to develop and implement creative strategies to maximize employee engagement and, ultimately, drive business impact.

From 2010 to 2016, Naomi held multiple HR roles at American Express, most recently as Vice-President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Amex Canada, responsible for all aspects of the end-to-end employee experience for the Canadian business. Prior to American Express, Naomi spent 10 years consulting with financial services institutions, as a member of Deloitte’s Enterprise Risk Services and Human Capital practices, in New York.

Naomi holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University. She is the winner of the 2016 HR Leader of the Year award (Canadian HR Awards), the 2016 HR Professional of the Year award (National HR Awards) and was named one of HR Reporter’s 2016 Top 25 HR Professionals of the Year.

Dr. Jill Birch

Founder & CEO, BirchGrove Inc.

Dr. Jill Birch is a leadership and strategic advisor, researcher and author. Jill is Founder and CEO of BirchGrove Inc., where she supports leaders to design innovative strategies, build stronger teams, lead change and achieve growth in their strategic imperatives.

Jill has held CEO roles as well as having been a member of several C-suites in the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors. She worked at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions and the Schulich School of Business where she launched their in-company leadership practice. She has also worked extensively with energy, finance, digital, telecommunications, professional services, education, health, and not-for-profit sectors.

In addition to providing customized leadership development and strategy services, Jill has spoken to thousands of leaders around the world.

Jill holds a Doctorate from Griffith University in Australia where she studied relational leadership and a Master’s degree from OISE/University of Toronto, where she researched how CEOs learn to lead and how they learn to learn.

Ingrid Wilson

Senior Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Walmart Canada

Ingrid Wilson is an accomplished senior executive with almost 30 years of experience in corporate human resources, and board, inclusivity and business strategy. She has organizational experience with the not-for-profit and public sectors, private and public companies, in regulatory environments, with global expertise working for organizations with diverse operations, including in the US and Europe.

She also holds several certifications in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and has extensive expertise executing organizational strategies to foster inclusive workspace environments and communities.

On a personal level, in a board and volunteer capacity and as a mediator and facilitator, Ingrid works with and supports organizations addressing the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities. Ingrid also currently volunteers as a mentor in the C-Suite Mentorship program for Black Mentorship Inc. In addition, she currently serves on several community and organization boards and on the Appeal Committee of the HRPA.

Ingrid has pursued excellence in strategic human resources and leadership through the CHRP and CHRL designations, and through programs at Queen’s University and the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto where she currently serves on the HR Advisory Group for Executive Development programs focused on HR leaders. Ingrid also holds the Compensation Management Specialist (CMS) designation, through the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) program.

She is currently the Senior Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Walmart Canada, a position that allows her to be part of the equity and inclusion journey lifting up communities for financial sustainability, growth, and development, through a focus on employment equity, health equity and wellness, and education and development.

Wolfgang Zimmermann,

Executive Director, National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR) and President, Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences

Wolfgang became involved in the disability management field starting in the late 1980’s. Following a severe industrial accident in 1977, he was retrained and continued to work for his pre-disability employer until his official retirement from that organization in 2010.

Currently, Wolfgang is Executive Director of the National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR), an internationally recognized not-for-profit organization committed to reducing the human, social and economic costs of disability. NIDMAR’s primary focus is the implementation of workplace-based reintegration programs, which international research has proven is the most effective way of restoring and maintaining workers’ abilities, while reducing the cost of disability for workers, employers, government, and insurance carriers. Wolfgang is also President of the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS), a statutory, not-for-profit, degree granting education and research institution. PCU-WHS specializes in creating and disseminating new knowledge, including applied research in the fields of workplace safety, health promotion, return to work and disability management, comprehensive rehabilitation, and disability leadership studies.

Annemarie Shrouder

Speaker, Consultant, and Workshop Facilitator, Annemarie Shrouder International

Annemarie Shrouder – international best-selling author of Being Brown in a Black and White World: Conversations for Leaders on Race, Racism and Belonging – has spent more than 20 years in the field of Diversity & Inclusion as a facilitator, consultant and international speaker. A Diversity & Inclusion expert with a Master’s in Bias Awareness, Annemarie assists in the creation of healthy workplace communities through her Signature Methodology and Inclusive Leadership Program. Organizations turn to Annemarie when they are looking to build environments where people can learn and where they are supported, seen, heard and valued. She also delivers presentations and keynotes and can be booked for speaking engagements that inspire people to raise awareness about the importance of inclusion. Annemarie works with diversity broadly and specializes in racial equity; she is passionate about healing the racial divide. For information about the book, check out http://bit.ly/AnnemarieShrouderNewBook. For more information about Annemarie and her work, please visit: http://annemarieshrouder.com

Lindsay Recknell

President & CEO, Paradigm Corporate Wellness Inc.

Lindsay gets people talking, teaches self-awareness and brain science, and helps as many people as she can use positive psychology to motivate positive change. As President & CEO of Paradigm Corporate Wellness Inc, she continues to raise mental health maturity in organizations while making conversations about mental health in the workplace as normalized as any other conversation.  

A certified Psychological Health & Safety Advisor, Lindsay works with leaders and HR professionals to give them the knowledge and confidence to know what to say about mental health at work, how to help while considering the moral, ethical and legal considerations and how to make mental health-related decisions in the best interest of the company, their individual teams and themselves. 

She empowers individuals, strengthens teams and transforms organizations through her podcast, Mental Health for Leaders, a certificate program for leaders and HR professionals titled, Mental Health Skills Training, a digital subscription of conversation starters titled, Language of Mental Health, and a live, virtual or in-person workshop titled, From Burnout to Hope. Lindsay lives in Calgary with her husband and their two Golden Retrievers. 

Tanya Sinclair, CHRE, DHRP

Talent Management, Ryerson University

Tanya Sinclair is an award-winning Human Resources Leader providing strategy, advocacy, and policy development advice with a focus on well-being, diversity and inclusion. She holds the CHRE designation along with the Distinguished HR Professional DHRP and is an active community volunteer, having served on several boards and advisory committees. Tanya has a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Royal Roads University in B.C. She is currently the Director, Talent Management at Ryerson University (renaming in process). In 2020, she founded a not-for-profit network called Black Human Resources Professionals of Canada through her desire to directly discover, connect and empower all Black HR professionals. Tanya’s leadership philosophy is lead, learn, laugh.

Vandana Juneja

Executive Director, Catalyst, Canada

Vandana Juneja leads the growth of Catalyst’s operations in Canada, working closely with supporters, corporate partners, professional organizations, CEOs, and senior leaders to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion.

A sought-after speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Vandana is a trusted business leader who has guided DEI strategies around the globe, including in Canada, the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. She joined Catalyst in 2013, working closely with Catalyst’s supporter communities in progressive roles, and advancing to Vice-President, Global Growth Markets in 2017.

Prior to joining Catalyst, Vandana practiced immigration law, working with clients across a broad range of industries. She went on to work in the Diversity and Inclusion groups of two leading Canadian banks, where she focused on gender initiatives and advising Employee Resource Groups.

Vandana holds a Bachelors of Commerce from McMaster University, an MBA from the University of Windsor, and an LLB from the University of Ottawa. You can follow her on Twitter @ms_juneja.

Kelly Davis

Chief People Officer, Sunwing Travel Group

Kelly Davis is the Chief People Officer for Sunwing Travel Group, North America’s largest vertically-integrated travel company with approximately 24,000 employees across fourteen countries. Prior to this role, Kelly was the Senior Vice President of HR, Customer Service and Communications for Town Shoes Limited (Town Shoes, The Shoe Company, Shoe Warehouse and DSW Canada). She led these three functions for the company’s four banners and 4000+ associates.

Prior to joining Town Shoes Limited, she was the Vice President of People Development at Cara Operations (Milestones, Kelsey’s, Harvey’s, Montana’s, and Swiss Chalet) where she worked with the corporate office and franchise partners to deliver HR services to the company’s 700+ restaurants and 30,000 associates. Kelly spent most of her career prior to joining Cara Operations with the Hudson’s Bay Company where she worked for over 12 years in a variety of progressive HR roles, including leading the HR function for all Bay and Home Outfitters stores across Canada. Her last role with the Hudson’s Bay Company was in a more specialist function where she led Compensation, Benefits, Associate Relations and Services for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada and Lord & Taylor in the U.S.

Kelly holds her B.A. from McGill University and her CHRE, CHRL and H.R.C.C.C. (Human Resources & Compensation Committee Certification) designations. She speaks frequently at various HR events and panels including most recently, the annual CHRO Conference held virtually in December 2020. Kelly is a member of the Strategic Capability Network and the HR Advisory Council for the HRPA. In 2021 Kelly was named on the “Global 100 HR Leaders” list by HRD (Human Resources Director), which recognizes HR leaders for their outstanding commitment to their companies and their people over the previous 12 months, throughout the COVID crisis.

Kelly is passionate about supporting not for profit organizations. She has actively contributed to the HR Committee of the Board of Directors for Eva’s Initiatives and to the Leadership Committee of the Board of Directors for Big Brothers, Big Sisters Canada. She recently joined the Black North Initiative as the Co-Chair of their CEO Pledge Committee, which was created to combat anti-Black systemic racism in corporate Canada. She also serves as a Board Director and Chair of the HR & Governance Committee for White Ribbon, the world’s largest movement of men and boys working to end violence against women, girls and people of all genders. Kelly is married, with two sons and lives in Toronto.

Karen Stone

Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities, St. Joseph’s Health Care London

Karen Stone is Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities for St. Joseph’s Health Care London, a major patient care, teaching and research center, with a distinguished legacy of service to London, Southwestern Ontario and the veterans of Canada, dating back more than 140 years.

In her current role, Karen is responsible for the development and execution of high-performance human resource strategy in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization. As the facilities executive, she is responsible for the organization’s long-range facilities planning and management, capital project oversight and capital improvement plan in accordance with government policies and procedures

Karen holds an honors Bachelor’s degree in Labour Studies from McMaster University and a Master’s degree in Continuing Education from the University of Calgary, with a specific concentration in workplace leadership. Her Master’s degree research focused on workplace spirituality and the development of a conceptual model of workplace wellness for Ontario hospitals. She also holds the CHRE designation.

Karen recently joined the Board of Directors for Youth Opportunities Unlimited in London, following the recent completion of her term as Chair, Board of Directors for the HRPA.

Anika Holder

Head, Human Resources of Penguin Random House Canada

Anika Holder (she/her) is the head of Human Resources of Penguin Random House Canada, the country’s largest and most celebrated book publishing company.

Anika is passionate about making people the center of all decision-making and ensuring a company cultural life that is inclusive and safeguards a sense of belonging. Throughout her career, she has influenced company cultures, across four industries, helping them achieve top employer accolades. At Penguin Random House Canada, employees celebrated their contributions to a strong company culture that resulted in their selection as one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers for 2020.

In her current role, Anika has worked with colleagues to bring additional focus to diversity, equity and inclusion, mental health and wellness, among all things company culture. She is also strongly dedicated to reducing barriers for those who face the greatest number of obstacles pursuing a career in publishing.

Prior to this, Anika worked in various senior roles in TVO, Metrolinx and Morrison Hershfield Group Inc. She has a B.A. in Sociology from York University, a post-graduate diploma in Human Resources, and a Certificate in Adult Education, both from Seneca College, and she is a certified Change Management practitioner (Prosci).

Furthermore, Anika is a member of the Black HR Professionals of Canada and is a mentor in York University’s Advancing Black Students program, designed for Black Liberal Arts & Professional Studies students in their third or fourth year. She is also a mother to Keoni and Amari.

Lori Niles-Hofmann

Senior Learning Strategist, Co-Founder, NilesNolen

Lori Niles-Hofmann is a senior learning strategist with over 20 years of learning and development experience across many industries, including international banking, management consulting and marketing.

Her specialization is large-scale digital learning transformations. She is passionate about helping companies navigate through the ambiguity of change and she acts as a trusted adviser to Fortune 500 CLOs around the world.

After leading and completing numerous EdTech implementations, she has developed the data-based methodologies and frameworks that will empower your learning and development teams to move from business support function to strategic business driver.

She is currently based in Toronto, Canada with one foot in Europe.

Carlos Esteves

Carlos Esteves, Staff Facilitator, LifeWorks Learning

Carlos received his Bachelor of Science, with a Psychology Major, and Master of Education degrees from the University of Toronto. His postgraduate studies in Adult Education and Community Development included courses in Adult Education Program Planning and Career Transition Counseling Psychology. He also has certificates in Adult Training and Development from the Ontario Institute of Secondary Education and in Life Skills Coach Training.

He has worked as a faculty member for both the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s and Centennial College’s Adult Training and Development Certificate Programs respectively. He also served as a support faculty team member in Schulich’s Executive Education Centre’s Master Certificate in Adult Training and Development Program.

As a training consultant, he designs and delivers corporate training, including business communications and cross-cultural skills workshops for leading international corporate relocation services organizations. He has also been an instructor with Toronto Hostels Training Centre, designing and delivering life skills workshops for marginalized learners at citywide residences and shelters.

Carlos’ adult education practice was built upon an extensive career in the IT industry where he led national process improvement programs as a certified Six Sigma practitioner and ISO Auditor. As a people and program manager, he provided customer satisfaction leadership through the design and delivery of corporate training programs and facilitated customer and employee focus groups. Upon selection as a member of the company’s first global Customer Advocacy Team, he served as the Canadian Customer Advocacy Manager to helm a customer complaint handling system and lead national operational scorecard analysis and consulting initiatives, with a focus on customer centric delivery excellence. Currently, he delivers the first of its kind workshop in Canada that focuses on teaching mental health in the workplace leadership skills to people leaders, as well as numerous workshops on resiliency, managing change and respect in the workplace.

Mark Reno

Retired Assistant Professor and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute of Leadership, Ivey Business School

As Ivey Business School’s first post-doctoral research fellow, and subsequently, as an Executive in Residence at the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership at Ivey, Mark contributed his expertise in the areas of executive leadership, leader character and business ethics, co-authoring many of Ivey’s world-leading research publications on the nature of good character in business leadership.

Mark completed his BA and MA in Philosophy at Western University, and his MBA at Ivey Business School. Also, during his career at the Royal Bank of Canada, The Co-operators, and as CEO of several firms in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, Mark completed both his MEd and PhD in Education from the University of Toronto. There he focused on organizational transformation and learning, and executive leadership development, respectively. Mark’s 2011 doctoral thesis formulated and grounded an integrated theory of effective and ethical leadership.

As an assistant professor at Ivey, Mark developed and facilitated the business ethics course for Ivey’s HBA program and the CIRI/Ivey Investment Relations Officer Certification Program. In addition, he has developed and facilitated programs in strategic leadership for Dalhousie University and The Banff Centre, and in ethical leadership for Kemmy Business School in Ireland, and across Canada for the Canadian Credit Union Association. Mark is also an active member of the United Nation’s Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, and the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education.

Claude Balthazard

Vice-President, Regulation and Registrar, HRPA

Claude is Registrar and Vice-President, Regulation at the HRPA. Claude is responsible for HRPA’s Office of the Registrar which is the hub of regulatory activity at HRPA.

Claude earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Waterloo in 1985. In 2007, after 22 years in various Human Resources positions across different sectors including academia, government, consulting, and business, he joined HRPA and soon after began championing the cause of professional regulation for HR professionals in Ontario. Claude was the architect of HRPA’s regulatory framework and played a key role in the passage of the Registered Human Resources Professionals Act, 2013. He has also conducted numerous presentations and webinars and has published dozens of articles on the topic of professional regulation.

Claude is a registered industrial/ organizational psychologist in Ontario and holds the CHRL designation with HRPA. He is active in the professional regulation community and is widely acknowledged as an expert in the measurement of performance for professional regulatory bodies.

Chris Edgelow

Founder & President, Sundance Consulting Inc., and Lost Creek Press Ltd.

Chris Edgelow is the Founder & President of Sundance Consulting Inc. and Lost Creek Press Ltd., organizations dedicated to providing consulting, training, and learning resources to help organizations change. For more than 30 years, Chris has worked extensively throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has taught at the university level and is a sought-after speaker at many conferences every year.

Always engaging and very practical in his approach, Chris helps people face the reality of what is currently happening in their organization and find ways to build the necessary leadership competencies that will ensure their changes succeed.

Sajel Bellon, Ed.D., RP., CTSS

Founder of Mind Armour® & S.O.S Psychotherapy

Sajel Bellon teaches people to move from pain to possibilities by re-thinking the conventional, re-defining concepts and re-imagining workplace and domestic cultures.

As an Occupational Stress and Trauma Psychotherapist, Sajel specializes in the sciences of well-being, human connection, transformation and growth for individuals and organizations. As a Behavioural Science Professor, she has developed programs and delivered talks around the globe for a variety of institutions, organizations and government agencies like Harvard, Berkeley, TEDx and the RCMP. She has a passion for educating and inspiring others about the ‘human’ experience of mental health.

Sajel developed Mind Armour® solutions for everyone from CEOs and managers to frontline workers and their families. This is grounded in the understanding that everyone can benefit from integrating multi-disciplinary scientific research with evidence-based strategies that can easily be applied to our daily lives. In hopes of helping organizations and families re-define their approach to mental health and its stigma, Sajel shares her expertise woven in with her own personal examples and experiences. She seeks to inspire workplaces and leadership in creating the necessary systemic, sustainable changes to better support their people’s mental wellness, while minimizing the incidence of occupational stress injuries, by promoting and co-creating cultures that foster psychological safety and connection.

Karen Craggs-Milne

Head of Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, ThoughtExchange

A Certified Diversity & Inclusion professional, Karen is a leading go-to expert for organizations that are serious about ‘getting equality work RIGHT’. A proud Kenyan Canadian, Karen Craggs-Milne is an award-winning global expert with over 20 years of international experience promoting equity, diversity, anti-racism, gender equality and inclusion. Karen is an Obama White House recognized Gender Equality Changemaker (2016), a Global Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals (2018), #LinkedInGlobalSuperHero (2020) and a Top 100 Canadian Professional (2020). She brings extensive experience working globally with NGOs, corporations and governments to deliver on their equality mandates intentionally and with real impact. Her passion is to educate and equip others to also do this work masterfully.

Whether it is under a tree in a rural village in Ghana or in a boardroom with C-suite executives, Karen’s authentic and engaging approach promises to educate, transform and inspire you into meaningful action.

Jay Wood(She/Her)

Director of People, ThoughtExchange

For the last 15 years, Jay (She/Her) has been supporting teams of digital disruptors and change leaders. With a passion for innovation and an extroverted personality, she has been most at home in the fast energy of a start-up. Jay brings with her People experience, a specialization in Change Management and Learning & Development.

Jay is a cast iron restoration expert, an LQBTQIA+ advocate and a proud Algonquin Anishinaabe.

Lindsay Recknell

President & CEO, Paradigm Corporate Wellness Inc.

Lindsay gets people talking, teaches self-awareness and brain science, and helps as many people as she can use positive psychology to motivate positive change. As President & CEO of Paradigm Corporate Wellness Inc, she continues to raise mental health maturity in organizations while making conversations about mental health in the workplace as normalized as any other conversation.  

A certified Psychological Health & Safety Advisor, Lindsay works with leaders and HR professionals to give them the knowledge and confidence to know what to say about mental health at work, how to help while considering the moral, ethical and legal considerations and how to make mental health-related decisions in the best interest of the company, their individual teams and themselves. 

She empowers individuals, strengthens teams and transforms organizations through her podcast, Mental Health for Leaders, a certificate program for leaders and HR professionals titled, Mental Health Skills Training, a digital subscription of conversation starters titled, Language of Mental Health, and a live, virtual or in-person workshop titled, From Burnout to Hope. Lindsay lives in Calgary with her husband and their two Golden Retrievers. 

Mckendree Hickory

Director of Facilitator Performance & Development, LifeLabs Learning

Mckendree supports the development and direction of the facilitation team at LifeLabs Learning, specializing in diversity and inclusion and women’s leadership development. She has a PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology, with a research focus on conviction, developmental experiences, and self-perception in the workplace. Mckendree has delivered leadership training at over 200 companies and led learning and development at the fully remote company, InVision.

Njeri Damali Sojourner-Campbell

Associate, Hicks Morely LLP

Njeri Damali Sojourner-Campbell is a creative and practical problem solver. She helps employers realize the potential of their workplaces through the development of policies and procedures, the design and delivery of training for managers and employees and, when needed, resolution of legal disputes through mediation and litigation.

Once a student activist, Njeri now devotes her civic engagement time to mentorship and the literary arts. She believes in the transformative power of legal professionals and is committed to the creation of a more equitable professional community. Immediately after her Call to the Bar in 2015, Njeri founded UJIMA Mentorship Circle, a supportive space for Black female-identified students and lawyers. Through UJIMA, she leverages her professional relationships to forge bonds between her mentees, experienced practitioners and members of the bench. Njeri and her wife are currently working with Osgoode Hall Law School to establish an endowment to support African-Indigenous law students.

Njeri is recognized by her peers in the international Black science fiction and fantasy communities as a thought leader in literary appreciation and community-building upon leaders. In her spare time, she can be found sampling artisanal teas and craft stouts and reading and reviewing science fiction and fantasy novels.

Prior to her legal career, Njeri was employed as a Human Rights and Diversity Advisor at a community college. She combines this practical experience with her legal knowledge to support clients facing complaints, publicity and litigation in these areas. She is currently working with school boards, municipalities, hospitals and non-profit organizations in human rights and equity restructuring initiatives that involve strategic advising and policy augmentation.

Nancy Gowan, B.H.Sc. (O.T.), O.T. Reg. (Ont.), CDMP

President, Gowan Health Consultants and Gowan Consulting

Nancy Gowan is a registered Occupational Therapist and Certified Disability Management Professional with experience working in industrial rehabilitation, mental health, accommodation and stay at work planning. She is the founder of a national health and disability management company offering support across Canada and now into the US. Over the more than 30 years, she has worked in partnership with employers, employees and unions to develop customized strategies that improve employee success, health and productivity.

She has presented at national and international forums on accommodation and disability management, and she regularly contributes to disability management education through workshops and training programs as well as online newsletters.

Among her many publications, dating back to 1990, Nancy coauthored a chapter on “Ergonomics in Disability Management” in Ergonomics for Therapists, 3rd edition, 2007. She has also written the “Human Resource Managers’ Guide to Managing Disability in the Workplace” with Carswell, Thomson Reuters (first edition published in 2010 and second edition published in 2016).

Kathy Woods

Partner and National Workforce Transformation Leader, Deloitte

Kathy is a partner in Consulting and the National Workforce Transformation Leader, bringing 25 years of experience in talent, leadership, and organizational development. She has designed and led projects covering all aspects of leadership assessment, executive team alignment, talent strategy, and organizational effectiveness, where she has worked extensively with board and C-suite clients. With experience as a global HR executive and line-business leader, Kathy approaches her work from a pragmatic perspective, with a strong focus on results.

Claude Silver

Global Chief Heart Officer, VaynerMedia

Claude Silver is VaynerMedia’s first-ever Global Chief Heart Officer, tasked with fusing empathy with agency to unlock employee potential and foster a culture of belonging across the 1200+ person organization. Between her deep education in psychology and spirituality, and the two decades she has spent as an advertising strategist, Claude has been studying and influencing human behavior for over three decades.

Outside of her role at VaynerMedia, Claude speaks globally about the need for heart-led leadership in today’s workplace and the importance of treating “employees” like people, not numbers. Her success in guiding client relationships, global brand strategies, operations, management, and culture is driven by her abiding passion for creating spaces in which people can show up as their true selves and thrive as a result.

More about Claude Silver: https://www.claudesilver.com/

Nancy Fonseca

Senior Vice President, Great Place to Work® in Canada

Nancy Fonseca is a Senior Vice President of Great Place to Work® in Canada. Nancy has a history of building strong business relationships based on trust, collaboration and partnering with key stakeholders both in business and in the community. Always focusing on enabling leaders to leverage their employee experience for effective change management and drive toward key strategic objectives. Nancy has a strong track record in strategic planning and execution, enabling organizations to obtain great results. In a number of leadership capacities, Nancy has supported leading Canadian organizations reach higher levels and brings extensive experience, with broad international experiences and perspectives.

Julie Denton

Chief People Officer, Recipe Unlimited

Julie is Chief People Officer responsible for all things people ranging from talent attraction, engagement and management, total rewards and payroll, human resources, leadership development and Recipe University. She is also accountable for communications, creative and public relations and most recently information technology.

Julie is passionate about the journey Recipe is on to achieve its corporate social responsibility goals focused on people, planet and food and is the Executive Sponsor for its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion strategy.

Recipe Unlimited is the largest full-service restaurant company in Canada with over 60,000 teammates, 1300 locations and 800 franchisees. Recipe has 25 brands including The Keg, Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, St. Hubert, and The Burger’s Priest and Fresh to name a few.

Julie represents Recipe on the Restaurants Canada Board and is a member of the Governance Committee. She is also a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) Member for the Hospitality & Restaurant Operations program at Humber College. Julie has more than 28 years of experience in consulting and industry. She has an MBA from Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Nancy Nazer

Chief Human Resources Officer, OMERS

Nancy is Chief Human Resources Officer at OMERS and joined the organization in April 2020. In her role, she leads all aspects of human resources for 3,000+ team members globally, including the company’s People and Culture strategy. She is a member of OMERS Senior Executive Team. A seasoned HR leader with a passion for people, Nancy brings over 20 years of experience in employee experience transformation in large organizations, across multiple industries. Nancy’s passion and pride is supporting and developing people. She is a values-driven leader and a certified coach who provides ongoing coaching and mentoring for leaders across the organizations where she has worked. Prior to joining OMERS, she was Senior Vice President, Organization Development with Rogers Communications where she played an instrumental role in leading the company through successful transformation by focusing on key areas of employee experience. During her tenure, Rogers was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a Top Employer for Young People, Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces, and Best Diversity Employer in the country. Other awards include the Brandon Hall Group, Learning!100, and the Institute for Performance and Learning. Her leadership has been recognized with a Ted Rogers Leadership Award for the value of People, and Rogers Team of the Year award. During her tenure at TD Bank, Nancy led several executive roles within Human Resources. While there, she played an instrumental role in driving a winning people and talent strategy. Nancy also spent nearly a decade at Bell Canada where she implemented several award-winning programs that focused on growing talent. Nancy’s work has been recognized by the Conference Board of Canada, Gartner Corporate Leadership Council and the Brandon Hall Learning Awards. She is frequently published and quoted in trade publications. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and is married with two children.

Melissa Roth

Partner, Gowling WLG’s Waterloo Region

Melissa Roth is a partner in Gowling WLG’s Waterloo Region office, practicing in the Employment, Labour& Equalities Group. Melissa works with private and public sector employers on a wide range of issues, including human rights, wrongful dismissals, employment contracts and policies, labour law, workplace investigations, and occupational health and safety. Melissa is a frequent speaker with employer groups and professional organizations, including the HRPA. Outside of the workplace Melissa is a mom of 2 busy kids and they enjoy spending time outdoors with family from outback camping in the summer to snowboarding in the winter.

Erin Stephens CHRL, CRSP

Founder and Principal Consultant, Oxford HR Group

Erin is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Oxford HR Group where she is inspiring business owners to build happier workplaces. She curates foundational people and safety strategies based on her 4 principles of a happier workplace: Communication, Connection, Compliance, and Contribution; the 4 C’s. Which includes focusing her practice in the areas of occupational health and safety, fostering safe and thriving cultures, compliance mapping, compensation design (including pay equity), and aligning people strategies to organizational purpose.

Erin brings a people first approach to human resources and workplace safety. She is passionate about creating compliance while maintaining an engaged and inspired workforce.

Erin can also be found teaching our next generation of HR professionals at Conestoga College in both the Human Resources Management and Occupational Health and Wellness programs.

Outside of her work, Erin is a mom of 2 young women, one in university studying law and one starting her career as a paramedic. They have big chocolate lab pup who they love to spend as much time outdoors as possible with.