EMCEE FOR THE EVENT
For 20 years, Canadians chose to start their day with Heather Hiscox. At the helm of CBC News’ national morning show, she was a trusted voice and comforting presence in homes and workplaces across the country, delivering live, breaking news from across Canada and around the world, and guiding viewers through moments of triumph, tragedy and transformation. Known as much for her warmth and authenticity as for her professionalism and preparation, Heather forged a special bond with her audience. Heather now brings that same energy and engagement to her new audiences, continuing the conversation whether as speaker, moderator or interviewer.
During her career at CBC, Heather covered major Canadian and international news stories, from the Vatican funeral of Pope Francis, to the bus crash in Humboldt, SK, and terror attacks in Ottawa and Paris. She led CBC News coverage of 10 Olympic Games, and many Royal events, including weddings, jubilees, and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. She conducted thousands of interviews with newsmakers in politics, business, sports, culture, science and medicine.
Heather’s work has been recognized with several national awards: the 2018 Canadian Screen Award (CSA) for Best National News Anchor; the CSA in 2023 for Best Morning Show; and an RTDNA Canada Award in 2024 for Breaking News coverage. In 2025, she was honoured with an RTDNA National Lifetime Achievement Award.
FRIDAY NIGHT KEYNOTE
Mark is one of the few Major League Baseball executives that has experience in all facets of the game – baseball, business, and league operations – over the course of a career that spans more than 30 years.
Mark was appointed President & CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays in November 2015, a role that oversees the organization’s business and baseball operations and represents ownership at the league level. Mark is responsible for the expansion of the Blue Jays’ systems and capabilities in several areas, including player development, high performance, strategy, and analytics. He has championed two significant capital projects in his tenure: upgrading the team’s Spring Training home in Dunedin, FL with the Player Development Complex, an industry-leading performance facility; and the $400 million renovation to Rogers Centre, transforming the stadium to a ballpark. Under Mark’s leadership, the Blue Jays have reached the postseason five times: 2016, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2025.
OPENING REMARKS
Geoff Smith is the President & Chief Executive Officer of EllisDon, an employee-owned, $5 billion-a-year construction services and technology company that has grown exponentially beyond its modest origins in London, Ontario. With over 5,000 salaried and hourly employees across fifteen national and international offices, EllisDon has become a leader in every facet of the construction industry. Geoff earned his law degree from the University of Toronto and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1981. After joining EllisDon in 1983, he quickly gained experience across various management positions, including Field Operations, Legal and Labour Relations and Executive Leadership. In 1996, at the height of a trying time at EllisDon, Geoff was named President and CEO. EllisDon is determined to lead the coming disruption in the construction sector, having recently created pioneering initiatives in Energy Management, Smart Buildings Software and Data Analytics.
BUILDING CANADA
Dominic has spent over 30 years at McKinsey & Company, including 9 years as the Global Managing Partner, and has also held a broad range of public sector leadership positions. He has served as Canada’s Ambassador to China, Chair of Canada’s Advisory Council for Economic Growth, and Chair of the International Advisory Committee to the President of South Korea on National Future and Vision. Dominic brings a wealth of global business experience, including deep insight of geopolitics, corporate sustainability and governance. His business acumen and public sector experience position him to provide balanced guidance to Rio Tinto’s leadership team.
Kody Blois was first elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings – Hants in the 2019 Canadian federal election. He has served as chair of the National Liberal Rural Caucus, Chair of the Nova Scotia Liberal Caucus, and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture.
In March 2025, following Mark Carney’s appointment as Prime Minister, Blois became Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development. He was subsequently appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in June 2025 and continues to hold this position today.
Blake Hutcheson is President and CEO of OMERS. He is responsible for the overall leadership and performance of the OMERS enterprise. He was appointed OMERS President and Chief Pension Officer in 2018. His mandate included leading OMERS Pension Services, Strategy, Communications & Public Affairs, Legal, Technology and Operations, in addition to Asset Liability Management. Blake previously served as President and CEO of Oxford Properties Group since 2010, and in 2014 he also became Chief Investment Officer, Real Estate and Strategic Investments and added the OMERS Platform Investments portfolio, an integral part of the OMERS innovative agenda. Prior to OMERS, Blake was the Head of Global Real Estate with Mount Kellett Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm with offices in key locations around the globe.
Renowned as one of Canada’s most respected national and international experts on world politics, Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and the founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. She is an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and an inaugural Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorate of Laws by five universities around the world. In 1996, Stein became a University Professor, the highest honour the university accords its faculty. Her research sits at the intersection of cognitive science, psychology, and international politics as she focuses on decision making and strategy. The author of eight books and more than a hundred articles, her most recent work is on the management of escalation and the psychological, institutional, and political factors that explain surprise. Her latest research focuses on the intersection of geopolitics and technology.
BUILDING BRIDGES
Beth Burke is the CEO of the Canadian American Business Council, the pre-eminent cross-border business advocacy organization. Prior to stepping into the role, Beth led US advocacy at the CABC. Her extensive government service in the US spans over a decade, marked by her role as a Presidential Appointee during the Obama Administration and as a senior staffer in both the US House and Senate. This experience has made her a valued advisor to policymakers and industry leaders, offering profound insights into governmental processes.
Beth began her career as a business consultant in the Great Lakes Region of the US. She has a demonstrated record of building strong relationships across political parties, across borders, and within organizations. Originally from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, Beth brings an “outside the Beltway” sensibility and keen insights into her work for the Council.
Henrietta has been providing investors with economic policy analysis for over 15 years, leading the Veda policy team through trade wars, global pandemic, recession, financial services reform, healthcare reform, and various trade policies of multiple administrations impacting the global marketplace and investment community. Henrietta’s analysis is derived from legislative, regulatory, and political events nationally and at the state level on issues as diverse as tariffs, fiscal stimulus, tax legislation (corporate and individual), the debt ceiling, and other economic and fiscal priorities of Washington, D.C. Henrietta’s longstanding relationships with Administration, Agency, Senate and House members and staff run the ideological gamut and her approach to making directional calls for investors hinges on understanding the motives and voting tendencies of all manner of public officials. Veda is pleased to provide regular calls and meetings with federal officials, staff and more throughout the year which offers a mutually beneficial exchange of ideas and views for all involved. Henrietta led the macroeconomic policy team at a DC-based broker-dealer for eight years after serving in the U.S. Senate covering the Senate Finance, Banking, and Budget Committees most critically during the Great Recession. Her time in the Senate revolved around the creation and passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and the automotive industry crisis of 2008-10. Prior to serving in the U.S. Senate, Henrietta covered tax, financial services, and deficit issues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and served as a research fellow to Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY). Before moving to Washington, Henrietta spent several years as a Research Associate at Zweig-DiMenna, LLC a long-standing hedge fund in New York.
Scotty Greenwood is the Global Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs for Manulife Financial Corporation. As a member of the company’s Global Leadership Team, Greenwood is responsible for the company’s interests in national and international arenas with governments, regulators, and thought leaders. Prior to joining the company, Greenwood’s experience included twenty years of private sector consulting, including leading the US federal government relations practice of Dentons US LLC, the largest law firm in the world at the time. A former Presidentially appointed US diplomat, Greenwood served as Chief of Staff to the US Ambassador in Ottawa, Canada. Most recently, Greenwood served for 23 years as the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian American Business Council, an organization on whose Board of Directors she now serves. Greenwood is also on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Art & Preservation in Embassies, and has previously served on public and privately held corporate boards. Greenwood is an honors graduate of the University of Vermont, and has participated in executive leadership programs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and the Rock Corporate Directors School at Stanford.
BUILDING CLOUDS
Ivan Zhang is a Co-Founder at Cohere, the leading AI platform for enterprise. Cohere’s world-class AI platform is uniquely suited to the needs of business, offering data-secure deployment options in companies’ existing cloud environments, customization, and customer support. After starting as a foundational software engineer, Ivan moved on to lead Cohere’s product organization, focusing on product management and the developer experience. Prior to Cohere, Ivan worked alongside fellow co-founder Aidan Gomez at FOR.ai, an independent research group, where the team published a number of conference papers on text-based GANs and serving efficiency.
Mark Schaan is the Associate Deputy Minister at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), confirmed in October 2025, which builds on the direction from the Prime Minister on July of 2025 that he act as the direct Deputy support to the Minister of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Innovation. In these capacities, Mark supports Canada’s industrial AI and digital agenda, working to position the country as a global leader in the responsible development and use of these technologies. Mark’s career has been highlighted by this cross-cutting policy and framework effort, including leading major consultations and reforms, including for telecommunications, investment review, intellectual property, bankruptcy and insolvency, privacy and AI. Mark’s public service career has included roles across the policy spectrum, as well as leading on revitalizing the public service through innovative recruitment models. Mark earned his BA (Honours) from the University of Waterloo, where he studied as a Loran Scholar. Mark earned his MPhil in Comparative Social Policy, conferred in 2004, and his DPhil in Social Policy, conferred in 2010 from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Mark is also actively involved in his communities.
Tom Jenkins is Chair of the Board of OpenText. From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Jenkins was President, then Chief Executive Officer and then from 2005 to 2013, Chief Strategy Officer of OpenText. Mr. Jenkins has served as a Director of OpenText since 1994 and as its Chairman since 1998. In addition to his OpenText responsibilities, Mr. Jenkins is Chair of the World Wide Web Foundation, a Commissioner of the Tri-Lateral Commission. Mr. Jenkins has also served as a board member of Manulife Financial Corporation, Thomson Reuters Inc. and TransAlta Corporation. He was also past Chair of the Ontario Global 100 (OG100) and past Canadian Co-Chair of the Atlantik Bruecke. He was the tenth Chancellor of the University of Waterloo and was the Chair of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Mr. Jenkins received an M.B.A. from Schulich School of Business at York University, an M.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto and a B.Eng. & Mgt. from McMaster University. Mr. Jenkins received honorary doctorates from six universities. He is a member of the Waterloo Region Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, a Companion of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and recipient of the Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year award, the McMaster Engineering L.W. Shemilt Distinguished Alumni Award and the Schulich School of Business Outstanding Executive Leadership award. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE). Mr. Jenkins was awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD), the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (QJDM) and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Mr. Jenkins is an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC).
Tony Pialis is the Executive Vice President and General Manager, Data Center, for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. He is a veteran semiconductor executive with more than two decades of experience building foundational technologies for next-generation compute and connectivity. He was founder and CEO of Alphawave Semi, which was acquired by Qualcomm in December 2025.
Prior to Alphawave Semi, Tony cofounded and led two other semiconductor companies. He began his career in 1999 as a founder of Snowbush Microelectronics, which grew into a leading provider of analog and mixed-signal IP and was later acquired by Gennum, later part of Semtech. In 2008, he founded V Semiconductor and served as President and CEO, delivering advanced 10Gb Ethernet and PCIe Gen3 IP adopted by top-tier semiconductor manufacturers. Intel acquired the company in 2012.
Following the acquisition, Tony joined Intel as Vice President of Analog and Mixed-Signal IP. He led global teams responsible for analog IP portfolios across data center, networking, and mobile platforms, and earned the Intel Achievement Award for delivering next-generation Ethernet and PCIe SerDes on Intel’s 22nm and 14nm technologies.
BUILDING BIG
The Honourable Janice Charette was appointed Chief Trade Negotiator to the United States on February 16, 2026. Having served at the highest levels of Canada’s public service for over four decades in public policy and diplomacy, Ms. Charette has been entrusted by Prime Minister Carney with guiding Canada’s work in the upcoming review of the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Ms. Charette acts as a senior advisor to the Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Dominic LeBlanc as she works to strengthen the trade and investment relationship between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Previously, Ms. Charette served as Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, while also serving as High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, became a Privy Counsellor in September 2023 and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2025. Not only has she held numerous senior federal government leadership roles, but she has also been a member of the Board of Directors of numerous organizations, including the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa; the Public Policy Forum; the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group; the Commonwealth War Graves and Commonwealth War Graves Foundation; the Imperial War Museum (UK) and the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth.
The Honourable Scott Brison joined BMO as Vice-Chair, Investment & Corporate Banking in 2019. As an elected Member of Parliament, Scott served the constituency of Kings-Hants (Nova Scotia) who elected him to Canada’s House of Commons seven consecutive times over 21 years. During that time, he served in government for seven years holding key roles, most recently as President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government from 2015 to 2019, Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2004 to 2006, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister with special emphasis on Canada-U.S. relations from 2003 to 2004. In June 2020, Mr. Brison became Dalhousie University’s eighth chancellor. Mr. Brison is a member of the Trilateral Commission and was named by the World Economic Forum of Davos, Switzerland, as one of its “Young Global Leaders.” In August 2010, he was awarded the Order of San Carlos by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe in recognition of his contributions to the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Brison serves on the board of Universal Rail Systems, Bond Resources Inc., the Canada-China Business Council, the Dalhousie University Board of Governors, the Macdonald Stewart Foundation, CJPAC, the advisory board of the Canadian American Business Council, Power Sustainable, High Liner Foods Inc. and previously served as Chairman of SeaFort Capital Inc. Mr. Brison earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University. He has completed the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century Executive Education Program at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.