Amanda Lang

Canadian Business Journalist

An award-winning business journalist, Amanda Lang has covered North America’s top business stories for 25 years. Today, she is the host of Taking Stock, a weekly national television news program airing across multiple Bell Media networks, including BNN Bloomberg, CP24, and CTV News Channel, and available as a weekly podcast on iHeart. Known for her no-holds-barred approach to the people, companies, and stories making the news, Lang is available for keynote speeches or as an interviewer/moderator.Prior to Taking Stock, Lang was host of Bloomberg Markets, a global program airing in Canada on BNN Bloomberg and on the Bloomberg Television network globally. Lang has also worked as CBC’s senior business correspondent, reporting for its flagship nightly news program, The National, and as host of The Exchange with Amanda Lang, a daily business program that aired on CBC News Network. For five years before that, Lang hosted The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, with Kevin O’Leary. The pair also co-hosted SqueezePlay on BNN for six years. Read more here.

Doug Ford

Premier of Ontario 

Doug Ford is the Premier of Ontario. He was also elected as the MPP for Etobicoke-North in 2018. Previously, Doug Ford served as Toronto city councillor from 2010-2014, and was vice-chair of the Budget Committee, where he delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. While on city council, Ford served on the board of Build Toronto, and was a director of the Canadian National Exhibition. He also served on the Civic Appointments Committee and the Government Management Committee at Council.

A dedicated community leader, successful businessman with Deco Labels and passionate advocate for the people, Doug’s commitment to public service runs in the family. Three generations of Fords have served the people of Ontario in elected office. Doug is a life-long resident of the community of Etobicoke, and lives there with his wife Karla and four daughters. His commitment to public service includes over 20 years of dedicated work with the Toronto West Rotary Club and serving as a proud member of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Avery Shenfeld

Managing Director and Chief Economist, CIBC Capital Markets

Avery Shenfeld is Managing Director and Chief Economist of CIBC Capital Markets. He has been with CIBC since 1993 and is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading economists for his perceptive analysis and insight on economic developments and their implications for financial markets. He is a repeat winner of the Dow Jones Market Watch forecasting award and has received awards for forecast accuracy on the U.S. and Canadian economies by Bloomberg Markets. He has also been consistently ranked as one of the top Canadian economists by institutional investors. Read More Here.

Craig Wright

Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, RBC

As a chief economist, Craig leads a team of economists providing economic, fixed income and foreign exchange research to RBC clients. Craig is a regular contributor to a number of RBC publications and is a key player in delivering economic analysis to clients and the media through the Economics Department’s regular economic briefings. A graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto, Craig was appointed Chief Economist in 2001 having joined RBC 1994 after working at another financial institution for seven years. Craig is a participant in a number of the key RBC internal committees and is a member of the CD Howe Monetary Policy Council, Lazaridis School of Business and Economics Wilfrid Laurier University, Dean’s Advisory Council at Wilfrid Laurier University and the British Columbia Economic Forecast Council. Read More Here.

Sarah Prevette

Founder & CEO, Future Design School

Sarah has developed transformational strategy for some of the country’s biggest business leaders and renowned brands. Globally recognized for her work in human-centered design and entrepreneurship, she is proud to work alongside an incredible team of educators to drive innovation inside schools. Schools across North America leverage Future Design School in order to build capacity with their existing teams and to drive critical skill development with their students. The organization works with school leaders to establish holistic, long term strategic plans that have immediate, measurable impact. Through a wide range of services that include world-class professional development and comprehensive curriculum; the Future Design School team actively supports educators in designing exceptional, experiential learning for students. The company proudly supports over 20,000 educators and more than 350,000 students. Read more here.

Bill Morneau

Former Federal Finance Minister

Bill Morneau served as Canada’s 39th Minister of Finance from 2015 to 2020, and was also Governor at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Between 1990 and 2015, Mr. Morneau led the mutinational human resources firm Morneau Shepell (now TELUS Health). In 2021, he was Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute at Yale University. Mr. Morneau currently serves as Chairman of NovaSource Power Services, Director at CIBC and at Clairvest, Chair of the Advisory Board of Magnet, Senior Advisor at BCG, Member of The Wilson Center’s Canada Institute Advisory Board, and Co-chair of the National Arts Centre’s The Next Act Campaign. In January 2023, he released his book Where to From Here, outlining his views on how Canadian economic policy can increase prosperity. Mr. Morneau founded a school for Somali and Sudanese girls in a UN Refugee camp in northern Kenya and is currently sponsoring a scholarship program for young women refugees at the University of Toronto. He is past chair of St. Michael’s Hospital, Covenant House and the C.D. Howe Institute. He holds an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, an M.B.A. from INSEAD, and a B.A. from Western University.

Michael Denham

Executive Vice-President and Head of Commercial and Private Banking, National Bank of Canada

A seasoned business leader with more than 35 years of management experience, Michael Denham has dedicated his career to advising Canadian companies with regards to their challenges and opportunities, working with large-scale organizations on corporate strategy, financing, mergers and acquisitions and global partnerships. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and looks to bring financial and business solutions to entrepreneurs to help them achieve their goals. He is currently a Vice-Chair of the Commercial Bank and Financial Markets at National Bank of Canada. Before joining National Bank, he served two terms as the CEO of BDC. Prior, he had senior roles at Accenture, CGI, Bombardier and McKinsey and Company. He is active in the community, volunteering in education, health care and as a mentor to entrepreneurs.

Iain Klugman

CEO, NorthGuide

Iain Klugman is a world-leading innovation strategist and ecosystem architect. For nearly two decades he was the CEO of Communitech — one of North America’s leading innovation organizations. Under his leadership, Communitech supported the growth of more than 5,000 small, mid-sized and large technology companies – and over 100 large corporations via innovation programming. Iain believes passionately in the power of an entrepreneur-driven economy, and its ability to deliver big results for any jurisdiction. Iain has been recognized with many awards over his career including: 50 most influential people by Toronto Life, and 50 most powerful business people in Canada by Canadian Business Magazine.

Geoff Smith

Executive Chair, EllisDon & Chair, OG100

Geoff Smith is the Executive Chair and former President & CEO 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. Geoff was crucial in creating EllisDon’s culture of entrepreneurial enthusiasm empowering employees to challenge the status quo and evolve EllisDon into a leading global construction services company. Geoff also proudly spearheaded the employee-ownership program where 100% of the company’s equity will be transferred to the company’s employees to create an environment of fairness, prosperity, and innovation for the future.  Additionally, Geoff has earned recognition as the recipient of the Ontario General Contractors Association’s Jock Tindale Award for Integrity in 2011 and EY’s Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2013. Geoff is also Chair of OG100.

Salim Teja

Partner, Radical Ventures

Salim is a Partner with Radical Ventures where he leads the firm’s Velocity Team. Salim is a board member for Aspect Biosystems and Promise Robotics. Salim brings over 25 years of experience in the technology sector as an entrepreneur, venture investor, corporate innovator and innovation ecosystem builder. Prior to Radical Ventures, Salim served as President, Venture Services for Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District, one of the world’s largest urban innovation centres. Salim has held leadership roles with Indigo Books & Music, CX Digital and was a Partner with early-stage VC firm Brightspark Ventures. Salim was also a Co-founder of San Francisco-based MobShop Inc, a pioneering e-commerce venture funded by GE Capital, Visa International, Mayfield Fund and Marc Andreessen. Salim is a graduate of the Ivey Business School at Western University.

John Parsons

Managing Senior Partner Western Canada, McKinsey & Company

John is a leader in our Global Energy and Materials and People & Organizational Performance Practices. John brings extensive experience to serving oil-and-gas, petrochemical, mining, and power-generation companies, with a focus on overall operations and organizational-performance transformation. An expert in change management and culture change, he has helped executives in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa get the most out of their organizational investments. Since joining McKinsey, John has led or participated in more than 30 corporate-wide or large manufacturing site performance transformations in a variety of industries. He is a graduate of McKinsey’s Lean Operations Academy. Read More Here