Lesli Bradley
President & CEO, Sun-Rype Products Ltd.
Ms. Bradley was appointed President & Chief Executive Officer in March 2017 after having been the Company's Vice President, Operations since March 2010. She joined the Company in 2006 as Beverage Manager and in January 2008 became Plant Manager. Ms. Bradley completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and also holds a Biological Sciences Food Technology Diploma (Honours) from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
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Mary Chambers
Chief Strategy Officer, McCann Worldgroup Canada
Mary is passionate about solving business challenges, building brands and uncovering the magical intersection of consumer mindset and behavior that leads to powerful creative ideas. At McCann Worldgroup Canada, Mary leads the national, integrated planning team - in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Mary leads thought leadership initiatives such as The Truth About Canadians and The Truth About Canadian Women, and provides strategic oversight on all accounts, diving deep on the biggest challenges to help clients solve their biggest problems.
Mary has extensive experience working on brands in just about every category, of every size and every stage of brand life. She has experience working with multiple stakeholders and navigating the waters between public and private interests, helping global brands find their local relevance in Canada and helping launch brands new to the marketplace altogether.
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Jeremy Daveau
General Manager, Mars Wrigley c/o Mars Canada Inc
Jeremy is a 20 plus year Associate of Mars, incorporated, one of the world's leading FMCG companies. Beginning in 1995 as a Territory Sales Representative with Mars France, Jeremy has developed an impressive international career. During his tenure, he has held leadership roles in six international markets, across many Mars business segments and in the disciplines of sales, marketing, customer strategy and general management. It is during Jeremy's sales leadership role with Royal Canin Canada, that he and his family made the personal decision to make Canada home. After completing a successful term as General Manager of Mars business in Argentina and Chile, he returned to Canada in the role of General Manager for Wrigley Canada.
In addition to leading Wrigley Canada, Jeremy provided oversight to Wrigley's Mexico and Central South America and Caribbean businesses and the leadership of the Canadian integration efforts to bring together Wrigley Canada and Mars Chocolate Canada to create a leading Canadian confectionery company. Jeremy was officially appointed General Manager of Mars Wrigley Confectionery Canada business in 2017.
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Arlene Dickinson
Co-Managing Partner,
“The purpose of marketing is to deliver business results,” says Arlene Dickinson, renowned CBC “Dragon” and one of Canada's most successful communications entrepreneurs. Whether explaining how to leverage marketing in even the toughest of economic times, sharing backstage stories from “The Den,” or giving audiences a look into her personal story of success, Dickinson's experience and expertise always shine through.
Dickinson is one of Canada's most renowned independent marketing communications entrepreneurs. As CEO of Venture Communications, her creative and strategic approach has turned the company into a powerhouse with a blue chip client list. She is also the CEO of District Ventures Capital, a fund investing in Canadian companies in the food and health sectors.
Best known to Canadians as one of the venture capitalists on the award-winning series Dragons' Den, an investor on The Big Decision, and a judge on Recipe to Riches, Dickinson is also the author of two bestselling books -- Persuasion, and her most recent bestselling release, All In.
Dickinson's success and leadership has been recognized with multiple honours and awards including Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 Award and the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, and she has been honoured with PROFIT and Chatelaine magazine's TOP 100 Women Business Owners Awards.
Dickinson is an Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy and is the recipient of honorary degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University, Concordia University, Saint Mary's University and NAIT. She is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal. She also sits on numerous public and private boards and is dedicated to giving back to her community and country.
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Beena Goldenberg
Past Chair,
Beena Goldenberg is the Chief Executive Officer of Cultivate Ventures and Hain-Celestial Canada, a leading Natural and Organic Food and Personal Care company, headquartered in NY and traded on the NASDAQ, with such brands as Yves Veggie Cuisine, Celestial Seasonings Tea, Europe's Best Frozen fruit, Terra Root Vegetable chips, Dream non-dairy beverages and Live Clean personal care products. She has been in this role for over 12 years, quadrupling the Canadian business through organic growth and acquisitions. She received her Master's degree in Chemical Engineering at McGill University and after working 3 years in biotechnology she moved into the consumer packaged goods industry where she has spent the last 28 years progressing from roles in Research & Development to Marketing and then General Management. Beena currently resides in Toronto but travels frequently to Vancouver, the home of Yves Veggie Cuisine, and to NY to work with her team on Cultivate Ventures.
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Brian Mulroney
Former Prime Minister of Canada
In September 1984, Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservative party to the largest victory in Canadian history,becoming Canada's eighteenth Prime Minister.
He was re-elected with a majority government four years later thereby becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister in 35 years to win successive majority governments and the first Conservative Prime Minister to do so in 100 years. He resigned in June 1993, having served almost nine years as Prime Minister.
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Doug Stephens
Retail & Consumer Futurist
Doug Stephens is one of the world's foremost retail industry futurists. His intellectual work and thinking have influenced many of the world's best-known retailers, agencies and brands including Walmart, Google, Home Depot, Disney, BMW, Citibank, and Intel. Doug is also listed as one of retail's top global influencers by Vend.com.
Prior to founding Retail Prophet, Doug spent over 20 years in the retail industry, holding senior international roles including the leadership of one of New York City's most historic retail chains.
Doug is the author of two groundbreaking books - The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism (2013) and Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a PostDigital World (2017) Doug is also the nationally syndicated retail columnist for CBC Radio and sits on the advisory boards of the Dx3 Digital Conference and the David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retail & Services at St. Mary's University.
His unique perspectives on retailing, business and consumer behavior have been featured in many of the world's leading publications and media outlets including The New York Times, The BBC, Bloomberg Business News, TechCrunch, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company.
Doug speaks regularly to major brands and organizations across North and South America, Europe, Asia, The Middle East and Australia. |
Tristram Stuart
Award Winning Author & Environmental Expert
Tristram Stuart is an international award winning author, speaker, campaigner and expert on the environmental and social impacts of food. His style of engagement is deeply human, positive and energising. He has the ability to convey ideas in ways that inspire people to follow them.
His books, The Bloodless Revolution: a cultural history of vegetarianism from 1600 to the present (2006) and Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (2009), have been described as "a genuinely revelatory contribution to the history of human ideas” (The Times) and have been translated into several languages. His TED talk (2012) has been watched over 1.5 million times.
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Benjamin Tal
Managing Director and Deputy Chief Economist, CIBC Capital Markets
Mr. Tal is responsible for analyzing economic developments and their implications for North American fixed income, equity, foreign exchange and commodities markets. He also acts in an advisory capacity to bank officers on issues related to wealth management, household/corporate credit and risk.
Well-known for his ground-breaking published research on topics such as labour market dynamics, real estate, credit markets, international trade and business economic conditions, Mr. Tal not only contributes to the conversation, but frequently sets the agenda. He has over 20 years' experience in the private sector advising clients, industry leaders, corporate boards, trade associations, and governments on economic and financial issues.
National and global media regularly seek him out for his insight and analysis on economic issues that impact financial markets, consumers, corporations and public policy. He is also a frequent lecturer in the economics programs of various Canadian universities.
Mr. Tal is a member of the Economic Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, The Economic Development Committee of the Toronto Board of Trade. He is also a member of the board of Governors of Junior Achievement of Central Ontario, and a board member of the Toronto Financial Alliance.
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Tanya van Biesen
Executive Director, Catalyst Canada
Tanya van Biesen is Executive Director of Catalyst's operations in Canada. She is responsible for leading Catalyst's growth in Canada and shaping strategies to advance Catalyst's mission to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion with Supporters, corporate partners, professional organizations, CEOs, senior leaders, and stakeholders.
A recognized leader and influencer with deep experience in the executive search sector at the most senior levels of corporate Canada, Tanya brings more than two decades of corporate leadership and diversity experience to Catalyst. Most recently, she co-led the Financial Services Practice at Spencer Stuart and was a key member of the Canadian Boards Practice, focusing on executive search assignments at the board, CEO, and general management levels. She also led the firm's Canadian Diversity Practice, specializing in the placement of chief diversity officers and diverse slates of candidates across all search assignments.
Tanya began her career at Procter & Gamble, working in both Toronto and Calgary in regional and national sales leadership roles. A sought-after speaker on the topic of diversity in the boardroom, Tanya has contributed to several research studies and articles analyzing leadership trends and attributes. She holds an MBA from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University, and speaks English, French, and Dutch.
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Gary Wade
President, Unilever Canada Inc.
Gary Wade is currently the President of Unilever Canada. Gary has led the organization through several transformative business initiatives while championing Diversity & Inclusion and elevating employee engagement. Gary joined Unilever South Africa in 1993 and has held progressive roles in Sales, Strategy and Marketing. Gary is Chair of the Board of Food, Health & Consumer Products Canada, Vice Chair of GS1 Board (Global Standards Canada) and a Member of Grocers and Manufacturers Collaborative. Outside of work Gary is an accomplished athlete and enjoys spending quality time with his wife and three daughters. |
