Agenda

MORNING WEBINAR 10:00am – 12:30pm EST

10:00am – SUMMIT WELCOME

Tania Ferreira, Head of Events Content Production, Bonhill Group plc.

Marie Wiese, Founder and Host, Women Talk Tech 

Aparna Natarajan, Solutions Specialist – Enterprise Services, Microsoft

OVERCOMING GLOBAL CHANGES

10:10am PANEL DISCUSSION: The journey through COVID-19 and now the next steps
  • Assessing the impacts of Covid-19 on the economy and more specifically on the Canadian tech industry
    • What have been the challenges for companies and for employees?
    • Comparing this pandemic with previous crises
  • What technologies and processes have become essential and ‘a must’ in digital transformation plans?
    • What about for the future?
    • Are we prepared for the recovery that is needed? If not, how do we get prepared?
  • How has this experience impacted diversity and inclusion efforts?
    • Have we regressed or is there a feeling of togetherness?

Moderator

Nasheen Liu, Partner and SVP of CIO Program Strategy, The IT Media Group 

Speakers

John Comacchio, SVP & CIO, Teknion

Monique Allen, EVP, Data & Technology, OMERS

Ainsley D’Mello, VP, Enterprise Infrastructure and Operations, CI Investments 

11:00am CASE STUDY: “The new you” – an accelerated digital transformation
  • How much has your organisation changed in the last 10 months?
    • Pre-covid / during / progress to date – a step-by-step breakdown of processes and developments
    • How has your organisation contributed to society during the pandemic?
  • Highlighting the importance of future proofing
  • What are the next steps for the organisation?

Speaker

Janet Lin, Customer Engagement Technology, Loblaw Companies Ltd 

STREAM 1: BEING RESPONSIBLE WITH YOUR TECH                                           

11:30am FIRESIDE CHAT: Responsible Tech – emerging in a better world
  • Addressing the need to be more proactive and not reactive with regards to global challenges
  • Buy, build, partner – what did your company do? Has there been a clear trend during Covid-19?
  • Highlighting examples of how do we as tech professionals, create and develop technology to benefit our organisations and others?
  • Does it take a pandemic to get buy-in for such projects? What have we learned?

Moderator

Jennifer Bonner, Executive Director, Federal Civilian and Health Sector, Solutions by Design II 

Speakers

Paul Lewis, Global CTO, Hitachi

Maria Aiello, Global Head, Real Estate and Mortgages Technology, Manulife Investment Management 

12:05pm PRESENTATION: Using AI Ethically
  • Highlighting some of the ethical issues of AI i.e. unemployment, inequality, humanity, mistakes, security, et al.
  • How can companies ensure that the AI they are adopting and scaling, is without/eliminating bias?
  • Discussing the top ‘must dos’ for responsible implementation

Speaker

Natalia Modjeska, Director, Research and Advisory Services, Info-Tech Research Group

STREAM 2: SAVING THE WORLD WITHOUT HARMING OURSELVES

11:30am FIRESIDE CHAT: The Future is Cleantech
  • Highlighting Canada’s global standing in this space and the support available for businesses
  • How Cleantech will help reduce environmental impacts and create a more competitive economy?
  • How do we apply Cleantech to all industries? What should companies that aren’t there yet

Moderator

Joanna Osawe, President and CEO, Women in Renewable Energy

Speaker

Ali Ehsassi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Government of Canada

12:05pm PRESENTATION: Tech and Mental Health
  • How does technologies assist mental health and well-being and assist with career progression for women?
  • What is the role of innovations and platforms that supported mental health in general, during COVID-19?
  • Use Cases:
    • A life-saving solution for Opioid Crisis that escalated during Covid-19
    • A contactless yet caring solution for post-pandemic senior care and beyond

Speaker

Chandana Unnithan, Chief Security & Informatics Officer, Lifeguard Digital Health

12:25pm – CLOSING REMARKS

12:30pm – END OF MORNING SESSIONS

 

AFTERNOON WEBINAR 2:30pm – 5:00pm EST

2:30pm – AFTERNOON WELCOME

Tania Ferreira, Head of Events Content Production, Bonhill Group plc

Marie Wiese, Founder and Host, Women Talk Tech 

Aparna Natarajan, Solutions Specialist – Enterprise Services, Microsoft

WE ARE MORE THAN JUST A TICK BOX 

2:40pm FIRESIDE CHAT: The lack of diversity in tech goes beyond gender
  • What is intersectionality? Why do we keep putting people in boxes?
  • Highlighting the low percentages of minority groups across IT and tech
  • Discussing the opportunities and investments made for BAME and disabled candidates
  • How to proactively increase the number of underrepresented groups in our teams – what should you as leaders be doing?

Moderator

Michael Selim, Human Capital Advisor

Speakers

Valence Howden, Principal Research Director, Infotech Research Group

Pamela Shainhouse, President and Founder, The Shainhouse Group 

STREAM 1: EVOLVING PROFESSIONALS

3:15pm PRESENTATION: Transforming Tech - the Evolution of Learning to the Tech Sector

Learn how you need to leverage your learning professional/team to its full potential?

  • In an unprecedented year, see how learning drives the tech sectors ability to rethink, learn and pivot to survive
  • How a build while buy learning & development model is fundamental to competitive advantage
  • The ROI: Exploring how you turn influence and impact into measurable outcomes
  • Engagement, Retention, Performance: How do we advance learning as a business and people priority? 

Speaker

Julia Satov, Manager, Learning, Kira Systems

3:40pm PANEL DISCUSSION: Finding your digital voice
  • Discussing the differences between your physical and digital voice
  • Why do some thrive in one or the other environment?
  • How did your team members respond and adapt? Were there surprises? Did individuals find a ‘new’ voice?
  • Have new management styles been adopted? Is there a new team dynamic?
  • How as leaders can you continue to develop your voice and that of those around you in both physical and digital settings?

Moderator

Nasheen Liu, Partner and SVP of CIO Program Strategy, The IT Media Group 

Speakers

Anuja Sharma, Head of Solution Engineering – Central Region, Splunk 

Charles Lewis, VP & Chief Technology Officer, Telus 

STREAM 2: RECRUITMENT AND TALENT

3:15pm CASE STUDY: Hiring practices during and post-pandemic
  • How did the company go about recruiting during the lockdown?
  • How do you effectively on board someone virtually?
  • What new processes were adapted? What worked and what did not?
  • Sharing the step-by-step breakdown of how recruitment has and will continue to change

Lisa Matkowski, Director, Business Consulting, NTT DATA Services 

3:40pm PANEL DISCUSSION: We need talent now - where do we find it?

“There is a shortage of talent in the industry.” Is this true? Or is it rather that we have the talent but that they are not afforded the opportunity? Our panellists will debate this statement and demonstrate exactly where we can
find the talented individuals we have been looking for.

  • Establishing what leaders / companies are looking for in a candidate
  • Identifying ‘untapped’ pools of talent and why they are great candidates for your teams
  • How have these talent pools changed in light of this pandemic? What are the most sort after skills?
  • What do IT leaders need to do to support upskilling and recruitment projects?

Moderator

Alix Edmiston, President, AE Public Relations 

Speakers

Ted Maulucci, President, SmartONE Solutions 

Denisse Alejo, Employer Engagement Director, NPower Canada 

Jenny do Forno, Talent Director, OMERS Venture 

SECURING OUR FUTURE TALENT

4:25pm PRESENTATION: How to connect with our future talent pool
  • You can’t recruit and motivate the future talent if you do not understand ‘what makes them tick’
  • How to avoid common recruitment mistakes and truly connect with candidates
  • The importance of explaining roles and career opportunities

PANEL DISCUSSION: What do the future talent want and need?
In this panel session, you will hear it right from the very individuals we are trying to attract into the industry. Our moderator will ask our participants to share what they have found works and what doesn’t; what they have found to be helpful; what they are looking for and why; and finally, they will share some top tips on how to get your ‘pitch’ right.

Speakers

Vanessa Vakharia, Founder + CEO, The Math Guru 

Marley Melbourne

Nicole Ooi

Riya Karumanchi

4:55pm Summit round up + closing remarks

Tweet your pledge: Making your pledge for change

  • Given the content and insights shared, attendees are asked to pledge an act of change.
  • What actionable takeaway will you do first?

5:00pm – END OF THE SUMMIT – See you next year!

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