Speakers
Each year at the Performance Excellence Summit & Canada Awards for Excellence, we line-up dynamic speakers and thought-leaders that deliver powerful messages that inspire.
Rahul Bhardwaj, LLB, ICD.D
President & Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Corporate Directors
He began his career as a corporate lawyer at a leading Canadian law firm. He subsequently served as Vice-President for Toronto’s 2008 Olympic Bid, and was President & CEO of the Toronto Foundation for nine years. He also chaired the 2012 Ontario Summer Games and the Toronto Jazz Festival.
He coaches and advises leaders globally and guides leadership teams who wish to transform their culture into the most inspirational in their industries.
Lance is the recipient of many awards, including the International Caring Award, and is the former Chair of the Advisory Board of the Special Olympics World Winter Games. Currently he chairs the Pay it Forward Foundation.
Dany Assaf
Co-chair of Tory’s Competition and Foreign Investment Group, Author
Dany is a globally recognized lawyer with deep and broad international business experience advising and helping businesses grow worldwide. Dany is also the author of the books, “Say Please and Thank You & Stand In Line: One Man’s Story of What Makes Canada Special, and How to Keep It that Way”, and “Everybody’s Business: How to Ensure Canadian Prosperity Through the Twenty-First Century”.
Dany has taught and lectured at major Canadian universities and written and been a commentator on major Canadian media platforms including the Globe and Mail, the Star and, the National Post newspapers and the CBC, CTV, BNN Bloomberg, and Global television networks. Dany has also been involved in many community initiatives and projects over the years including been President of the Canadian Club of Toronto and he and his wife Lisa also co-founded the annual Fast in the 6 event held on Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square bringing Canadians of all backgrounds together to celebrate its motto: Diversity. Unity. Prosperity. Dany also sits on the boards of the Unity Health hospital network, Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon
President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of British Columbia
Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon started a five-year term as the 17th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia in 2023.
Before joining UBC, Dr. Bacon served in several academic leadership roles, including as President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen’s University in Kingston, and as Provost and Vice-President (Academic Affairs) at Concordia University in his hometown of Montreal.
Dr. Bacon holds a PhD in neuropsychology from the University of Montreal, after which he undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His research focuses on the neurophysiological and cognitive bases of visual and multisensory perception.
Sharing his own lived experience, he advocates nationally for open conversations about mental health and substance use.
Tony Chapman
Creator and Host of the Award Winning Podcast and Platform Chatter that Matters
Erin Davis
Broadcaster, Author, Sleep Enthusiast
Arlene Dickinson
Founder & General Partner of District Ventures Capital
Dickinson is also the Co-Managing Partner of Believeco:Partners, an independent Canadian-based owner, operator, and builder of the foremost marketing, communications, and engagement agencies in North America. It was Dickinsons vision that brought this platform to life resulting in the creation of a powerhouse marketing consolidator.
Allan N. Ebedes
CEO, Excellence Canada
Since 2005, Allan Ebedes has led Excellence Canada, formerly known as the National Quality Institute. Working with the Board of Directors, he is responsible for setting the strategic direction of Excellence Canada and delivering on its business plan and mission.
Allan began his business career as a Chartered Accountant (CA) at Coopers & Lybrand, now PWC. He then became a partner at a small furniture and appliance chain, which grew significantly during his ownership, and was subsequently sold to The Brick. In 1979, he started a private career college called the Toronto School of Business, a division of International Business Schools, which grew to become the largest career college in Canada, with 50 locations coast to coast which during his ownership, trained over 250,000 adult students for new and rewarding careers. Allan took the company public on the NASDAQ exchange.
In 2002, Allan founded Management Mentors International, a company dedicated to corporate training and development, coaching and mentoring. He was also appointed as President of the Academy of Learning, a chain of 100 computer learning centres across Canada.
Allan is a CA, CPA and earned an MBA from the University of Toronto (now Rotman School of Management) and an LLM law degree in Global Business through an evening program at the Faculty of Law. Allan is a Certified Director (ICD.D) with the Institute of Corporate Directors and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Jon Love, C.M.
Executive Chair and Founder, KingSett Capital Inc.
Jon began his real estate career with Oxford Properties in 1980, becoming President in 1987 and CEO in 1992. Jon led Oxford’s initial public offering in 1995 and oversaw $7 billion in acquisitions over the ensuing six years. Oxford was acquired by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) in 2001 in a $4 billion privatization.
Jon is a member of the Business Council of Canada, the Chief Executives Organization, and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Jon is also an Emeritus Advisory Board member at Western University’s Ivey Business School, where he received an Honours degree in Business Administration. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Western University in 2016 and became a member of the Order of Canada (C.M.) in 2018. Jon received the Ivey Business Leader of the Year Award and the NAIOP Rex Icon Award in 2023.
Caitlan Maggs
Speaker, Workshop Director, Author
A life-long Performing Arts expert, Caitlan Maggs graduated from London’s Royal Ballet School and performed with The National Ballet of Canada (where she danced with Baryshnikov and Nureyev), and then became a reputed teacher at École Supérieure de Ballet du Québec.
Halfway through her dance career, Caitlan ran away with the circus! As Artistic Expert at Cirque du Soleil for 22 years, she designed the Artistic Creativity Training for all the Cirque du Soleil Creations and Touring Shows, as well as mentoring dance coaches at CDS’ Michael Jackson One & the Beatles’ LOVE.
As Creative Director since 2017, Caitlan has directed workshops for Creatoyo, Toyo University, Japan; ArtIST, CNAM, Paris; La Factry; USA Gymnastic; Mosaic Creativity Management School @HEC University, Montréal, @Mosaic-Lithuania Academy of Music & Theatre and @Mosaic-Lille University, France; as well as being Guest Speaker at creativity forums and universities in Tokyo, Paris, Vilnius, Toronto, Sarasota, Lille & Montreal.
Published author with Acro-Artistic Creativity/Instructional Design Fieldbook in 2022, Caitlan Maggs is currently writing a book about the creative process at Cirque du Soleil.
Kim Renton R.N. B.A.
Co Inventor, The enVy® Pillow Company
In her experience treating thousands of clients, Kim found that not all wrinkles were in fact “wrinkles”. She was aware of what cosmetic dermatologists have long known… that side and stomach sleepers develop deep permanent sleep lines on their faces from “squishing” them into their pillows every night. Most often, the deepest, most resistant lines were caused by habitual sleeping positions!
Joe Roberts
The Skidrow CEO
Joe Roberts aka The Skidrow CEO is an expert on resilience and change. Having experienced
both catastrophic failure and extraordinary success Joe teaches how to overcome the roadblocks that get in the way of high performance.
He helps companies and individuals redefine what’s truly possible by confronting limiting
mindsets. Participants at Joes’ events leave inspired and moved to action.
What is most amazing about Joe is that in 1989 he was living on the streets of Vancouver as a
homeless skid row addict. Through perseverance, determination and his resilient human spirit, Joe pulled himself out of darkness and despair, to become a highly respected business and community leader.
Shirlee Sharkey
Chair of Excellence Canada
Former President & CEO, SE Health
Shirlee Sharkey is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost experts on home care and healthy aging. As a registered nurse and the longtime CEO of SE Health, a unique not-for-profit social enterprise, she has dedicated her career to empowering people, championing compassion, and advancing social innovation to forever impact how people live and age at home. In May 2022, Shirlee stepped down from SE Health following 30 years of breakthrough leadership.
Shirlee shares her passion and expertise as a thought leader, speaker, author, and mentor. In 2020, she collaborated with a range of experts to co-author The Future of Aging, a book that has been described as “a brilliant and powerful challenge to locked-in ageist mindsets, policies and service models.
Kathy Young Keefe R.N.
Co Inventor, The enVy® Pillow Company
Having scoliosis as a teenager with major spinal correction surgery, Kathy has spent many years (and a lot of money) in search of the perfect pillow. In the end she helped design one herself!
In the development of enVy pillow she insisted that the perfect pillow should also provide the cervical spinal support necessary to ease or prevent chronic neck and back pain. Kathy and Kim’s combined interests, experiences and expertise gave them the tools and knowledge to create the most comfortable anti-aging therapeutic pillow on the market.
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