TRMC 2021 Speakers

Tech titan Michele Romanow is a serial entrepreneur who started five companies before her 33rd birthday. A “Dragon” on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Romanow is the Co-founder and President of Clearbanc. Clearbanc has invested more than $1B into 3,300 companies making them the biggest ecommerce investor in the world. She previously co-founded SnapSaves, acquired by American tech giant, Groupon, and Buytopia.ca, which acquired ten competitors, including Shop.ca and WagJag.

In 2015, Romanow became the youngest judge on CBC’s Dragons’ Den (Canada’s Shark Tank), and has been a ‘Dragon’ for the last six seasons. A prolific investor, Romanow was recently named Fortune’s 40 under 40, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women and Canada’s Angel Investor of the Year.

Romanow has created digital solutions for many of the world’s leading brands, including P&G, Netflix, Starbucks, and Cirque du Soleil. In the media, Romanow’s work has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, and The Globe and Mail.

Romanow is a director for Vail Resorts, Freshii, BBTV and League of Innovators. Previously she was a director for Whistler Blackcomb and SHAD International. Romanow also co-founded the Canadian Entrepreneurship Initiative non-profit with Sir Richard Branson.

Rhiannon Rosalind, a serial entrepreneur, is the CEO and sole shareholder of The Economic Club of Canada. On her podium, the highest-profile and most recognized in Canada, she has hosted some of the most relevant speakers of our time. The likes of President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and former President of France Francois Holland have all graced her stage. Rhiannon is the youngest woman in Canadian history to be inducted into the Most Powerful Women in Business Hall of Fame. She is the founder of Lunar Club – a monthly gathering of eclectic women where she shakes things up by interviewing some of the most powerful feminists in Canada. Her 2019 guests include Marie Henein – the high profile Canadian defense attorney and the former Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne. She is a nationally recognized philanthropist – she is the founder and CEO of The Jr. Economic Club of Canada where, in partnership with the National Inuit Youth Council of Canada, she created the first-ever financial literacy program for Inuit youth across all four arctic settlement regions. As of 2019, 50,000 youth have participated in her programs. She is the co-founder and CEO of The Global Institute for Conscious Economics – a forum dedicated to awakening business leaders to the benefits of consciousness (mindfulness) and validating the link between mindfulness and economic prosperity.

Rhiannon is a former board of governor members at her alma mater, Ryerson University (voted not appointed). She is a former board member of the Ryerson University Alumni Association. She is an advisory board member to the Ted Rogers School of Management MBA. Rhiannon was the creative vision behind her own TV series that ran through Rogers and Bell Media (Much Music) for six seasons. She is currently a regular on Toronto’s most popular radio station – News Talk 1010. Rhiannon is also the proud mother of two young boys, Luke and Bennett, and enjoys exploring Toronto with them in her spare time.

Michael Hyatt is the co-founder of BlueCat, which was sold to Madison Dearborn Partners, of Chicago, IL. He serves as a director of BlueCat, ranks as one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, and is known as a technology visionary. Michael is also a weekly business commentator on CBC and was a celebrated “Dragon” on CBC’s online Dragons’ Den. He is the Host of BMO's Unplanned Business podcast to help small businesses and an investor on the hit Spotify podcast “The Pitch”. Michael is a Founding Partner and Fellow at the Rotman School of Management’s prestigious Creative Destruction Lab and sits on the CEO Board of Advisors of Georgian Partners, one of Canada’s leading venture capital firms. He was also recently named Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Blakes, one of the most successful law firms in the country. Michael co-founded Dyadem, a highly successful software company which was acquired by IHS (NYSE: IHS). He was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and was a recipient of the Top 40 Under 40 Award.

Michael is an active investor and philanthropist who chairs the Hyatt Family Foundation. The foundation focuses on women's health, critical hospital research and sponsorship of underprivileged minorities.

Michael was awarded the ""Power Partner Award"" from the Women of Inspiration Awards for his supportive and innovative work with Women in Canada and the developing world.

Jonathan Lister is the Vice President, Sales Solutions at LinkedIn. His team works with the world's most widely recognized brands to help them leverage their vast employee and client networks to build social selling expertise and dramatically improve how they sell.

Jonathan also serves as LinkedIn’s Country Manager for Canada where he is responsible for increasing brand awareness and adoption. In this role, Jonathan focuses on driving revenue, user engagement, strategic partnerships, marketing and general operations.

Jim Reid has served as Rogers Chief Human Resources Officer since 2011. He is responsible for shaping the talent, culture and engagement strategy at Rogers. With a keen understanding of what it takes to win, Jim has elevated the employee experience agenda by strengthening key programs in the areas of leadership development, frontline training, talent management, and culture. Over the next three years, Jim will lead Rogers’ workplace transformation initiative, enabling the company to become more collaborative, agile and flexible. During his tenure, Rogers has been recognized as one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures, one of the Top 100 Employers in Canada, a Top Employer for Young People, and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers. Jim has more than 20 years of experience leading large, global human resources teams, including Husky Injection Molding Systems and the global health sciences company, MDS Inc. He is a former tactical helicopter pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces and served more than three years in West Germany. Jim holds an MBA from McMaster University and is a graduate of Harvard’s Advanced Management Program. He is also an ICF certified executive coach.

Franca Brodett is an alumnus of the Alberta School of Business. She completed her Bachelor of Commerce in 2012 with a major in Marketing, and minor in Retail & Services. She has been very engaged since she was a student part of the Rocky Mountain Business Seminar Executive and University of Alberta Marketing Association. Franca recently held dual professions as the Acting Executive Director for the School of Retailing at the Alberta School of Business, and Associate Director of Advancement for the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. She is also an entrepreneur, owner of Emerge Career Consulting - a consulting firm focused on resume content development and personalized designs for students and young professionals. Her passion really lies in her side hustle FB Creativ as a commissioned artist, most popular for her unique and cool coasters, #CoastMalones. Franca has specialized in business development, consulting, marketing/ promotions, and team management throughout her career journey. Past organizations she has worked for include Target, Corus Entertainment, and the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Franca brings excitement and enthusiasm throughout her work in philanthropy and also in her personal life. She enjoys engaging and supporting students on and off the clock.

Nella Brodett is the Director of Investment & Partnerships at Amii. After earning her Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson University, Nella began her career in the Toronto tech sector where she gained a breadth of cross-sector experience working with startups, the provincial government, health technology commercialization and AI. While at Ryerson, Nella was VP of Events of TRMC and served as the Captain of the Women's Hockey Team.

Cher Jones is a Corporate Social Media Trainer & Personal Branding Coach with the love of technology hardwired into her personality. As the founder of Socially Active Training, she leverages over 20 years of PR, marketing and broadcasting experience to help professionals, leaders and B2B entrepreneurs develop a credible and strategic online presence while teaching them how to use social media at work for business. Her passion, knowledge and expertise have many referring to her as one of North America's leading experts in online personal branding for professionals. She has worked internationally with a wide variety of organizations including Rogers, Hong Kong Police, PokerStars, BlackBerry, Industrial Alliance, The City of Toronto, MPI, The UK Trade and Investment, The Ontario Ministry of Education and CBC to name a few. Cher is also the host of a weekly LinkedIn livestream called #JustAskCher LIVE where she offers tips and advice to help you develop a powerful and professional brand online!

John Wilson is the Founder and CEO of CEO Global Network—an exclusive CEO peer group organization that creates opportunities for learning and development through monthly group meetings, customized one-to-one mentoring, a focused curriculum and engaging events. Over the years, John has coached hundreds of high-performing CEOs to greater success and is dedicated to fulfilling the mission of CEO Global Network: “To significantly improve the success and lives of CEOs and executives, their families, and their companies.” John currently sits on the Board of Directors of Excellence Canada and is the author of the acclaimed business book GREAT CEOs and How They Are Made.

Obstacles don’t scare Sarah Wells. As a 400m hurdler, Sarah earned a reputation for overcoming challenges and achieving the impossible. Take her debut at the London Olympics in 2012, which came despite an injury that had her sidelined for months just the year before. Outside of competitive sports, this athlete is coaching people to pursue their goals through the Believe Initiative, an organization founded on—fittingly—a message of resilience. Sarah’s newest venture, The Leadership Launch, was created to help aspiring entrepreneurs create impactful businesses using the knowledge she gained while building the Believe Initiative. Most recently you would have seen Sarah pushing her limits on the latest season of the Amazing Race Canada where she got to apply her tactics in a whole new kind of race! Evidently someone who understands the importance of being resilient and the power of purpose, you’ll want to listen-up when this Olympic semi-finalist and Pan Am Games silver medalist takes the stage.

Driven by his desire and ambition to be the best in the food service industry, Chef Devan has no boundaries when it comes to culinary adventures. Whether he is a food expert on Cityline or a host of pop-ups around the world, Devan brings a vibrant energy to his innovative cooking demonstrations. Devan is a master at creating staggering flavour profiles and wants every food experience to be mind-blowing. He runs his own brand Chef Dev, travelling extensively to hone his food skills and broaden his palate. Try his new soups available in stores near you to bring Chef Dev to your home.

Lana is an innovator and entrepreneur with a long career in market research and an award-winning portfolio of research inventions. She designed, executed and managed hundreds of research studies for dozens of clients in a wide range of industries. Yet she was not satisfied with mere charts and numbers, always pushing to understand the ""deep why"" behind human decisions. This curiosity put her on a quest to understand how human emotions work. In 2015, Lana founded Heartbeat AI, an Emotion Analytics platform that reveals insights into human behaviour.

Born and raised in the former Soviet Union Republic of Kyrgyzstan, educated in the US, and immigrating to Canada in 1999, Lana's understanding of cultures and systems inspired her to build a platform to cross borders and cultures. Her career path took her from United Nations' in Central Asia to UNICEF New York, to corporate market research. She left the corporate world in 2009 to study psychotherapy and neuroscience. The idea of creating an algorithm that understands fine-grained emotions came while listening to people expressing emotions in her therapy room and volunteering at the hospice. This work became the foundation of a comprehensive handcrafted taxonomy of human emotions.

Today, Lana is focusing her energy on scaling the Heartbeat business globally and building an ecovillage in Central America.

Jon joined Destination Toronto in January 2019 and since his arrival has been leading the organization’s global marketing initiatives across domestic and international markets, as well as leading their digital and content marketing transformation. Before joining Destination Toronto, Jon’s career experience includes Destination Canada, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Travel Alberta, as well as Procter & Gamble.

Born in Chicoutimi Quebec, and raised in Saskatchewan, it comes with no surprise that he wishes the Nordiques will someday come back to the NHL and that during the current CFL season he bleeds green for his beloved Roughriders. Jon graduated from Bethany College, West Virginia with a Bachelor of Science, Chemistry and also holds a Master of Business Administration from Miami University.

Since graduating from the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in 2010, Kevin Chubey has established himself as an impassioned entertainment professional at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE). Kevin held positions with the ticket sales and service team for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors, before landing in Global Partnerships where his tremendous ability to develop meaningful relationships with his clients and showcase his firm grasp of strategic partnership marketing have led him to his current role of Director, Global Partnerships & Marketing – Music and Live Entertainment representing Live Nation. Since joining the partnerships team, he has seen his fair share of success and recognition winning Major League Soccer (MLS) and National Basketball Association (NBA) Activation of the Year awards, multiple Canadian Marketing Association and SMCC awards and a National Sports Forum award.

Riah is an entertainment marketer with a passion for building strategic marketing plans that connect brands with the live music space in Canada. As the Director of Live Music & Entertainment in the Global Partnerships division at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Riah leads corporate partnership development and strategy for Live Nation as a function of their joint venture with MLSE. Riah is a graduate of Western University, where she obtained an Honours Specialization in Media, Information, and Technoculture with a Certificate in Professional Communication. Riah’s passion for strategy and marketing comes from five years of prior agency experience, where she focused specifically on communications planning and execution in CPG and Beauty.

Keith Pears is the Executive Chef for the W Toronto . He is an accomplished Chef, who has been in the industry for over 20 years. He graduated from culinary school in 2003 while working at the Teahouse Restaurant in Stanley Park in his pursuit to one day becoming a renowned Chef. He moved his way up the ranks and took on his first Executive Chef position in 2014. It was Keith’s drive and passion to lead a team that created beautiful and delicious food.
Keith has gone on to compete in a number of food competitions, such as Best of the West, City TV’s Master Chef, B.C. Chef of the Year, Garland Canada International Shellfish Chef Challenge, 2016 Bocuse d’Or National Selection, Winning Chopped Canada and most recently Winning Gold at Canada’s Great Kitchen party in Toronto.
Keith is a powerful force in the workplace and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Keith is inspired daily by his mom and dad, who are also both Chefs, and his two kids. In his free time, Keith likes to cook for his family and friends, spend time with his kids, and work on self-care.

Reetu Gupta is President and CEO of the Easton’s Group of Hotels, Canada’s largest private hotel development firm and The Gupta Group, as well as the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Rogue Insight Capital Ltd. Born and raised into the world of Real Estate and Hospitality, Reetu has a fiery passion for both industries. After graduating with an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, Reetu’s career quickly progressed from Executive Director to being named President and CEO in 2018. The Easton’s Group of Hotels currently owns a portfolio of over 20 hotels spanning across Canada with 6 more hotels under development. Wanting to diversify the family holdings, in 2012 Reetu Gupta created and launched The Gupta Group - the residential real estate arm of the company consisting of High-Rise Condo multi use developments. Each of the condo projects launched have been award winning and record breaking in sales. The Gupta Group is currently developing 5 million square feet of mixed-used projects. Reetu is also the Chief Strategy Officer of Rogue Insight Capital Ltd., a division of The Gupta Group that launched in Fall of 2017 that focuses on angel investing. The Rogue portfolio currently investments across 6 continents, including companies in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, CleanTech, FinTech, PropTech, human resources, consumer marketplaces, and hospitality.

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson is an award-winning Technology Executive, with over 20-years of experience. She is currently, Associate Vice President, Infrastructure Technology Solutions at TD Bank Group – but that is not all. She is Founder and CEO of Empowered in My Skin Inc., author, professional bodybuilder, host of Empowered in My Skin podcast, and an inspirational speaker, with speeches that have been viewed over 7M times worldwide. Most recently she was awarded, 2020 WXN Most Powerful Woman Canada – Top 100.

As a TRMC Alum, Chris is excited to come full circle and come back to the event that he attributes the beginning of his ambitious journey to academia, education, and entrepreneurship.

Chris has over 10+ years of experience in the technology sector spanning roles in software development, business analysis, project management and application delivery.

His real passion lies in teaching and is currently a Lead Instructor at the University of Manitoba teaching Canadian Business, Business Analysis, Project Management and a variety of soft skill development classes.

As a direct response to COVID-19, Chris created Saber Blitz, a service that connects Global Experts with people to learn new skills through one day classes. He leads an international team spanning over 10 countries, who aim to deliver education that is foundationally set upon engaging topics, passionate Experts and exciting skills that will foster meaningful connections.

Kristina Milbourn is an experienced lawyer specializing in the areas of copyright and technology law for Rogers Communications, one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies. Kristina is the chair of Rogers’ Copyright & Piracy practice group and the founder of the Rogers’ Piracy Lab. She provides strategic advice to both the media and cable lines of business, and has extensive experience with Canadian regulatory matters. She has appeared before the Federal Court of Canada, the Ontario Superior Court, and has provided expert views on copyright reform before Parliamentary committees in Canada, and at the White House Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the United States.

Kristina holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Laws from Western University. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2009.