5-6 MARCH, 2024
March 5-6, 2024 | THE WESTIN HARBOUR CASTLE, TORONTO, CANADA
L&D LEADERS Canada
L&D Leaders Canada is the leading meeting place for senior executives from across the entire Learning and Development landscape with flagship conferences in Europe, APAC, USA and Canada.
Since inception, we have cut through the hype and challenged the pioneers to educate, up-skill and drive long-term thinking on the strategic strategies, technologies and importance of the workplace of tomorrow.
Created for senior executives within:
✓ Learning & Development
✓ CLO's
✓ Leadership Development
✓ Training
✓ Learning Analytics
✓ Sales Enablement Training
L&D LEADERS & FOW SERIES
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Debbie Jackson, Director, Learning and Development
Ryan Decoste, Vice President, Organizational Learning, and Development
Tiffany Smye, Senior Director, Talent, Learning & Development
Alexandra Hyland, Head of Capabilities & Culture, Senior Director of Global Learning & Diversity
Sheila Austin, Vice President, Learning & Development
Trish Nixon, Senior Director, Learning & Development
Nirmeen Hasan, Vice President, Learning
Melissa Law, Vice President, Culture, Talent, and Organizational Development
Erin Urquhart, AVP, Talent Development Human Resources
Deon Blyan, VP, Global Talent Development
Kieran Murphy, Head of Global Learning
Steve Mason, VP Organizational Development
Carey Franklin-McInnes, AVP, Learning and Performance Development
Denise Teixeira, AVP, Training & Development
AnnMarie Mercer, Chief People Officer
Denise Pereira, Team Lead, Customer Success
Geoff Brockway, Head of Learning & Development - Oncology R&D
Michele Gilbert, Head of Learning and Development North Atlantic (Canada, UK, China, Japan)
Melissa Di Natale, Senior Manager, Future Design
Tabatha Cammidge, Managing Director, Strategy & Future of Work
Peter Tulumello, Director, Learning & Development
Geoff Smith, Chief People and HSE Officer
Lisa Tomlin, Senior Behavioural Scientist
Natacha Savard-Storino, Vice President, Head, Training & Development
Lisa Goulden, Senior Manager, Talent and Organizational Development
Ferhana Dostmohamed, Senior Learning Strategy
Marcy Kitcher, MD, Head, BMO IFL
Alison Evans Adnani, Senior Program Lead, Dev Degree
Gaby Fisch, Principal
Nina Penner, Founder
Konstantin Tskhay, VP Organizational Effectiveness
Jayan McPherson, Director, Pension Learning Experience & Project Delivery
Jane Goodyer, Dean of Lassonde School of Engineering
Kristina Tsiriotakis, Senior Director of Organizational Development & Learning
Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning and applied improvisation
Anne-Marie Pham, CEO
Nadiya Wilson, Sr. Director
Pam Sharma, Director, Organizational Effectiveness
L&D LEADERS & FoW Event
POWERED BY OUR PARTNERS
09:00am
Chairs Opening Remarks
Nina Penner, Founder, BluHelium Consulting
09:15am
Panel: Elevating the role of L&D as strategic business partners
Organizations today are placing a disproportionate focus on capability development, at an individual, departmental, and pan-organisation level. Business and HR leaders are looking at L&D as the differentiator to drive competitive advantage, with L&D expected to take centre stage on the organisational achievement journey and spearhead a game-changing learning vision. From this panel, learn how you could present, monitor and measure the business case for a learning revolution.
Moderator:
Nina Penner, Founder, BluHelium Consulting
Speakers:
Alexandra Hyland, Head of Capabilities and Culture (Senior Director of Learning and Diversity), Kraft Heinz
Michele Gilbert, Head of Learning and Development North Atlantic (Canada, UK, China, Japan), Vale
Steve Mason, VP Organizational Development, Canada Life
09:55am
Presentation: Fully work-integrated degree programs: A new model of experiential learning to transform the ICT sector and beyond
- Canada is facing a digital skills shortage that, if left unaddressed, will present a major barrier to business growth across all sectors.
- Scaling up the tech workforce means creating affordable education pathways that will facilitate increased access to digital tech careers.
- It was with this goal in mind that York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering collaborated with experts in the tech sector to create Canada’s first fully work-integrated degree program in Digital Technologies, starting September.
- In this session, L&D leaders will hear from a Canadian company about why they’ve decided to host students in this program and the important contributions they’ll make to the organization.
Presented by:
Jane Goodyer, Dean of Lassonde School of Engineering, York University
Alison Evans Adnani, Senior Program Lead, Dev Degree, Shopify
10:25am
Presentation: Are you doing enough to build and strengthen your company culture with L&D?
- How to curate great learning content to create communities of learners
- Ensure the support DE&I goals through L&D
- Understanding how to adjust to our new remote world
Presented by:
Deon Blyan, VP, Global Talent Development, Sunwing Travel Group
10:55am
L&D Leaders CONNECTS
11:10am
Morning Break and Networking
11:30am
Panel: Empowering Corporate Culture Change Through Diversity And Inclusion
- Create a system of actions that go beyond a one-time webinar or training
- Measure, report on, and continuously improve the effectiveness of your DEI program
- Identify and understand your employees' needs
- Build allies and ensure sustained behaviour change
Moderator:
Nina Penner, Founder, BluHelium Consulting
Speakers:
Trish Nixon, Senior Director, Learning & Development, EQ Bank
Pam Sharma, Director, Organizational Effectivness, High Liner Foods
Anne-Marie Pham, CEO, CCDI
11:50am
Presentation: Leadership Development in the face of uncertainty
- How leadership training addresses emerging challenges and how to build resilience in the new normal
- How best to retrain employees to bridge gaps and bolster confidence
- How to create a culture of learning through sustainable leadership development training
- The tools you need to effectively train the next generation of leaders for your organization
Presented by:
Melissa Law, Vice President, Culture, Talent, and Organizational Development, Liberty
12:20pm
Presentation: Learning Analytics: From Inception to Maturity
- What is learning analytics, and why are they important to measure
- Maturity journey of Learning Analytics
- What are the challenges of moving up in maturity in Learning Analytics
- How do you move forward in your journey into Learning Analytics
Presented by:
Konstantin Tskhay, VP Organizational Effectiveness, TopHat
12:50pm
Lunch & Networking
1:50pm
Panel: Delivering closer connections through hybrid and remote working
- Understanding the learning challenge of flexible hybrid work
- The importance of mentoring
- How to build closer relationships between different departments and scopes.
- Cultivate communication through solving shared challenges
- How to best measure hybrid and remote working
Moderator:
Nina Penner, Founder, BluHelium Consulting
Speakers:
Ryan Decoste, Vice President, Organizational Learning, and Development, Klick
Tiffany Smye, Senior Director, Talent, Learning & Development, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Partnership
Geoff Smith, Chief People and HSE Officer, Shawcor 
2:30pm
Presentation: Improvisation is Human Being Practice: Learning for the Unscripted World
The World Economic Forum notes that interpersonal skills are at the heart of the future of work. Improvisation, at its core, provides embodied practice in listening, collaborating, communicating and unlocking the creative spirit of individuals and groups. Long-time Second City creative executive Kelly Leonard provides an engaging, evidence-based look at how the same training that made stars of Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert, can be used to make stars of your workforce.
This Keynote will feature:
- Specific exercises and practices developed with leading behavioral scientists that you can use in your workplace.
- Engaging storytelling that moves beyond charts and spreadsheets and speaks to the greater meaning of the work we do.
- A session that is more dialogue than monologue – getting everyone in on the act.
- An inspired message of hope, gratitude and resilience in an age of increasing complexity.
Presented by:
Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning and applied improvisation, Second City Works
3:00pm
Panel: How are emerging L&D technologies reinterpreting traditional methods of learning?
- Advantages of utilizing technology to connect instructors and learners and coaches and coachees remotely and flexibly across time zones
- How is technology such as webinars and shared screens currently impactingcorporate learning and development? How might they influence remote and peer-group learning in the future?
- How is technology changing non-training methods of development like coaching?
- Can, or will, technology training ever fully replace human presence?
Moderator:
Ferhana Dostmohamed, Senior Learning Strategy & Solutions Consultant, FD Learning Consulting
Speakers:
Denise Teixeira, AVP, Training & Development, IG Wealth Management
Lisa Tomlin, Senior Behavioural Scientist, CoachHub
Marcy Kitcher, MD, Head, BMO IFL
Jayan McPherson, Director, Pension Learning Experience & Project Delivery, OMERS
3:40pm
Afternoon Break
4:10pm
Presentation: Using L&D opportunities to build your employer brand
- How to deliver learner engagement through self-directed learning
- Support learners to control their own development at their own pace
- Help L&D to create and support a self-directed learning culture
- Use social and collaborative learning approaches to grow overall employee learning engagement
Presented by:
Geoff Brockway, Head of Learning & Development - Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca
4:40pm
End of day wrap up, summary and closing remarks
Nina Penner, Founder, BluHelium Consulting
5:00pm
End of Day One
5:15 - 6:15pm
Networking Drinks in the Exhibition Area
Brought to you by:
09:15am
Chairs Opening Remarks
Gaby Fisch, Principal, Move Forward
09:30am
Presentation: Investing in the leader within
- Build a culture of leadership as an action, not a title
- Create a one-of-a-kind learning experience that "sells out"
- Teach the skills & tools leaders need to influence your organization in an ever-changing world
- Foster resilience and confidence in the new normal
Presented by:
Tabatha Cammidge, Managing Director, Strategy & Future of Work, ATB
Melissa Di Natale, Senior Manager, Future Design
10:00am
Panel: Upskilling & reskilling - what’s the ROI?
Metrics and data are paramount in helping organizations gain a deeper understanding of the impact of their L&D programs. As businesses are placing increased emphasis on upskilling and reskilling their workforce for the future of work, what should they be measuring to ensure their initiatives are having the desired impact on skill gaps?
Moderator:
Gaby Fisch, Principal, Move Forward
Speakers:
Natacha Savard-Storino, Vice President, Head, Training & Development, RBC Wealth Management Canada, RBC Wealth Management
Colette Gaines, Director, Global Learning & Development, Gardaworld
Nadiya Wilson, Sr. Director, D2L Wave
10:40am
Presentation: Why mentorship, DEI and connectivity should be incorporated into learning and development programs
- The role of mentorship, connectivity and DEI on learning and development for all career levels
- People learn best from people, soft skills and connections are just as if not more valuable than formal learning programs
- Research shows that employees with mentors feel mor connected, productive and engaged at work and are more likely to stay and grow within an organization, Denise will walk attendees through the data of why this is
- Learn how to create a measurable, scalable and impactful L&D program at your organization
- Real case studies, and customer examples
Presented by:
Denise Pereira, Team Lead, Customer Success, Ten Thousand Coffees
11:10am
Morning Break and Networking
11:40am
Presentation: Building your organization's first enterprise learning strategy
- Establishing a strategic vision for learning and development that covers the whole organization
- Gaining alignment and support for that vision
- Setting priorities and getting buy-in for what you need in order to deliver on them
Presented by:
Peter Tulumello, Director, Learning & Development, Sobeys 
12:20pm
Presentation: Succession Planning: Identifying and Developing Future Senior Leaders
- Implementing a methodical approach to succession planning and identifying future leaders
- Enabling growth through development planning
- Implementing multi-level, longer term learning and development plan
Presented by:
Geoff Smith, Chief People and HSE Officer, Shawcor
Lisa Goulden, Senior Manager, Talent and Organizational Development, Shawcor
12:50pm
Presentation: Bridging the gap between Coaching and Learning
- How to align your coaching and learning goals
- How to leverage your existing learning strategy in coaching sessions
- How to get coaches more on board with completing learning themselves
- Why you should include coaching in the learning design
Presented by:
Kieran Murphy, Head of Global Learning, RSM Canada
1:20pm
Lunch & Networking
2:20pm
Panel: Ensuring effective Learning Engagement
- When introducing a new learning process, how do you engage with and persuade staff to participate in something which is potentially very new for them?
- Assessing the best corporate learning management systems on the market - is it better to buy off the shelf or develop your own bespoke system
- Rather than actively pushing learning onto staff, what is the best way to motivate and inspire employees and incentivise their conscious and active development.
Moderator:
Ferhana Dostmohamed, Senior Learning Strategy & Solutions Consultant, FD Learning Consulting
Speakers:
Sheila Austin, Vice President, Learning & Development at BlueCat
Debbie Jackson, Director, Learning and Development, Ciena
Carey Franklin-McInnes, AVP, Learning and Performance Development, Canada Life
Kristina Tsiriotakis, Senior Director of Organizational Development & Learning
3:00pm
Panel: From 2023 to future-ready
Many lessons have emerged or been underscored during the past couple years, but one of the biggest is that change is the only constant – and rather than fear it, we must embrace it in order to thrive. But how can organizations prepare for an uncertain future and ensure their people are positioned for success, health and happiness in 2023 and beyond?
Moderator:
Gaby Fisch, Principal, Move Forward
Speakers:
Nirmeen Hasan, Vice-President, Learning, Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario
AnnMarie Mercer, Chief People Officer, Walmart Canada
Kieran Murphy, Global Head of Learning, RSM Canada
3:40pm
End of Day Two
