Generative and agentic AI have the potential to reshape how organizations compete—but only when implementation moves beyond experimentation to execution. Despite growing interest, most Canadian businesses have yet to operationalize AI, often held back by limited in house expertise, data readiness gaps, and governance concerns, according to data from Statistics Canada.
This webcast will provide executives with strategies to overcome these barriers and shift from ad hoc pilots to a strategic AI roadmap aligning with core business objectives.
KPMG in Canada is a full-service Audit, Tax and Advisory firm owned and operated by Canadians. With more than 40 locations across Canada, KPMG employs more than 10,000 people and is home to a diverse workforce that inspires confidence, empowers change and drives innovation. KPMG in Canada offers a wide range of professional services across Canadian industries. Our KPMG thought leaders deliver the latest insights, trends and resources to help support and inform your organization's financial, operational and strategic objectives.
For more info, please visit https://kpmg.com
Safdar (Saf) Mahmood is the Chief Technology Officer and a Partner in KPMG’s Advisory practice, where he is responsible for defining and executing on our digital strategy, strengthening collaboration across the firm, and enhancing the client experience through innovation and technology.
Saf has helped clients across North America navigate an ever-changing digital landscape. He has broad and deep experience in digital, data and AI strategy and transformation, new product introduction, cloud-enabled business transformation, and practice leadership.
Prior to his appointment as Advisory CTO, Saf launched and scaled a boutique technology consulting business in Canada and previously was a Managing Director for a large technology consulting company. His role as a trusted advisor to C-suite executives has allowed him to make a real impact in industries such as Telecommunications, Financial Services, and Energy.
Saf is passionate about impact-focused community service, He serves as the President-elect of University of Toronto Alumni Association, where he works to strengthen ties between alumni, students, and faculty. He is also a board director with Women in Communications and Technology (WCT), advocating for gender equality and supporting the advancement of women in Canada’s digital economy.
April Fong is a senior editor with The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business. She was previously Executive Editor of The Logic, where she helped oversee the publication's editorial strategy, led its daily newsletter to multiple SABEW Best in Business awards and was a frequent moderator in live events.
A former senior digital producer at BNN Bloomberg, April has also worked at the Financial Post and China Economic Review in Shanghai. She taught Business Reporting at her alma mater, Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication from 2021 to 2024.
Luke Gee is Senior Vice President and Chief Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Officer at TD. In this role, he leads the bank’s enterprise adoption of AI, focusing on translating advanced analytics and AI into better outcomes for customers and more meaningful experiences for colleagues.
Prior to becoming Chief Analytics and AI Officer, Luke was Vice President, Retail Products, where he led TD Canada Trust’s chequing, instant access savings, and overdraft portfolios, serving more than 10 million customers. He brought a disciplined, data‑driven, and customer‑centric approach to the role – reducing customer friction while driving sustainable business growth.
Luke joined TD in September 2018 as Vice President, Enterprise Analytics. He built and led teams responsible for analytics and reporting across Collections, North American Contact Centres, Fraud, and Digital & Technology Services, using data to improve customer outcomes and deliver tangible business value.
Before TD, Luke spent 13 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in senior leadership roles. As Head of Personal and Business Banking Analytics and Decisioning, he led a global team of 300 people across the UK and India, delivering analytics and customer decisioning for RBS’s UK Personal and Business Bank, which served 18 million customers across product, digital, marketing, channel, and remediation domains.
Luke is a globally experienced financial services leader with over 20 years in the industry. He is widely recognized for building high‑performing analytical teams and for his deep expertise across product ownership, commercial analytics, marketing, and risk – bridging strategy and execution to drive impact at scale.
Jodie Wallis is Global Chief AI Officer at Manulife, where she leads the company’s worldwide AI strategy and transformation program, setting the direction to deliver commercial value from personalized customer experiences, operational excellence, and strategic decision-making across wealth management, insurance, and global functions. Jodie oversees a portfolio of enterprise AI solutions across the organization, leads a team of approximately 200 applied research scientists, data scientists and ML engineers, and drives enterprise data and AI governance.
Prior to joining Manulife, Jodie was a Managing Director at Accenture Canada where she led the Applied Intelligence Practice. In that role she was responsible for working with clients across industries to develop and implement data and AI strategies, pushing the boundaries of applied machine intelligence models to deliver incremental value for organizations and their customers.
A recognized expert in AI, Jodie has been named one of the “10 Women Advancing AI in Canada” by ITWorld Canada, one of the “Global Data Power Women 2025” by CDO Magazine, and one of “Canada’s Best Executives 2026” by The Globe and Mail. She co-hosted The AI Effect, an award-winning podcast exploring how AI is transforming Canadian industries and the challenges facing business and policy leaders navigating adoption.
Jodie was honored as a Catalyst Honours Business Champion for her work accelerating progress for women in the workplace. She holds an Honours Co-op Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and is based in Toronto, where she co-chairs the organizing committee for Guts+Glory in support of Covenant House.
