Shamira Madhany joined WES in 2018 after more than two decades of government service in Ontario. Her last position was Assistant Deputy Minister for Health, Education, and Social Policy, in Cabinet Office. She also served as Chief Diversity and Accessibility Officer, ensuring that 62,000 employees met accessibility and inclusion goals. Shamira has extensive experience working with employer associations, licensing bodies, non-profit organizations, and the post-secondary sector. She served as the chief architect of several government programs that enable internationally educated professionals to obtain employment in their fields. Shamira is a guest lecturer at Queen’s University and the University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She also serves on the boards of Windmill Microlending, Touchstone Institute, Herzing College Toronto, and the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC). Shamira was featured in Profiles in Diversity Journal’s 2019 Women Worth Watching® Awards, which recognizes women who have demonstrated high levels of leadership. She is also the recipient of the Metropolis Policy Maker Award at the 2020 Metropolis Canada Awards of Excellence.

Dr. Kwame McKenzie is the CEO of Wellesley Institute and is an international expert on the social causes of mental illness, suicide and the development of effective, equitable health systems.

D. McKenzie is also Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a consultant working with the World Health Organization on equity.

As a policy advisor, clinician and academic with over 250 papers, 5 books, and numerous awards he has worked across a broad spectrum to improve population health and health services for three decades.

He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, a member of Canada’s Expert Advisory Panel on COVID-19 and Mental Health, the Minister of Health’s Covid-19 Testing and Tracing Advisory and was a member of Canada’s Delegation to the High Level Political Forum on the Social Development Goals.

Dr. McKenzie was previously a Human Rights Commissioner for Ontario and Chair of the Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee of Ontario's Basic Income Pilot. In addition to his academic, policy and clinical work, Kwame has been a columnist for the Guardian, Times-online and Toronto Star and a past BBC Radio presenter.

Kehkashan Basu, M.S.M. is an iconic global influencer, environmentalist, champion of women and children’s rights, TEDx speaker, Climate Reality Mentor, author, musician, peace and sustainability campaigner. She is the recipient of Canada's Meritorious Service Medal and the only Canadian to win the International Children’s Peace Prize. A Forbes 30 Under 30 and the first-ever Winner of the Voices Youth Gorbachev-Schultz Legacy Award for her work on nuclear disarmament, Kehkashan is a United Nations Human Rights Champion, a National Geographic Young Explorer, a UN Habitat Young City Champion, the Regional Organizing Partner for North America for the NGO Major Group and one of Canada's Top25 Women of Influence. Kehkashan is the Founder-President of global social innovation enterprise Green Hope Foundation, that works at a grassroots level in 26 countries, empowering young people and women, especially those from vulnerable communities, in the sustainable development process and she has spoken at over 300 United Nations and other global fora. She is the youngest Trustee of the Parliament of the World's Religions, Co-Lead of UN Women Generation Equality Forum's Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice, the Co-Chair of the University of Toronto's SDG Student Advisory Council, Council Lead of the Toronto-St. Paul's Constituency Youth Council, Canada and a member of the World Humanitarian Forum Youth Council. She is the recipient of several awards that include the World Literacy Award for Significant Contribution to Literacy by a Young Person, Canada's Global Energy Show Emerging Leader Award and the Pax Christi Toronto Teacher of Peace Award. She continues to work tirelessly to amplify the voices of young people, women and girls in decision-making processes.

Kevin Krausert is the CEO and Co-Founder of Avatar Innovations, a groundbreaking energy innovation and investment firm. Kevin has spent 20 years on the front lines of energy innovation in numerous executive leadership and governance roles in the oil and gas industry. Starting his career in the energy industry as a roughneck on the oilrigs of Northern Alberta he grew through the ranks until he was Chief Executive of Canada’s oldest drilling company.

Leading a major corporation through the disruption of the Canadian energy industry, Kevin has been an articulate and major champion for unlocking the energy transition solutions inside oil and gas for a better future. Kevin serves on the steering committees of both the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) and the Energy Futures Lab (EFL).

Bob Rae is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York. He served as Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995, interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011-2013 and was appointed as Canada’s Special Envoy to Myanmar (2017) and Canada’s Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues (2020). Mr. Rae taught law and public policy at the University of Toronto and was a partner and senior counsel to the law firm OKT LLP, specializing in indigenous law and constitutional issues. Bob Rae is a Privy Councillor, a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario.

Philip Ducharme is currently the Vice-President of Entrepreneurship & Procurement at the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. In his role he is responsible for leading Supply Change™, CCAB’s Aboriginal Procurement Strategy and the Tools and Financing for Aboriginal Business (TFAB) program.

In the last 25 years, Philip has held several senior roles with various Indigenous organizations across Canada in a variety of sectors including business, health, education, employment and awards and recognition. Philip currently participates as a member of the Supplier Stakeholder Network, Procurement Assistance Canada – Ontario region as well as being a member of the Centre for Canadian Nuclear Sustainability (CCNS) Indigenous advisory council.

Philip graduated from the University of Regina in Business Administration.

Philip Ducharme is a proud Métis with all eight of his Great-Grandparents attached to Métis Scrip applications and is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

Tareq Hadhad is telling his story. He was a Syrian refugee and now living his new life in Nova Scotia. He is the founder and CEO of Peace by Chocolate, the recipient of the EY Entrepreneur of The Year 2021 for Atlantic, named one of the Top 25 Immigrants in The Maritimes and awarded RBC’s top Immigrant Award and Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020. All of this has happened since Tareq’s arrival to Canada in December 2015 as a newcomer.

In 2012 the Hadhad’s factory that housed the family chocolate-making business were destroyed which forced them to seek safety. Passionate about peace and entrepreneurship, his family relaunched their business to recreate the chocolates they once exported across the Middle East.

In January 2020, Tareq received his official Canadian Citizenship which garnered international attention and has become one of the greatest accomplishments of his life.

Tareq has spoken at several events for corporate, government and not for profit organizations both in person and online. He has done over 500 interviews with different news teams across the globe. Tareq speaks on the compelling story of his family, the positive impact of Syrian newcomers and the spirit of entrepreneurship and giving back.

Jesse is the Director, Research, Innovation and Legal Affairs for the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, a non-political and business focussed coalition of over 80 First Nations organizations working to promote Indigenous economic participation and environmental stewardship in relation to major projects. Jesse has also served as the Director of Policy and Indigenous Relations for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Director of Rights Implementation for the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. In those roles, he contributed to the establishment of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, the reform of Canada’s environmental assessment processes and the passage of federal legislation to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Jesse was a Senior Indigenous Fellow at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a founding board member of the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project and one of 36 candidates endorsed by GreenPAC as an environmental leader in the 2021 Federal General Election. He holds degrees from the University of Guelph, the University of Ottawa and the Harvard Law School. As a proud citizen of Canada, the Anishinabek Nation and the Oneida Nation (Wolf Clan), Jesse is committed to the achievement of reconciliation through the implementation of rights, treaties and responsibilities.

Sharleen Gale has been an elected Councillor of the Fort Nelson First Nation since 2009. She is an active Indigenous leader and member of the Fort Nelson First Nation and envisions a future where all members are working together to become a strong, proud, healthy, and self-reliant Nation. She is the granddaughter of Fred Burke and Madeline Needlay. Her roots run deep in the lives of her people and she enjoys being on the land with her family exploring the territory and teaching her son the traditional ways on how to hunt, fish, and gather medicines and berries during the seasonal rounds.

As a leader and Chief of the Nation, she understands the importance of upholding the spirit and intent of the treaty by asserting her peoples’ rights to their land and taking responsibility for ensuring that our future generations are able to live their lives in their territory in a way that honours our ancestors. Sharleen started her career at Westcoast Energy Inc. in 2000. Her various roles working in administration, finance, maintenance, planning and in leadership have given her extensive experience in the oil and gas sector and the corporate world, along with the vision to ensure our people are managing our lands and our resources in our territory to the benefit of our members.

Sharleen is the chair of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) and believes that First Nations need to have the opportunity to have equity in major project infrastructure and access to meaningful financing for these projects happening in their territories.
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David Parkinson has been covering business and financial markets since 1990, and has been with The Globe and Mail since 2000. In his years with The Globe, he has been an energy reporter, an editorial writer, a financial-markets columnist, and spent two years as Investment Editor. He has been an economics columnist/reporter since 2014. A Calgary native, he holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Calgary, and Masters in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario. He received a Southam Fellowship from the University of Toronto in 1999-2000, studying international political economics.

Doug Saunders is The Globe and Mail's international affairs columnist. He has been a writer with the Globe since 1995, and has extensive experience as a foreign correspondent, having run the Globe's foreign bureaus in Los Angeles and London.

Doug was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and educated in Toronto. After early success in magazines and journalistic research, he first worked for The Globe and Mail as a general news reporter, then as an editorial writer and feature writer. In 1996, he joined the weekend section where he created a specialized writing position on media, culture, advertising and popular phenomena. In 1999, he became the paper's Los Angeles bureau reporter, covering both social and political stories in the American west and the broader developments in wider U.S. society. From 2003 until 2012, he was the paper's London-based European bureau chief, responsible for the paper's coverage of more than 40 countries. He has also done extensive reporting in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia; from 2013 to 2015 he was the paper's online opinion editor and creator of the online Globe Debate section.

He has won the National Newspaper Award, the Canadian counterpart to the Pulitzer Prize, on five occasions, including an unprecedented three consecutive awards for critical writing in 1998-2000, and awards honouring him as Canada’s best columnist in 2006 and 2013. He has also won the Stanley McDowell Prize for writing and has been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award. His work has been awarded the Schelling Prize in Architectural Theory, the National Library of China Wenjin Book Award and the Donner Prize.

He has published three books. His first, Arrival City (2010) chronicled the unprecedented wave of rural-to-urban migration and the rise of urban immigrant enclaves, using firsthand reporting on five continents. It has been published in eight languages and has won numerous honours, including the Donner Prize for best book on politics and a runner-up for the Gelber Prize for the world's best international-affairs book. His second, The Myth of the Muslim Tide (2012), examined the effects of immigration from Islamic countries to the West and has been published to acclaim in Canada, the United States and Germany. His third, Maximum Canada: Why 35 Million Canadians Are Not Enough (2017) is a detailed examination of Canada's history of population loss, its current problems of underpopulation and the obstacles to future population growth.

James Scongack is the Chief Development Officer and EVP Operational Services at Bruce Power. In this role, James is responsible for operational services at Bruce Power – the World’s largest operating nuclear facility and Canada’s largest private-sector clean energy infrastructure project. This includes site operational services, emergency protective services, external relations, nuclear regulatory affairs, environment and sustainability, asset dispatch and information technology.
As Chief Development Officer, James leads the company’s medical isotope business, net zero initiatives, power trading, business development and indigenous/community economic partnerships.

He is committed to Canada’s leading global role in the fight against cancer serving as Chair of the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council and the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) and as a Board Member on the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. He also serves on the Board of LifeLabs, Canada’s largest provider of medical laboratory services.

James has an Executive MBA from London’s Ivey Business School and a Chartered Director through McMaster’s DeGroote Business School. James also holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Guelph College of Management and Economics in Leadership and a BA (Hons) and has completed Master’s-level Project Management certification through York University’s Schulich Business School. He is a graduate of the US-based Institute of Nuclear Power Operations Senior Plant Manager Program and the Bruce Power Nuclear Operations Executive Fundamentals Program.

He has been awarded the Provincial Diamond Leadership Award by Easter Seals for his work supporting the organization and kids with physical disabilities and is a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

One of the most influential political analysts of our time, David Frum brings a rational conscience into the mainstream. He helps crystallize what the current political climate both nationally and globally will mean for your business or organization – for the good, the bad and the future. As a Staff Writer at The Atlantic, David’s commentary on social and political issues generates thought-provoking discussions throughout America and around the world. He provides fascinating insight into what political outcomes mean for specific audiences around the world in addressing geo-political issues or global and international affairs.

One of the most influential political analysts of our time, David Frum brings a rational conscience into the mainstream. He helps crystallize what the current political climate both nationally and globally will mean for your business or organization – for the good, the bad and the future. As a Staff Writer at The Atlantic, David’s commentary on social and political issues generates thought-provoking discussions throughout America and around the world. He provides fascinating insight into what political outcomes mean for specific audiences around the world in addressing geo-political issues or global and international affairs.

Phillip Crawley oversees the strategy and operations of The Globe’s paper, websites, and magazines. Since 1998, he has guided The Globe to highly successful leadership in new media and online products. During his tenure, The Globe and its staff have been honoured by many organizations and won scores of National Newspaper Awards. 

Crawley has held many senior executive positions with some of the world’s leading media companies around the world, including The New Zealand Herald, The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, and The Times Supplements and The Daily Telegraph in London. He was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2012.

Carolyn Rogers was appointed Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in December 2021 for a seven-year term.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Rogers served as Secretary General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. From 2016 to 2019, she was Assistant Superintendent, Regulation Sector at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, where she was responsible for policy-related functions.

Ms. Rogers was Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Institutions Commission of British Columbia from 2010 to 2016, and she chaired the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators and the Canadian Credit Union Prudential Supervisors’ Association.

Konrad Yakabuski is a columnist for The Globe and Mail. He writes on politics, policy and business for The Globe’s Opinion section and Report on Business. He was a 2014 National Newspaper Award finalist in the column writing category.

Konrad previously worked as The Globe’s chief U.S. political writer, based in Washington, covering all aspects of the American political scene up to and including the 2012 presidential election campaign.

Prior to joining the Washington bureau in 2009, he was based in The Globe’s Montreal bureau and wrote on Quebec business, politics and culture for more than a decade. Before that, he worked as a political reporter at Le Devoir. He began his journalism career at the Toronto Star.

Konrad holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from McGill University and a Master of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of British Columbia.

Mai Mavinkurve is a CIGI senior fellow and a serial entrepreneur. Mai has founded and run companies in the emerging technology space building data, AI and blockchain solutions for industry. She is currently VP, Data at TradeX and serves as the Chief Technology Advisor for Innovate Cities, a not-for-profit organization. Mai is an industry expert and adviser in applied AI and data governance. As a member of
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Economic Strategy Table on digital industries, she led the subgroup that developed recommendations on national data strategy and intellectual property. She has also represented Canada at the Group of Seven ministerial meetings on AI and the future of work. Mai has advised on the Ontario Digital and Data Task Force, as well as co-chaired a data governance initiative with the Standards Council of Canada.
Mai was acknowledged as one of the 30 Most Influential Women in AI in Canada. She is an experienced engineer and executive leader with a focus on the practical applications and implications of AI and data.

Martha Hall Findlay, Chief Climate Officer, leads Suncor’s efforts to address the nexus of climate and energy, including strategic planning in collaboration with various Suncor teams, and stewarding many of Suncor’s external relationships and strategic collaborations, to build an environment that supports a future for Canadian energy. Martha was instrumental in the development of, and plays a critical leadership role on, the multi-company Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero by 2050 initiative.

She was named a Canadian Climate Champion in 2021 by the British High Commission and the Canada Climate Law Initiative; she was named as one of Canada’s Clean50 for 2022; she was named by the Energy Council as a top global female oil and gas executive and one of the top 275 women influencers.

Martha joined Suncor in 2020 as Chief Sustainability Officer and played a key role in stewarding Suncor’s many external relationships and strategic collaborations in support of the company’s ongoing economic, environmental and social performance leadership.

Prior to joining Suncor, Martha was the President and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, one of Canada’s most important public policy think tanks, where her focus was on strong public policy recommendations for the economic and social prosperity of western Canada, and by extension Canada as a whole. She has written dozens of essays, articles and op eds for national publications in both official languages and has frequently appeared as a thought leader in national print and broadcast media.

She has over 30 years of experience as a corporate lawyer, international trade expert, senior executive and successful entrepreneur, supporting major multinationals as well as start-ups – primarily in wireless telecommunications and mobile payments, both in Canada and in Europe.

As a twice-elected Member of Parliament, she served in the Official Opposition shadow cabinet for International Trade; Finance; Transport, Infrastructure and Communities; and Public Works and Government Services, and she served on the House of Commons Standing Committees for all of those portfolios. She is currently a member of the Minister of International Trade’s Trade Expert Advisory Council.

Martha’s community engagement has included serving as an advisory council member, board director and executive for a variety of policy, environmental, community and cultural organizations including the Energy Futures Lab, Positive Energy (University of Ottawa), Protein Industries Canada, the Glenbow Museum, the Georgian Bay Association and CKUA Radio Network. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a member of the energy advisory board for MaRS.

She was Canadian Championships silver medalist in alpine skiing (1976), coached several young skiers who went on to compete in the Olympics, and served six years of the Board of Alpine Canada, her last two as Chair.

Diana joined Human Resources leading the Diversity and Inclusion Team in February 2022. A seasoned lawyer who started her career at TD as Counsel in 2015, Diana is adept at enabling innovation while mitigating risk. In 2018, she was promoted to Associate Vice President, Legal in the role of Special Assistant to the Group Head and General Counsel, where she co-led the Enterprise Women in Leadership area of focus as well as the Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Councils for Legal and related risk functions. In these D&I-related roles, she launched innovative initiatives to drive ally behaviour, disrupt bias, and strengthen inclusive leadership, including in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. Diana most recently led the team in Legal supporting TD's Distribution Channels, Marketing, Human Rights and Next Evolution of Work.

Diana holds a Honours Bachelors degree in Government as well as a Masters degree in Education, both from Harvard University, as well as a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Toronto. Before joining TD, she practiced law at Latham and Watkins LLP in Boston. She volunteers with ACCES Employment in support of new-to-Canada women.

As Executive Vice President, Strategy and Investment Management, Wendy is responsible for leading the company’s strategy and investment management functions, including key strategic programs to generate new areas of growth as well as enhancing the economic value of Northland’s asset portfolio. She joined the company in June 2020.

Wendy comes to Northland with more than 15 years of leadership in business strategy and investment management across multiple technologies and jurisdictions within the renewable energy and infrastructure asset sectors. Most recently, she was Senior Principal, Relationship Investments in Active Equities at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Prior to that, she was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Co., serving as a senior member of the risk practice and the corporate and investment banking practice.

Wendy holds a PhD in Bioelectronics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, as well as a Master’s Degree in Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario.

Kathryn Blaze Baum has been a national reporter for The Globe and Mail since 2013.

For several years, she covered the issue of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women. In this role, she delved into untold stories, covered breaking news across the country and worked on investigations, including into Manitoba’s dangerous use of hotels for emergency foster-care placements. Her work on Indigenous issues earned her a 2015 National Newspaper Award and a Canadian Hillman Prize. She was also part of a team whose investigative MMIW coverage was nominated for a Michener Award for public-service journalism. Previous to her beat work, Kathryn was a parliamentary reporter in the Ottawa bureau. Her coverage for The Globe has also included breaking news such as the 2014 Moncton shootings and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and manhunt.

Earlier, as a reporter for The National Post, she traveled to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, to New York for the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and to several U.S. states for the 2012 presidential election. She appeared on Dan Rather Reports for her investigative work on Canada’s historic adoption practices. Before moving to Toronto, she was a Manhattan-based stringer for The New York Times, writing for the Metro and Business Day sections and covering the 2008 presidential election.

Kathryn studied journalism at Carleton University and obtained a masters in journalism from New York University. She hails from Winnipeg.

Ivan Semeniuk covers science for The Globe and Mail, a beat that ranges from the furthest reaches of the cosmos to the most pressing issues and discoveries related to the environment, technology and human health. A career science journalist, editor and broadcaster, he has previously worked for the journal Nature, New Scientist magazine and Discovery Channel. His work in various media has garnered several awards and nominations.

Sandra has been a journalist for more than 20 years and was most recently the editor-in-chief of MoneySense magazine. As Head of Newsroom Development at The Globe and Mail, her key responsibilities include training initiatives to support editorial plans and goals as well as partnering with managers to meet current and future needs. She also drives diversity, equity and inclusion across the newsroom, and leads the management of existing and future scholarships, internships, and The Globe's summer staff program.

During Sandra's previous tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Living, the magazine won numerous accolades, and maintained its place as the most-read paid women’s lifestyle publication in print and online. Sandra also helmed the highly successful launch of Walmart Live Better/Vivre mieux Walmart, and served in senior editorial capacities at Today’s Parent. Her byline has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Cottage Life and the National Post, among others. She is a two-time National Magazine Awards finalist, a repeat NMA judge, and a two-time NMA host. She sits on the board of directors of Canada’s History Society (publishers of Canada’s History and Kayak magazines), and SABEW Canada.​

Mahima Pushkarna is a designer, researcher, and technologist at the People + AI Research Initiative at Google. She leads the design of innovative tools and frameworks for Responsible AI that have been widely used in industry and academia for understanding data, explaining models, and interpreting their “decisions.” Her work draws from a mix of human-centered, participatory, and speculative design practices to bridge the gap between upstream developer practices and their impact on end user experiences and society.
Most recently, her work on Data & Model Cards has advanced the human-centered design of transparency and explainability so AI practitioners can collaboratively navigate complex sociotechnical landscapes as they build AI technologies at scale – both within Google and across the industry.
Mahima has over a decade of design and research experience in the space of technology. Prior to Google, she worked as a product designer at Innovation by Design, a global think-tank; consulted at MIT's Design Lab, and designed visualization tools at Ion Interactive.

Kelly Cryderman is a Globe and Mail reporter and columnist who has been writing about politics, energy and all things Alberta for two decades.
She has a journalism and political science degree from Carleton University and a master's degree in international history from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In her journalism career, she has worked for the Ottawa Citizen, Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald, and briefly reported from Afghanistan. Kelly makes regular appearances on CBC political panels, and has been a member of the Globe’s Calgary bureau since 2013.

Dan Breznitz is a University Professor and Munk Chair of Innovation Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy with a cross-appointment in the Department of Political Science of the University of Toronto, where he is also the Co-Director of the Innovation Policy Lab and a Senior Fellow of Messi College. In addition, he is a Fellow of CIFAR where he Co-Directs the program on Innovation, Equity and the Future of Prosperity. Professor Breznitz is known worldwide as an expert on rapid-innovation-based industries and their globalization, as well as for his pioneering research on the distributional impact of innovation policies. He has been a member of several boards, and has served as an advisor on science, technology, and innovation policies to multinational corporations, governments, and international organizations. He currently serves as the Clifford Clarke Economist of the Canadian Department of Finance, where he is responsible for new economic thinking and the restructuring of the Canadian economy. Before moving to U of T, Breznitz spent eight years as a professor in Georgia Institute of Technology and was the cofounder and CEO of a software company in Israel. He is the author of numerous papers, chapters and edited volumes as well as award winning books including Innovation and the State: Political Choice and Strategies for Growth in Israel, Taiwan, and Ireland, and The Run of the Red Queen: Government, Innovation, Globalization, and Economic Growth in China. His recently published book, Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World, offers pragmatic advice while debunking dangerous myth on innovation, growth and prosperity, was chosen by the Financial Times as one of the best books of 2021, and won the inaugural Balsillie prize for Public Policy given by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, as well as the Donner Prize for the Best Book on Public Policy.

Matt Lundy is an economics reporter for The Globe and Mail's Report on Business section.

James has over two decades of business and engineering leadership experience in cleantech and energy, including strategy, operations, finance, design, and engineering. Currently, James is CEO of e-Zinc, a Toronto-based energy storage company with a proprietary long-duration technology that economically enables 100% renewable energy solutions. James has successfully raised over $40 million for the company and is responsible for the formation and execution of the company's strategic plan to lead e-Zinc’s commercialization journey.

Prior to e-Zinc, James was Director of Business Development with MaRS' Advanced Energy Centre, developing and leading a new consulting business focused on the adoption of innovative clean energy technologies by businesses. His other experience includes management consulting with Bain & Company to develop strategic solutions for market-leading companies in North America and Europe. James also spent many years as an engineer working in the renewable energy industry with a variety of technologies, including hydrogen fuel cells, as well as micro-hydro and geothermal generation.