Speakers

Angèle Beausoleil, Ph.D. 

Academic Director, Business Design Initiative @ Rotman

Dr. Beausoleil (she/her) is Canada's first PhD to focus on innovative leadership using design processes and methods. A 'pracademic,' she has worked on corporate brands such as Starbucks, McDonalds, Sony, The Gap, and Telus, and today teaches design methodologies for business innovation while leading field research inside organizations on innovation process design, navigation and management. As Academic Director of BDI @ Rotman and a visiting lecturer of Applied Innovation at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, Dr. Beausoleil’s mission is to craft high impact teaching and student-centred learning experiences.

Cara Beck

vice president partner resources, Starbucks Coffee Canada

Cara (she/her) began her professional career in the apparel industry in Los Angeles, California before moving back to her hometown of Seattle, Washington. During her more than 17-year career at Starbucks, Cara has led teams in Learning & Development, Talent Acquisition, Leadership Development, and also served the business as a HR Business Partner for Supply Chain, Partner Resources, Finance, CPG and manufacturing at the Evolution Fresh Juicery in Southern California. In 2018, after successfully completing the Global Coffee Alliance with Nestle, Cara moved to Toronto to serve as vice-president, Partner Resources (HR) at Starbucks Coffee Canada supporting more than twenty-four thousand partners nationally. Outside of work, Cara enjoys spending time with her husband Steve and their two grown children, Air Force Pilot Aaron and soon-to-be University Grad, Natalie.

Tim Coldwell

President, Chandos Construction

Tim (he/him) is a husband, dad and Mohawk entrepreneur focused on leading by serving, culture, and the monetization of ideas. He serves as President of Chandos, a purpose-driven national technical builder leading change in the Canadian construction industry. Chandos is the largest B-Corp certified contractor in the world and is proud to be one hundred percent employee owned. Under Tim’s leadership, Chandos has forged partnerships with social enterprises across Canada focusing on employment of at-risk youth and those who are under-represented in the construction industry. Tim is an advisor to San Francisco’s Center for Innovation in the Design & Construction Industry and was the founding board chair of the Integrated Project Delivery Alliance. Tim has been named a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40® and is an alumnus of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. 

Anthony Fieldman

Partner, DIALOG

Anthony (they/them) has spent nearly 30 years as a licensed, practicing architect who believes the path to innovative solutions is polymathic thinking, fed by robust exposure to a cross-section of experiences and influences. A self-described “art school kid” and alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design, Anthony is always looking for “the poetry in the prosaic”. His body of work spans 20 countries and most building typologies. It has been widely recognized, exhibited and published, garnering more than 50 international design awards, including the prestigious World Architecture Festival. Today, Anthony is a Partner at the integrated design firm DIALOG, and is based in Toronto. Prior to that, Anthony was a Senior Principal at HOK and a member of its Board of Directors, founded and ran RAFT Architects, was a Principal and Design Director at Perkins+Will, and was an Associate Partner and Lead Designer for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Penelope Fridman

President, L’Institut Idée (& Rotman MBA ‘91)

Penelope (she/her) brings an uncommon level of insight and strategic leadership to her impressive list of clients. She founded L’Institut Idée, part of the Humanise collective of independent companies, where she serves as president. She has created and implemented business strategies, visioning and marketing initiatives for North American and global clients across many sectors including healthcare, hospitality, real estate, retail, financial services and consumer packaged goods. Her clients include Marriott International, Sotheby’s International Realty, RBC, Audi, AbbVie, Plan International Canada, Hospital for Sick Children, Bausch + Lomb, Cadillac Fairview and Live Nation. Penelope is an alumna of The University of Western Ontario and Rotman School of Management and is on the board of Million Peacemakers – an organization committed to co-creating a culture of peace in the world.

Tim Galles

Chief Idea Officer, Barkley

Tim Galles (they/them) is CIO of Barkley, a full-service creative idea company that builds whole brands for modern consumers. Tim is also director of the Whole Brand Project, Barkley's think tank for studying whole brands, and the author of the book Scratch: how to build a potent modern brand from the inside out, detailing the steps and methodology Barkley uses in its work. As CIO, Tim oversees the connection, integration and innovation of ideas between Barkley’s three idea centers: Strategy and Transformation, Design and Experience and Communications and Activation. Prior to Barkley, Tim led integrated ideas at Dentsu, Havas, TBWA/CHIAT/DAY, Leo Burnett, Team Detroit, and J. Walter Thompson. His brand experience includes Microsoft, Ford, GM, Nissan, Reebok, Dairy Queen, Planet Fitness, Motel 6, Target, Smart Cars, MTV, Hearst Media, Danone, Diageo, Nestlé and Kimberly-Clark. Tim also teaches Designing for Good at The University of Kansas’s design school and is on the board of Big Picture Learning in Providence, Rhode Island.

Jeanette Jackson

CEO, Foresight Canada

Jeanette (she/her) is an experienced CEO and entrepreneur with broad experience in technology, business development, marketing, and operations. She has led rapid growth at Foresight, transforming a regional organization into Canada’s largest cleantech accelerator. Jeanette is a frequent speaker, media guest, and advisor to industry and government. Prior to joining Foresight, Jeanette was founding CEO of Light-Based Technologies, which she built into a thriving enterprise with venture capital supports and a successful personal exit in 2011. As President of The Brag Company, she oversaw the complete restructuring of the business and sale of the company in just two years. As an Executive in Residence with Foresight, Jeanette advised more than 20 ventures in several markets including bio-energy, electric vehicles, smart buildings, water tech, robotics and wind.

Grant McCracken

Anthropologist, Ethnographer, & Founder, The Griff

Grant McCracken (they/them) is a cultural anthropologist. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago. He is the author of 14 books including Chief Culture Officer and A New Honor Code. His next book The Return of the Artisan will appear in the summer of 2022. Grant was the founder and Director of the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum. He has taught at Harvard Business School, University of Cambridge, and MIT. He is a co-founder of the Artisanal Economies Project. He is the inventor of The Griff, an early warning system for social and cultural change. He consults widely, including Google, Ford Foundation, Kanye West, Reddit, Netflix, Sony, Boston Book Festival, NBC, Diageo, IBM, Nike, and the Obama White House.

Billy Seabrook

Global Chief Design Officer, IBM iX

Billy (he/him) is a Senior Partner and global leader of IBM iX — the customer experience transformation service line within IBM Consulting. He oversees the portfolio of experience design and mobile offerings and leads a practice of over 5,500 people across 50+ global studios to create human-centric experiences powered by innovative technology. Prior to joining IBM in 2017, he held executive leadership roles at Digitas, eBay, and Citi where he managed the growth and change of the organizations and the day-to-day activities of global creative teams.

Blair Severn

Chairman & Co-Founder, enabling ideas® (& Rotman MBA ‘01)

Blair Severn (he/him) is best known for building strategic growth for businesses. He honed a talent for business strategy through both formal education and real world practice, solving increasingly complex issues and retooling organizations of expanding scale for new growth. While full time as a marketing executive, Blair earned a Master’s degree in Corporate Finance & Investment Banking, and studied Strategic Business Design and Integrative Thinking under the stewardship of Roger Martin. In 2004, he co-founded Azure Corporation with a new type of service model that could deliver more robust, integrated, and complete solutions than typical management consultancies. Today, he is Chairman of enabling ideas®, a solutions design firm, where he specializes in managing ambiguity to drive complex decision-making.

Catherine Zhu

Senior Partner, Egon Zehnder International (& Rotman MBA ‘01)

Catherine Zhu (she/her), based in Toronto and Hong Kong, has deep expertise in digital transformation and board governance. She is the former Head of Egon Zehnder’s Greater China Practice and was the Managing Partner in Hong Kong. Catherine is a trusted advisor to multinationals operating between China and North America, and also helps entrepreneurs and family businesses meet their most pressing board and CEO succession needs. Passionate about diversity and inclusion, she advises global companies to enhance diversity in the boardroom from gender, racial and ethnic perspectives. Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Catherine was a Managing Director at Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in the Asia-Pacific region, and has held leadership roles with Motorola, Nortel, and Yum! Brands. Catherine earned an MBA from the University of Toronto and a BA from Zhejiang University. She is currently a Trustee of The Commons Project, a global public trust for health data sharing.