SCHEDULE AT-A-GLANCE (Subject to Change)
Welcome Reception: Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Venue: Arcadia Earth, 486 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario
6:00 – 8:00 pm: Opening Reception and Registration
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Venue: The Quay – 100 Queens Quay East, Toronto, ON
7:00 – 8:00 am: Breakfast
8:10 – 8:25 am: Welcome Remarks
- Mark Fisher, President and CEO, Council of the Great Lakes Region
- Giles Gherson, President and CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade
8:25 – 8:30 am: Breakfast Sponsor Remarks
- Tim Kocur, Executive Director, Waterfront BIA
8:30 – 9:00 am: Keynote: State of the Great Lakes Economy Outlook
- Doug Porter, Chief Economist, BMO Capital Markets
9:00 – 9:30 am: Keynote: Mind the Gap – North American Voter Attitudes and Electoral Preferences
- Don Guy, Business Owner, Pollara Strategic Insights
9:30 – 9:50 am: Remarks from The Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario
- The Hon. Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario
- Closing Remarks:
- Earl Provost, Ontario Government Rep. of Great Lakes States, Ontario Trade and Investment Office
9:50 – 10:35 am: Fireside Chat: A Renewed U.S. – Canada Partnership – Leading the Way in the Great Lakes Region
- Tom Clark, Consul General – New York, Canadian Government
- Baxter Hunt, Consul General – Toronto, U.S. Government
- David Paterson, Ontario’s Representative in Washington, Government of Ontario
10:35 – 11:00 am: Networking Break
11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Breakout Sessions
Skilling Up: Tackling Labour Shortages in the Great Lakes Region
- David Morley, Vice President, National Government Relations, Pomerleau
- Jay Walsh, Vice President, Economic Development and Innovation, University of Illinois System
- Surranna Sandy, Chief Executive Officer, Skills for Change
Sustainable Infrastructure: Building Back Better; Delivering Long-Term ESG Benefits
- David Lapp, Associate, Climate Risk Institute
- Scott MacKenzie, Director, Corporate and External Affairs, Toyota Motor Corporation of Canada
- Anthony Kane, President and CEO, Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
- K.N. (Guna) Gunalan, Senior Vice – President, AECOM
- Peter Johnson, Director, Sustainable Finance, Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets
Easing Border Congestion: Growth Potential in the Great Lakes Region
- Jane Humphreys, Founder, Beyond Borders Policy Consulting
- Marta Leardi-Anderson, Executive Director, University of Windsor, Cross Border Institute
- Charl Van Niekerk, CEO, Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority
- Natalie Kinloch, CEO, Federal Bridge Corporation Limited
- Amy Winn, Director, Blue Water Bridge, Michigan Department of Transportation
12:00 – 1:30 pm: Keynote Presentation: Moving Forward, Faster: The Future of Passenger Rail in the Great Lakes Region
- Martin Imbleau, President and CEO, VIA High Frequency Rail
- Joseph Barr, Director of Network Development East, Amtrak
1:30 – 2:30 pm: Plenary Panel: USMCA+4: Future-Proofing Cross-Border Trade, Economic Integration and Supply Chains in the Great Lakes
- Xavier Delgado, Research Associate, Canada Institute, The Wilson Center
- Dan Ujczo, Senior Counsel, Thompson Hine LLP
- Birgit Matthiesen, Director, North American Manufacturing, ArentFox Schiff
- David Adams, President and CEO, Global Automakers of Canada
- Jack Hughes, Senior Vice President, Planning and Operations, Business Council of Canada
2:30 – 3:00 pm: Networking Break
3:00 – 3:45 pm: Plenary Panel: The Great Lakes Auto Sector – Leading the Future of Mobility
- Stephen Beatty, Vice President and Corporate Secretary, Toyota Canada
- Sarah Goldfeder, Director, Government Relations and Corporate Affairs., General Motors Canada
- Bernard Swiecki, Vice President, Mobility and Research, Detroit Regional Partnership
- John de Boer, Senior Director, Government Affairs and Public Policy, BlackBerry Limited
- Mona Eghanian, Assistant Vice President, OVIN
- Raed Kadri, Head, OVIN
- Lisa Boulton, General Counsel, AGS Automotive Systems
3:45 – 4:30 pm: Plenary Panel: The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway – Leveraging our Connected Waterways to Build Stronger Supply Chains and Improve our Competitiveness
- Deborah Wilson, VP, Communications and Public Affairs, PortsToronto
- Ian Hamilton, President and CEO, HOPA Ports
- Adam Tindall-Schlicht, Administrator, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation
- William Friedman, President and CEO, Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority
- Guilliaum Dubreuil, Director, Government and External Affairs, CSL Group
6:15 – 9:00 pm: Reception, Dinner, and Great Lakes Changemaker Awards Ceremony
- Lisa Frizzell, VP, Communications, Nuclear Waste Management Organization
- Mike Shoreman, Motivational Speaker
- Flavio Volpe, C.M., President, Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association
- Jody Grant, Nanticoke Refinery Manager, Imperial Oil Inc.
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Venue: The Quay – 100 Queens Quay East, Toronto, ON
8:00 – 9:00 am: Tech Pitch Breakfast: Accelerating Sustainability in the Great Lakes Region Pitch Session
- Ryan Jeffery, Senior Managing Director, Gener8tor Sustainability Accelerator
- David Ceolin, Partner, Innovation Grade Ventures
- Michael Arens, Co-Founder and CEO, Clean Earth Rovers
- Corey Morrow, Enterprise Account Executive, Intuitive AI
- Derek Davy, CEO, Econse
- Natalija Vojno, Director, Business Development, RainGrid
- Stephen Fischer, Business Development, Serial Cleaners
- Sanders Lazier, CEO, Carbonhound Inc.
9:00 – 9:20: Morning Keynote and Fireside Chat
- The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change
- Catherine Clark, President, Catherine Clark Communications Inc.
9:25 – 9:45 am: Fireside Chat: The Business of Sustainability – The Private Sector’s Role in a Sustainable Great Lakes Region
- Rumina Dhalla, UN Global Compact Network Canada, Board Chair, UNGC Network Canada
- Amy Senter, Vice President, Global Sustainability, Martin Brower
- Paul Sambanis, Vice President, Sustainability, Sloan
9:50 – 10:30 am: Plenary Panel: Sustainable Finance – Challenges and Opportunities in the Great Lakes Region
- Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, Managing Partner, TwinRiver Capital
- Ravinder Gill, Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance, Commercial Banking Group, RBC
- R. Paul Herman, Vice President, Sustainable Investing, HIP Investor Inc.
10:30 – 11:00 am: Networking Break
11:00 – 11:45 am: Breakout Sessions:
Freshwater Future: Advancing Corporate Water Stewardship in the Great Lakes Region
- Roy Brouwer, Professor of Economics and Executive Director, University of Waterloo’s Water Institute
- Noelle Brigham, Director of ESG, A.O. Smith
- Brian Bruce, President, Municipal Water – Central Region, Veolia North America
- Alan Gilden, Vice President, Global Quality, Watts Water Technologies
- Dr. Andreanne Simard, Senior Natural Resources Manager, BlueTriton Brands
Back to our Roots: Leading the Global Regenerative Agriculture Revolution in the Great Lakes Region
- Jordan Sinclair, Vice President, Strategy, ALUS
- Alan Martinez, Senior Manager, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Cornell University
- Elizabeth Sheppard, Manager Integrated Supply Chain and Agriculture Strategy, McCain Foods
- The Honourable Lisa Thompson, Minister of Rural Affairs, Government of Ontario
- Laurie Isley, Owner, Sunrise Farms and Farmer-Director, United Soybean Board
A Fair and Just Future: Environmental Equity for Communities Across the Great Lakes Region
- Des Jones, Chief Strategy Officer, Juniper Park \ TBWA
- Claude Griffin, Executive Director, US Business Council for Sustainable Development
- Shoshannah Lenski, Associate Director, Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
- Sanjiv Sinha, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, CIS
11:45 am – 1:00 pm: Fireside Chat: Achieving the Global Sustainable Development Goals in the U.S. – Canada Great Lakes Region
- His Excellency the Honourable Bob Rae, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations
- John Wilkinson, Former Ontario Provincial Government Minister and CGLR Board Member, Wilkinson Insight
- John W. McArthur, Director, Center for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institution
- Sandra Pupatello, Board Chair, PortsToronto
1:00 – 1:45 pm: Breakout Sessions:
Nature Now: Confronting Biodiversity Loss; Rewilding the Great Lakes Region
- August Wichert, Environment and Climate Sustainability Lead, UN Global Compact Network Canada
- Mike Williams, Manager, Conservation PRO – Ontario, Ducks Unlimited
- Anthony Eallonardo, Senior Technical Manager, Biodiversity and Ecology, Ramboll
- Heather Brown, Vice President, Environment, Health and Safety, Ontario Power Generation
Accelerating Climate Ambitions: Achieving Net-Zero by 2050 in the Great Lakes Region
- Dan Hoornweg, Associate Professor and Richard Marceau Chair, Communications and Public Affairs, Ontario Tech University
- Laura Devoni, Director of Strategy, Corporate Affairs, and Sustainability, Algoma Steel
- Kurt Kornelson, Director of Environment and Climate Change, Ontario Power Generation
- James Nowlan, Executive Director, Environment and Climate, City of Toronto
- Alexis Harley, SVP and Chief Risk and Resiliency Officer, New York Power Authority
Great Lakes AI and Data Science: Pushing the Boundaries of Global Research and Innovation
- Aarti Singh, Professor and Director of the U.S. NSF AI Institute for Societal Decision Making, Carnegie Mellon University
- Dr. Deval Pandya, Vice President and Head of AI Engineering, Vector Institute
- Stephan Jou, Sr. Director, Security Analytics, OpenText Cybersecurity
- David Ceolin, Partner, Innovation Grade Ventures
- Patrick Tammer, Senior Investment Director, Scale AI
1:45 – 2:00 pm: Networking Break
2:00 – 2:45 pm: Plenary Panel: Circular Great Lakes – Forging a Future Without Plastic Waste and Litter
- Mark Stumpf, Chief Advisor, Projects – Americas, Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW)
- Michelle Salim, Advanced Recycling Program Manager, ExxonMobil
- Eric Dixon, Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Solutions, WM
- Mark Fisher, President and CEO, Council of the Great Lakes Region
- Rachael Graziotto, Compliance Manager, Reverse Logistics Group
2:45 – 3:05 pm: Plenary Presentation: Creating Change – Bringing Everyone Along
- Des Jones, Chief Strategy Officer, Juniper Park \ TBWA
- Sandy Skees, Executive Vice President, Global Purpose & Impact, Porter Novelli
3:05 – 3:45 pm: Keynote Address
- Lucas Cleveland, Mayor, City of Coburg
3:45 – 4:00 pm: Remarks and Great Lakes Changemaker Award presentation
- Vance Badawey, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Government of Canada
4:00 – 4:10 pm: Concluding Remarks
- Brian Ames, Chair of the Board, Council of the Great Lakes Region
