Our 2023 speakers

Christine Beaudoin

Communication Director, Emma

TBD

Sophia Bennaceur

Regional and Technology Head, Morgan Stanley

Sophia Bennaceur is the Regional Head and Technology head of Morgan Stanley Montreal. She is responsible for leading the office and driving strategy and execution in continued alignment with Morgan Stanley’s Technology Division and the Global Centers.​

Sophia joined Morgan Stanley in 2016 as the Chief Operating Officer for Montreal, overseeing all aspects of regional strategy execution and enabling the office’s remarkable growth.​

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Sophia  worked at Société Générale Investment Bank where she held senior positions in Paris and Montreal, including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Société Générale Canada. ​

Sophia graduated from HEC Paris with an MBA degree in 1994 and from Exeter University with a MA in Finance and Investment in 1989.​

A strong supporter of diversity & inclusion and philanthropy, Sophia spearheads programs and partnerships aiming to support and develop diverse talent at Morgan Stanley. She leads a marquee mentorship program for high-potential diverse employees across Technology and dedicates time to help colleagues build their careers and network. ​

Sophia is a member of the Board of Centre du Théâtre d’aujourd’hui.​

Alain Bergeron

SVP, Information Technology (CIO), iA Groupe Financier

TBD

Caroline Bergeron

Global Head, ESG and Impact Solutions, Innocap

TBD

Valérie Bergeron

Vice President & Managing Director, Business Solutions and Technology, PSP Investments

TBD

Melissa Bernardino

Head of Risk and Compliance, Finix

TBD

Jean-François Bérubé 

Vice-president, Quantitative Strategies and Data Science, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

With over 16 years of professional experience in digital technologies and quantitative investing, Mr. Bérubé held various leadership roles at Hexavest and Desjardins Global Asset Management before joining CDPQ in January 2022. 

As Vice President, Quantitative Strategies and Data Science, he is responsible for the development and management of systematic and quantitative investment strategies. He is also responsible for pre- and post-investment analytics on CDPQ's liquid and illiquid portfolio holdings. Finally, he is responsible for accelerating and expanding the integration of data science into the organization's investment processes. 

Mr. Bérubé holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Computer Science, as well as an M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in Economics from the Université de Montréal. He was also a quantitative analyst at CDPQ from 2007 to 2009 and a research professional at CIRANO from 2000 to 2003.

Surinderjit Kaur Bhatti

CEO & Founder, Fathom4Sight

Jeet has vast experience in FinTech ranging from the venture capital world to the financial innovation labs. Passionate about FinTech and formally trained in innovation practices, Jeet has enabled the transformation of traditional organizations into the industry’s leading innovative companies. Her areas of expertise include Payments, Digital Banking, Open Banking, Alternative Lending, Crowdfunding, Corporate Innovation, and Digital Customer Experience. Her latest venture - Fathom4sight is a knowledge-as-a-service (KaaS) offering in the FinTech & financial product innovation space, that provides access to both an online intelligence platform and strategic foresight advisors who help industry leaders plan and prepare for the future.  

Sebastian Boisjoly

Vice-president, Fintech and technological innovation, Finance Montréal

TBD

Krista Broughton

Open Banking, Lead, Mastercard Canada

Krista brings over a decade of experience developing the emerging payment landscape, working closely with partners to bring new lines of business to market. Krista has driven growth within in issuing, acquiring, tech incubator, start up and mobility environments, working with organizations including Scotiabank, Moneris, ElementAI and Telus.  

She brings a passion for data driven collaborations and a curiosity about innovation within connected finance. Krista holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. 

Éric Caire

Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Technology, Government of Quebec

Après avoir représenté l’ADQ pendant 12 ans, Éric Caire est député de la CAQ dans La Peltrie depuis 2011. Père de quatre enfants, cet ancien programmeur-analyste cumule depuis 2018 de nombreux postes à l’exécutif: ministre de la Cybersécurité et du Numérique, et ministre responsable de l’Accès à l’information et de la Protection des renseignements personnels. Il est aussi leader-adjoint du gouvernement.

Damien Charbonneau

Co-Founder and COO, nesto

Damien is Co-Founder and COO at nesto, Canada’s #1 Digital Mortgage Lender. Prior to founding nesto, Damien was Director of New Ventures Creation & Strategy at Diagram Ventures where he conceived and helped launch technology companies in the financial services, insurance, and health industries. Damien started his career in Management Consulting at McKinsey & Company and holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from Polytechnique Montreal, graduating with Great Distinction. 

Nayla Chebli

Investment Director, VC & Technologies, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Nayla is a VC investment director for Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)’s venture capital fund. CDPQ is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public retirement and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2021, it held CA$420 billion in net assets. CDPQ’s venture capital fund invests in later stage ventures in all sectors from travel to POS systems, from security to healthcare.   CDPQ manages $83 billion of technology investments from early stage venture funds, direct Series C/D, growth tech, pre-IPO tech and post-IPO.

Curious and engaged, Nayla gravitated towards the venture capital and innovation ecosystem after twelve years as a private equity investor for CDPQ and previous operational experience in mergers and acquisitions for CAE, a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defense and security, and healthcare markets.

She is passionate about learning and understanding new technologies and how they can change the world we live in. She is always interested to learn about a different perspective and approach whether its meeting with entrepreneurs, investors or peers.

Philippe Daoust

Vice President & Managing Director, NA Ventures, National Bank of Canada

Philippe is the Managing Director for NAventures. He focuses on sourcing companies that will advance National Bank’s transformation. Before joining NAventures, Philippe developed and led the integration and separation advisory practice at a Big 4 firm. He played a varied role ranging from engagement sourcing to due diligence and integration advisory. He worked on large mergers and acquisition projects, including transformative deals for Canadian financial institutions. Philippe also practiced for several years in the United States, France, Latin America and New Zealand.

Philippe sits on the board of various companies.

Philippe earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and a graduate degree in public accounting from HEC Montreal. Philippe is a chartered professional accountant (CPA) in Canada and the USA.

Corey B. Davis

Managing Director, BMO Capital Markets

Mr. Davis is a respected executive and strategic advisor with over 25 years of experience. He is a Managing Director in the Technology & Business Services Group at BMO Capital Markets leading the Fintech practice. Previously, he was the Head of Fintech Investment Banking at BTIG, LLC. Throughout his career, Mr. Davis has advised on over $20 billion of M&A and capital raising transactions for his clients.

Mr. Davis graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Finance with distinction from Georgetown University and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business. Mr. Davis has public and private company board experience. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Park Insurance Company, a specialty property and casualty insurance company based in New York. He was also on the Board of Applied Natural Gas Fuels, Inc. Mr. Davis is an avid golfer and was a distance runner at the Division I level at Georgetown.
 

Christine Day

Chief Technology and Information Officer, Questrade

Christine Day is a performance-driven technology and business leader known for innovation in the Financial Services Industry. An entrepreneur by nature, an innovator, and a visionary, Christine has defined the technology posture for Questrade Financial Group for over 15 years, steering it from a small start-up to one of Canada’s top online financial services firms. Christine is the recipient of several prestigious awards including CIO of the Year, Top Women in Fintech and Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

Christine leads a team of over 900 technology specialists in 6 countries to deliver solutions spanning investing, wealth, mortgages, home realty, banking and insurance. With a unique combination of expertise with financial services and financial technology, Christine propels transformative change in Canada, most notably the introduction of Open Banking and Real-Time Payments Rails to modernize the financial services infrastructure in Canada and to enable innovation and competition.

Simon De Baene

Co-Founder and CEO, Workleap

Simon De Baene is the visionary dreamer behind Workleap, a company with a mission to create the next generation of tools that make work simpler, kinder and faster. Built for today’s leaders and their teams, Workleap products aim to make work really work by fostering engagement, performance, growth, and productivity within organizations.  Currently, these products are used in over 20,000 companies worldwide. 

It was his desire to enable everyone to fulfill themselves at work that led him to found Workleap, formerly known as GSoft, when he was just 20 years old and still studying software engineering at university. His refreshing vision of the working world has allowed him to build one of Canada's strongest technology companies, which now brings together over 400 people and generates an annual revenue of over 100 million dollars. 

One thing is certain, Simon De Baene is determined to build a company that stands the test of time. And this is only the beginning. 
 

Jacques Deforges

Chief executive officer, Finance Montréal

As CEO of Finance Montréal, Jacques leads a team whose role is to contribute to the development and promotion of Québec as a world-class financial center, in collaboration with members and stakeholders in the financial sector.  

He is a seasoned manager and leader with nearly 30 years of experience in the financial sector and innovative companies, including more than 20 years in senior management roles, both within SMEs and with large private and public companies.   

Jacques holds an MBA from Concordia University, as well as a diploma from HEC Paris. A native of France and proud Montrealer by adoption, Jacques loves enjoying the little things in life with his family. You can also find him skiing, riding a motorcycle, and bodysurfing every chance he gets.

Malcolm deMayo

Global Vice President, Financial Services Indusrtry, NVIDIA

Malcolm deMayo is global head of NVIDIA’s Financial Services Industry (FSI), a vertical business unit that is working to accelerate the adoption of AI. NVIDIA FSI is the leader in accelerating and modernizing critical industry use cases such as fraud, document and process automation, customer service, risk management and much more. In this role, Mr. deMayois responsible for global strategy including creating strategic partnerships, establish executive relationships with key customers, and enable and manage sales execution across industry segments.

Mr. deMayo has held a range of leadership positions within the technology industry. Prior to his current role, he was group vice president, Oracle FSI Strategic Clients, where he was responsible for growing existing and establishing new client relationships across Oracles entire portfolio of solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Human Capital Management SaaS, AI &Analytics, OCI ,and FS vertical applications in Banking, Capital Markets, and Insurance. Prior to Oracle he was Head of Sales at TCS Digital Software & Solutions (DSS) a leading provider of machine learning powered analytic solutions for Retail Banking. In addition, Mr. deMayo has held various leadership roles at EMC, Teradata, and NCR.

Mr. deMayo received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Computer Science from CCSU. He resides in New Canaan, CT with his wife Peggy.

Felix Deschatelets

Co-Founder and CEO, Emma

A graduate of the Institut Québécois de Planification Financière, Félix helps his clients achieve financial independence, obtain the best insurance coverage to properly protect their families and plan to achieve their financial goals. Felix has been named the IQPF poster boy for the May 24, 2016 edition. He wants to innovate the insurance industry to improve the financial health of Canadians.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, B.A.A., Financial Services.

Franck Descubes

Vice-président, expert-conseil, CGI

Avec plus de 20 ans d'expérience en stratégie d'entreprise et transformation d'entreprise au sein de grandes institutions financières, M.Descubes bénéficie d'une riche expérience en planification stratégique, positionnement stratégique, gestion de portefeuille de projets, modélisation d'affaires et modélisation opérationnelle, transformation numérique de l'expérience client. Il a été exposé à plusieurs reprises à une équipe de cadres supérieurs, a construit et dirigé des équipes d'experts dédiés.

Il a également une expérience particulière sur certains sujets d'innovation spécifiques de l'industrie bancaire, comme les services bancaires ouverts, les actifs cryptographiques, la monnaie numérique de la banque centrale (CBDC), la sélection et l'intégration de Fintech, pour gagner dans l'économie numérique à venir. Il a une connaissance approfondie des activités bancaires de base (crédit, paiement, banque au quotidien, gestion de patrimoine, commercial) ainsi que des questions plus transformationnelles (distribution omnicanal, système NPS, marketing numérique, automatisation intelligente).

Paul Desmarais III

Président et chef de la direction, Sagard

Paul Desmarais III est le président et le chef de la direction de Sagard, une firme de gestion
d’actifs alternatifs active dans le domaine du capital de risque, du private equity, du crédit privé,
de l’immobilier, des redevances dans le secteur des soins de santé et de la gestion de
patrimoine privée.

Paul dirige Sagard depuis 2016, avec une quelques proches partenaires liés par une vision
commune : s’associer à des entrepreneurs pour stimuler la transformation de nos
investissements et de nos communautés. Sagard a connu une croissance exceptionnelle en 6
ans, avec des actifs sous gestion dépassant les 13 G$, plus de 300 professionnel(le)s au sein
de ses rangs et quelque 90 sociétés en portefeuille.

Sagard a mis en place un réseau mondial d’expertise qui aide les entreprises à se tenir à
l’avant-garde des tendances dans les domaines des services financiers, de la technologie et
des soins de santé, entre autres. L’équipe est à l’origine de plusieurs succès en matière de
technologie au Canada, comme Wealthsimple et Dialogue.

Au sein de l’écosystème Sagard, Paul est le président du conseil et cofondateur de Portage,
président du conseil et cofondateur de Diagram. Au sein des portefeuilles, il est le président du
conseil de Wealthsimple, Dialogue, Novisto and Grayhawk, et un administrateur de nesto.
Paul est dévoué à aider à construire un meilleur monde des affaires. Il est cofondateur du Black
Wealth Club, où de jeunes dirigeants afrodescendants oeuvrent à créer et réinvestir plus de
richesse dans leurs communautés. Sous sa direction, Sagard s’est engagée en faveur d’un
système financier plus durable en devenant signataire des Principes pour l’investissement
responsable des Nations Unies, en adhérant au programme CREO et en s’engageant dans la
voie de la carboneutralité.

Il a également été coprésident de la campagne Centraide en 2022.
Paul est administrateur du musée Glenbow et président du conseil consultatif émérite de Next
Canada. Il a reçu le prix du Duc d’Édimbourg pour son travail de président de la campagne de
financement du Centre culturel Kenojuak. Il était auparavant membre du conseil
d’administration de la Fondation Rideau Hall et de Canada Alpin. Il est également cofondateur
de Jeunes Canadiens en finance et coprésident de l’expédition La Patrie gravée sur le cœur au
pôle Nord magnétique.

Avant d’occuper son poste actuel, Paul a travaillé chez Goldman Sachs dans la division des
services bancaires d’investissement, le groupe de stratégie de placement et le groupe des
situations spéciales, chez Imerys S.A. dans la gestion et la stratégie de la chaîne
d’approvisionnement, ainsi que chez Great-West Lifeco inc. dans la gestion des risques. Il est
titulaire d’un baccalauréat en économie du Collège Harvard et d’une maîtrise en administration
des affaires de l’INSEA

Kristina Elkhazin

Head of North America, Klarna

Kristina Elkhazin is Head of North America at Klarna, responsible for the company’s growth and go-to-market strategy across the US, Canada and Mexico. Prior to Klarna, Elkhazin served as Head of Industry for Retail at Google Canada, where she worked with the country's largest retailers and their agencies to help them understand how to drive more footsteps to stores, build stronger brands and advance customer relationships. After a decade at Google Canada, Elkhazin brings with her a breadth of experience in the North American retail space. She is widely recognized for her engaging presence and positive impact on culture and thought leadership. Elkhazin holds an honors degree from Queen’s School of Business. 

Hélène Falchier

Partner, Portage 

Hélène Falchier has served as Partner at Portage since 2019. As a member of Portage, Hélène invests in early-stage and growth-stage opportunities globally. Within the investment portfolio, Hélène is a board director at Hellas Direct, Pledg, Acheel, Listo, Tuum and Getquin. She is based in Paris, France.

Prior to Portage, Hélène founded and served as CEO of Open CNP, the corporate venture program of CNP Assurances (“CNP”). During this period, Open CNP supported startups such as Lydia, October and Alan. Hélène was also CNP’s Head of Private Equity, managing a €7.5bn AUM portfolio with investments in Europe and the US. Before joining CNP, she served as the Head of Investments in real estate, private equity and stocks for Ecureuil Vie. 

Hélène was the Chairwoman of the AFIC LPs club (French Association for Investors for Growth) and is part of Level 20, a not-for-profit organization founded to improve gender diversity in the private equity industry.

Hélène holds a Master’s degree in economics and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris.

Phil Fayer

Founder, Chairman and CEO, Nuvei

Mr. Fayer is the founder of Nuvei and serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. A seasoned entrepreneur, Mr. Fayer has over 20 years of experience in the electronic payments industry. Mr. Fayer founded Pivotal Payments (now Nuvei) in 2003. Under his leadership, the Company expanded both organically and through strategic acquisitions (the most high profile ones being SafeCharge in 2019 and Paya in 2023) and is now a B2C and B2B payment leader helping customers transact and connect with their customers all around the world in any currency. In 2020, Nuvei was named one of Deloitte Canada’s Best Managed Companies. In 2009, he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40™ and in 2019, he was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year ® for Québec in the FinTech category. Mr. Fayer attended Concordia University, in Montreal, Québec. Through a foundation with his wife, Mr. Fayer devotes time for several charities, including with respect to youth unemployment and cancer research. 

Chris Ferron

Head of Digital Partnerships and Fintech, Visa Canada

TBD

Nathalie Francisci

Executive Regional President - Eastern Canada, Gallagher

Nathalie Francisci has been leading Gallagher's human resources, compensation and benefits consulting activities in Eastern Canada since 2021. Recognized as a leading player in the human resources consulting industry in Quebec, she has 25 years of experience in executive and board recruitments for public and private companies as well as Crown corporations. In addition, she mentors Gallagher's team of professionals on all governance matters.

As an entrepreneur, she managed her own firm, which she sold to a Canadian group to later join an international executive search firm, before joining Gallagher as Regional President for Eastern Canada for all activities.

Nathalie has received numerous awards and distinctions underscoring her entrepreneurship including the Prix Jeune Entrepreneure du Québec in 2001, Entrepreneure Moyenne Entreprise in 2007 and the Arista award in 2009. She was named Indispensable Woman in Human Resources by Premières en Affaires magazine in 2012. She is also a sought-after columnist and speaker who has been regularly read and heard in Quebec's business forums including the newspaper Les Affaires for over 15 years.

Governance and diversity are central to her areas of interest and expertise. From 2006 to 2022, she was involved with Quebec's Institute of Corporate Directors where she served as chair, co-chair of the board and as governor. She is a faculty member at McGill University for the Directors Education program where she teaches CEO Evaluation and Succession Planning. She also sits on the boards of Innergex (TSE: INE), LG2 and a number of advisory committees.

Nathalie Francisci is a marketing graduate from the Université de Paris 11 and has a master's degree in Human Resources from the Institut de Gestion Sociale in Paris. She holds both the CHRP and ICD.D accreditations.

Anthony G. Ostler

President and chief executive officer, Canadian Bankers Association

Anthony G. Ostler is President & Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Bankers Association. As President and CEO, he advances the perspectives of the banking sector to all levels of government, regulators, stakeholders, media and the public. In this capacity, Anthony plays a strong role in the development of public policies on financial services that contribute to a sound, successful banking system that benefits Canadians and Canada's economy. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Banking Federation (IBFed), a forum that addresses issues affecting banking around the world.

Before joining the CBA, Anthony was Senior Vice President, Head of Stakeholder Engagement in Global Marketing at State Street Bank & Trust Company in Boston. Also at State Street, he held the roles of Senior Vice President, Client – Global Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice-President, Head of Investor Relations. Anthony has broad experience in senior positions in Canada at Manulife Asset Management, Manulife Financial, Canaccord Financial and RBC.

Anthony is an Associate of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (AICB), a chartered financial analyst (CFA), a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM), and earned his MBA with Distinction and the Ivey Scholar honour from the Ivey Business School of the University of Western Ontario. He received the Ivey Distinguished Service Award for extraordinary service to the Ivey Business School, is the past Chair of the Board of the Ivey Alumni Network and a past member of the Ivey Advisory Board. Anthony served as a board member of buildOn Boston and has taken up several leadership volunteer roles in support of social services organizations in B.C. and Ontario. He served as a member of the United Way of Greater Toronto’s 2022 Community Campaign Cabinet and is currently serving as a member of the 2023 Community Campaign Cabinet.

Daniel Grossi

Chief technology and Operations officer, Mouvement Desjardins

In 2002, Daniel graduated with honours from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in Commerce. To round out his academic qualifications, he completed the Operations Leadership Program at Queen's University in 2007 and the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard University in 2013.    

Over his career, Daniel has spent more than 20 years working in IT operations management, infrastructure services, project delivery, strategic planning and transformation. Prior to joining Desjardins in 2016, Daniel spent more than 15 years at Bell Canada, where he asserted his leadership in several key roles. His final role with Bell was General Manager of IT Service Operations (Business Market).  

Daniel initially joined Desjardins as Director of IT Project Delivery, and was appointed Vice-President of Operations Services Management a year later. Building on his experience with cross-sector services, he took on the Digital and Omnichannel Capacity IT Division in June 2020 to help implement the idea of "one Desjardins" for members and clients through a simplified omnichannel experience.  

Émilie Hamel

Senior Vice President, Operations, GHGSat

TBD

Peter Hazlehurst

Co-Founder and CEO, Synctera

Peter Hazlehurst, CEO and co-founder of Synctera, is a global FinTech entrepreneur and philanthropist with nearly 30 years of experience creating financial products for banks, FinTechs, and large tech companies. In 1993 he built core banking technology for Phoenix, which still powers companies today. More recently, Peter served as Head of Uber Money, Chief Operating Officer at Postmates, Senior Director of Product Management at Google, CEO and Board Member of Google Payments Corporation, and Chief Product Officer at Yodlee. Peter also led Product at Nokia for Enterprise Mobility and Mobile email and has served as a CTO and consultant at several startups. 

Mark Hines

Canada Connectivity Lead, Plaid

TBD

Alexandre Hovette

Vice-president, Capgemini Invent

TBD

Jordan Huck

Chief Executive Officer, Notch

Jordan Huck is an accomplished entrepreneur and business executive with a proven track record in building successful businesses. From 2007 to 2018, he played pivotal roles at Veritaaq, as owner, COO, and ultimately as the CEO. Under Jordan's guidance, Veritaaq experienced remarkable growth, with its revenue skyrocketing from $20 million to over $240 million by 2019. As CEO, Jordan demonstrated exceptional leadership, more than doubling the company's enterprise value between 2016 and 2018.

With expertise in B2B go-to-market strategies, Jordan has excelled in constructing and managing high-performing sales teams, delivering double-digit growth for over 15 years. During his tenure as CEO of Experis-Veritaaq, Jordan successfully managed a substantial $20 million monthly profit and loss statement, achieving best-in-class EBITDA performance.

Currently, Jordan serves as founder and CEO of Notch Financial, a vertical SaaS embedded payments company. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Notch focuses on developing AP automation and Accounts Receivable automation software tailored for restaurants and wholesale foodservice distributors. Notch has secured over $25 million in funding from prominent investors, including Golden VC, Accomplice, Math Ventures, Garage Capital, and Portage, enabling Notch to fulfill its mission of empowering foodservice operators to streamline their payment processes, to pay and get paid faster

Zlata Huddleston

Partner, Practice Leader, IBM Consulting Sustainability Services Canada, IBM Canada

Zlata is Partner in IBM Consulting, Americas, leading IBM Canada’s Sustainability Practice and Enterprise Strategy Practice.​

She has over 30 years of experience in Corporate & Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Global Transaction Banking, Financial Institutions Coverage, Sustainable Finance, and Risk Management in EMEA, U.S. and Canada. ​

Prior to joining IBM in 2020, Zlata was SVP & Head of Financial Institutions Coverage at Wells Fargo Bank, Canada & Caribbean (Toronto), and MD & Head of EMEA in the preceding role (San Francisco).

Rachel Jolicoeur

Director, Fraud Mitigation & Strategy, Interac

With 20 years progressive experience in the payment industry, Rachel specializes in fraud management and money movement services. She’s the Director of Fraud Mitigation and Strategy at Interac Corp., and responsible for the creation and implementation of effective fraud prevention programs and strategic partnerships to mitigate fraud losses and ensure an appropriate balance between fraud risk and customer experience. Rachel is a spokesperson and speaker on fraud for the organization, is a Certified Cyber Crimes Investigator and a Certified Fraud Examiner. In that capacity, she informs and builds awareness around payment fraud to law enforcement agencies, Interac Members, stakeholders and the general public.

Rob Khazzam

Co-Founder and CEO, Float

TBD

Devon Kirk

Partner, Portage and Co-Head, Portage Capital Solutions 

Devon Kirk is Co-Head and Partner, Portage Capital Solutions at Portage and joined the firm in 2022. Devon is responsible for co-leading growth equity, structured equity and special situations investments in financial technology and financial services companies globally, as well as driving the fund’s overall strategy. She is based in Toronto, Canada.

Prior to Portage, Devon spent over ten years at CPP Investments, a C$539 billion fund as of March 31, 2022. She was most recently Managing Director & Head of Capital Solutions, overseeing financials, special situations and esoteric investments, and a member of the Global Leadership Team. Previously, Devon was a Managing Director in the Direct Private Equity team, where she focused on the financials and TMT sectors. While at CPP Investments, Devon was on the Board of Wilton Re, a Board Observer for Altice USA and served on various firm investment committees.

Prior to joining CPP Investments, Devon was in Corporate / M&A at Linklaters LLP, a London-based multinational law firm, and started her career in M&A at BMO Harris Nesbitt in Chicago.

Devon received a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with Great Distinction, from McGill University and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. She is also a CFA Charterholder and Chair of the Bishop Strachan School.

Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf

Founder and CEO, Flinks

Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf is the co-founder and CEO of Flinks and he is on a mission to accelerate innovation in finance by making financial data instantly portable and universally consumable. 

Yves-Gabriel is frequently invited to share his insights on how open finance empowers businesses and consumers. He has been invited to deliver speeches at the Paris Fintech Forum, the Rise of AI in Germany, the Canada FinTech Forum, CIX Toronto, the Canadian Payments Innovation Forum, and the Payments Canada Summit — among many others. He currently sits on the AMF’s (Québec's securities regulators) Technological Innovation Advisory Committee. 

A serial entrepreneur at heart, YG feels as much at home discussing with finance executives and fintech CEOs as he does in the last mile of an Ironman competition.

Julie Lévesque

Executive Vice President Technology and Operations, National Bank of Canada

Julie Lévesque was appointed Executive Vice-President – Information Technology in June 2020. As such, she is responsible for implementing the Bank’s technological strategy. She has also been in charge of the Operations sector since January 2022. Ms. Lévesque is a member of National Bank’s Senior Leadership Team. 

At the time of her appointment to the Office of the President in 2020, Julie Lévesque was Senior Vice-President – IT Delivery Strategy at National Bank. Previously, she spent three years working for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as Managing Director and Head of System and Data Delivery, Technology. Ms. Lévesque worked at National Bank from 2005 to 2016, where she held various management roles in IT, including Vice-President – IT Delivery, Risk, Finance, Capital Markets and Human Resources. 

With over 25 years of experience in information technology, Julie Lévesque has in-depth knowledge of corporate IT environments and infrastructure. Her leadership style is based on collaboration, trust, partnership and cross-sector teamwork. Her passion for innovation and emerging technology means she quickly grasps the issues involved and excels at explaining concepts in business terms. 

Ms. Lévesque sits on the Boards of Directors of the Computer Research Institute of Montréal (CRIM) and the fintech Flinks Technology Inc. In 2022, she was named CIO of the year in the Private Sector category by IT World of Canada and the CIO Association of Canada. Ms. Lévesque has an Executive MBA (EMBA) from McGill-HEC Montréal. 

Jacques Marchand

Managing director, Private large capitalizations, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Jacques Marchand is responsible for CDPQ’s transactional activities involving Québec-based private large capitalizations. His mandate is to develop an optimal investment strategy to ensure the growth of the portfolio under his management, which includes some 30 companies. The team he co-leads covers all large Québec businesses in the portfolio. It also targets attractive investment opportunities in the market, while monitoring the soundness of the Québec financial ecosystem.

Mr. Marchand has over 20 years of experience in corporate investing and finance. He joined CDPQ in 2016 and held the role of Managing Director, Lead, Private Large Capitalizations and various other positions in the Private Equity team. Previously, he was Director of Corporate Development and Vice-President, Transformation for 10 years at Transat.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from HEC Montréal and is a CFA Charterholder. He currently sits on the Boards of Directors of IPL, eStruxture and Plusgrade.

Stephan Marois

Director, Private Equity and Impact Investments, Services - Technologies, Fonds de solidarité FTQ

As an entrepreneurial c-suite executive with a unique background in capital markets and information technology, Christine played a significant role in steering Questrade from start-up to the fastest-growing independent Canadian online brokerage and a Deloitte “Best Managed Company” for seven consecutive years

Well regarded as an agent of digital transformation, Christine thrives in the unknown where risk-taking and overcoming barriers are inherent. She has pioneered industry-wide innovation: She led the regulatory change that allowed Questrade to launch Canada’s first robo-advisory platform, Portfolio IQ.

Christine advises on Fintech Innovation for both the Ontario Securities Commission Launchpad and the Ontario Ministry of Finance Fintech Working Group. She also advises on the Executive Oversight Committee for two Post-Trade System Modernization Projects governed by the TMX Group.

In 2017, Christine was recognized as a Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner, an honour celebrating fearless female leaders whose efforts to succeed continue to inspire others. Her leadership style is strategic, inclusive and customer-centric: the key to my success is my ability to grow my employees’ careers and create a collaborative environment that allows people to innovate, be productive, deliver excellent results and feel invested in their work. Questrade is recognized as providing the Best Technology Work Culture with the Tech-In-Motion Award. Beyond Questrade, Christine mentors women in STEM with several organizations.

Christine has extensive board and advisory experience, sitting on the CIO Association of Canada and Telus Advisory Boards, and she speaks regularly at conferences and on panels on the topics of Fintech innovation, digital transformation and leadership.

David Marotte

Quebec Leader, Data & Artificial Intelligence, KPMG

David Marotte is responsible for strategy and growth of the Data and Artificial Intelligence practice at KPMG in Canada, for the Montreal office. 

In this role, David leads numerous strategic development initiatives for the firm’s artificial intelligence programs. He also manages various projects that seek to improve and develop data-related business offerings. David particularly enjoys helping find ways to improve and develop corporate culture, with a view to achieving tangible results for his clients. 

David has extensive experience in strategy, change management and business intelligence, particularly in the IT, cleantech and VFX industries. A seasoned entrepreneur, he has mentored over 125 entrepreneurs and continues to pass on his knowledge to entrepreneurs from all walks of life at the École d’Entrepreneurship de Beauce. He holds a Master’s degree in International Management from Université de Sherbrooke and École supérieure de commerce Poitiers-Tours and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, University of Sherbrooke. 

Laviva Mazhar

Principal, Luge Capital

Laviva is a Principal at Luge Capital where she sources for new fintech investment opportunities, conducts due diligence, helps execute deals, supports portfolio companies and helps develop the firm’s investment thesis. Previously, she was an analyst at Ferst Capital Partners (FCP), a fintech focused investment firm and startup foundry. At FCP, she helped build fintech portfolio companies and supported their operations and fundraising activities and assessed new investment opportunities. Laviva is also involved with various organizations as an advisor including Founder Institute, Front Row Ventures, Holt Accelerator, InsurTechNY and InsurTech North. She was selected to be on the 2017 Global Women in FinTech Powerlist and on Canada’s 2019 Top 50 Women in Fintech by Digital Finance Institute.

Born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Laviva moved to Canada to complete her BCom degree with double majors in Economics and Finance from McGill University. She completed CFA Level 1.

Sarah Mjidou

Senior Director, Digital Transformation, Ivanhoé Cambridge

TBD

Alexander Mohelsky

Tech Strategy Leader and Chief Innovation Officer | Financial Services Consulting, EY Canada

Alex Mohelsky is a Partner in the Consulting Financial Services practice of Ernst & Young LLP, is the Chief Innovation Officer and leads Technology Strategy. Prior to this role, he led and built EY’s National Data, Analytics, and A.I. practice from the ground up to almost 200 consultants. Alex started his career at IBM Labs where he was a founding software engineer for IBM’s first commercial e-commerce product, and he received a patent for his work. Afterwards he worked for a series of Technology startups before switching to management consulting for the last 20 years in banking, pension funds, asset management, insurance, telecom, and retail where he led innovative transformations, architecture, and technology strategy across omnichannel, e-commerce, data, analytics, A.I., cloud, cyber security, risk, and modernizing applications. He has twice held interim SVP roles responsible for large transformations. Alex has global experience working with large Canadian FIs as well as FIs in the U.S. and South America.

Melisa Muraca

Vice-President, Technology Products, Sun Life USA

Melisa is the global Vice President overseeing Technology & Transformation Strategy. She joined Sun Life in 2007 and has over 20 years of experience in technology.

In her current role, Melisa is a technology thought leader bringing innovative ideas and strategies with broad organizational context. She has accountability for IT Strategy, the Digital Enterprise Center of Excellence, including coaching, tools, methodologies, and IT training & development, as well as the enterprise Project Management Office.

Additionally, in the last 15 years at Sun Life, Melisa has brought to life many visions, growing, and grooming teams and transforming processes to benefit business partners and clients. She has defined and delivered many leading-edge technologies and “firsts” such as, the use of Optical Recognition Technology in the Group Benefits business and launched the Sun Life Global Investment Mutual Fund systems. Melisa led Sun Life Canada’s Mobile and Lumino Health technical and delivery strategy. This included the global governance of mobile best practices and defining the global assets strategy. She also led the first rollout of SAFe agile best practices at Sun Life and initiated the first DevOps integration within Lumino Health.

Prior to joining Sun Life, Melisa was a Director at Maple Leaf foods where she led the re-engineering of the manufacturing process for product development. When she worked at Teck Systems, she also provided consulting services for Cigna Health Care having defined their PMO processes & best practices. Melisa also held various IT roles in the Financial, Aerospace & Telecommunications industry such as BMO, ING Canada, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Bombardier Aerospace and Ericsson.

She has a keen interest in supporting young girls & women in pursuing and further developing their careers in STEM. In 2017, she introduced Sun Life to WomenHack, a networking event that allows women to connect with the intent to attract more female talent within Sun Life IT. In 2019 and 2021, she introduced Sun Life to “Canada Girls Learning Code” and “Le Code des Filles”, two events targeted for young girls.

Melisa was the recipient of the “Limra Rising Star” award in the Information Technology category that represents a group of Canadian technology leaders under 40 who have achieved significant accomplishments in their career. She also received the “Sun Life EmpoweredXchanges” award for her achievement as being the most inspirational woman within Sun Life’s Enterprise Services team.

David Nault

Co-Founder and General Partner, Luge Capital

David has been building early stage technology companies as an investor, founder or senior member of the executive team for over 20 years. Prior to co-founding Luge Capital, David was an investor with Inovia Capital, a leading North American venture capital fund. Before becoming a VC, David was president of Callio Technologies, an information security compliance software provider, whose intellectual property was acquired in 2009. Prior to running Callio, he managed business development, partnerships and marketing at Pivotal Payments (now Nuvei, TSX:NVEI). Nuvei, Canada’s most successful IPO, now processes $34B in payment volume for over 80,000 merchants worldwide.

David has a BCom with a major in Marketing and a minor in Finance from Concordia University in Montreal.

Anne No

Managing Director, RBCx, Royal Bank of Canada

Anne leads a highly specialized team across Eastern Canada to deliver industry-tailored capital financing, business advice, and solutions that go beyond traditional banking to support the growth of technology and innovation companies.

Anne has held a wide range of positions in commercial banking, with extensive experience in technology, life sciences, and media. Anne has an Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Brest in France and MBA from HEC Montreal in finance and entrepreneurship.

Deborah Orida

President and CEO, PSP Investments

Deborah K. Orida is President and Chief Executive Officer at the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). 

Ms. Orida joined PSP Investments in September 2022 from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), where she was the Global Head of Real Assets, which encompassed Infrastructure, Sustainable Energies, Real Estate, Sustainable Investing and Portfolio Value Creation. While Global Head of Real Assets, she was also appointed CPP Investments’ first Chief Sustainability Officer.

Prior to this, Mr. Orida was Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Active Equities. She also spent six years in Hong Kong with CPP Investments and was Head of Private Equity Asia.  She joined CPP Investments after close to a decade at Goldman Sachs in New York and Toronto. 

Ms. Orida has a Bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  Ms. Orida has been a Board member of a number of public, private and not-profit organizations. 

Matthew Parker-Jones

SVP & Head of Products and Operations, Global Business Payments, Scotiabank

TBD

Kathryn Petralia

Co-Founder and Chief Keeper, Keep Financial

Kathryn Petralia is the Co-Founder of Keep Financial, a fintech compensation platform.   Prior to Keep, Kathryn Co-Founded Kabbage, a financial services platform for small businesses acquired by American Express in 2020. Prior to Kabbage, Kathryn spent nearly 15 years with fintech and ecommerce startups.  In 2018, she was named to Forbes’ list of the World’s Most Powerful Women.
 
Kathryn serves on the boards of CARE, Tricolor, CoreCard, Near, PadSplit, The Woodruff Arts Center (trustee), and the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival.

Mahima Poddar

Senior vice-president and group head, Personal banking, EQ Bank

Mahima Poddar serves as the Senior Vice-President and Group Head, Personal Banking, where she leads EQ Bank (Canada's leading digital bank), the Single-Family mortgage businesses, the decumulation lines of business in Reverse Mortgages and CSV Lending, Marketing, and the distribution of deposit products through the Financial Planning channel. Mahima joined Equitable Bank in 2016 to lead the Corporate Development team. She grew her mandate to include digital banking and marketing in 2019, and eventually to lead the Personal Banking division in 2020. Under her leadership, Equitable has acquired both Bennington Financial and the Maple Bank portfolio and introduced the decumulation lines of business; while EQ Bank surpassed $8 billion in total deposits, and successfully introduced a suite of new products and features.

Mahima graduated from Western University with an Honours Business Administration degree and earned her Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Ravy Por

Partner & Leader, Omnia, Deloitte

Ravy is a partner and leader at Deloitte Omnia, the Data, Analytics and Artificial intelligence practice. With 17 years' experience, she helps organizations in multiple industries, including financial institutions, insurance, investment management, and pension funds. She accelerates companies in achieving their business objectives by optimizing data science and cloud technologies like intelligent automation, data architecture and engineering, geomatics, advanced analytics and AI, including generative AI  

Active in the AI and emerging technologies ecosystem, Ravy sits on the expert committee of the Ministère de la cybersécurité et du numérique, the advisory committee on technological innovation of the Autorité des marchés financiers and has served on the board of directors of the CDPQ. She has developed strong AI communities to collaboratively share best practices, knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration across diverse industries.  

Her career has also been recognized with awards the Women in Leadership Award, the Woman in Technology Award, the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers, recognizing her dedication to the evolution of technology and digital literacy in STEM and AI in Canada.  

She holds university degrees in mathematics, project management, finance and engineering. She also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.  

Patrick Raimondi

Managing Director – Strategy & Consulting, Banking Lead, Canada, Accenture

TBD

Alice Reimer

Chief executive officer, Fillip

TBD

Charles Richard

Vice-President, Consulting Services, CGI 

TBD

Dominique Samson

Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Flinks

TBD

David Schwartz

Chief Financial Officer, Nuvei

Schwartz has 25 years of experience in corporate finance, strategy, financial management, turnaround and advisory situations with both private and public companies. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer at ALDO Group, an international fashion footwear and accessory retailer, where he held operational and financial leadership roles since 2010. Schwartz was also part of Optimal Payments’ founding group in 1999, having spent almost a decade at the global payments provider.

Saba Shariff

Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy, Product and Innovation Officer, Symcor

Saba Shariff oversees multiple teams responsible for designing and launching innovative products that address industry-wide challenges, along with a mandate for charting Symcor’s corporate strategy towards continued growth. Saba joined Symcor in 2002 and held progressive senior positions thereafter. Prior to joining Symcor, Saba had preceding experience in both start-ups and telecommunications sectors. Named as one of Canada’s Top 50 Women in Fintech in Canada, Saba is a sought-after public speaker who shares insights on topics such as Open Banking, Innovation and Women in Technology in the Canadian financial industry. Saba obtained her Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English, Rhetoric & Professional Writing from the University of Waterloo. Saba is a mentor with Women in Open Banking, an Honorary Chair of the Princess Margaret’s Weekend to Conquer Cancer event, and a Board member for Women in Communications and Technology (WCT). In her spare time, Saba enjoys travelling, trying new and interesting cuisines and avidly cheering on her favourite sports teams.

JD St-Martin

President, Lightspeed 

JD St-Martin joined Lightspeed in May 2019 through the acquisition of Chronogolf, a SaaS company he co-founded in 2013. In October 2019 he was promoted to Senior Director of Global Account Management and in July 2020 he became our Senior Vice President of Global Sales. In 2022, JD became President of Lightspeed.  
Prior to founding and growing his own company, Mr. St-Martin accumulated five years of experience in Venture Capital and Private Equity at Teralys Capital in Montreal and GE Equity in London, UK. Mr. St-Martin holds a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce in International Business from the University of Ottawa. 

Vanessa Taddei

Vice-President, Consulting Services, CGI

TBD

Alex Tapscott

Entrepreneur and Author

Alex Tapscott is an entrepreneur, business author, and seasoned capital markets professional focused on the impact of emerging technologies such as Web3, AI, VR/AR and the Metaverse on business, government, and society. His latest book, Web3: Charting the Internet’s Next Economic and Cultural Frontier (Harper Collins), will be published September 19th, 2023.  

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says of the latest book: "With Web3, Tapscott has captured the zeitgeist. With clarity of thought and deep insights, this book explores Web3's immense potential," while former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says "Tapscott has written a book we need as we enter a new epoch for computing and for society."  

Alex also runs the Digital Assets Group at Ninepoint Partners, a leading investment firm with $8 billion in assets under management and institutional contract, where he recently launched the Ninepoint Web3 Innovators ETF(TKN-TSX).  

Alex is the co-author of the critically acclaimed non-fiction best-seller, Blockchain Revolution, translated into more than 19 languages. His other books, Financial Services Revolution and Digital Asset Revolution were published in 2020 and 2022 respectively. 

Alex is sought after world-wide for his expertise by business and government audiences. He has delivered well over 200 lectures and executive briefings to business audiences at firms like Goldman Sachs (Talks at GS), Google, Allianz, IBM, Microsoft and Accenture, to name a few (Select speeches by Alex). He is frequently ranked as a top influencer in Web3 and is the past recipient of the Thinkers50 ‘Digital Thinking’ award. His TEDx talk, Blockchain is Eating Wall Street has been viewed over 800,000 times.  

Alex’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, TIME, Fortune, and many other publications. 

In 2017, Alex co-founded the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI), a global think-tank investigating blockchain strategies, opportunities, and use-cases. Alex is a graduate of Amherst College (Cum Laude) and is a CFA Charterholder. He lives in Toronto. 
 

Diederik Van Liere

CTO, Wealthsimple

TBD

Manoj Verma

Co-Founder anc Chief Revenue Officer, Tabapay

TBD

Renée Walkom

Chief Operating Officer, Foxquilt

TBD

Malik Yacoubi

Co-Founder and CEO, Nesto

TBD