2019 Speakers
Deborah Leff
Deborah leads Sales Strategy and Innovation for IBM Business Analytics and is a frequent keynote speaker on Analytics and Data Science. With over 20 years of experience, Deborah currently supports thousands of sellers as they help their clients transform their business. She is passionate about the Business Analytics space and its potential to help companies leverage insights to forge their path forward.
Alyson Gausby
As the head of research at Twitter Canada, Alyson is responsible for translating consumer intelligence and data into learnings that are not only insightful for brands, but speak to the future of Canada’s ever-evolving digital ecosystem. Prior to her appointment at Twitter, Alyson was Consumer Insights Lead at AOL and Microsoft, as well as Associate Director, brand & advertising research, with Ipsos UK.
Peter Husar
Paul Tyndall
As Vice President, Strategic Projects, Paul Tyndall helps Environics Analytics bring new product and service offerings to market. Paul has more than 20 years of experience working with data and analytics. Most recently, Paul led analytics, campaign design and member insights at Meridian Credit Union. Prior to that, he spent almost 10 years at RBC Royal Bank where he managed the modelling and segmentation team and oversaw the delivery of data-driven client knowledge and insights. Earlier in his career, he worked for Transcontinental Database Marketing, Rapp Collins and Royal Trust providing analytics and marketing database services. Paul graduated from the University of Toronto with a Master’s Degree in spatial analytics and geographic information systems.
Oscar Roque
Dr. Ann Cavoukian
John Ramoutsakis
John Ramoutsakis is Vice President of Information Builders Canada
responsible for operation, sales and marketing of Information Builders
products and software solutions including strategic planning and support.
Mr. Ramoutsakis joined Information Builders Canada in 2000 and has held
senior technical, sales and management roles over his 18 year tenure.
Before joining Information Builders, Mr. Ramoutsakis spent 4 years with
Experian as Senior Manager of Software Solutions with a focus on credit
risk management and decision support. Over his 25 year career, John has
worked with numerous clients across a number of industries including
Financial Services, Insurance, Transportation, Public Sector, Technology
and Communications. where he helped shape several organizations' business I.T. and operations strategies and directions.
Dr. Pascal Tyrrell PhD
Pascal Tyrrell is a data scientist—a combination of research methodologist, computer/database solutions architect and innovator. He received his PhD in medical sciences from the University of Toronto working in the area of pediatric rheumatology at SickKids (Toronto, ON). Currently, he is the director of data science and an assistant professor with the Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto where his aim is to understand, explore, and innovate where information and communications technology can be used effectively to encourage the translation of health research into action. Pascal is also appointed to the Department of Statistical Sciences where his research aims to establish useful guidelines for the quantity and quality of input data for machine learning in medical imaging research by investigating current methods as well as developing new ones. Pascal has previous work experience in the computer and financial industries and has joined the medical device tech start-up company AceAge Inc. as their Chief Science Officer.
Peter Papadakos
Houtsin Diep
Christian Rodericks
Christian has been leading data-driven solutions for over 18 years as a technology strategy consultant at Deloitte and as the founding partner at e-commerce startup SHOP.CA. Christian’s current role at Recipe Unlimited is to lead the 130-year-old restaurant company into the digital era by using big data, analytics and artificial intelligence to unlock customer behaviors and restaurant opportunities that drive the perfect experience for millions of customers and thousands of restaurant associates across Canada. Christian remains active in the startup community, holding Advisory and Board positions at a number of Canadian technology companies.
Jason Garay
As Vice-President, Analytics and Informatics, Jason Garay leads the development of data collection, analysis and reporting capability for Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), as well as the Access to Care and Research portfolios. Managing a dedicated team, he builds expertise and discipline in the translation of large data sets, to provide insight and knowledge aimed at driving improvements in health system performance. He also represents CCO on national task forces related to program evaluation and reporting.
Prior to his appointment to Vice-President, Jason served as CCO’s Director, Evaluation and Reporting, Cancer Screening. Among his recent accomplishments, Jason spearheaded and launched CCO’s first data and research strategies, initiating fundamental and transformational change within the organization. He is also at the helm of implementing Ontario’s first electronic triage clinical decision support tool --eCTAS -- leading the team to winning two major awards: the 2017 Ingenious Award from the Information and Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) for excellence in the use of information and communication technology, and in 2018, an Amethyst Award (Digital Disruption category), the highest order of recognition for excellence in the Ontario Public Service.
An epidemiologist by training, before joining CCO, Jason held the position of Director, Communicable Disease Prevention and Control at Public Health Ontario. In that role, he was responsible for all communicable disease management and surveillance in the province.
Jason is active in the academic community, holding a faculty appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. He has also been a member of several healthcare committees including: President, Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario; National Chair, Pan-Canadian Public Health Epidemiologists’ Network; and Executive Board Member, Communicable Diseases Surveillance Network. Presently, he is the co-chair of the Ontario Palliative Care Network (OPCN)’s Data and Information Advisory Council (DIAC).
Pramod Dogra
Lovell Hodge
Dr. Lovell Hodge is currently the Vice President of Data and Adaptive Intelligence at Munich Re. As part of the Business Transformation team, Lovell's mandate includes the implementation of AI and Advanced Analytics capabilities to support the Digital Transformation strategy of the North American Life and Health group. He holds both Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Systems Design Engineering, majoring in Artificial Intelligence, from the University of Waterloo. A former researcher and lecturer at the University of Waterloo, his areas of focus included Artificial Neural Networks, Intelligent Multi-Agent systems, Fuzzy Logic and Genetic Algorithms. Lovell has authored several papers in Journals such as IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics and the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks. He has over 25 years experience in AI and information technology and has d
Ayad Shammout
Ayad has over twenty five years of diversified experience in IT Business and Technology strategy and extensive experience in Data Management, Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence and Big Data. Ayad has strong experience in partnering with business leadership, teams and partners to identify business needs, define strategy, and guide the delivery of new technologies and solutions. He is strategic problem solver with demonstrated proficiency in data management and governance, design and building of Data Platform, Advanced Analytics and Operational Solutions.
Aliza Lakhani
Aliza is responsible for the vision and execution of Northeastern’s first international campus, located in Toronto. She is driven by her passion to change the world of education, one lifelong learner at a time. She has deep expertise as a transformational leader within the finance, technology and non-profit industries. Prior to Northeastern, Aliza was Head of Business Development and International at the DMZ – now the #1 ranked university tech incubator in the world. Under Aliza’s direction, the DMZ tripled annual revenue through corporate partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and expanded into global markets.
Aliza has worked for years in revenue generating, strategic and advisory roles at Royal Bank of Canada, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of Montreal in Toronto and New York. She started her career on the trading floor in derivative sales and structuring.
Aliza serves on the advisory board of C.D. Howe Institute Human Capital Council, #MoveTheDial and was elected Chair of the Board of Directors for Rexdale Women’s Center.
Aliza holds a Bachelor’s of Mathematics with distinction from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.
Anthony de Fazekas
Anthony de Fazekas is recognized as a go-to IP strategist, working with a broad range of IP rich companies across a number of sectors, with a particular focus on FinTech and information technology including Artificial Intelligence (AI). He supports corporate innovation agendas of enterprises end-to- end: devising innovation protection processes, IP mining strategies, deploying technology to streamline IP development, leading IP brainstorming sessions, upgrading the various agreements and policies relevant to open innovation and digital transformation, and providing advice on patent pooling arrangements and participation in IP, blockchain and smart contract consortia.
Mr. de Fazekas has worked extensively in the innovation sector with many research institutions, large corporate innovators, clusters, startups and scaling technology companies.
He has a proven track record in helping drive the acceleration, and increased valuation, of technology scaleups. Anthony is lead outside counsel to many scale-ups: managing cross-disciplinary teams, systemizing legal offerings, and advising on a range of IP and commercial issues. He has a track record in formulating winning IP and IP monetization strategies, and contributing to successful exits fuelled by development of winning IP portfolios.
Anthony developed our firm’s Scaleup Preparedness Program, which includes a series of modules on key legal/IP/regulatory topics that help scaleups accelerate their business globally, to remain agile while managing risks.
As the Head of Technology & Innovation for Canada, he manages our firm’s extensive, cross-practice Technology & Innovation industry group. He leads thought leadership initiatives in Canada, is part of our global, integrated Technology & Innovation team, and is responsible for continuous build out of
our scaleup program including associated legal technology.
Anthony is a regular lecturer on IP and innovation related topics including for example the IP portion of the Rotman FinTech MBA elective course, IP commercialization for Osgoode Hall Law School. He speaks extensively about a range of topics including protecting value and managing risk in technology collaborations, legal and ethical implications of AI (especially from the point of adoption of AI by enterprises), data sharing and ownership arrangements in AI, and IP strategy and IP development programs for scaleups.
Joe Cooper
Joe Cooper is the Alteryx Canadian Country Manager. Before Alteryx Joe spent the majority of his working career at IBM, with time spent in their Analytics and Analytics Solutions department. Joe is a recent graduate of the Queen’s University Masters in Management Analytics program. Joe has spent the last three years working with Canada’s largest organizations, helping them to successfully deploy Alteryx into their Self-Service Analytics ecosystems.
Gustavo Espinosa
Gustavo has 25+ years of experience in IT space implementing leading-edge technology in different industries. Gustavo has been with the City of Brampton for over 12 years leading with great success Business Intelligence, Master Data Management, Data Integration and Enterprise Data Warehouse.
Gustavo has presented City’s achievements in technology in several international summits: Gartner Las Vegas; IBI Orlando, FL., Toronto, Niagara Falls, Hockey Valley; MDM and Data Governance Institute Toronto; SAP Toronto; MISA in Hamilton.
Gustavo hold a Master degree in Software Engineering and a Bachelor in Systems Engineering and Computing.
Faraz Zaidi
Faraz Zaidi is an Advisor in the Health Analytics team at the Region of Peel. His current research interests include developing data-driven solutions for the health department at the regional municipality where he uses advanced analytics, complex algorithms and visualization to develop innovative solutions. He also works as a Data Science Consultant with Piik Insights which is a start up to help Restaurants and Retailers become more data-driven through Data Mining and Analytics. He also holds an Adjunct Faculty position at KIET University in the Computing and Information Sciences Department where he supervises graduate students.
Before these roles, he has worked as a Data Scientist, a Research Scientist and an Academician in USA, Switzerland, France and Pakistan. He has over 12 years of experience in developing and directing solutions in Data Analytics, Data Mining, Machine Learning, Data Visualization and Business Intelligence. He has a PhD in Data Mining and Visual Analytics, a Masters in Complexity and Algorithms and a Masters in Software Engineering. He has over 50 research publications, a couple of book chapters and has appeared in several conferences as a speaker. He also serves as a technical reviewer for many journals and conferences. In his spare time, he enjoys reading books, spending time with his family and traveling.
Saad Rais
As the inaugural data scientist for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, I have been entrusted with the ambitious task of establishing a data science capacity in the Ministry. My vision of this capacity is to transform Ontario’s healthcare system through smarter use of resources, smarter processes, and smarter healthcare. Currently, I am also an instructor at the University of Toronto for their Data Science certificate program.
In my previous role at the Ministry as a senior methodologist, I specialized in the development of forecasting models and visual analytics products to support evidence-based decision making in the Ministry. I have also worked at Statistics Canada as a survey methodologist, playing a key role in the development of the Services Producer Price Index.
I have been invited to participate at several forums including Big Data & Analytics Summit, McKinsey’s Hackathon, International Conference on Establishment Surveys, and the Ontario Regional Trauma Networks Forum. I have also presented my work and research at several conferences including the Statistical Society of Canada Annual Meeting, Health Data Users Conference, Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research Conference, and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences Rounds.
Lorne Rothman
Dr. Lorne Rothman is a Principal Data Scientist at SAS Institute Canada, with expertise in the applications of Machine Learning, Text Analytics, Forecasting & Classical Statistics to solve real world problems. As a member of SAS’ Customer Advisory team, he has worked with a wide variety of private and public sector organizations across North America since joining SAS in 1998. He holds a Bachelor and Master degree of Science from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of British Columbia, and is an accredited Professional Statistician (P.Stat.) with the Statistical Society of Canada.
Thomas Kampioni
Thomas Kampioni is the Head of Information Services at the Law Society of British Columbia. He is a creative and innovative professional with experience in developing enterprise applications and modern data analytics. He promotes innovation, entrepreneurship, continuous improvement and how to foster a data-driven culture to enable the organization to make informed decisions through data.
He has a proven track record of successful project completion including creating a Member Information System, establishing Knowledge Management program, leading deployment of many enterprise application, developing the Law Society website and many other applications used every day by internal staff and 14,000 lawyers in British Columbia
Thomas is a skilled public speaker and subject matter expert in data analytics. He spoke at number of international conferences including KMWorld 2015 in Washington, DC, Knowledge Engineering and KM 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal, NABRICO 2016 in Vancouver, BC.
Thomas has spent most of his life at universities and his educational background include an Executive MBA from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, a Bachelor of Computer Science from British Columbia Institute of Technology, MA in Marketing and Management from Wrocław University of Economics in Poland. Thomas also holds Graduate Certificate in Business in the Americas that included residencies at Fundação Instituto de Administração in Sao Paulo, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México in Mexico City and the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management in Nashville, USA.
Thomas loves to travel and street photography. He plays tennis, swims and enjoys outdoors. He also writes and directs independent films and documentaries.
Tania Hoque
Jim Picha
Jim Picha is the Vice President of Consulting Services for the Financial Sector at Alithya. A seasoned veteran in the capital markets sector, Jim is the architect and driving force behind many mission critical projects in the nuclear and financial industries. With his clear thinking and practical management style, Jim is sought after by clients for his reliable ability to deliver complex projects with tight deadlines.
Naresh Tejpal
Naresh Tejpal is currently a Senior Director, Capital Markets Compliance at CIBC with his primary responsibility as an advisor on regulatory matters to sales, trading and research personnel on various asset classes. In addition to his role as an advisor he also manages the oversight function conducted by his Compliance surveillance group. Mr. Tejpal has spent time working in UK for CIBC as the interim Head of Compliance dealing with the FCA related rules and regulations. He is a graduate of FINRA Institute at Wharton’s Certified Regulatory Compliance Professional. He is the Vice Chair of the IIROC’s CCLS Executive Committee, the Institutional Sub-Committee, IIAC Debt Markets Committee and the past Chair of the IIAC Derivatives Committee. He has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry which includes equity derivatives trading and sales in Capital Markets and Compliance. Prior to joining CIBC in 2010 he held the positions as a trader and sales person at Scotia Bank, Director of Compliance at BMO Capital Markets and trading conduct compliance examiner with Market Regulation Services, a predecessor of IIROC. Drawing on a breadth of experience from both sides of the industry enables him to offer a unique perspective for navigating an organization through an ever changing regulatory environment.
Murat Kristal PhD
Murat is an associate professor of operations management at Schulich. He teaches in the areas of business operations strategy, channel management, customer modeling, and business analytics. He has helped diverse companies manage their customer relationships using predictive analysis techniques.
Aditya Sriram
Brian Hu
As Head of Data for Index Exchange, Brian Hu designs, develops and operates petabyte scale data platforms that handle billions of online ad auctions every day. His team also process terabytes of data in geographically located data centers around the globe to generate insights and predictive analytics for internal and external clients. Brian brings over 20 years of experience from various industries, including banking, insurance, health care and ad tech. Prior to his time at Index Exchange, Brian was the Head of Data Management at PointClickCare.
Josh Alpern
Josh leads Informatica’s team of subject matter experts with a particular focus on Data Cataloging, Next Generation Analytics, and Data Security. He and his team spend their time helping customers and partners understand how Informatica’s Enterprise Data Catalog and Big Data solutions bring value to a customer’s Digital Transformation journey. Josh has been in the Information Technology industry in a variety of roles for more than 20 years and with Informatica for 10 years. He is based in New York City.
Mike Bloom
Mike started out working in robotics in his teens when he was given an opportunity to test a 600lb vacuum cleaner robot running a z80 processor that was designed to clean malls in Japan.
The robot malfunctioned and slammed into a concrete block wall at 1m/s, which lead to the installation of a big red cutoff button on top, easily reachable in the event of another fault.
As his career developed, a focus on complications and design considerations in the lifecycle of automation in infrastructure was the driving focus across work in healthcare, life sciences, finance, manufacturing, and high performance computing.
In his current role as a Corporate Advisory Engineer, Mike spends his time collaborating with early adopters of deep learning techniques and catalogues the approaches to training and inference for novel use cases in accelerating feature discovery and predictively targeting model convergence.
Ira Kaplan
