The CIO Peer

Forum 2022

The Road Ahead:

Seeing Beyond the Curves

Virtual Conference from April 26 to May 13, 2022
#ciopeerforum

About

Agenda

Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Garrett Reisman
Keynote Speaker

Professor of Astronautical Engineering
University of Southern California

Speaking: April 26

View Details

David Wong
Keynote Speaker

Executive Vice-President, Finance, Technology, Supply Chain & CFO
BC Hydro

Speaking May 3

View Details

Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer
Keynote Speaker

Chief Information Officer
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Speaking May 5

View Details

Anders Indset
Keynote Speaker

Business Philosopher

Speaking May 13

View Details

Speakers

Bhavin Shah

CEO
Moveworks

Speaking: May 12

View Details

Carolyn Levy

Group President of Randstad Technologies Group
& Chief Diversity Officer
Randstad, Canada

Speaking: April 26

View Details

Cheryl Smith

Principal
Smith & Associates

Speaking: April 28

View Details

Dana Reed

Distinguished Engineer
– Office of the CTO
SailPoint

Speaking: May 11

View Details

Danny Leong

Sergeant
Calgary Police Service

Speaking: April 29

View Details

Debra Christmas

Sr. Executive Partner
at Gartner Canada

Speaking: May 10

View Details

Dianne Lapierre

Director,
Lapierre Consulting

Speaking: May 4

View Details

Ella Hipolito

Senior Associate
Boyden

Speaking: May 4

View Details

Eric Gales

Country Manager
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Canada

Speaking: May 12

View Details

Glen Moffatt

VP, Canada, Midmarket, and
National Programs
S/4HANA Center of Excellence,
SAP North America

Speaking: April 27

View Details

Guy Merritt

VP of Solutions and Consulting
SoftServe Inc.

Speaking: May 10

View Details

Humza Teherany

Chief Technology & Digital Officer
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Speaking: May 12

View Details

Jason Cassidy

Founder and CEO
Shinydocs

Speaking: April 28

View Details

John Engates

Field CTO,
Cloudflare

Speaking: April 29

View Details

Lee Rennick

Executive Director,
CIO Association of Canada

Speaking: May 4

View Details

Lisa Inness

Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (RPRA)

Speaking: May 5

View Details

Martin Kyle

CISO
Payments Canada

Speaking: May 6

View Details

Oliver Grüter-Andrew

President and CEO
E-Comm 9-1-1 | Emergency Communications for British Columbia Incorporated

Speaking: April 27

View Details

Phil Fasano

CIO Advisor
Tanium Inc.

Speaking: May 13

View Details

Phil Hoetger

Inspector
Calgary Police Service

Speaking: April 29

View Details

Randolph Borron

Vice Chairman – Global Data Center Advisory Group,
Cushman & Wakefield

Speaking: May 6

View Details

Rajesh Thukral

Chief Technology Officer,
APX Data

Speaking: April 28

View Details

Rita Lazar-Tippe

Director of Information, Insights, Innovation & IT Operations,
Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS)

Speaking: May 5

View Details

Robert Barton

CTO,
Cisco Canada

Speaking: May 5

View Details

Romanus Prabhu Raymond

Global Head – Technical Support, Unified Endpoint Management and Security,
ManageEngine

Speaking: May 3

View Details

Steve Biswanger

Vice President & CISO,
ATCO Group

Speaking: May 11

View Details

Ted Schmidt

Enterprise Cloud Solutions Principal,
SoftServe Inc.

Speaking: May 10

View Details

2021 was a huge success!

Virtual thought leadership sessions

Registered technology leaders

Session attendees

2022 Sponsors

Join us for the 2022 CIO Peer Forum

Help make it even better

If you’re an expert with a passionate leading edge presentation to share or you’re a company that would like to support the event. Connect with us here:

Call for Sponsors

Dr. Garrett Reisman
Keynote Speaker

Professor of Astronautical Engineering
at University of Southern California

Dr. Reisman was selected by NASA as a mission specialist Astronaut in 1998. His first mission was aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, in 2008, which dropped him off for a 95 day mission aboard the International Space Station after which he returned to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. His second mission was aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, in 2010, and returned Dr. Reisman to the Space Station.

During these missions, Dr. Reisman performed 3 spacewalks, operated the Space Station Robot Arm and was a flight engineer aboard the Space Shuttle. After leaving NASA in 2011, Dr. Reisman joined SpaceX where he worked for Elon Musk and prepared SpaceX for human spaceflight as the Director of Space Operations. He was a lead consultant for the film AdAstra, and an active advisor for the Apple+ Show For All Mankind. Currently he is a Professor of Astronautical Engineering at USC and a Senior Advisor at SpaceX.

Check out Dr. Reisman's website

Speaking April 26th:

Lessons Learned from the Recent Past and Near Future of Human Spaceflight.

Drawing upon his multiple Space Shuttle and Space Station missions as a NASA astronaut and his over seven years working for Elon Musk as an executive at SpaceX, Dr. Garrett Reisman will share his lessons learned regarding inspiration, determination, vision, and innovation. The freedom to fail is an essential requirement for breakthrough innovation, but how do you fail safely when your goal is to fly people in space? Astronaut Reisman has the distinction of being a key player in both the traditional NASA space program and the rapidly expanding commercial space flight industry. Using illuminating and humorous personal stories and an engaging multimedia presentation about both spaceflight past and future, Dr. Reisman will leave you with useful gems of wisdom while keeping you thoroughly entertained.

David Wong
Keynote Speaker

Executive Vice-President, Finance, Technology, Supply Chain & Chief Financial Officer at BC Hydro

David Wong is BC Hydro's Executive Vice-President, Finance, Technology, Supply Chain & Chief Financial Officer. Between 1995 and 2008, David held several roles at BC Hydro, including Chief Financial Officer at Powerex and Chief Accounting Officer at BC Hydro. As Chief Financial Officer, David is responsible for the financial oversight of BC Hydro. This includes financial reporting and policy, treasury, budgeting, forecasting, and internal audit. He's also accountable for their Technology and Supply Chain groups that provide IT services and solutions, company-wide procurement, materials management, and fleet services. These groups are valued business partners and provide critical support to the business.

Before returning to BC Hydro in 2018, David held senior financial roles at Teekay Corporation, including CFO of Teekay Offshore Partners Ltd. He's also served on the Board of Directors at Vancity Credit Union where he was the chair of the audit committee. David holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from SFU and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. David is also on the Board of Directors at BCAA.

Check out David's LinkedIn

Speaking: May 3

The road to a more inclusive and diverse future

As workplaces around the globe re-examine how they’re organized and consider new ways of working, inclusion has risen to the forefront of discussions. Research indicates that qualities that characterize diverse and inclusive companies will be in high demand as companies recover from the pandemic, and that diversity is a driver of innovation.

A team with diverse backgrounds, experiences and ideas supports business objectives and helps reflect different customer groups. And feeling included is always a good thing when it comes to employee engagement.

But creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace doesn’t just happen – it takes action.

David Wong, Executive Vice President of Finance, Technology and Supply Chain and Chief Financial Officer at BC Hydro, is a people leader and passionate when it comes to inclusion and diversity. BC Hydro, considered one of B.C.’s top employers and one of Canada’s best diversity employers, recognizes that fostering an inclusive organizational culture and leveraging diverse, dynamic talent are imperatives in today’s business environment.

David will share the tangible actions BC Hydro is taking to build a more inclusive and diverse work environment, including related considerations to make in a post-pandemic hybrid remote-office working world.

Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer

Keynote Speaker

Chief Information Officer
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

NATO’s inaugural Chief Information Officer (CIO) with principal responsibility to realize the Allies’ vision for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as mandated by the North Atlantic Council under the delegated authority of the NATO Secretary General. Facilitating ICT coherence across the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 41 civil and military bodies with 25,000 users. Performing the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) function as a single point of authority for all cybersecurity issues. IT executive with 25 years of leadership experience in large organizations within the computer (hardware, software), electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) industries. Core expertise anchored in strategy and transformation, architecture, cybersecurity, governance, and mergers/acquisitions. Global Executive MBA from Duke University, North Carolina and Master of Science (MSc) in Business Management Research from University of Reading, UK. Pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) at the University of Reading by examining human-technology interactions within the context of IoT solutions. Multi-national work experience in Belgium, Canada, USA, Brazil, The Netherlands, and Germany.

Speaking: May 5

Cyber resilience at NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most successful political and military Alliance in history. Its purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of one billion people on the planet. The NATO Enterprise with 41 civil and military organizations and 25,000 users works with 30 member nations and an additional 40 partner countries and international organizations across the globe to fulfill its purpose. This session is about NATO’s activities to continually strengthen its cybersecurity posture in a hostile world. It outlines the importance of resilience, knowing one’s infrastructure, the “human defense”, and enhancing skills in defending IT systems under real-time attacks.

Anders Indset
Keynote Speaker

Business Philosopher

Anders Indset is one of the world's leading business philosophers and a trusted sparring partner to international CEOs and political leaders. Dubbed "Rock'n'Roll Plato" by European media, he is currently one of the most sought-after intellectuals with his approach to practical philosophy.

Thinkers50, the premier ranking of global business thinkers, regarded as the “Oscars of Management Thinking" by many, has recognised Anders on the Radar as one of 30 Global Thinkers" most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led”. For the 2019 Thinkers50 Gala his work on “The Quantum Economy” was a finalist for the Breakthrough Idea Award.

The native Norwegian, based out of Frankfurt, is a guest lecturer at leading international business schools, a founding partner of the Global Institute of Leadership and Technology and advisory board member of the Swiss-based deep tech pioneer Terra Quantum. He is known for his unconventional way of thinking, his provocative theses, and his rock star attitude.

His latest international book ‘The Quantum Economy - Saving the Mensch with Humanistic Capitalism’ entered the Spiegel-Bestseller list and was #1 in Manager Magazin and Handelsblatt for the most sold business books in the German-speaking region. The Quantum Economy has already been translated and sold to 11 countries around the world. His international bestseller ‘WILD KNOWLEDGE - Outthink the Revolution’ was released in Europe in 2017 and has been translated into further languages in 2018 and was also a Spiegel-Bestseller in 2019.

In September ‘The Infected Mind’ (Das infizierte Denken) was released in Germany and entered the Spiegel-Bestseller List in its first week. Philosophy@Work, a collection of philosophical concepts on how to cope with today’s technological fast-paced and complex society will be published Q3/2022.

Speaking: May 13th

The Quantum Economy - Saving the Mensch with Humanistic Capitalism

Taken from his latest Spiegel-Bestseller book, Anders develops three scenarios for the next decade, in which our future is irreversibly decided. He outlines a new operating system for the economy, which at the same time forms the basis of our future coexistence. The old economy is dead, the new economy is also dead. What follows is the Quantum Economy. In this session, Anders talks about how to become a leader of change and how to cope with exponential technologies and tackle the leadership challenges of this decade.

“If we want to understand society, we must rethink the economy”

Bhavin Shah
Speaker

CEO at Moveworks

Bhavin Shah is the CEO of Moveworks. He is a serial entrepreneur with two decades of experience taking companies from inception to scale and from private to public. Most recently, he was CEO of Refresh.io, which LinkedIn acquired in 2015. In 2016, Shah co-founded Moveworks, the AI platform that’s transforming how companies support their employees. Moveworks was named to the 2021 Forbes AI 50 list and now supports more than 100 large enterprise customers, including Broadcom, Western Digital, and DocuSign. Shah has a Master’s degree in Education, Technology, and Business from Stanford University and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego

Speaking: May 12

How to Support Hybrid Work with Conversational AI

The Great Resignation is real. In this age of hybrid work, your employees expect a seamless digital experience — wherever they are, whatever they need. And when companies fail to meet that expectation, they quit. To survive the new normal, it takes a new approach to supporting employees: conversational AI. Moveworks CEO Bhavin Shah will share the most critical applications of conversational AI for your hybrid business, including: How Palo Alto Networks saved 180,000 hours of productivity for its employees — by delivering 24/7 support on Slack and ServiceNow.How Unity Technologies solved thousands of requests related to remote work, without any involvement from its service desk. How Albemarle Corporation provides automatic help to its multilingual workforce, using new techniques in language understanding.

Carolyn Levy
Speaker

Group President of
Randstad Technologies Group
& Chief Diversity Officer,

Randstad Canada

Carolyn Levy is Group President of Randstad Technologies Group & Chief Diversity Officer, Randstad, Canada. In the context of accelerated pace of new and emerging technologies, Carolyn steers the strategic direction of two complementary divisions: Randstad Technologies, a Canadian leader in matching exceptional tech talent with leading organizations across the country, and IT Solutions, who provide on demand IT services, software development and strategy. A forward-thinker and a transformational, inclusive leader, Carolyn leads a highly-skilled and passionate team of experts working in all areas of the tech and IT landscape, and is committed to support employers in sourcing top talent and implementing innovative projects that will shape their business.

Speaking: April 26th

Unlock the power of diversity: how to cultivate intentional and inclusive leadership

For many years, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) was a problem to solve, or worse yet, a box to check. But today’s reality demands a different approach: one that requires organizations to embed diversity in all parts of their organization. To build and foster a culture of respect, inclusion and belonging, organizations need to demonstrate courage, accountability, and persistence - and it starts at the top. Meaningful change requires unwavering commitment and steady, ongoing improvement. Through this session, you will reflect on your current approach to diversity and explore the next steps you can take to move it towards a true sustainable, long-term and strategic focus.

Cheryl Smith
Speaker

Principal
at Smith & Associates

Cheryl Smith has led the IT organizations at Fortune-ranked companies for 20 years. She was the global CIO at McKesson Corporation, KeySpan Energy (now National Grid), and WestJet Airlines, was the VP of Strategic Systems at Verizon, and a Principal at EY. On top of being a co-founder of the CIO Institute at UC Berkeley’s Hass School of Business, Cheryl has helped to create a leadership program at the Professional Development Academy (PDA) with General Colin Powell, has served on a number of Advisory Boards including IBM’s and Oracle’s, and most recently, co-authored a leading book on digital transformation: The Day Before Digital Transformation: Unlocking digital transformation for business leaders.

Speaking: April 28th

Disruption is Already at the Door

Cheryl Smith quite literally wrote the book on Digital Transformation and she joins Jason Cassidy to discuss how transformative digital leaders are rethinking data to drive increased revenue, tremendous cost savings and substantively improved ways of doing business. Your competitors are already leveraging data as a strategic advantage against your organization so how are you focusing on data as a key resource? How are you pulling high-value insights from your information instead of simply letting it dissipate like so much data exhaust. CEOS will learn: Why digital transformations fail. Why the clock is ticking for organizations looking to capitalize on the latest Digital Revolution. The difference between a long term strategy versus mitigating short term risk. What is possible when digital leaders put data at the centre of their strategy and seek out complete data understanding.

Dana Reed
Speaker

Distinguished Engineer -
Office of the CTO at SailPoint

Dana is a SailPoint Distinguished Sales Engineer and Lead Sales Liaison for SailPoint’s AI led ‘Predictive Identity’ product. Dana has 20 years in Identity Management, having applied IGA experience in most vertical markets, including Health Care, Retail, Finance, Defense, and Higher Education. Dana’s career IAM experience spans the full breadth of IAM related responsibilities, including Software Development, Implementation, Design, Business Process Consulting, Software Sales, & Sales Engineering.

Speaking: May 11th

The under appreciated role of Identity Security in your business.

Identity and Identity security has never been more relevant and core to the success and security of today’s business. This session will explore Identity related market trends, business drivers and the ways in which a well thought-out and funded Identity program can act as an under appreciated catalyst toward achieving your business outcomes.

Danny Leong
Speaker

Sergeant
Calgary Police Service

Sergeant Danny Leong is 22-year member of the Calgary Police Service, who is currently working in the Service’s Cyber/Forensics Unit. Over the course of his career, he has had the opportunity to work in both operational and investigative capacities in several units across the Service. For the past three years, Danny has had the privilege of leading a Cybercrime Team that consists of seven dedicated Constables who investigate internet-related crimes impacting Calgarians. Primarily, Danny’s team investigates situations where technology is the “target”, such as unauthorized use of computers, ransomware, theft of data and dark-web-related offences. The Cybercrimes Team also supports Service investigations where technology and the internet are the instruments for criminals to facilitate traditional offences such as fraud, thefts or threats. When he isn’t pursuing his passion for cybercrime, Danny is an avid camper and dedicated coach to his daughters’ minor hockey team.

Speaking: April 29th

Cybersecurity - perspectives from law enforcement

When a business falls victim to a cybercrime, their priority is to contain damage and recover operations as soon as possible. Implications of cybercrimes, however, go far beyond just business productivity and financial damages. To delve into this topic and grasp the sweeping and enduring consequences of cybercrimes, we need to hear perspectives from the law enforcement and authorities. Authorities not only must protect their own infrastructure and operations as most businesses do, but they also must be there for us, when we are victims of a cybercrime, by guiding us through the recovery process, and deal with the attribution and criminal process to stop the perpetrators from acting again. The latter can take many months and sometimes years. Inspector Phil Hoetger and Sergeant Danny Leong from the Calgary Police will guide us through some aspects of cybersecurity that we often don’t think about on the business side.

Debra Christmas
Speaker

Sr. Executive Partner
at Gartner Canada

Debra Christmas is a seasoned leader in the high-tech field with over 40 years of experience managing all aspects of information technology. Prior to joining Gartner Canada, Debra was Vice President of Hewlett-Packard Software Technical Sales leading a team of over 300 technical software sales professionals across North and South America. She has led IT organizations in both the public and private sectors driving change and transformation through engaged, diverse and high performance teams. In partnership with Peak Teams, she has facilitated leadership development workshops around the world.

She is the co-creator of PACE, an award winning presentation and communications course. Her role as an Executive Partner provides her the honour and privilege of working with senior leaders – both technology and business focused - on their strategy, execution of their initiatives, organizational challenges and their own professional development. She is a trained coach, leveraging the Co-Active Coaching Methodology, leveraging certifications in Tilt365 and The Leadership Circle (based on the book “Mastering Leadership”) as 360 executive level assessment. She is the co-author of Please Stay: How Women in Tech Survive and Thrive, founder of Stiletto Gladiators, a not for profit for consultancy on diversity and inclusion and leadership for women in technology and co-founder of Women in Tech Tribe.

Speaking: May 10

Leadership Now: What They Didn't Teach You in Business School

Leaders today are dealing with unprecedented circumstances – societal unrest, racial tensions, climate change, sustainability issues and oh yes, a global pandemic. Leaders are expected to motivate and inspire their teams to great performance and business outcomes while working in an environment foreign to all of us. Leading today takes even more special skills than we thought and some of these skills need to be learned. It starts with you. Leaders need to evolve and grow, they need to assess their leadership style and its effectiveness in these times. The expectations are steep, the stakes are high and the margin for error is wide. This session will talk about the current challenges of navigating disruption, bias, racism, diversity, and how to lead with courage and empathy across a multi-generational workforce in new and unique working environments to deliver business outcomes with an accelerated dependency on information and technology.

Dianne Lapierre
Speaker

Director,
Lapierre Consulting.

Dianne Lapierre served as Chief Information Officer at Absolute, responsible for driving IT solutions that enhance Absolute’s overall business strategy and transforming the Absolute employee experience through technology and techniques aligned with today’s digital workplace. Prior to joining Absolute, Dianne served as Chief Information Officer for leading investment bank and financial services firm, Raymond James Ltd. She has more than 25 years of experience and leadership within the information technology and security sector. Dianne is currently President of the CIO Association of Canada’s Vancouver chapter and serves on their national board. She is also the former Co-Chair for Vancouver Women in Technology (VanWIT). Dianne holds an MBA from Athabasca University.

Speaking: May 4th

Attention to Retention: A Case for Mentoring

Are you and your organization feeling the impacts of the ‘Great Attrition?’ The dire news is that if you aren’t already, there’s a high likelihood you will. With 40% of employees stating they are at least somewhat likely to leave their current job in the next 3-6 months, it’s time to turn your attention to retention. Join us as we explore how and why mentorship positively contributes to retention. Employers tend to overlook mentorship as a key driver for why individuals choose to stay. What does a good mentor/mentee relationship look like? Hear from both sides of this two-way street and how it fosters a sense of belonging in the workplace.

Ella Hipolito
Speaker

Senior Associate
Boyden

Ella Hipolito is a Senior Associate at Boyden specializing in equitable and innovative executive recruitment. Boyden is an executive search firm recruiting senior executive at Board, C-suite and senior management level. As a search consultant, she assesses the market for talent and is invested in the long-term success of the executive she recruits. With a background in a range of private-sector industries and an expertise in higher education, social impact, public and not-for-profit, she has conducted over 70 searches for leadership roles. A sought-after speaker on equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI), she represents Vancouver on the National DEI Committee and leads innovation around recruitment and retainment strategies.

Speaking: May 4th

Attention to Retention: A Case for Mentoring

Eric Gales
Speaker

Country Manager
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Canada

Eric Gales is Country Manager for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Canada. With 30 years of technology industry experience, Eric brings a wealth of expertise, advising small, medium-sized and large businesses on how to transform their business with technology including the latest cloud and machine learning innovations. Eric infuses customer obsession in all AWS Canada operations including business development, sales, partner alliances, marketing, solutions architecture, customer support, and technical skills development. Eric was instrumental in launching AWS’s first Cloud Region, in Montreal, in 2016, allowing customers to host data locally. Since then, Eric has played a pivotal role in helping Canadian businesses adapt and respond to Canada’s changing landscape.

Prior to joining AWS in October 2015, Eric held senior roles as VP and General Manager at VMware Canada, and as President of Microsoft Canada. Before coming to Canada, Eric was a General Manager at Compaq UK.

While a native of the UK, Eric loved Canada so much he became a citizen. He and his wife reside in Oakville with two teenage children. In Eric’s spare time he plays in a beer league hockey team, and has a private pilot’s license flying out of Burlington Airpark.

Speaking: May 12

The Digital Future of Sports

Humza Teherany, Chief Technology & Digital Officer at MLSE together with Eric Gales, County Manager at AWS Canada, will lead a fireside chat about digital transformation in the world of sports and their partnership to accelerate the fan experience with other leagues across North America. This exciting discussion will be moderated by Catherine Chick, our National Programs Director and CTO at Canada Goose.

If you are a sports fan and a senior tech leader, this session is not to be missed!

Glen Moffatt
Speaker

VP, Canada, Midmarket, and National Programs S/4HANA Center of Excellence
at SAP North America

Glen Moffatt is Vice President of the S/4HANA Center of Excellence at SAP North America. He has worked with SAP for 16 years in a number of roles, all centered around SAP’s ERP products. Prior to SAP, he was a software consultant to numerous organizations and COO of a manufacturing firm. As a business person and a coder, he describes himself as a “technical generalist and communicator”.

Check out Glen's LinkedIn.

Speaking: April 27

The Renaissance of ERP

For decades, enterprise application software (“enterprise resource planning”, or ERP) has been built the same way, with similar underlying tools and technology, automating the same business processes, in the same ways, and producing the same business outcomes. Despite seismic changes in information technology across the last thirty years – from client/server to the web to the rise of hyperscale computing – ERP systems have remained largely the same. But we believe this is finally changing, that ERP is finally undergoing a Renaissance of its own, and that something new is emerging. To find out why, we’ll compare the Renaissance of ERP of today to the Italian Renaissance of 500 years ago.

Guy Merritt
Speaker

VP of Solutions and Consulting
at SoftServe. Inc.

An experienced C-suite executive, Guy has 35 years of engineering leadership developing cloud-based systems, products, and engineering & manufacturing test solutions for a wide variety of industries. He is an author of the award-winning book “Proactive Risk Management: Controlling Uncertainty in Product Development”.

Speaking: May 10

Journey to FinOps: The Critical First 90-days

Cost is not the benefit of moving to the cloud; agility is. Moving from a CAPEX model for IT spend to an OPEX model presents a myriad of challenges for every enterprise considering such a move. And most of those challenges are not technical, but organizational and cultural. Any enterprise wishing to leverage the true power of the public cloud will have to rethink its approach to balancing the speed, cost and quality of its technology solutions.

The FinOps Foundation describes Cloud Financial Operations, or FinOps, as the practice of bringing financial accountability to the variable spend model of cloud, thereby enabling distributed teams to make business trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality. In short, FinOps is about making the cloud a cost-effective solution for your enterprise. Successfully implementing a mature FinOps practice in your enterprise requires a well-considered approach.

In this talk, led by Ted Schmidt, Enterprise Cloud Solutions Principal and Guy Merritt, Vice President, Solutions & Consulting for SoftServe Inc., we will discuss the practical side of FinOps, including:

1. What is FinOps
2. Who Needs It and Why
3. The First 90 Days of FinOps
a. Evolving from CAPEX to OPEX thinking
b. Assembling the FinOps Team
c. Communicating Expectations
d. Why Automation is Key
e. Maturing a Cloud-Savvy Enterprise
4. A FinOps Roadmap
5. Case Studies

Humza Teherany
Speaker

Chief Technology & Digital Officer
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Humza is the Chief Technology and Digital Officer at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. Humza has over 20 years of experience in driving Technology and Business Strategy, while directly contributing to both top and bottom line results.

Humza's organization at MLSE is responsible for digital strategy, technology, IT, mobile apps, data science and innovation - including our esports team and initiatives, Raptors Uprising Gaming Club and Leafs Gaming League

Prior to MLSE, Humza was at Compass Group North America where he built a technology and digital strategy company called Compass Digital Labs where he was the CEO. Compass Digital Labs helped to drive billions of dollars of incremental revenue and market differentiation across retail and hospitality sectors across the United States and Canada.

Humza has also worked at Allstream, where he led Business Transformation and IT Enterprise Architecture. He has also held various technical and management roles at Bell Canada.

A frequent keynote speaker at various North American conferences focused on technology, innovation and driving business results, Humza has built strong technology and business partnerships with top organizations around the globe. This network allows him to innovate creatively and quickly, accelerating business objectives.

Humza has an undergraduate degree from York University and holds various professional training accreditations from both the Schulich School of Business and the Niagara Institute, he also served as the President of the CIO Association of Canada.

Speaking: May 12

The Digital Future of Sports

If you are a sports fan and a senior tech leader, this session is not to be missed!

Jason Cassidy
Speaker

Founder and CEO
at Shinydocs

Jason has been solving digital enterprise technology challenges for over 20 years as a new product developer and entrepreneur. His award-winning solutions are transforming the digital landscape from traditional ECM to modern Content Services. Jason currently sits on the Board of Directors for AIIM International and is the driving force behind Shinydocs’ success as OpenText’s 3 time Technology Partner of the Year and its best-selling 3rd party technology worldwide.

Speaking: April 28th

Disruption is Already at the Door

Rethinking Data: How CIOs are driving strategic value while ensuring data is properly secured and managed

Organizations are struggling to manage every single piece of data coming into their organization. Understanding unstructured and structured content, securing it against cyberthreats and ensuring it's available to drive key strategic value to the organization has become mission critical. It's what separates the digital transformation winners who have a long term data strategy from the also-rans who are still mired in the status quo. Born out of several frank discussions with CIO Association of Canada members, join us as we debut key Blueprint findings in this can't miss Peer Session.

CIO's will learn:

What companies need to wrestle with the extreme volume, variety and velocity of incoming data
How they plan on continuously monitoring data quality across all inputs
Why complete data understanding will separate the winners from the losers in the next 10 years
Where can companies get started, turning data into a strategic asset instead of a looming liability?

John Engates
Field CTO,
Cloudflare

John Engates joined Cloudflare in September of 2021 as Field Chief Technology Officer and is responsible for leading the global Field CTO organization. Prior to Cloudflare, John was Client CTO at NTT Global Networks and Global CTO at Rackspace Technology, Inc. Earlier in his career, John helped launch one of the first Internet service providers in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

John is a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio and resides in Texas with his wife and two daughters. He is passionate about technology but also enjoys mountain biking, snowboarding, off-roading, and spending time traveling with his family.

Speaking: April 29

The Invisible Internet: It plays such a critical role in our lives so why isn’t it a bigger part of the conversation?

The move to hybrid work has raised the profile and importance of the Internet as the corporate backbone for modern business. It’s the only network that connects everyone and everything and yet the Internet is often treated as a black box from the standpoint of the IT organization. Tapping into his 26 years of experience in the Internet industry, John Engates, Field CTO at Cloudflare, will share details about emerging cybersecurity threats, Zero Trust, current Internet trends in Ukraine and Cloudflare’s vision on how the Internet is poised to take on a much larger role in the traditional enterprise network.

Lee Rennick
Speaker

Executive Director
at CIO Association of Canada

Lee is a senior leader with extensive experience in management, strategy, financial planning, sponsorship, communications, digital transformation, marketing, and communications. She is currently the Executive Director of the CIO Association of Canada and was previously Global Marketing Officer at Six Trends, a global digital agency. Lee has worked with a variety of clients in her leadership role at Six Trends, helping them to grow through digital transformation. She now uses her extensive skills to grow the CIO Association of Canada’s profile in Canada and abroad through membership and partnership growth. Lee has also held senior roles at Proudfoot Consulting, Gilda’s Club, Pathways to Education, and OCAD University.

Check out Lee's LinkedIn.

Speaking: May 4

Building a new member experience - Career Development Centre

Join Lee Rennick, Executive Director, and special guests from Randstad to update you on new member benefits.  Peer Forum will kick off the launch of the new CIOCAN Career Development Centre where members will find information about how to improve your performance and boost your career.  In addition, we will be discussing the launch of a new Peer Value Exchange Program.

Lisa Inness
Speaker

CIO
at Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (RPRA)

As Chief Information Officer (CIO) Lisa Inness is responsible for RPRA’s Information Technology systems, developing and operating on-line registry and digital reporting systems that supports Ontario’s advancement to a circular economy and waste reduction.

Lisa is an experienced technology leader bringing over 20 years of experience in IT executive management roles in the public, private and not-for-profit sector.  This experience includes extensive experience in IT delivery of large-scale transformational initiatives, organizational design & change management, relationship management, and Innovation.

Currently Lisa serves on the Advisory Board of Ryerson's Business Technology Management program and is Board member of the CIO Association of Canada.

Speaking: May 5

The role of the CIO is evolving, but to what?

The world of business has changed drastically over the past two years. With in-person interactions limited, technology and business executives, sales teams, functional leads and, well, everyone else in Canadian organizations has had to adjust. For CIOs this adjustment has been compounded by the growing importance of technology to an organization’s bottom line and, often, the need for accelerated, transformative projects to address business needs. The role of the CIO is evolving, but to what? What does the ‘CIO of the Future’ look like?

A group of CIOCAN members debated several questions in an open forum to discuss not only how the role has already changed, but also:

How has the process for making purchasing decisions changed over the course of the last two year
How the role of your vendors and partners has evolved
Are those changes here to stay?
How the evolution of technology as a business driver has added to a CIO’s scope of responsibilities

This session will share the results of these discussions and the resulting white paper.

Martin Kyle
Speaker

CISO
at Payments Canada

Martin Kyle is the Chief Information Security Officer at Payments Canada, the operator of Canada’s national clearing and settlement infrastructure. With a deep background in technology development, implementation, and oversight; Martin is responsible for the organization’s corporate security program, including both cyber and physical security. Martin also serves on the Board of the CIO Association of Canada as the National President for the CISO Division. Prior to joining Payments Canada in 2017, he served as Director of Operational Risk and CISO at Central 1, the Group Clearer for Canadian Credit Unions. Martin holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University with additional graduate studies at Simon Fraser University. He is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, and Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional.

Speaking: May 6th

Securing the supply chain for software capital projects

In modernizing digital infrastructure, there are also opportunities to modernize security. In this presentation, you will learn how recent changes to the national clearing and settlement systems within Canada were enhanced by techniques to secure the digital supply chain.

Oliver Grüter-Andrew
Speaker

President and CEO
at E-Comm 9-1-1 | Emergency Communications for British Columbia Incorporated

Oliver is the President & CEO of E-Comm 9-1-1, the organisation that processes over 2M 9-1-1 calls made by British Columbians annually and dispatches many of our police and fire departments to emergencies. Prior to this role he was the CIO of the Provincial Health Services Authority and before that the University of British Columbia for a sum total of eight years. Before stepping into the public sector Oliver was with Accenture for over 16 years, working in North America and in Europe. During that time he was also the head of IT service for Best Buy Canada and a Utilities Customer Care services business for several years.

Speaking: April 27th

Leading the total change, not just the tech change

Over the second half of 2021, BC was badly affected by natural disasters: heat, fires, flooding and snow. E-Comm as the 9-1-1 service provider was deeply affected, but most of the issues we encountered with all these emergencies were about process, relationships, service governance and funding control; not technology. The experience showed that the best tech solutions won’t help you if the corporate processes are not in working order. That said, technology development also drives change in processes, relationships and service governance for emergency communications, from radio systems upgrades and evolution path to cellphone solutions, and soon the impact of Next Generation 9-1-1 on everyone’s lives. In this talk I will connect the technology with the process, governance and funding aspects of change in emergency communications. The message to CIOs is this: your task is not done with putting in IT and if you want to be valuable to the CEO look at the whole problem of improved information management and commit to leading the total change, not just the tech change.

Phil Fasano
Speaker

CIO Advisor
at Tanium Inc.

Philip Fasano was an EVP and the CIO at American International Group (AIG) and Kaiser Permanente. Fasano also served in IT leadership roles at Capital One Financial, JP Morgan Chase, and Deutsche Financial Services, among others. In 2017, Fasano was inducted into the CIO Hall of Fame by CIO Magazine. Fasano currently serves on the Board of Trustees at the New York Institute of Technology and as a CIO Advisor at Tanium.

Speaking: May 13

Cybersecurity Best Practices: From the Lens of a CEO/CIO/Board Member

Join this session to hear Phil’s perspective on how he’s lead security teams in various industries and now serves on Boards to help organizations see around corners before the next attack happens. Phil will discuss his experience with technology and digital transformation delivering a superior employee, customer, and patient experience. He’ll cover how organizations can secure legacy IT systems and how to navigate those complexities to make security more efficient and effective. Lastly, he’ll touch on current topics of distributed IT assets, sensitive data, tool sprawl, supply chain risk, and the post-pandemic hybrid workforce.

Phil Hoetger
Speaker

Inspector
Calgary Police Service

Phil Hoetger joined the Calgary Police Service in 1999 and has worked in a wide variety of areas across the Service, including frontline patrol and Air Support. He has worked as a Patrol Sergeant, Mountain Bike Sergeant as well as Duty Staff Sergeant and Duty Inspector in the Real Time Operations Centre, overseeing 24/7 police operations in Calgary.

Phil is a nationally certified Critical Incident Commander and has extensive incident management experience for natural disasters, civil unrest and major investigations. Throughout his career he has undertaken extensive advanced police training and has served in senior multi-agency positions. Recently Phil was in charge of the Criminal Networks Section, overseeing Intelligence, undercover operations and confidential informant handling.

Phil is the Commander of the Technical Investigations Section, which includes Cyber Crimes, Digital Forensics, Economic Crimes, Money Laundering, Electronic Surveillance, Robbery and Arson.

Phil serves on a number of local and national police committees and boards and is currently Co-Chair of National Police Service CyberCrime Committee.

Speaking: April 29th

Cybersecurity - perspectives from law enforcement

Randolph Borron
Speaker

Vice Chairman - Global Data Center Advisory Group
at Cushman & Wakefield

Randolph is a Vice Chairman at Cushman & Wakefield with 36 years of experience in data center and portfolio optimization site acquisition and disposition, lease negotiations, and over 37 years of experience in Commercial Real Estate. His data center expertise covers site selection, risk analysis, portfolio strategy, Real Estate strategic planning, and account management. He is one of the founding members of Cushman & Wakefield’s Data Center Advisory Group. This highly specialized group is made up of uniquely qualified real estate brokers who understand the specialized requirements of mission critical environments. He ensures that his client’s real estate solutions create optimum efficiency and minimized risk while meeting the business’ needs.

Randolph is a consistent top producer in Cushman & Wakefield, achieving Top 100 recognition in the Americas every year since 2012. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario with an Honors Degree in Urban Development and Economics. He is a member of SIOR, CoreNet Global, and NAIOP, TREB, OREA, CREA, AFCOM and is on the Foundation Board of Providence Healthcare.

Major clients include: AT&T, Bell Canada, Blackboard, Bank of Montreal, Brown Brothers Harriman, CentriLogic, CenturyLink, CGI, Cogeco, Cologix, Dell, Digital Realty, Dupont Fabros, Equinix, Ericsson Canada, Facebook, Global Crossing, IBM, Level 3, Loblaws, Microsoft, Networks, Royal Bank of Canada, Rogers, SoftLayer, Sun Life Financial, TELUS, TeraGo Networks and Toronto-Dominion Bank

Awards: Cushman & Wakefield’s Hall of Fame, 2014 induction/CoreNet REmmy Award for Innovative Workplace, 2014/SIOR Broker of the Year, 2015 & 2016/NAIOP REX Award Transaction of the Year, 2015/Power Broker of the Year, 2016 CoStar/Top Producer in Canada – ongoing/Cushman & Wakefield’s President’s Round Table Honors consistently/Awarded the Cushman & Wakefield’s Award of Excellence

Speaking: May 6

Digital Innovation: What are other organizations doing to optimize their IT platforms?

The continued acceleration of Digital Transformation is creating disruption within organizations and the marketplace. Many public and private organizations have adopted multi-faceted strategies to support their IT platforms and are balancing cloud, collocation and owned data centers. Some organizations are developing new global best practices for their digital portfolios that will support their businesses into the future. The successes and mistakes of others and the evolving challenges within the data center industry provide useful examples of what to do and what not to do to optimize your IT platform and avoid risks.

What are the top 5 best practices for owned and leased data centers, colocation and cloud transformation?
What are the top 5 dos and don’ts to create a strategic plan for your IT platform in an age of disruption?
What are the top 5 evolving risks of digital transformation that you need to be aware of and prepared for?

Rajesh Thukral
Speaker

Chief Technology Officer,
APX Data

Raj is a Strategic Technology Leader. In his 20+ year career in IT, he has consulted on Data Strategies and Data Management for companies across North America. He has also led numerous Data and Digital Transformations, most recently for a 400+ person country-wide Law firm. He is currently CTO of APX Data, a company that works closely with Fire Departments across North America helping them transform operations, using modern data collection and management software to reduce community risk and keep Firefighters and First Responders safe.

Speaking: April 28th

Rethinking Data: How CIOs are driving strategic value while ensuring data is properly secured and managed

Organizations are struggling to manage every single piece of data coming into their organization. Understanding unstructured and structured content, securing it against cyberthreats and ensuring it’s available to drive key strategic value to the organization has become mission critical. It’s what separates the digital transformation winners who have a long term data strategy from the also-rans who are still mired in the status quo. Born out of several frank discussions with CIO Association of Canada members, join us as we debut key Blueprint findings in this can’t miss Peer Session.

CIO’s will learn:
• What companies need to wrestle with the extreme volume, variety and velocity of incoming data
• How they plan on continuously monitoring data quality across all inputs
• Why complete data understanding will separate the winners from the losers in the next 10 years
• Where can companies get started, turning data into a strategic asset instead of a looming liability?

Rita Lazar-Tippe
Speaker

Director of Information, Insights, Innovation & IT Operations
at Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS)

Rita Lazar-Tippe has over 25 years of experience in Digital Transformation and Innovation, comprising of private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. In her current role with Alberta Pensions Services Corporations, she serves as the Director of Information, Data Insights, Corporate Innovation, and IT Operations. The organization provides administrative services to more than 500 employers across Alberta with over 370,000 members and pensioners and administers $6 billion annually in pension plan funds. Rita has created and is executing on a multiyear strategic plan to deliver a 360 view of the member and pensioner, shifting to a selfservice data model, incorporating AI to elevate business insights and decision making. Created and implemented a corporate wide innovation program to both optimize and enhance the employee and customer experience. Created and executing on various digital transformation initiatives.

Speaking: May 5

The role of the CIO is evolving, but to what?

A group of CIOCAN members debated several questions in an open forum to discuss not only how the role has already changed, but also:

This session will share the results of these discussions and the resulting white paper.

Robert Barton
Speaker

CTO
CISCO Canada

Rob Barton, P. Eng, is Chief Technology Officer of Cisco Canada, responsible for helping organizations across Canada leverage technology to drive business impact.

With more than 23 years of experience in the IT industry, Rob holds numerous patents in the areas of wireless communications, network security, cloud networking, IoT, and Machine Learning. He was previously a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco.

Rob is a regular presenter at global industry conferences and a successful author, with books published on the subjects of Network Quality of Service (QoS), Wireless Communications, and IoT. Additionally, he has co-authored many academic research papers and leads Cisco’s academic research partnership program in Canada. Rob’s current areas of work include wireless communications, IT/OT convergence, network automation, and AI/ML in networking systems.

Rob Graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Engineering Physics.

Speaking: May 5th

The role of the CIO is evolving, but to what?

A group of CIOCAN members debated several questions in an open forum to discuss not only how the role has already changed, but also:

How has the process for making purchasing decisions changed over the course of the last two year
How the role of your vendors and partners has evolved
Are those changes here to stay?
How the evolution of technology as a business driver has added to a CIO’s scope of responsibilities

This session will share the results of these discussions and the resulting white paper.

Romanus Prabhu Raymond
Speaker

Global Head - Technical Support, Unified Endpoint Management and Security
at ManageEngine

Romanus Prabhu Raymond is the Global head of technical support for endpoint management & security at ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corp. With over 18 years of experience spanning from the legacy client management to modern endpoint management & security solution domains, he directly oversees consultation, implementation and partner coordination across the globe. Being no stranger to the stage, he holds the title of ME guru, providing direction and ideas to many professionals and peers in his field.

Check out Romanus' LinkedIn.
Check out Romanus' Twitter.

Speaking: May 3

Unifying endpoint strategies for enterprise

Understanding the risk that the enterprise business endpoints have to face in the modern threat landscape. Prepare, not to panic about the known and unknown real time vulnerabilities. Recommending a practical approach in securing endpoints through the layered approach strategy.

Key takeaways
1. Understand the modern attack trends
2. Big picture of changing attack surface
3. Predict and protect your endpoints from attacks
4. Strategic approach to protect your network endpoints
5. Getting the threat actor's perspective of your network endpoints

Steve Biswanger
Speaker

Vice President & CISO
at ATCO Group

Steve Biswanger’s career has focused on cybersecurity for over 25 years. Working with large consulting companies and boutique cybersecurity firms around the world he has improved security for organizations like Verizon, Google, Yahoo! and the United Nations in industries such as online casinos, Japanese banking, oil & gas and telecommunications. A deep technical background combined with a passion for practical governance is a unique combination that allows him to translate risks and requirements from both perspectives. His current role as CISO for ATCO puts him on the leading edge of risk management for the global infrastructure and logistics company. Steve is also Past President of the CISO Division of the CIO Association of Canada where he fosters an environment of information sharing and helps prepare the next generation of cybersecurity executives to be successful. One thing that has been true throughout his career, It’s not about security. It’s about trust.

Check out Steve's Twitter.

Speaking: May 11

Leverage IT and IoT to drive a revolution in OT!

Steve Biswanger believes it is time to rethink how we protect and leverage OT systems. Traditionally critical infrastructure and operational technology (OT) environments have been separated from IT environments for security. This solves the security problem, but creates significant business challenges as we evolve to data driven organizations. We don't separate critical IT systems this way: HR or Finance don’t have separate environments for their systems. What can we learn from the IT environments to improve our OT environments. Changes to critical systems usually take a long time, so can we wait to evolve, or is it time for a design revolution? Steve proposes a three step plan to go from segregated SCADA OT, to an OT revolution that unlocks critical data for the new world.

Ted Schmidt
Speaker

Enterprise Cloud Solutions Principal
at SoftServe. Inc.

Ted Schmidt has led highly successful enterprise technology transformations and is passionate about delivering cloud-based solutions to solve complex business and industry challenges. He has held leadership positions in Product Management, IT Operations, and built the Global Cloud Center of Excellence and FinOps practice for a major international manufacturer. In his current role, he has advised enterprises in the financial services and manufacturing verticals on building and maturing viable FinOps practices. Ted holds a BA in Management from Eckerd College and a master’s degree in business management from University of South Florida. Ted also holds multiple certifications in AWS, Azure, Organizational Change, Agile Methodologies, FinOps and Project & Program Management. Ted has extensive experience collaborating with business and IT executives globally, creating strategies and roadmaps to deliver both commercial and enterprise solutions.

Speaking: May 10

The CIO Peer

Forum 2022

The Road Ahead:

Seeing Beyond the Curves

Virtual Conference from April 26 to May 13, 2022#ciopeerforum

Keynote Speakers

Speakers

Bhavin Shah

Carolyn Levy

Cheryl Smith

Dana Reed

Danny Leong

Debra Christmas

Dianne Lapierre

Ella Hipolito

Eric Gales

Glen Moffatt

Guy Merritt

Humza Teherany

Jason Cassidy

John Engates

Lee Rennick

Lisa Inness

Martin Kyle

Oliver Grüter-Andrew

Phil Fasano

Phil Hoetger

Randolph Borron

Rajesh Thukral

Rita Lazar-Tippe

Robert Barton

Romanus Prabhu Raymond

Steve Biswanger

Ted Schmidt

2021 was a huge success!

Virtual thought leadership sessions

Registered technology leaders

Session attendees

2022 Sponsors

Join us for the 2022 CIO Peer Forum

Help make it even better

Lessons Learned from the Recent Past and Near Future of Human Spaceflight.

The road to a more inclusive and diverse future

Cyber resilience at NATO

How to Support Hybrid Work with Conversational AI

Unlock the power of diversity: how to cultivate intentional and inclusive leadership

Disruption is Already at the Door

Cybersecurity - perspectives from law enforcement

Leadership Now: What They Didn't Teach You in Business School

Attention to Retention: A Case for Mentoring

Attention to Retention: A Case for Mentoring

The Digital Future of Sports

The Renaissance of ERP

Journey to FinOps: The Critical First 90-days

The Digital Future of Sports

Disruption is Already at the Door

Rethinking Data: How CIOs are driving strategic value while ensuring data is properly secured and managed

The Invisible Internet: It plays such a critical role in our lives so why isn’t it a bigger part of the conversation?

Building a new member experience - Career Development Centre

The role of the CIO is evolving, but to what?

Securing the supply chain for software capital projects

Cybersecurity Best Practices: From the Lens of a CEO/CIO/Board Member

Cybersecurity - perspectives from law enforcement

Digital Innovation: What are other organizations doing to optimize their IT platforms?

Rethinking Data: How CIOs are driving strategic value while ensuring data is properly secured and managed

The role of the CIO is evolving, but to what?

Unifying endpoint strategies for enterprise

Leverage IT and IoT to drive a revolution in OT!

Journey to FinOps: The Critical First 90-days

Virtual Conference from April 26 to May 13, 2022
#ciopeerforum