Global Advisory

A masterful problem solver, Athina embraces innovation and technology, breaking barriers wherever she goes. She applies passion to everything she touches.

Athina began her career in international consulting, where she developed a passion for operations and events. She has since planned and executed international events across the globe, applying creativity, insight and a unique cultural competence to her projects.

A native of Greece, Athina now resides in Paris and leads business development and manages marketing for an international independent policy institute which is dedicated to advancing global affairs and international diplomacy, Academie Diplomatique Internationale (ADI). She has built global partnerships, including that of the G(irls)20. For the past three G(irls)20 Summits, Athina provided her international technical and creative expertise, as an integral part of the Summit team in the cities of Paris, Mexico City and Moscow.

Beyond her aptitude for events, Athina is committed to cultivating talent. She finds pleasure not only teaching, but learning from those around her. Her pride and joy to this day, is her team.

Athina is a graduate of the American University in Greece and obtained her Masters from South Bank University in the United Kingdom.

A 15-year marketing & PR veteran, media coach and all-around cool cucumber, Kathy is a tireless consensus builder and a passionate advocate of insight-driven strategy. Most recently the head of strategy and operations at Narrative PR, Barnett is formerly the VP, Creative at Veritas Communications, where she led strategic planning across the agency. Prior to that she managed the firm’s Corporate & Public Affairs division as Vice President. Her client list has featured a host of top-tier organizations including Scotiabank, Target, Parks Canada, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Plan Canada, Kraft Foods, Canada Dry-Mott’s and Workopolis.

Kathy brings a wealth of high level planning and senior business communications experience across all sectors – from private to not-for-profit to public. Prior to entering the agency world, she led global marketing strategy at Tourism Toronto where her work on the tourism bureau’s visitor website was used as a case study on behaviour-based marketing long before customer segmentation was fashionable. Tracing her career further back, Kathy gained wide-ranging financial services industry experience at such heavyweights as TD Bank Financial Group, Manulife Financial and TD Visa.

She has an open mind, a head for business and a heart for social causes. Kathy is a builder and a collaborator, and her big picture thinking and ability to turn big ideas into workable solutions gives us a real edge. She has been at the G(irls)20 Summit table from the very beginning as a strategist, media coach and hands-on support with our delegates as they shape powerful recommendations for global leaders in the form of each Summit’s Communiqué.

Driven by his passion for design and entrepreneurial spirit, Marc Garand started Macroblu Online Media during the fall of 2002; a Toronto based graphic design and marketing company. Over 10 years since Macroblu’s creation, Marc and his team work with such client as Telus, Mastercard, the University of Toronto, and of course the prestigious Girls 20 Summit to bring their design and branding needs to life through both web and print mediums. Marc collaborates with his diverse but select clientele to execute effective design and marketing strategies. He delves into each client’s business model to understand who they are, how they operate, and how Macroblu can help them reach their target markets. Today’s market includes web design, brand identity, social media management, e-commerce, and responsive mobile web design with Marc and Macroblu at the forefront of this evolving industry.

Tanvi, at 22, is leading an internationally recognized organization - Becoming I Foundation - which involves hundreds of volunteers working on the ground along with a network of more 7000 young people across the globe in the areas of primary and secondary education, sex trafficking, women empowerment, life skills development and youth leadership. After over five years of field work and research in marginalized and low income areas in India, Tanvi through her organization aims to bring young people face to face with community development.

The India Ambassador to the G(irls)20 summit in Toronto, Tanvi recently won the Karamveer Puraskar - a National award for Justice and Citizen Action in India. She was awarded the Youth Award for ‘Contribution to Humanitarian Development’ at the United Nations and also served as an International Fellow for the Global Fund for Children in 2011 in Washington DC. That same year she was invited to speak about her work at the UN ECOSOC and at the G(irls)20 summit in Paris. In September 2010, Tanvi was selected as the youngest panelist to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative alongside heads of state, social and business leaders from across the globe. Tanvi has given four highly appreciated TEDx talks all over India and has been Key Note speaker at a number of National and International conferences over the years. In 2010 she was named a Global Teen Leader at the Three Dot Dash — Just Peace Summit in New York.

Tanvi was awarded the William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India this year and will be expanding her work to Mumbai in September 2013 for the same. She was also awarded the Muhammad AlI Humanitarian Award this past year.

A veteran of both communications and politics, Beverley Hammond leads a dynamic team of multi-disciplinary specialists who develop breakthrough communications campaigns and give a voice to some of the country’s best known brands and organizations.

Since Beverley joined Veritas in 2001 as President of the Business Communications division and then President of the agency in 2002, she has grown and transformed it into a leading Public Relations and Public Affairs agency with offices in both Toronto and New York.

In 2005, Beverley launched a social media division – one of the first in the country – which has evolved into an integrated Influencer Marketing practice under the brand, commotion. In 2007, Veritas merged with Integrated Healthcare Communications to add Health Education and a design studio to the corporation. Today Veritas provides services to global consumer brands and Fortune 500 national organizations in three areas: Corporate and Public Affairs; Influencer Marketing - Social & Digital Media; and Health Education.

Before joining the Veritas team, Beverley was President of think.ink Communiqué PR and Director of Public Relations at Grey Canada, part of the Grey Worldwide Group of companies. In addition to Beverley’s valuable agency experience, she brings to the table more than a decade of experience as a political communications advisor. She has been senior advisor to the federal Minister of Small Business, Tourism and International Trade, as well as Legislative Assistant, Press Secretary and Communications Director to Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, and Executive Assistant to the Government House Leader. To her extensive portfolio, she includes the writing of the 2002 Ontario Throne Speech and five Ontario Budget speeches.

Beverley’s passion for shaping lives is apparent in her role as Chairman of the National Board of Directors for Special Olympics Canada. She demonstrates her commitment to research and innovation on the Board of Leadership Sinai at Mount Sinai Hospital, and as a director of the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation. She continues to encourage and empower women through her work on Women In Leadership (WIL) and the Belinda Stronach Foundation’s Committee for the Advancement of Girls & Women. Beverley is also a member of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF). She has held numerous other directorships including having been the youngest Director of the Board of the LCBO.

Beverley is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.

Jeff is the Managing Director of Oxygen Ventures Inc., a Toronto, Canada and London, UK based venture advisory firm. Jeff provides strategic advice and capital (idea, human and venture) to the leaders of great businesses and innovations. He is most excited about innovations and businesses that make better use of scarcity. Jeff has three core beliefs for venture and growth enterprises:

1) Obsess about Commercialization because the best capital is revenue;

2) Partners are the ultimate accelerant allowing 1+1=3;

3) Capital Strategy is a process not an event. Done well it leads to a convergence of the Right Money at the Right Time at the Right Value.

Jeff started his career in banking with the Toronto Dominion Bank. He then transitioned from banking to strategic management consulting, working for seven years with senior executives at leading financial services organizations across North America including, Scotiabank, Fidelity Investments, Keybank, BB&T, Canada Trust, UBS and Chase Manhattan.

Jeff gained his first taste of entrepreneurship while in University, when he and two partners formed one of Canada’s first environment advisory and waste recovery companies – Environment Ventures - with a focus on the large but untapped, small and mid-size commercial marketplace. In 1994, Jeff co-founded Manage Data Inc. and developed CareerLink, a PC-based recruiting portal and exchange with an initial focus on the university and college graduate marketplace. In 2000, Jeff co-founded PriceMetrix Inc., a technology company that pioneered the application of ‘Big Data’ to the performance of sales personnel in the wealth management industry. After a decade as Vice President of PriceMetrix he left to pursue new opportunities and joined an innovative start-up - Accretive 360 – in mid-2010 where he led the day-to-day operations of the company.

Today, in addition to Oxygen Ventures, he is also a mentor with Toronto Internet start-up accelerator InCubes and is a personal advisor to several start-up and early stage companies. He nurtures his entrepreneurial hunger through occasional involvement in interesting new business projects as a partner.

Jeff and his family make their home in London UK. He has a BA in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario (Canada). He is an avid traveller and culture explorer, enthusiastic diner, amateur chef, cheerleader for his wife and kids and is most happy with pursuits on or near the water (fluid or frozen). He dances poorly.

Denise Restauri is Founder & CEO of GirlQuake, a company that amplifies the voices of girls and women by giving them platforms to make noise, redefine success and harness their powers to create a global force for positive action. As a Forbes.com contributor, she shines the spotlight on female leaders and entrepreneurs. Denise produced the first-ever UN International Year of Youth Celebration and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS and more.

TrilogyGrowth is an early stage venture fund that invests in businesses that have found creative ways to solve a consumer problem or serve an unmet need. We look for entrepreneurs who have an insane passion for their idea and who have real insight into the market they serve. Trilogy is currently invested in 4 companies: Indeed Labs – a global skin care brand, The Red Pin – Canada’s first online realtor, iStore, a digital lifestyle accessories retailer, and poppin, a design friendly office supply company.

Mr. Silver’s previous role was President of Indigo Books & Music, Inc., Canada’s leading book retailer and “Cultural Department Store”. Mr. Silver was a critical part of the Indigo success story, driving the $1B retailer to worldwide record profitability, complete the leveraged buyout debt payback and build up a $100M capital reserve for investment. Mr. Silver ran the business in stores and online. His critical role was to lead the strategy to move the company away from books to general merchandise. He was instrumental in launching and growing the company’s successful kids toy program, driving the business to $50M from a start-up. He was also responsible for the growth of Indigo’s lifestyle business, doubling the business and driving its profitability, including the rollout of Indigo sourced and branded merchandise.

Mr. Silver also took an active role in launching Indigo’s e-book business supporting the project with publishers and ultimately serving on the Kobo board of directors once it was spun out as its own entity. Kobo has raised over $60M of outside capital to put it on a pathway of a $300M+ business in 2 short years. Mr. Silver currently serves on the Indigo Board of Directors as well as all of the company boards that Trilogy has invested in.

Mr. Silver began his career at Procter & Gamble in brand leadership in the Beauty Care businesses of Cover Girl, Pantene and Ivory. He co-founded and ran Salesdriver, a web-based sales incentive business and sold it to Carlson in 2002. Mr. Silver holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Kirstine is responsible for Canadian operations at Twitter, including its advertising business and partnerships. Prior to joining Twitter in May 2013, Kirstine was the executive vice-president of CBC’s English services, CBC/Radio-Canada, where she oversaw CBC’s English radio and audio, television and digital operations. Earlier, she was senior vice-president of programming for Alliance Atlantis where she headed up brands HGTV, Food Network, National Geographic, BBCCanada and others.

Kirstine earned a bachelors degree from the University of Toronto, and is a graduate of the Global Leadership in the 21st Century program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Most recently, Playback Magazine named Kirstine their Person of the Year 2012, and Strategy Magazine recognized her leadership in taking CBC to Brand of the Year 2012. She is @kirstinestewart on Twitter.

Tracie is the co-owner of Help! We’ve Got Kids. While raising her two children, Tracie found the print version, and later the online version, of Help! to be invaluable. She liked it so much she recently bought the company with a fellow mom!

Tracie is passionate about the environment and about helping families have better lives. In her past life, Tracie worked in both retail and telecom, most recently as co-President of Pistachio (an eco-friendly retail store owned by Indigo Books and Music), and before that a Director at Bell Canada and Sprint Canada. Tracie was also the Vice-President of the board at Yorktown Family Services, is actively involved with the Girls 20 Summit, Environmental Defence Fund, and has recently joined the board of Canopy.

Tracie holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and is married with two children.

Lisa Witter is an experienced executive, social entrepreneur, communications strategist, author, blogger and social commentator with expertise in the not-for-profit field, philanthropy, politics, women’s issues, health, social marketing, new media, international development, corporate social responsibility, and leveraging pop culture for social change. She frequently gives workshops and lectures in these areas for the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. In 2010 she was named one of 197 Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum.

As chief strategy officer of Fenton, the largest public interest communications firm in the country, she heads-up the firm¹s work in innovation and co-leads the practices in women¹s issues, health, social entrepreneurship and global affairs for clients including Women for Women International, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai, MoveOn.org, International Criminal Court, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, The American Medical Association, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Stonyfield Yogurt. She has served on Center for Disease Control and Prevent expert panels on parenting and teen violence, and, most recently, co-led an awareness and action campaign around Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn¹s best-seller Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Witter is co-author with Lisa Chen of The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them. She is a co-founder of the award-winning SheSource.org, an online brain trust of women experts to help close the gender gap among commentators in the news media. She was honored as an outstanding activist and expert on women¹s issues by Oxygen.com for her work on a national campaign against privatizing Social Security during the 2000 presidential election. She has also co-founded two programs to encourage people to run for political office: Emerge and the Institute for a Democratic Future.

She has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, FOX News, CBS Early Show, O, the Oprah Magazine and has been published in Newsday, The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Anderson Cooper 360, Huffington Post, AlterNet and Blogher. In 2004 Witter was a contestant on the Showtime reality show, ³American Candidate.²

She is on the advisory boards for Climate Counts, Center for Philanthropy¹s Women and Philanthropy Institute, Momsrising.org, Vitanna.org, the Op-Ed Project, Energy Inside, SheWrites, Plant a Fish, and Women for Women International. Witter, a native of Washington State, lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons. She studied at the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of Washington and the Universita di Padova, Italia.

Penny leads the Clinton Global Initiative’s efforts on empowering Girls and Women and is a Senior Manager in the Commitments Department. She is responsible for the portfolio of CGI Commitments focused on girls and women worldwide as well as spearheading year round efforts in this space. Prior to CGI, Penny worked in both development and programmatic areas for Human Rights Watch, UNICEF-Jordan, the Funding Exchange and the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. She graduated from the University of Southern California and completed her Master of International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Penny currently serves on the Board of Directors of Harlem Success Academy Five, the Advisory Board of Blue Engine, and is a member of the New York Women’s Foundation’s Grants Allocation Committee. She has previously served on the Boards of Sakhi for South Asian Women and Resource Generation.

Thoughtful, smart and strategic, Coralie is a big picture thinker. Her creativity and ‘can do’ attitude are infectious. She has nearly a decade of experience providing high-profile communications and issues management advice in various roles as a senior communications advisor, speech writer and consultant, to some of Canada’s political leaders, thought leaders and thinkers.

Coralie is committed to public service. As a Senior Communications Strategist within the Ontario government, she welcomes newcomers and engages Ontarians in responsible citizenship and to take voluntary action. Coralie has spent over 15 years volunteering in her community on a range of initiatives, with a focus on diversity and the advancement of women. She shares her experiences and insight as a member of the Toronto Public Library Communications Board and the G(irls)20 Summit Advisory Board.
A young entrepreneur, Coralie is continuously dabbling in new projects. In 2006, she founded her first venture Bespoke Makeup, a boutique Toronto based bridal makeup company. In 2011, she launched DS Consulting, a communications and public relations strategy firm assisting small businesses, not-for-profits and social enterprises to better engage their stakeholders and the public.

Beyond her aptitude for entrepreneurship, Coralie loves to teach. She is a leadership coach for young professionals and budding entrepreneurs. She has mentored hundreds of young professionals focusing on empowering them to leverage their strengths in their development.

Coralie graduated from the University of Toronto where she served on the University’s Governing Council. She is also a former Operational Vice-President for the Ontario Liberal Party.

At Google, Sabrina leads the integrated solutions sector, working across Finance, Travel & Automotive companies. An advisor to the C-suite, Sabrina helps translate the potential of technology to human behaviour and business opportunity.

Sabrina’s insights are based on over 18 years of global marketing, PR, sales and management experience spanning traditional and new media industries.

Over her seven years at Google, Sabrina has built the UK Consumer Packaged Goods vertical in addition to the Canada Agency & Industry Relations teams before forming the Integrated Solutions sector. Sabrina is known for building high performing teams, infusing a culture of collaboration and best practice sharing within teams and cross borders.

In 2001, when many believed that the Internet bubble had burst, she jumped in to lead marketing for Ask Jeeves UK. She then combined her love of the Internet with her packaged goods skills, centrally pioneering global internet and integrated communications strategy for over 20 countries at Reckitt Benckiser.

A business graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada and the University of Pavia in Italy, Sabrina learned the fundamentals of marketing, brand and P&L management during her five years at Procter & Gamble in Rome.

Sabrina is a culture and diversity champion. She is founder and executive sponsor of Women@Google Canada and leads the global community pillar for Women@. A founding member of the G(irls)20 advisory board, she leads Google’s global collaboration with G(irls)20 to empower young women around the world.

Sabrina speaks regularly at industry events including Hotel Associations Conference, Cross Media, IAB Mixx, Banff Global TV Festival, Next Media, CMA Branding Conference & the European Forrester Consumer Forum. Her publications include a CMA whitepaper on ‘Marketing on a Global Scale, Canada & Globalization’.

Passionate about creativity, great food and family, Sabrina lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.

Twitter: @sabrinageremia

Maryscott “Scotty” Greenwood is Senior Managing Director for Government Relations and International Trade-in McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP, a top 100 law firm in the United States1. Together with former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Gordon Giffin, Scotty leads the firm’s Canada/.US practice group. McKenna’s Government Relations practice is ranked in the top ten lobbying firms in The National Journal’s Legal Times Influence 50 list.

Scotty also serves as President of Strategic Management LLC, the firm’s consulting subsidiary. Scotty’s executive experience in business and government provides her with an integrated view of the various complex challenges faced by corporate boards and CEOs today. An expert in the ways in which public policy can impact business bottom line, Scotty provides strategic advice to a diverse group of clients from a number of sectors including: energy/environment, international trade and supply chains and biotechnology, with a particular emphasis on North American companies operating across the Canada/US border.

Scotty also runs the Canadian-American Business Council, the pre-eminent business association dedicated to the Canada/US relationship and she was recognized by Ottawa based Hill Times as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Government and Politics in 2010.” Scotty’s civic involvement includes serving on the Boards of Directors of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, the World Affairs Council DC; and the Advisory Boards of the United States Studies Program of the University of Alberta, and the Association of Canadian Studies in the U.S. Scotty also serves as a Director on the McKenna Long Foundation.

Before joining the firm, Scotty received a Presidential Appointment to serve in the U.S. foreign service at the United States Embassy in Canada. From 1993-1997, she was Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the City of Atlanta, handling state and federal relations. Scotty served on the White House Interagency Task Force on Olympic Security and worked on various other projects related to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Scotty’s civic involvement includes the Advisory Board of the Urban Study Institute and Chairmanship of the Tax & Finance Committee of the Georgia Municipal Association.

Prior to her position with the City of Atlanta, Scotty was Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Georgia. An honors graduate of the University of Vermont, Scotty participated in the John F. Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives at Harvard University. Scotty lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband, three children and hound dog.

Gillian Smith is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. The ICC is a national, non-profit organization that engages Canadians in citizenship through innovative programs, campaigns and partnerships designed to ensure new citizens are welcomed and included as equals, to create meaningful connections among all Canadian citizens, to foster a culture of active, engaged citizens and to celebrate what it means to be Canadian.

Prior to joining the ICC, Gillian spent more than fifteen years working in corporate communications and corporate affairs, most recently with the Royal Bank of Canada as Senior Advisor, Corporate Affairs and Head of Communications for RBC’s Group Head, Strategy, Treasury and Corporate Services. Her other mandates have included media and stakeholder relations, crisis and issues management and corporate social responsibility for companies including RBC Capital Markets, Aeroplan, Parmalat Canada, Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Pfizer Canada.

Gillian believes in active, engaged citizenship. To that end, she gives her time as a volunteer to numerous organizations, including:

• ArtAnywhere (Member, Advisory Board)
• Art Gallery of Ontario AGO Next program (Co-Chair), AGO Curators’ Circle (committee member)
• Business for the Arts (Director of the Board) and artsScene (Founding National Co-Chair)
• Canadian Club of Toronto (Director of the Board)
• Community Food Centres Canada (Vice President of the Board)
• Charity Communications Network (Member, Board of Advisors)
• Girls and Women: the G(irls)20 Summit (Member, Committee for the Advancement of Girls and Women)
• Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance Steering Committee (member)
• The Stephen Lewis Foundation (Member, Senior Corporate Advisory Committee)
• The Stop Community Food Centre (President of the Board of Directors)
• Toronto French School (Member, Head’s Advisory Council)
• Toronto Public Library Foundation (Vice-Chair and Chair Designate of the Board; Chair of the Governance Committee)

Gillian has served on the Boards of Performing Arts Information Service / Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, and Tapestry New Opera Works. She has also contributed to work with Women’s College Hospital Foundation; Canada’s World; HEC Montreal: National Forum in Management, Business and Finance (Executive Committee); the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Member, Costume Ball Organizing Committee); Luminato; the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair; Toronto Arts Council (2009 Toronto Mayor’s Arts Awards Committee and 2010 Globe and Mail / Business for the Arts Award Nomination Committee); and was a 2009 Fellow of DiverseCity, The Greater Toronto Leadership Project. In addition, Gillian writes for the Toronto Star’s Your City My City municipal election (2010) campaign blog and for Notabletv.com on philanthropy issues.

Gillian is a member of the Atlantic Council of Canada, the Banff Forum and the Canadian International Council.

A graduate of Queen’s University, Gillian holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology (major), History and French (dual minors).

A serial entrepreneur and veteran in the online media space, Elaine has successfully built teams and realigned business strategies for over 15 years. As co-founder of By Wallace Inc., a newly formed accessories company, “where fashion meets function, with a really big give”. Elaine is set to launch the first product line in Fall 2013. Elaine is also active in consulting and advising start-ups, working to help smart early stage companies reach their goals and access financing. Prior to consulting, she was CEO of B5Media. Elaine launched and oversaw all aspects of the network’s properties including The Grindstone, Crushable, Mommyish, Blisstree, and The Gloss. The company was sold to Alloy Digital in April 2012.

Elaine was also the CEO of Ziplocal which was sold to Canpages in 2009. She spent over six years at Toronto.com, and started her online career in Business Development at Grey Interactive in 1998. A recognized expert in the digital media space, Elaine has spoken at premier events such as Exceptional Women in Publishing, Google’s Women in Technology, McMaster Professional Development Day, DigiDay’s Digital Publishing Summit, Internet Week New York and the 2011 Marketing to Women Conference.

Elaine also serves as a dedicated advisor to the G(irls)20, which works to encourage G8 and G20 leaders to prioritize the political empowerment and economic freedom of females worldwide. The organization’s summit brings together female candidates from each G20 country to debate social issues and devise economic innovations. Elaine has also been appointed to the McMaster Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Elaine’s other passions include athletics, travel and a continuous desire for growth and discovery.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, passionate cause marketer, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. Recently, she launched McPherson Strategies a communications consultancy focusing on the intersection between brands and social good. She’s a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Triple Pundit and Forbes and has 20+ years experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications. She is a featured speaker at industry events including Net Impact, Center for Corporate Citizenship’s Annual Summit, Sustainable Brands, and Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy’s Summit. McPherson founded and hosts the bi-weekly #CSRChat on Twitter.

Currently, McPherson invests in, and advises technology start-ups, including ZADY, TheLi.st, Positive Luxury, Lover.ly, and The Daily Muse. She serves on the boards of Girl Rising a social action campaign/platform funded by Intel to expand girls’ education in the developing world and Bpeace, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting women in regions of conflict and post-conflict start businesses. She is also a member Social Media Week’s New York Advisory Council. Additionally, she serves as an adviser to several non-profits, including Girls Who Code, Plant A Fish, She’s The First, The Adventure Project, and The OpEd Project. Recently, McPherson was selected as a Vital Voices global corporate ambassador and was named as one of 40 Women to Watch Over 40 and Fast Company’s 25 Smartest Women of Twitter.

Pamela Shifman serves as the Director of Initiatives for Girls and Women at the NoVo Foundation, where she directs the Foundation’s work on empowering adolescent girls and ending violence against girls and women. Prior to joining NoVo, she spent 6 years at UNICEF Headquarters where she spearheaded UNICEF’s efforts to end gender-based violence in conflict-affected settings including in Darfur, Eastern Congo, Uganda, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Prior to joining the UN, Pamela served as the Co-Executive Director of Equality Now,where she focused extensively on trafficking of girls and women and convened a coalition of organizations for passage of the first US legislation on trafficking in persons and the UN Transnational Crime Protocol on Trafficking in Persons. From 1996-1998, Pamela served as legal advisor for the ANC Parliamentary Women’sCaucus in South Africa where she led a joint civil society/Parliamentary Campaign to End Violence against Women and Girls, and supported development of South Africa’s first post apartheid legislation addressing domestic violence. Pamela has taught Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan and at Hunter College, and she holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Jennifer Sloan was named Director, Government Affairs, Target (Canada) in June 2012. At Target she leads a national team responsible for the strategic management of all government affairs activities at the federal, provincial, and local levels of government. Target plans to open 124 stores across Canada in 2013.

Before Target, Jennifer was the inaugural Vice President University Relations at York University, Canada’s third largest university. Previously Jennifer served as the Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, for nickel mining giant Vale (Inco) Ltd. There she led a global team responsible for public affairs, stakeholder and government relations, corporate branding and emergency management.

For over 20 year, Jennifer worked with some of Canada’s leading government and political figures. She was the Consul, Head of Political/Economic Relations and Public Affairs at the Consulate General of Canada in New York, where she worked to promote Canada’s interests in NY, Connecticut, New Jersey and Bermuda. Prior to this, Jennifer worked as a Chief of Staff for the Minister of International Cooperation (CIDA) after having served as the Director of Communications and key counsel for the Honourable John Manley through his various portfolios, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. She is a Director of the Canadian American Business Council (CABC); a Director and the President-elect of the Canadian Club of Toronto; a Director of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC); and of Theatre20. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Grady College Alumni Board at the University of Georgia and currently is a member of the Grady College’s Board of Trust.

Paddy leads the New York office of The Office of the Permanent Observer (OPO) operated by the International Parliamentary Union (IPU). The Union is the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy.

In 2008, Paddy joined CHG as Vice-President, where she applied her insight as a former politician to stakeholder relations, issues management and communications, laying out issues from different perspectives to provide high level strategic counsel to clients with complex government relations needs.

As an MP, Paddy worked on a variety of local, national and international issues, and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of International Cooperation and Environment. From 2002-03, Paddy chaired the House of Commons Special Committee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs. Paddy was the Canadian delegate to several WTO parliamentary meetings where she defended Canada’s interests in key trade areas, and was a former director of the Canada USA Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group.

Paddy served as Deputy Principal Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition. She remains involved with many community organizations and as a Consultant, she is active at Queen’s Park and with provincial and municipal governments across the country.

Paddy has a Bachelor of Commerce in International Business and Marketing from McGill University and completed the ICD Directors’ Education program at the Rotman School of Business. Paddy serves on the boards of ROCK: Reach Out Centre for Kids (children’s mental health), the Canadian Landmine Foundation and the Lewis and Ruth Sherman Foundation. Paddy remains active with the United Way after chairing the 2012-13 Campaign.

Katarina Wallin Bureau is Chief Operating Officer of Burson-Marsteller EMEA. She oversees the firm’s EMEA operations, especially in new business, thought leadership and marketing, and provides strategic advice to clients in the areas of corporate communications and public affairs. She has been with the firm for 8 years and was appointed COO EMEA in July 2012.

Katarina started her career at the European Commission where she managed the Commission’s environment programme in Ukraine and neighbouring CIS states, based at the EU Delegation in Kiev. She then spent 4 years working as a management consultant in London, advising clients on business strategy across a variety of sectors including banking and media. Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller she worked with a big media syndicate as part of the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute. Katarina has a special interest in women’s development and corporate purpose.

She is a Swedish national and graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master’s degree in Political Economy and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations. She has 3 children and lives in Brussels.

Ava Yaskiel is a partner in the global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright where she practices corporate and securities law in the Toronto office[*]. Ms. Yaskiel’s practice encompasses both domestic and cross-border mandates. Her practice is both transactional and advisory in nature and focuses on mergers and acquisitions, structured transactions, corporate governance, finance and strategic advice for a variety of parties including issuers, investment banks, shareholders and funds.

Prior to joining Ogilvy Renault LLP (the predecessor to the Canadian office of Norton Rose), Ms. Yaskiel was with the Ontario Securities Commission for a number of years, holding a variety of legal and leadership positions. At the OSC, her primary focus was on mergers and acquisitions, related party transactions and related policy issues.

Ms. Yaskiel is a member of the Global Supervisory Board of the Norton Rose Group. She previously held the position of co-managing partner of Ogilvy Renault’s Toronto Office and was a member of Ogilvy Renault’s National Executive Committee.

Ms. Yaskiel has authored numerous securities law related articles and publications and she is a frequent speaker at conferences as well as a regular media commentator on securities related issues. In 2011 she was honoured with the International Law Office Client Choice Award in recognition of her outstanding client service.

Ms. Yaskiel is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (Ontario Region). She also sits on the Corporate Advisory Committee to the Art Gallery of Ontario and was a founding member of the Toronto Jewish Chambers of Commerce.

Ms. Yaskiel has a LL.B from Osgoode Law School and an LL.M from Cambridge University. She also has her ICD.D designation from The Institute of Corporate Directors.