Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Salim Ismail
Salim travels extensively sharing a global perspective on the impact of breakthrough technologies and how organizations can leverage these disruptions to grow 10x faster than their peers. His book, Exponential Organizations, quickly reached No. 1 on Amazon’s “Best-Sellers in Business Management” and was named Frost & Sullivan’s “Growth, Innovation, and Leadership Book of the Year.” His captivating, educational, and downright jaw-dropping presentations have been called “mind-blowing” and “the best talk I think I’ve ever heard.”
Salim has spent the last seven years building Singularity University as its founding executive director and current global ambassador. SU is based at NASA Ames, and its goal is to “educate, inspire, and empower a new generation of leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges.” SU has empowered people from more than 85 countries to apply disruptive technologies – biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience – to more than 100 startups and countless patents and ideas.
Prior to Singularity, Salim was a vice president at Yahoo, where he build and ran Brickhouse, the company’s internal incubator. His last company, Ångströ, a news aggregation startup, was sold to Google in 2010. He has founded or operated seven early-stage companies including PubSub Concepts, which laid some of the foundation for the real-time web, and the New York Grant Company, a direct response to 9/11. In its first year, the organization attracted over 400 clients and delivered over $12 million of federal grants to the local economy.
Rick Hansen
Rick Hansen is a Canadian icon who has dedicated his life to creating a world that is accessible and inclusive for all. Best known as the “Man In Motion” for undertaking an epic two-year circumnavigation around the world in his wheelchair, Rick is also a four-time world champion, nine-time Pan Am gold medalist, and two-time Paralympic gold medalist. Now the CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation, an organization committed to creating a world without barriers for people with disabilities, Rick and his team work hard to change attitudes, create accessible spaces and liberate the amazing potential of people with disabilities.Rick and his wife Amanda live in Steveston, B.C. and have three beautiful daughters, Rebecca, Alana and Emma.
Featured Speakers
Jim Carroll
Jim Carroll is an author, columnist, media commentator, and consultant, with a focus on linking future trends to opportunities for innovation and creativity. He has a 25 year track record in providing direct, independent guidance to a huge, diverse global client base, combined with a previous professional financial background, including 12 years with the world’s largest professional services firm.
Jim provides high energy keynotes for audiences of 5,000, or intimate, detailed customized strategic planning sessions for CEO / board / senior management meetings. He has researched key innovation success factors for dozens of associations, professions, companies, individuals, and industries including life sciences, health care, insurance, automotive, manufacturing, agriculture, technology, education, government, consumer products, retail, banking and countless others.
Jim’s client list is a veritable who’s who of global leaders — including the PGA of America; the Wall Street Journal; DuPont; Honeywell; NASA; The GAP; Lockheed Martin; the Accenture Worldwide Energy & Utilities Conference; Fairmont/Raffles Hotels International; RGA Reinsurance; National Australian Bank; Stryker Technologies; CIGNA; Pfizer; Diners Club; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); HJ Heinz; PPG; Johnson & Johnson; NASA Goddard Space Centre; Blue Cross Blue Shield; General Dynamics / Northrop Grumman; Bombardier; Signature Travel; Microsoft; National Recreation and Parks Association; Yum! Brands; Burger King; US Department of Defense; Rockwell Collins; Oracle; International Association of Conference Centres; Pearson Learning; US Air Force Research Laboratory; McKesson; Siemens; US Navy, Marine, Air Force Child Youth Programs; Nestle….all of these organizations have engaged Jim Carroll for a keynote or leadership meeting which focused on future trends, innovation and growth!
Over 2 million people have shared his insight with highly energized presentations in Zurich, New York, Vancouver, Cayman Islands, Prague, Sao Paolo, Palm Springs, Sydney, London, Los Angeles, Budapest, Miami, Toronto, Costa Rica, San Francisco, Nassau and Stockholm. Jim’s insight has been covered in the UK Telegraph, Dubai’s Capital Magazine and South Africa’s The Star newspaper.
Jim Carroll is also an author, with books including Surviving the Information Age, The Future Belongs To Those Who Are Fast, Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast and What I Learned From Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward Thinking Innovation.
David Patchell‑Evans
David Patchell-Evans, is the founder and CEO of GoodLife Fitness. From his first club in 1979, the company has grown to 375 clubs across Canada with 1.3 million members.
Patch’s unwavering purpose is to help Canadians lead fit and healthy lives. Teens ages 12-17 can work out for free in any GoodLife club across Canada in the summer. The GoodLife Kids Foundation offers grants to charities providing physical activity for kids with special needs.
Patch is an award-winning entrepreneur; international best-selling author and five-time Canadian rowing champion.
A graduate of physical education at Western University, in 2012, Western conferred upon him a Doctor of Laws degree for exceptional community service and dedication to autism research and education. In 2016, the GoodLife Fitness Family Autism Hub opened in Richmond BC.
Patch has been recognized with over 25 national and international awards including the Canadian Medical Association Medal of Honour.
Terry Stuart
When some of the world’s leading brands need to discuss innovation strategies or figure out how to get ready for disruption, Terry Stuart often gets the call. As Deloitte Canada’s Chief Innovation Officer, Terry’s job is to be a “constructive disruptor”, helping both the firm and clients thrive in a world where exponential change is in the driver’s seat and is not obeying the speed limit. A creative thinker with an idea every nanosecond, a meeting with Terry leaves people itching to jump out of the present and bounce into the future.
Terry leads Deloitte’s ecosystem strategy in Canada. He drives our D{ } initiative at Communitech and Deloitte’s participation at OneEleven, MaRS and the Ryerson DMZ. He helps connect new startups with large corporations.
As well, Terry is on Deloitte’s Global Innovation Executive and helps connect Canadian companies to the latest trends in global accelerators (Israel, Australia, Germany and the UK).
Animated and passionate, Terry speaks to audiences across the country (C2Mtl, TedX, C-Suite Exponential Technology series, etc.) and abroad. Terry is a master connector and finds value in meeting with everyone in the innovation ecosystem—he finds inspiration everywhere.
The word innovation can sometimes be used in a cavalier way, but in Terry’s mind it matters. Canada’s productivity is on the line and innovation is what will propel the country forward to help future generations be successful.
CEO Panelists
David Labistour
David Labistour is the Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canada’s leading outdoor retailer.
With a professional experience spanning over 30 years working with companies such as Adidas, Woolworths, one of South Africa’s most successful retailers, and Aritzia – David’s diversified international experience has covered Design and Product Development in apparel, gear and food, retail product management, Brand management and complex Strategic planning and execution. His Management and Leadership experience has developed in Private, Public, Co-op and military environments.
David is MEC’s first CEO to have been appointed from within the 46-year-old organization. In his former capacity as the Senior Manager of Buying and Design, David was part of the Executive team that transformed the MEC Brand and shaped MEC’s award winning recognition as Canada’s Best and Most Trusted Brand whilst equally encompassing sustainability initiatives operation wide.
Outside of MEC he sits on the Board of Aritzia, the BCBC Board of Governors and serves as an Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy.
David lives in Deep Cove BC with his wife Lianne, sons Liam and Felix and indulges in a “jack of all trades, master of none” approach to a range of activities including such things as skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, kite surfing.
Laurie Schultz
Laurie Schultz is responsible for leading the transformation of ACL’s global business by mobilizing talent toward category disruption and double-digit growth.
With over 25 years of experience in software and technology sectors, Laurie has led 12 multi-million dollar software P&Ls spanning the personal finance, small business accounting, SaaS, ERP, Business Intelligence and GRC categories. Holding prior leadership positions with Sage, Intuit, KPMG and Telus, Laurie has both DOUBLED revenues and DOUBLED profits by empowering change and relentlessly focusing on the “right critical few.”
Since being appointed CEO of ACL in 2011, Laurie has successfully pivoted the company from hard sales of software to a software-as-a-service model with over 250 employees and to accolades as one of Canada’s Top Employers.
Laurie is a strong advocate for technology and serves on the Board of the BC Tech Association (BC TECH). Her voice is an important contributor to the Canadian technology landscape and she is a preeminent thought leader published in media outlets such as the Huffington Post and the Globe and Mail.
Laurie holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce degree, both from the University of Alberta.
Laurie proudly makes her home in Vancouver with her husband, two children and their dog, Stripe.
Jeff Booth
With Jeff at the helm, BuildDirect stands at the forefront of innovation in the home improvement industry. Jeff applies his deep knowledge of both technology and trends to invent new ways for people to explore, purchase and ultimately interact and connect in the home improvement space.
Drawing on his background as a builder, Jeff co-founded BuildDirect in 1999 from his first-hand experience with the inefficiencies and high costs inherent with the home improvement and building supplies industry. While most told him the industry was too large and too broken to fix, Jeff only saw possibilities. He knew that by combining technology with his entrepreneurial spirit and vision, he could build a simpler and more trusted home improvement industry. Ultimately, opening a world of possibilities for homeowners, suppliers and those in trades and shipping.
Jeff is an active speaker sharing his experience as an entrepreneur and thought leader on the future of e-commerce and how digital media is changing the world. He has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc.com, The Globe and Mail, BNN, Bloomberg News, Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal, to name a few.
Jeff has been a member of the Young Presidents Organization since 2005 and sits on the board of Vancouver-based company Spud.ca and advises others. In 2015, Jeff was awarded the BC Technology ‘Person of the Year’ Award by the BC Technology Industry Association.
In his down time Jeff can be found at the lake playing his guitar around a campfire with his family and friends, enjoying water sports or skiing at local Vancouver mountains. He is also dedicated to learning and reads about 50 books a year.
Favourite Books (he has two): Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and Exponential Organizations by Salim Ismail
Words to live by: “Mind your thoughts, they become your words. Mind your words they become your actions. Mind your actions, they become your habits. Mind your habits, they become your character. Mind your character for it becomes your destiny.” – Unknown
Jack Lee
Jack Lee founded 4Refuel Canada’s largest on-site refuelling company in 1995 with only $400K in start-up capital. Over a 17-year period Jack was instrumental in taking a start-up company in Vancouver to a company with over $800M in annual revenue.
4refuel was sold to Private Equity in 2013 for an enterprise value of nearly $250M.
Jack was also on the Board of the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) for 6 years.
Jack, along with his wife Margaret, also established BLUE WAVE Foundation after the loss of their teenage daughter, Janice, to suicide in 2006. BLUE WAVE’s mission is to educate our youth about issues relating to teen depression and mental health. In 2013, Jack and Margaret gifted BLUE WAVE Foundation to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), BC Region, thus becoming their youth arm for mental health issues.
Gearing up for 2018
After this year’s huge success, we decided to do it again! Our 2018 EDGE Summit on Embracing Innovation & Technology will be in Toronto. We’ll be bringing together 450 CEOs, executives, and business owners from across Canada to engage in a full day, high impact, peer learning and networking event – you definitely don’t want to miss out. Save the date – Thursday Oct 4, 2018.
I believe that we all need to become exponential leaders in order to thrive in a world of exponential change.