Noah Aiken-Klar

Director, Academic and Strategic Relationships, T&O Early Talent, RBC

(He / Him / His)

Noah works with schools and community partners to engage students from diverse backgrounds and help them launch careers in Tech and at RBC. Prior to this, he helped develop and lead RBC Future Launch, a groundbreaking commitment to deepen and scale programs for young people to gain skills, grow their networks, get practical work experience and enhance their mental well-being. Before RBC, he was Regional Director at the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a provincial agency and grantmaker.

Noah is also a bilingual lawyer, the former ED of PBSC (a national youth leadership and access-to-justice organization), an active community volunteer, and an award-winning singer, performer and writer. He has degrees from McGill and UofT, and lives in downtown Toronto with his wife and two kids.

Jennifer Bernard, CFRE

President & CEO, Women’s College Hospital Foundation

Jennifer Bernard is a Certified Fund Raising Professional with over twenty years experience working within a variety of institutions across the charitable and not-for-profit landscape. Jennifer has held senior fundraising positions at McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Ontario Science Centre, Royal Conservatory of Music and Trillium Health Partners, helping each institution to achieve outstanding fundraising results, open doors to new partnerships and deepen engagement of their stakeholders.

Jennifer is currently, President & CEO of Women’s College Hospital Foundation. Her broad range of responsibilities includes overseeing governance and operations, strategic planning and fundraising leadership.

As a passionate advocate for philanthropy, Jennifer seeks to expand the philanthropic landscape through active engagement of donors, volunteers and talented teams that want to help build a better world.

Kat Biondi

Director, Volunteer & HR Stewardship at Sinai Health Foundation

Kat Biondi is the Director, Volunteer & HR Stewardship at Sinai Health Foundation, where she is privileged to partner with and support an amazing staff and Board of Directors. Kat has worked in the philanthropic sector for (almost!) her entire career, and loves being able to make a positive impact on her community through her daily work.

Ulana Bochnewicz

Associate Director

Major Gifts at SickKids Foundation

Ulana is an Associate Director, Major Gifts at SickKids Foundation and is responsible for leading a major gift portfolio fundraising for the $1.5B SickKids VS. Limits Campaign.

Ulana has extensive fundraising experience having spent the last 10 years working within the healthcare sector. She has spent her career focussed on major gifts in progressively senior roles starting at Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation and St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation.

Ulana holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Humber College Fundraising and Volunteer Management Program.

Mikhael Bornstein

Having worked in the arts, health, social service, and education sectors, Mikhael Bornstein has more than twenty years of experience as a nonprofit leader. Mikhael is an AFP Master Trainer and a frequent speaker at conferences across North America. He is the Director, Fundraising at Canadian Hearing Services and teaches at both George Brown College and Ryerson University. Mikhael has a Master in Arts in Leadership Studies from Royal Roads University.

Kevin Brezina

Senior Manager, Marketing Insights and Operations, CAMH

He, him, his

Kevin is a fundraiser and marketing specialist with over ten years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector. As Senior Manager, Marketing Insights and Operations, Kevin’s team enables successful Integrated Marketing at CAMH Foundation, helping to deliver monthly, annual, and symbolic giving programs that raise over $9M annually. He is driven to pursue innovation in all he does, and hasn’t had a decent haircut in months. He and his partner share their Toronto home with 4 cats, 2 kids, and one bulldog.

Jesse Brown

Digital Media Expert | Disruptive Journalist | Futurist

What does the future hold for Canada? Are our institutions and economy at odds with rapid technological and cultural change? Are we keeping up? From business to government to media, disruption is here. Technology and media expert Jesse Brown explains the challenging shifts ahead, and how to stay on top of them.

Jesse Brown runs Canadaland, the crowd-funded news site that has disrupted the way the Canadian media works. Its companion book is a #1 Globe and Mail bestseller, and the companion podcast is the #1 podcast in the country. At Canadaland, Jesse pioneered a new business model for news while uncovering scandals at the CBC, The Globe and Mail, and in government.

Jesse launched his career at CBC Radio, creating and hosting two national programs. He has contributed to such publications as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Toronto Star, Slate, Business Insider, and Vice, and his commentary has been broadcast on the BBC and on NPR. He has won the National Magazine Award for Humour and the Hillman Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Jesse is also a co-founder of Bitstrips, makers of Bitmoji, a cartooning app acquired by Snapchat and used by millions.

Whitney Brown

Digital Director, Public Outreach

She, her, hers

Whitney is an experienced digital strategist and fundraiser with a decade of expertise in political and issue-based digital campaigning.

Whitney leads Public Outreach’s digital department designing winning advocacy, engagement and fundraising campaigns for some of Canada's top charities through targeted social media advertising, optimized landing pages, personalized emails and interactive digital content.

Whitney is also a professor of digital campaigning for Seneca College’s Government Relations program, and speaks regularly across Canada and internationally on topics relating to digital campaigns, email writing and integrated digital lead acquisition.

When not designing digital campaigns, Whitney is spending time near the ocean with her wife, daughter and 90-pound rescue dog.

Erin Bury

Co-founder and CEO at Willful

Erin is the co-founder and CEO at Willful, an online estate planning platform that makes it easy for Canadians to create a will in less than 20 minutes. At Willful she’s responsible for driving the company’s mission to make it easier for Canadians to prepare for and deal with death in a digital age. She previously spent 6 years running a Toronto-based creative communications agency that worked with clients including Lyft, Telus, and Sony Pictures Television. She has also held senior roles at startup publication BetaKit and startup Sprouter, which was acquired by Postmedia in 2011. Erin is a frequent speaker with Speakers’ Spotlight, and she has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Forbes, and CNN, and was named one of Marketing Magazine's top 30 Under 30 marketers. She is a board member at Save the Children Canada, and the co-chair of the #Tech4SickKids advisory council for SickKids. She is also an advisor to startups including Quill and Pawzy.

Charlotte Field

Partner & Head of Client Delivery, Good Works

Charlotte Field is a Partner & Head of Client Delivery at Good Works and a bonafide tech nerd. She’s also the co-author of You Can’t Take it With You: The Art and Science of Legacy Fundraising (the second edition of Iceberg Philanthropy), the go-to book on planned giving that shows fundraisers how very ordinary donors make extraordinary gifts to charity in their wills. Charlotte has woven together digital and legacy giving for a multitude of charities, including Trans Canada Trail, the MS Society of Canada, Kids Help Phone, the Ottawa Hospital Foundation and the Ontario SPCA. She’s a new mum, an avid foodie, and a firm believer in pronouncing GIF with a hard ‘g’. Charlotte is a member of the Tech4Good Ottawa Steering Committee, a volunteer with her local CAGP chapter, and was selected for the Session Advisory Committee for the Nonprofit Technology Conference in 2019 and 2020.

Ted Garrard, C.M.

Chief Executive Officer, SickKids Foundation

Ted Garrard is Chief Executive Officer of SickKids Foundation which supports one of the world’s leading centres for pediatric care, research and learning – the Hospital for Sick Children. The Foundation raises more than $190 million annually, has endowments valued in excess of $1.2 billion and is the largest non-governmental funder of children’s health in Canada. In October 2017, SickKids Foundation launched the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian health care history - $1.5 billion. At SickKids Foundation Ted oversees an operating budget of $54 million and 200 employees.

Prior to joining the Foundation Ted served as Vice-President, External at The University of Western Ontario from 1996-2009, where he led campaigns that raised more than $600 million. At Western he was also responsible for alumni relations, communications and public affairs and community relations. He also spent 13 years at United Way of Toronto in a variety of roles including leading all fundraising operations.

Ted is Past Chair of the Canadian Children’s Hospital Foundation Executives, Past Chair of the Woodmark Group (the group represents 25 of the largest children’s hospitals in North America), a past Director of Children’s Miracle Network, past Chair of Imagine Canada, Past Chair of United Way of London-Middlesex, a past Director of United Way/Centraide Canada, and a past Director of the Canadian Council for Advancement in Education. He received the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Outstanding Fundraising Executive Award in 1997, was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 1998, and in 2014 was named Outstanding Communicator by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). In June 2018, Ted was honoured with the Order of Canada.

Ted is regularly called on to speak at fundraising conferences around the world and has provided volunteer consulting services to many of Canada’s top Universities, Hospitals, United Ways, and other charities.

Tara George

Partner / Lead, Search + Talent, KCI

As the national lead for KCI’s executive search and talent practice since 2007, Tara has partnered with a wide variety of non-profit and charitable clients across Canada, helping them to reach out and draw suitable candidates towards available opportunities. Tara has led or played a key role in more than 500 searches across the country during her time with KCI.

Beyond her executive search work, Tara focuses on organizational development issues, helping clients to define their staffing needs, organizational structure, and recruitment, retention, and succession strategies. Tara also co-leads KCI’s compensation benchmarking services and serves as an internal advisor and consultant for colleagues who focus in other KCI practices areas.

Tara holds an MBA (McMaster University), a BEd (University of Toronto), and a BSc (University of Guelph). Tara has also completed the Institute of Corporate Directors Not for Profit Governance Essentials course. Prior to joining KCI, Tara worked for 10+ years in Advancement leadership roles in the education sector. She is also a former high-school teacher of science, math, business, and phys-ed.

An active volunteer with professional associations and charitable organizations, Tara currently sits on the Board of the Network of Non-profit Search Consultants, and the Governance committee of the MS Scientific Research Foundation.

Marina Glogovac

President & CEO, CanadaHelps

Marina Glogovac is President & CEO of CanadaHelps, a leader in providing fundraising and donation technology to charities and donors since 2000. Marina has been a technology and media executive for more than 25 years, including roles at Kobo, Lavalife Corp. and St. Joseph’s Media.

Katie Graham

Associate Director

Major Gifts, SickKids Foundation

Having spent the majority of her fundraising career working in academic teaching hospitals, including McMaster Children’s Hospital/Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation and Sunnybrook Foundation, Katie has spent the last 10 years at SickKids Foundation, where she is an Associate Director on the Major Gifts team.

In her time at SickKids, Katie co-founded the SickKids Innovators Program designed to engage the next generation of major gift donors. In addition to fundraising for the priorities of the $1.5B SickKids vs. Limits Campaign, she is focused on multi-generational philanthropy, working with major gift donors of all ages.

Katie holds an Honours B.Sc. in Developmental Psychology from McMaster University, and is a graduate of the Humber College Fundraising Management Program. She is a proud alumni of the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award.

Greg Hagin

Principal & Managing Director, CCS Fundraising

Greg is a Principal & Managing Director at CCS, where he provides fundraising counsel and philanthropic advice to the nonprofit sector and social impact space. A member of the CCS Board of Directors, he leads offices in Toronto, Sydney and Philadelphia, and co-chairs CCS Elevate, the firm’s thought leadership platform. Throughout his career, Greg has designed, advised and directed more than 100 resource development initiatives that have raised collectively over $10 billion, positively impacting tens of millions of lives.

Client partnerships include: Archdiocese of Toronto, Barnes Foundation, Baylor College of Medicine, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Habitat for Humanity International, National Audubon Society, National Constitution Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Nemours Children’s Health System, Philanthropy University, United Way Worldwide and University of New South Wales.

An accomplished instructor and facilitator, Greg teaches at The Wharton School and the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been invited to speak at national nonprofit organizations, industry conferences, universities and corporations, including: Association of Fundraising Professionals, Association of Healthcare Philanthropy, Independent Sector, National Association of Independent Schools, NEXUS, The Woodmark Group, Carnegie Mellon University, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. In 2020, Greg joined the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Committed to the nonprofit sector, he is a former Board member at Fairmount Park Conservancy and a past Board President for Habitat for Humanity of Philadelphia. Currently, Greg is a member of the Union League and its reciprocal club committee as well as the Chairman’s Council for the Mann Center.

After opening CCS’s flagship Philadelphia office in 2018, Greg was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. In 2019 and 2020, CCS was announced as a Top-25 Management Consulting Firm in the Book of Lists, and in 2021, Greg was named one of Philadelphia’s Most Admired CEOs.

A graduate of The Wharton School and Boston College, Greg began his career in sports broadcasting with NBC Olympics in Sydney and Salt Lake City, then ABC Sports in Japan and South Korea for the FIFA World Cup. With a passion for global engagement, he has visited, studied, and worked in 40+ countries, including 6 continents.

Leah Henderson

Managing Director, Grassriots,

LEAH HAS A wide range of communications and campaign experience, and has led the development and execution of strategic & communications plans, on municipal, provincial, national and international levels. Throughout her career, Leah’s focus has been working with clients to influence social change and brings over 15 years of campaign strategy to our team.

Her Masters Degree focused on facilitation and strategic decision making within the nonprofit sector. She has worked across issues - with a primary focus on anti racism education, Indigenous Rights, Climate Justice and the intersections of those issues within the electoral and social justice spheres. Most recently, Leah was a director for Naomi Klein’s Climate Justice organization, The Leap which serves as a strategic advisor to organizations including Sunrise, Fight for $15 and Fairness, Justice Democrats, Momentum, and the Migrant Rights Network.

As Managing Director at Grassriots, Leah leads the company as well as oversees all client campaigns and strategy.

Stacy Kelly

Stacy G. Kelly (he/him) is Director, Philanthropy at The 519, Canada’s largest and most prominent LGBTQ2S community centre and service provider. Stacy has over 25 years of experience of fundraising, development, and non-profit management, with a focus on educational, youth, and arts organizations. Through his advancement roles at Queen's University, OCAD University, and The 519, Stacy developed expertise in campaign management, philanthropic operations and strategy, annual and major giving, and volunteer management. Stacy has served as a director of Aylmer Youth Theatre, Kingston Student Housing Cooperative, ASUS Arts Adventure Camp, Progressive Independent Community Press, Drop-in Centre Kingston, Inc, and the Queen's University Alumni Association. Stacy also proudly served as co-chair of the Queen’s University Association of Queer Employees and is co-founder of the new Queen’s Queer Alumni Chapter.

Deborah Legrove

As a leader in executive recruiting for more than two decades, Deborah Legrove brings her strong knowledge of market intelligence in non-profits and her proven track of placing hundreds of non-profit professionals to each client’s engagement. As a testament to these results, she takes great pride in the number of clients and board members who frequently refer her.

In keeping with crawfordconnect’s exclusive focus on the non-profit sector, Deborah is also a dedicated volunteer. She has served in numerous leadership roles in non-profits and has served on the boards of many organizations. Deborah has also completed the Institute of Corporate Directors Not for Profit Governance Essentials course and is a popular speaker and writer in the areas of leadership search, retention, and sustainability. She is also a member of the prestigious Network of Nonprofit Search Consultants.

Emma Lewzey

Founder and Lead Consultant, Blue Sky Philanthropy,

Emma Lewzey is an award-winning fundraising expert with 20+ years experience raising millions of dollars across the arts, education, health and human services sectors. Emma is the founder and lead consultant at Blue Sky Philanthropy, where she works with nonprofits to increase their revenue and exceed their fundraising goals by helping them raise more 5, 6 and 7-figure donations.

Nicole McVan, MA

Vice President, Philanthropy & Marketing, United Way Greater Toronto

(they/them)

Nicole McVan is a strategic non-profit leader with 20 years of experience in Canada and abroad. Their experience spans many areas including corporate philanthropy, individual and community-based giving, volunteer development, national event management, and alumni giving.

As a white, able-bodied, transgender & non-binary person, Nicole uses an anti-oppressive lens in building philanthropy and marketing plans to work with and for communities. Nicole regularly speaks and writes on the topic of equity, privilege, and power dynamics for fundraising publications and at conferences and learning events.

Nicole volunteers their time in the community, including on the Board at Inside Out Film festival - an organization committed to the promotion and exhibition of film made by and about LGBTQ+ people of all ages, races and abilities. They hold a master’s degree in Non-profit Marketing and Fundraising from City University of London and is currently working on a certificate in Community Engagement, Leadership and Development at Ryerson University to build their knowledge of how to work with and for communities for lasting change.

Nicole is grateful to live and work on the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations and acknowledges their role as a treaty person to reconcile and rebuild the relationship between indigenous peoples and settlers on Turtle Island.

Jason Murray

President and Managing Partner, BIPOC Executive Search

Over the course of his career, Jason has worked on 300+ executive searches as well as a range of EDI services in partnership with client companies. Prior to founding BIPOC Executive Search Inc., Jason worked at a multinational executive search firm as well as a boutique search firm before that. For part of his career, he worked in the Consulting Division of Deloitte & Touche as the Human Capital and Strategy & Operations Supervisor. In this position he provided organizational management and HR services to the 994 individuals in the division, and was a respected voice around matters of equity, diversity, and inclusion and increasing representation throughout the organization.

Jason has a community-facing orientation, and currently serves as Chair of the Board for the Toronto Fringe Festival. He has done work with a number of organizations that have a deep and abiding commitment to representation in the workforce, including the Canadian Board Diversity Council, G(irls)20, and Pride at Work Canada. He has facilitated EDI workshops and talks for a number of organizations and initiatives, including the African Canadian Women in the Public Service Network (ACWPS), Business for the Arts, Innovators Alliance, National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities, Supply Chain Canada, Social Value Matters, and The Walrus. He has been a roundtable panelist alongside many individuals with a public profile, including the Hon. Kathleen Wynne, CNN’s Van Jones, and so forth.

Jason holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, and a Master's degree in Management from Boston University (also the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). He is certified in unconscious-bias decision making and iOS app development, and has completed courses on predicative data analytics and the ethical use of artificial intelligence in recruitment and retention.

Cassie Myers

CEO of Lunaria Solutions

Cassie Myers is a community builder, entrepreneur and equity advocate. Cassie is the CEO of Lunaria Solutions, an organization that combines online education with analytics to help organizations grow diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Based in Waterloo Region, Cassie volunteers at Technovations where she mentors young women pursuing entrepreneurship and sits on the board for YWCA-KW.

Z. Cathy Preston HBA

Founder & President Preston Human Capital Group (PHCAP)

www.phcap.ca

An HBA graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, Cathy began her career in Marketing at Colgate Palmolive and later joined a contingency-based search firm where her efforts were focused on marketing roles primarily within the CPG sector. In 1984 Cathy was recruited by Marketing & Promotion Group (M&PG) and was instrumental in that company’s exponential growth, including the founding of Mosaic Direct, a sister company to M&PG which became one of Canada’s leading direct marketing agencies. In 1998 she assumed the role of President, Mosaic Marketing Services, the largest marketing services company in Canada (~$85M), and consistently delivered increased growth and performance. That is where she learned all about the importance of having the right talent in the right role, as well as what it takes to deliver against financial growth targets year over year. In 2001 Cathy returned to the executive search industry to bring her breadth of business and client service knowledge to her clients and help them build their senior leadership teams.

Cathy established Preston Human Capital Group in 2006. Since then, Cathy and her team have earned a reputation as being a stellar performer across multiple sectors and verticals. In recent years, their emphasis has shifted considerably toward not-for-profit, charitable, and social enterprise clients, primarily because of enjoying the intrinsic benefit of helping communities and the world become a better place.

Cathy is a past member of the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Leadership Committee and a past member of their Board Nominating Committee, and a Past Board member of the CMA itself. She also served as a board member for five years for Covenant House, a resource for homeless youth. Cathy is a founding member of the steering committee for the Judy Project, a Rotman School of Business executive program for the Advancement of Women in Leadership.

In her spare time, you'll find Cathy serving up a healthy meal or walking her mini-schnauzer, Zoomer with her husband, Ian.

Judene Pretti

Director of the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo

Judene Pretti is the Director of the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo. With more than 20 years of experience in the post-secondary sector, Judene leads a team that conducts and shares research related to the experiences and impacts of work-integrated learning programs for employers, students and academic institutions. Recently her team has been investigating the experiences of remote work for early career talent. She has collaborated with researchers across the globe, producing numerous journal articles and presentations for national and international audiences. She is an associate editor for the International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning and the executive chair of the WACE International Research Community.

Tanya Hannah Rumble, CFRE

Director of Development, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University

(she/her)

Tanya is a racialized settler of multi-ethnic origins living in Tkaronto. She is a fundraising leader who has raised millions for some of Canada's largest charities including Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, McMaster University and now Ryerson University. As a racialized philanthropy professional Tanya is honoured to share her influence and insights with students, emerging professionals and peers in the sector. Tanya regularly writes articles on the topics of inclusion, equity, and access; and power, privilege and fundraising for industry publications and speaks to professional audiences at learning events regularly.

She graduated with an H.B.A., Political Science from McMaster University, earned a Masters Certificate at NYU in Marketing Communications and has completed numerous professional certificates including Not-For-Profit Governance Essentials (Rotman School of Management, Institute of Corporate Directors) and Truth and Reconciliation Through Right Relations (Banff Centre). Tanya has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2017, completed her Master Financial Advisor - Philanthropy (MFA-P™) in April 2020, and most recently was approved to take the certification exam for the Communication Management Professional (CMP) designation through International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Additionally, she is an active leadership volunteer in the philanthropy and non-profit sector: Board Director with the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Canada, and Board Committee volunteer with AFP Canada-Foundation; executive volunteer with the Canadian Association of Gift Planners; Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of the HR Committee with FindHelp Information Services - operators of 211 Toronto; and Board Director with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. In addition to sharing her knowledge, she is committed to lifelong learning - she is a graduate of the 2017 Association of Fundraising Professionals Inclusion and Philanthropy Fellowship, and 2010 DiverseCity Fellowship. Tanya gratefully acknowledges the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations, whose traditional territory she lives and works with her husband and young son.

Sandra Sualim

CFRE President & CEO, Humber River Hospital Foundation

Sandra Sualim is a fundraising professional who has raised millions of dollars in her career. She currently serves as President & CEO of Humber River Hospital Foundation where she is responsible for fundraising leadership, operations, governance and strategic planning in support of Canada's first digital Hospital as they light new ways in healthcare. Prior to her role at Humber River Hospital Foundation, Sandra was the Executive Director at BGC Canada Foundation, and has also held senior roles at SickKids Foundation and Havergal College. The first thing people notice when they meet Sandra is her passion for the positive. She helps find a positive angle to most any fundraising challenge.

Sandra is a frequent speaker on the topic of effective and authentic relationship building as it pertains to fundraising and communications in general. She is an active volunteer and serves on the boards of several organizations, including the AFP Toronto Chapter as VP, Governance.

Sandra graduated from the University of Toronto with a Honours Bachelor of Arts, and holds an advanced Diploma from the University of Victoria, British Columbia in Public Relations. It doesn't stop there! In her spare time she can be found spending her time writing children's stories, participating in artistic endeavours and even sporting a pair of ice skates at the hockey rink.

Joana Vicente

Executive Director and the Co-Head of the Toronto International Film Festival© and the TIFF organization

Joana Vicente is the Executive Director and the Co-Head of the Toronto International Film Festival© and the TIFF organization. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), The Gotham Awards and she founded the Made in NY Media Center by IFP in partnership with New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

Vicente is a producer of over 40 feature films by acclaimed directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Nadine Labaki, Brian De Palma, Amir Naderi, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Alex Gibney and Todd Solondz.

She is also recognized as a leading figure of the digital film revolution, having co-founded pioneering digital production companies Blow Up Pictures and HDNetFilms, which she launched with partners Jason Kliot, Mark Cuban, and Todd Wagner. These companies ushered in a new era of digital filmmaking that transformed the landscape of American independent film production and distribution.

Vicente was named one of Variety’s Gotham 60: Most Influential New Yorkers in Entertainment and Media, and has twice been listed in Variety’s Women’s Impact Report. She is a recipient of the Made in New York Award©, which recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the growth of NYC’s media and entertainment industries. Vicente has taught The Business of Film at NYU Stern Business School.

Before turning her attention to film, Vicente served as a press attaché for former Prime Minister and Portuguese delegate to the European Parliament, and was a radio news producer for the United Nations.

Mo Waja

Mo Waja is a professional speaker, marketer, author, podcast host and producer, and is a Fundraising Strategist and Digital Integration Specialist at Blakely. As a marketer, Mo has worked with personal, non-profit, and for-profit brands in the charitable, software, and financial sectors, amongst others, developing successful storytelling and integrated communications strategies. As a speaker, Mo has spent tens of thousands of hours coaching business professionals, nonprofits, post-secondary students, and campaign advocates in the art of professional speaking and communication, and has delivered sessions on topics ranging from fundraising and marketing ethics to digital storytelling strategy, to social media and e-philanthropy, to personal and professional branding.

Brock Warner

Brock is the author of the bestselling book From the Ground Up: Digital Fundraising for Nonprofits, a nonprofit fundraising consultant and professor at Humber College’s Business School in Toronto. Brock has a wealth of experience spanning nearly every major nonprofit sector in Canada. As a direct marketer he managed fundraising campaigns in healthcare, education, multiple Olympic games, humanitarian and domestic aid, and the environment. As a senior leader on the frontlines, Brock's efforts have largely been in mental health, as well as international development which took him around the world from Hollywood film studios to refugee camps in central Africa.

Sara Wolfe

Director of the Indigenous Innovation Initiative, Grand Challenges Canada

Sara is Anishinaabe from Brunswick House First Nation in Northern Ontario. She is a Registered Nurse, a Registered Midwife, and holds a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the Rotman School of Management. Working more than two decades primarily in sexual and reproductive health, Sara was the founder and managing director of Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto and co-led the development and implementation of the Toronto Birth Centre, Canada’s first mainstream healthcare facility to use an Indigenous governance and leadership framework.

Today, she is the Director of the Indigenous Innovation Initiative at Grand Challenges Canada, one of the largest impact investors in Canada. They are an innovation platform dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact®. Through the Indigenous Innovation Initiative, Sara is supporting innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, drive inclusive growth, and improve peoples’ lives through Indigenous innovation. Their inaugural program is to advance Indigenous gender equality through innovation and social entrepreneurship.