As President and CEO of CENGN, Jean-Charles (JC) Fahmy provides leadership and strategic direction to the company and drives the delivery of CENGN’s mission by working with the ICT ecosystem on the goal of the commercialization, growth, and global competitiveness of Canada’s innovation economy.

JC has over 25 years of global leadership experience in tech, creating value and accelerating business performance with large public companies as well as both Private Equity and Venture Capital backed businesses.  Prior to CENGN, JC held several senior leadership roles including Vice President of Product Management & Business Development at Coriant, and Operating Executive in the Telecom practice at Marlin Equity Partners, a leading Private Equity Firm.

JC holds an MBA from McGill University, and a BASc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ottawa.

“Next Generation Networks are the enablers of the digital transformation of our vertical industries, and to equality of opportunity for all Canadians.”

Robert Ghiz is President and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). He serves as an Advisor on numerous Boards including the Prince’s Trust Advisory Council, the True Patriot Love Foundation, the Librarian Archives of Canada Foundation, and he is also Chair of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada. Twice elected Premier of Prince Edward Island, Robert’s many accomplishments include his successful stewardship of PEI’s economy through the 2008 global financial collapse and his contributions to its record-setting economic growth following the recession. While Premier, Robert also led successful trade missions in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States. Robert is proud to be the Canadian wireless industry’s champion in Ottawa, where he works to ensure the industry continues to enhance the personal lives and economic opportunities of Canadians across the country.

Jonne Soininen is currently serving as Head of Open Source Initiatives at Nokia based in Espoo, Finland. Prior to this position, he worked in different positions with Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Renesas Mobile and Broadcom and has an extensive history in telecommunications and software engineering ranging over 25 years. He has served in different external roles such as in the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) and Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV). Currently, he is serving as a board member of Linux Foundation Networking (LFN) and Linux Foundation AI & Data (LFDL).

Jonne has a Doctor of Science (Technology) from the Aalto University, Finland from the school of electrical engineering on networking and Masters degree on computer science from University of Helsinki.

“If you are not considering open source and openness in general, you are most probably doing something wrong”

Fernando’s focus is on zero emissions built environment, electric mobility, and circular economy.  He leads the development of best-in-class programs, policies, and projects for net-zero emissions buildings, electric vehicles, and renewable energy.

He successfully scales climate initiatives for maximum impact, including partnerships, creating the necessary business cases/models, as well as, attracting investments.

Fernando holds an engineering degree from the University of Toronto, has sustainability training from the Harvard University Extension School, and completed courses in Advanced Local Government from Western University.

“Our need for networks and computing is only increasing, and so is their associated carbon footprint.

Need to accelerate renewable energy, waste heat utilization, and the circular economy”

Katie is VP, Strategy and Partnerships for CIO Strategy Council, leading cross-sector partnerships to foster a trusted, secure, sustainable digital ecosystem in Canada. She served as Director of the Entrepreneurship and Start-up Services Branch at Ontario’s economic development ministry and has also led an innovative capital advisory program at MaRS Discovery District. Katie previously served as General Counsel at a national charity. Katie practiced and taught law and clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal. She holds a BA from Harvard University and received her joint law degrees and MBA from McGill University.

“We need sustainable IT because a connected world shouldn’t cost the earth”

Catherine is responsible for Bell’s climate change strategy, including evaluating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the whole company value chain, setting ambitious GHG reduction targets and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

Catherine graduated from the Université du Québec à Montréal with an Honors Bachelor of Actuarial Science, and she is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. She started her career providing actuarial consulting services for pension and employee benefits plans, before her passion for sustainability lead her to refocus her professional pathway toward climate-related risk management.

From 2014 to 2020, Catherine has volunteered as member, vice-chair and chair of the Climate Change & Sustainability Committee of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, which aims to advance the meaningful role that actuaries can play in fighting climate change.

“Using IT solutions helps fight climate change by reducing energy needs and cutting carbon footprint”

John Weigelt leads Microsoft Canada’s strategic policy and technology efforts.  Mr. Weigelt helps individuals and organizations across Canada innovate with technology while avoiding the unintended consequences that might arise.  He leads Canadian outreach for a variety of technology policies including: Economic Development, Privacy, Security, Government 3.0, Accessibility, Ai ethics and Interoperability. He also leads Microsoft Canada’s Responsible AI program and was one of the authors of Canada’s National Standard on Ethics in the Design and Use of Automated Decision Systems.

As a member of TELUS’s CTO office and as Director, Technology Strategy and Architecture, Samer is inspiring a team of Principle Technology Architects, Product Managers and Business Development leaders to define the strategy, business model and technology options of TELUS’s 5G, IoT, Edge Compute and Smart Cities technology road-maps.

Previously Samer was the Vice President of Innovation at du. Samer was responsible for new product and service initiatives including new enterprise products and services, partnerships, video strategy, digital channels as well as home security, entertainment and lifestyle products.  Prior to that Samer lead Siemens Mobile Networks Technical Consulting (Munich and Dubai) and started his career in telecom as a software development manager at TELOS Technologies (Richmond BC).

Samer holds a Stanford LEAD: Corporate Innovation Certificate from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering and a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science from North Carolina State University.

“COVID-19 forced many to digitally transform their business to accommodate the new norm in unprecedented speed, 5G will empower these transformations and fuel new innovations.”

Linda Nazareth is an economist, a futurist and a respected authority on the future of work.  As a newspaper columnist and an author, she knows how to frame things in ways that both educate and entertain and as the Senior Fellow for Economics and Population Change at think-tank the Macdonald Laurier Institute she knows what she is talking about.

Linda’s career has taken some non-traditional turns for someone in her field. Her first jobs were as a government economist where she specialized in labor market planning, which was followed by a stint at a major financial institution where she spent years as a Senior Economist. Wanting to change things up while she could, she lobbied to have a job created for her on Business News Network (BNN, Canada’s answer to CNBC) while it was a start-up and spent a decade on-air as their in-house economist.

During her time on BNN, Linda started writing books and giving keynote presentations, and eventually left daily broadcasting to give those passions her full-time attention. Her clients have included everyone from American Express through to The Economist Magazine, and all have benefitted from her ability to take big ideals and distil them into information that they can use for their own strategic plans.

Linda’s fourth book, Work Is Not a Place: Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy draws on the research she has been building for years as well as the insights gained from interacting with audiences across a range of sectors. With it, she is eager to engage people in thinking about what the world might look like when we replace the idea of ‘jobs’ with that of ‘work’ – and why that might not be a bad idea at all.

A frequent media commentator, Linda has been quoted everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Wired magazine.

“Megatrends are shifting the economy and the future of work, and that is making technology and network infrastructure more important than ever”

Oleg is the VP of Architecture Sales for Cisco Canada. He works with customers, partners and some of the finest sales professionals in the world to distill the special combination of modern technologies that help digital businesses overcome some of their most frustrating challenges. Oleg has spent his life learning how to use technology to solve difficult challenges, knowledge he has applied to various roles and accreditations in engineering, sales and leadership over 15 years in the industry. Oleg has consistently performed in the top tier of his profession working with some of Canada’s largest companies and garnering numerous awards and accolades, but none more important than the trust from his customers and peers that he will deliver results. Oleg is a proud Winnipeger, a mediocre guitarist, a husband and father of two amazing kids.

“Your employees are your primary competitive advantage. Your technology is the second. Success in the inclusive future of work will require thoughtful consideration of both”

Hillary Hartley is Ontario’s Chief Digital and Data Officer and Deputy Minister. As the head of the Ontario Digital Service, within the Ministry of Finance, Hillary is responsible for leading the government’s digital transformation efforts and the administration of the Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act to deliver simpler, more easily accessible services for the people, communities and businesses of Ontario.

Hillary joined the provincial government in April 2017 as Deputy Minister Responsible for Digital Government. She also served as Deputy Minister of Consumer Services, where she led the government’s retail services operation (ServiceOntario), and programs focused on consumer protection.

Previously, Hillary was the Deputy Executive Director of 18F, a digital services agency in the U.S. federal government, and was a Presidential Innovation Fellow in 2013. She has worked with governments, across jurisdictions, for more than twenty years, serving as a director at NIC Inc., an organization that helps governments deliver programs and services online.

As President and CEO of CENGN, Jean-Charles (JC) Fahmy provides leadership and strategic direction to the company and drives the delivery of CENGN’s mission by working with the ICT ecosystem on the goal of the commercialization, growth, and global competitiveness of Canada’s innovation economy.

JC has over 25 years of global leadership experience in tech, creating value and accelerating business performance with large public companies as well as both Private Equity and Venture Capital backed businesses.  Prior to CENGN, JC held several senior leadership roles including Vice President of Product Management & Business Development at Coriant, and Operating Executive in the Telecom practice at Marlin Equity Partners, a leading Private Equity Firm.

JC holds an MBA from McGill University, and a BASc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ottawa.

“Next Generation Networks are the enablers of the digital transformation of our vertical industries, and to equality of opportunity for all Canadians.”

Dr. Melike Erol-Kantarci is an internationally renowned researcher in the field of machine learning and wireless communications. She is Canada Research Chair in AI-enabled Next-Generation Wireless Networks and Associate Professor at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. She is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Vector Institute, Toronto. She has over 150 peer-reviewed publications with citations over 6000. Dr. Erol-Kantarci has received numerous awards and recognitions. In 2019, she was named as N2Women Stars in Computer Networking and Communications (formerly known as “people you should know in networking and communications”). Dr. Erol-Kantarci has delivered 60+ keynotes, tutorials and panels around the globe and has acted as the general chair and technical program chair for many international conferences and workshops. She is an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Senior member and ACM Senior Member.

“Breakthrough performance increase will come with the adoption of AI in networks; making AI-enabled next generation networks the new ‘computer vision’ for AI and forcing the limits of machine intelligence to unforeseen levels”

Dr. Marzieh Amini is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Technology, cross-appointed to the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University since July 2020. She is the optical sensor and system undergrade program coordinator. Her research interests include image processing, biomedical signal processing, remote sensing, autonomous vehicle, sensor fusion and computer vision. Dr. Amini was a data scientist in BlueCity.ai worked on development of algorithms to automatically detect, classify, and track objects produced by high-performance 3D LiDAR sensors for traffic monitoring applications from 2019 to 2020. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Visual Motor Research Lab in McGill Center for Intelligent Machines (CIM) and a lecturer at Electrical and Computer Engineering department of McGill University from 2018 to 2020. She was ranked first in the Nature and Technology category to receive an FRQNT postdoctoral fellowship in 2018. She received her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University in 2016. Her PhD thesis was nominated for 2017 Valedictorian Award, 2017 CAGS/UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award at Concordia University, and 2017 Prix d’excellence l’Association des doyens des études supérieures au Québec (ADÉSAQ). She was the recipient of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science Teaching Assistant Award for 2015-2016 at Concordia University. She is the chair of IEEE Montreal Industrial Relation Committee, organizing the well-known IEEE Research Boost events. She served as a red judge in final round of IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, a global competition to develop powerful artificial intelligence technologies to tackle societal grand challenges. She is a Professional Engineer licensed in Ontario, Canada.

“Advancement of wearable devices and remote sensors has brought us closer to the promise of personalized healthcare, realizing more pervasive digital health”

As the Chief Security Officer for Microsoft Canada, Kevin Magee leads the technical teams who are Microsoft’s architects, practitioners and stewards of trust. He is one of Canada’s leading authorities on cybersecurity and cyber risk governance and often writes, lectures and contributes to curriculum development for Canadian colleges and universities on topics related to cybersecurity, governance, entrepreneurship and criminology. Kevin also holds an ICD.D certification with the Institute of Corporate Directors and has extensive experience advising, educating and serving on boards including the Brant Community Healthcare System.

Deeply committed to the development and creation of cybersecurity leadership and technical educational opportunities for aspiring security professionals, he currently serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence for the Rogers Cybersecurity Catalyst at Ryerson University, as a Member of the University of Guelph’s Master of Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence Advisory Board, as a Member of George Brown College’s Cyber Security Program Advisory Council and as a Member of the Royal Canadian Military Institute. He has also previously served as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Laurier University and advisor for Communitech and MaRS.

John is a Certified Ethical Hacker and Information Systems Security Professional with over 20 years’ experience in Network and Application Security.  He has held various roles in Professional Services, Product Management, System Engineering and Training in Asia, North America and Europe. He started off working with Fortune 500 companies in the finance and healthcare verticals designing and implementing security solutions to allow these organizations to bring new services online. He went on to perform vulnerability assessments and specialized in web application security, then used this experience to implement and deliver secure software development training.

Currently at Fortinet, as part of John’s role as a Solution Architect, he builds and delivers hands-on workshops to give partipants the chance to act as threat actors, in order to teach them the tactics, techniques and procedures that threat actors use to breach an organization and achieve their nefarious goals.  John believes that in order to protect an organization’s network, its data and assests, you need to understand what you are protecting against.

“Leveraging AI is essential to provide the timely threat intelligence needed to keep up with the rapidly evolving threat landscape.”

Al Dillon is a former Canadian military officer and internationally practiced Defence and Security executive with an entrepreneurial spirit. Al’s experience includes the leadership and development of advanced electronic warfare assets, intelligence systems and cyberwarfare capabilities for use on the battlefield and in the global security community since the mid-90’s.  In industry, Al’s many contributions to defence innovation were recognized in the 2013 Canadian Defence Review Executive of the Year Award.  He is the founder of CyberNB, a New Brunswick based internationally connected cyber industry/government/academia cluster and the first Canadian Special Operating Agency dedicated to cyber innovation in Critical Infrastructure Protection.  He is a member of the CADSI national cyber committee and Special Advisor to the formation and operations of Canada’s Military Cyber Reserve Unit.  Al is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of Sapper Labs Cyber Solutions where he has the pleasure of collaborating with highly skilled team of former military and security agency personnel.  They are leading several advanced cyber programs in the Defence of Canada and the United States.  He is a proud father to three wonderful children and spouse to a more capable and tolerant Defence industry leader, Lisa.

Mr. Fournier is presently the Director General Innovation for the Assistant Deputy Minister (Science & Technology).  He is a Scientific Advisor to the Department of National Defence and to the Canadian Armed Forces. His role is to ensure that the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence (CAF/DND) have access to the most cutting-edge solutions for their challenges from Canadian Innovators.

Eric began his career with Defence Research & Development Canada (DRDC) as a Defence Scientist in the Flight Mechanics Group of the Precision Weapons Section at the Valcartier laboratory in August 1992. He spent most of his scientific career in that establishment, where he held a number of positions in the Weapons field of study.

In 2014, Mr. Fournier took up the position of Defence R&D Counsellor at CDLS (London) where he was responsible for liaison in defence Science and Technology between Canada and the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Upon returning to Canada in July 2017, he was appointed DG Innovation, and also selected to develop and lead the implementation of the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) initiative.

Ed Kingscote joined CANARIE in 2018 as the lead DevOps Specialist delivering always-on critical services, including eduroam and Federated Identity Management for Canada’s research and education community, who demand security and reliability as key features.

Ed has a BSc. (Honours) in Computing (Networks) from Sheffield Hallam University (2005) and prior to joining CANARIE spent over a decade working in the private sector as a pre-sales engineer serving the global telecommunications market.

When not in meetings or spending time with family, Ed listens to a lot of traditional music from the British Isles and beyond, and hosts a radio show on CKCU 93.1 FM.

Moh is a Site Reliability Engineer, Team Lead working at CENGN to ensure that the platform remains active and reliable.  He has achieved both the Certified Kubernetes Administration (CKA) and the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS), making Moh a the cloud-native champion within the organization. These learnings as well as practical experience operating production clusters with active workloads and services allows Moh to discuss the principles of observability and how it can be leveraged within an ever-expanding and complicated environment.

Natasha D’Souza is the Product Manager for IoT Security at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), the national not-for-profit best known for managing the .CA domain and developing new cybersecurity, DNS, and registry services. Natasha is an engineer by training and an expert in product development and marketing. Her favourite challenge is to take concepts ‘from idea to product launch’ in the most impactful way possible for her organization and clients. Her latest project is an innovative framework to securely provision generic Internet of Things (IoT) devices. CIRA’s Secure IoT Registry will allow the world’s IoT devices to seamlessly and securely connect between any manufacturer, owner, service provider and network operator. You can learn more at cira.ca/IoT. 

“The next generation of IoT deployments are going to impact a wide variety of highly sensitive services, such as healthcare or critical infrastructure, where secure device identity management is paramount.”

Kevin is responsible for managing all product management and technology evolution for Kandy Communication’s “as a service” offers. Kevin has end-to-end responsibility for the continued competitiveness and quality of these market-leading solutions.

Kevin’s career spans 30+ years in world leading telecom, cloud and consulting organizations including Bell-Northern Research, Nortel, CGI and Trilogy. His leadership positions include CTO, product development, product management, business development, management and technology consulting, and operations management, with successes involving delivery of SaaS/IaaS/UCaaS/PaaS offerings, advising leading service providers on establishing cloud service lines, and growing multiple telecom and cloud businesses.

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science in Computing and Information Science and an MBA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

“End users care about the value they derive from our services – it’s up to providers & technologists to embrace this and deliver that value irrespective of underlying platform challenges”