Keynote: Jeanne Lam

President, Wattpad

Jeanne Lam is all about scaling and accelerating high-growth consumer tech businesses. With more than 17 years experience across different functions, Jeanne leads tech companies through strategic growth and transition. As President at Wattpad, the world’s leading storytelling platform with 94M+ readers and writers, she is responsible for the global team and strategy that drives user and revenue growth. 

Prior to Wattpad, Jeanne led growth and user acquisition at Shapeways, the world’s largest 3D printing service. She has also worked at Yahoo as Director of Platform Strategy, and mobile payments company, GoPago, as Head of Marketing & Business Intelligence. Before her startup career, she spent three years as a management consultant at Accenture.

Sonya carey

CEO and Founder of The Animation Lounge

With over 25 years of experience in the animation industry as an Artist and as a Producer, Sonya is dedicated to sharing her knowledge with young people who may be interested in exploring animation as a career choice.

Sonya is also dedicated to mentoring and networking with those who are already on their way in the industry. The Animation Lounge opens up an opportunity to refine skills, learn software, network and explore all of the opportunities that are available within the industry.

jodi kovitz

Chief Growth Officer at Vetster Inc.

Jodi Kovitz is the Chief Growth Officer at Vetster, a global telemedicine platform for pets. She was also the founder and CEO of #movethedial, a global movement that she launched in 2017 dedicated to advancing the participation and advancement of all women in tech. 

Leveraging Jodi’s leadership, wealth of experience, pioneering spirit, and passion for advancing the full talent pool in the new economy, #movethedial attracted has engaged more than 60,000 people through the power of storytelling; and drove substantive, measurable change.

Jennifer Ladipo

National Program Manager at Actua

Jennifer Ladipo is an Industrial Engineer, who graduated from Dalhousie University and who has a passion for leading more young women into the creative world of STEM. She combined her love for mathematics and writing to create thestemgirl.com, an initiative aimed at encouraging young girls to view themselves in both a feminine and scientific light through storytelling. With four published books, she continues to find new ways to describe what fun STEM can be through adventurous tales. Jennifer believes it is important for youth to have role models to help them visualize their passions and follow through with future goals.

Heather tang

APMM, Google

Heather (UTS '15) graduated with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in Management, Entrepreneurship & Innovation. After graduating Wharton in 2019, Heather led Google Canada's on-platform COVID-19 response initiatives, partnering with local government agencies to connect users with authoritative information. Most recently, Heather was awarded the Schwarzman Scholarship to pursue a fully-funded Masters degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Gina Park

Electrification Calibration Co-op @ GM

Gina is a 4th-year electrical engineering student at Dalhousie University. She is currently working as Electrification Calibration Co-op with Thermal Calibration team at General Motors. She founded Dalhousie Solar Race Team in 2021 and is leading the team to build a solar-powered EV. Outside engineering, Gina teaches piano and music theory. She is the main pianist of DEF Cheetah, a GM band that performs to raise mental health awareness.

Allyson aberg

Software Engineer, Splunk

I recently graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Systems Design Engineering. Having done 6+ internships in software engineering during my time in school, I'm lucky enough to now be working full-time as a full stack and embedded software engineer at Splunk in downtown Toronto. In my spare time, I like to snowboard and bike, and am currently working towards getting my private pilot's license!

Fatima Taj

Software Engineer, Yelp

Fatima is a graduate from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Post graduation, she's worked full-time as a Software Developer at DRW, a trading firm and currently works at Yelp as a Software Engineer.

Beatriz Adela Ibarra

Transformation Enablement Analyst @ GM

Beatriz Adela Ibarra is from Rio Hondo, a small border town in South Texas (puro956). Her love for mathematics dates back to when she was just a pre-schooler.

In December of 2017, she graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in 'Applied Engineering Sciences' and a Concentration in 'Media & Information'. She took advantage of the various study abroad programs allowing her to visit 9 countries before finishing her degree.  Beatriz is now pursuing her MBA in ‘Business Analytics’ at Baldwin Wallace University. After graduating, Beatriz worked in ‘Information Technology’ with multiple fortune 500 companies, including Verizon and Parker Hannifin.  She is now a ‘Transformation Enablement Analyst’ for General Motors, supporting projects in Business Enablement & Identity Access Management Transformation.

Doina Oncel

CEO, hErVOLUTION

Doina is an innovator. She forms strategic partnerships with corporations and NGOs from across Canada and US and helps break barriers with the intention of making the world a better place. Doina is named the 2021 WXN Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners. She won the 2021 NCWIT Educator Award for the outstanding commitment to diversity in Computer Science education, awarded the 2021 International Women's Day Award by Dancing Damsels for working towards achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. Additionally, Doina has been nominated for the 2021 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, the 2020 WomenTech’s Global Awards in The Women & Diversity in Tech Ally of the Year, 2018 the Premier’s Award by George Brown College.

SUMIRA dhawan

Head of CG, Industrial Brothers

Having worked in different Computer Graphics departments on diverse Film and Television projects with studios around the globe for over 14 years has given me a robust foundation to present myself as a strong and dynamic leader in my current role as Head of CG. I have worked closely with technology, management, and R&D teams to develop workflows and techniques, strategically designed to meet the specific studio and project goals.

The world of animation is truly exciting for me as it is the perfect combination of technology and art.

Frances MacTaggart

Senior Consultant, Cyber Security KPMG

Frances MacTaggart is a Senior Consultant within KPMG’s Cyber Strategy and Governance practice and is skilled in multiple areas of cyber security, which includes information security governance and strategy, third party risk management, security training, and more. Frances’ expertise involves combining sociocultural and emergency management considerations to create and implement methodologies that could be used to predict, prepare and mitigate against cyber threats. Additionally, she provides her business continuity expertise within KPMG nationally as part of KPMG Canada’s Business Continuity Team. Frances was appointed to be the National Administrator for the KPMG Emergency Notification System. She uses her background in crisis management to provide insights about adversary and organisational decision making, standard operating procedures, tactics, techniques, and likely responses to cyber events.

Dalia Said

Alliance Director, KPMG Canada

Dalila has over 20 years of experience working with technology strategy, network operations, sales, customer services delivery experience, system integration and managed services from a variety of successful multi-country and multi-technology engagements. She has worked in a handful of industries including telecommunications, public health and the government sector. Dalila has led network and IT e-2-e transformation engagements and mergers and acquisitions. Dalila is passionate about mentoring high school students in career guidance and is a motivational speaker for girls in ICT & STEM.

Pardis Talebian

Senior Consultant, Cyber Security KPMG

Pardis has over three years of experience working as a cybersecurity consultant for a well-known Canadian consulting practice. She has an engineering background and obtained her master’s degree in Information Systems Security. Pardis was engaged in various cybersecurity projects such as cyber defence, incident detection and response, cloud security, risk strategy and management. She has assisted a broad range of clients, including some of the largest Canadian financial institutions, aerospace companies, and retails, for improving cybersecurity strategies, design and implementation services.

Cynthia Wang

Product Owner, KPMG Ignition Tax

After graduating from UTS in 2013, Cynthia pursued an undergraduate degree in economics from Western University, then completed a masters in management and international business at Ivey Business School. Since graduating, she has been working in the technology space at KPMG – first as a technology risk consultant, and now as a product owner for KPMG Ignition Tax. She embraces the challenge of encouraging innovation and transformation within traditional service lines, and is passionate about bringing more gender parity into the technology industry.

Michelle Junkin

Art Director - Guru Studio

For over a decade, Michelle has Art Directed a range of hit animated children's entertainment including all four seasons of the colourful, award-winning preschool series, True and the Rainbow Kingdom, and the Guru Studio/Disney series, Pikwik Pack. She is passionate about visual development, and about creating whimsical, vibrant worlds for charming, memorable stories to come to life. Thriving in both the 2D and 3D platforms, Michelle is currently Art Directing a brand new Netflix series called Dino Daycare.

Nadine Westerbarkey

Studio Creative Director - Atomic Cartoons

Nadine has been working in the Animation industry for over 25 years, with vast experience in film and television working with well-respected studios such as Walt Disney, Dreamworks, Universal, DHX, Bardel and Atomic Cartoons where she
currently holds the responsibility of Studio Creative Director. In her current role Nadine oversees all productions and is very involved in setting up all upcoming shows, supporting the
creative teams during development and production. In 2021 Nadine was awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction award for her work in the animation community with the focus on authentic storytelling, diversity and inclusion. Nadine dedicates a lot of volunteer and mentorship work towards support for artists to enter into the industry and growth towards creative leadership roles.

Samara Melanson

Vice President, Production - Guru Studio

A born & raised Torontonian and graduate of Ryerson's Radio & Television Program, Samara started her career in animation & visual effects and worked her way up through the ranks to senior management. With dozens of films and episodic projects in her roster and two decades of experience, Samara loves being deeply involved in everything it takes to bring productions to life. She especially values well-crafted, achievable production plans that deliver the highest quality craftsmanship while continuing to push innovation.

Kristin Patterson

VFX Producer - Pixomondo

Originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, Kristin moved to LA to study and work in film and television. She worked on several blockbusters, including Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, before joining Pixomondo LA and dipping her toes into TV production. After working on shows like The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead and Agents of Shield, she joined the team for Fast and Furious 8 and headed back to the Great White North. Since being in the Toronto office, she's honed her skills on VFX and Virtual Production for TV, producing Star Trek: Discovery, Goliath, Westworld, and Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian.