Russell Williams is a passionate advocate for innovation in health care and in economic development. Since joining Rx&D in March 2004, Mr. Williams has promoted policies that improve patient outcomes by expanding patient choice and access to new medicines and vaccines. He works tirelessly to ensure that Canada is a world leader in attracting biopharmaceutical investments, which are key componen...

Ralph Nader is one of America's most effective social critics. Named by The Atlantic as one of the 100 most influential figures in American history, and by Time and Life magazines as one of the hundred most influential Americans of the twentieth century, his documented criticism of government and industry has had widespread effect on public awareness and bureaucratic power. He is the "U.S.'s t...

Bob Howard is Assistant Vice-President, Financial Management Actuarial with Sun Life Financial in Waterloo, Ontario. His current responsibility is as practice leader for pricing in Canada. Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers.

Rosemary McCarney is President and CEO of Plan International Canada Inc. (Plan Canada), an international, humanitarian, child-centred development organization. Founded in 1937 as Foster Parents Plan, Plan now works in more than 45 developing countries helping children, their families and communities to achieve lasting improvements in their lives.

Robert Dutton has been at the helm of RONA Inc. as President and Chief Executive Officer since 1992. From 1990 to 1992, he was Executive Vice-President and Chief of Operations at RONA. From 1977 to 1990, Mr. Dutton held several positions, including Vice-President, Development at RONA, where he was responsible for all services related to marketing, retail operations, sales and corporate deve...

Randy Bernard joined INDYCAR as chief executive officer on March 1, 2010. As CEO, Bernard is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the IZOD IndyCar Series, the top level of open-wheel racing in North America, Firestone Indy Lights, the official developmental series for those striving to reach the IZOD IndyCar Series, and the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system. Prior to joining INDYCAR, Ber...

Ross is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Tides Canada, the country’s largest public foundation focused on the environment and social justice. Ross has worked in association with Tides Canada over the past twelve years, identifying opportunities to bring philanthropy, civil society, business, and government together in pursuit of positive social change and advising donors and pa...

Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton University, graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude in French from the State University of New York and obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. She has previously served as President of l’Université Sainte-Anne, Principal of Glendon College, President of Victoria University and of Old Dominion University.

Rick Waugh became President and Chief Executive Officer in 2003. He began his career with Scotiabank in Winnipeg in 1970 as a branch employee and, over the years, has served in the Bank's treasury, corporate,international and retail banking areas. In 1985, he moved to New York as the most senior executive in the U.S. Rick returned to Toronto in 1993, and was appointed Vice-Chairman, Corpo...

Ron McKerlie was appointed Interim President and CEO of Ornge in January 2012. His mandate is to improve the transparency, accountability and operational excellence of Ontario’s Air Ambulance and Medical Transport service. Prior to his appointment to Ornge, Ron was Deputy Minister, Government Services, Associate Secretary of the Cabinet and Secretary of Management Board of Cabinet for the Ont...

He is one of the faces of Canada, radiating intelligence and trustworthiness. He is one of its voices, heard in a Newfoundland brogue coast to coast as moderator of Cross Country Checkup, our only national, open-line program. His mind is as sharp as the Rockies. National treasurers need no introduction, and so it is with Rex Murphy, writer, broadcaster and professional thinker. He k...

Rod Phillips is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). He works closely with the OLG Board of Directors to manage this crown corporation with annual revenue of over $7 billion. OLG contributes up to $2 billion to its shareholder, the Province of Ontario, every year for Ontario hospitals, schools, charities, amateur sports and culture.

Mr. Alvarez is a leader in Canadian health care. He is known for taking on challenging mandates and building successful organizations. As President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Health Infoway, he has been a catalyst for accelerating the development of electronic health records in Canada. He has established strong, collaborative relationships with the federal, provincial and territor...

Rob Ford was elected Toronto's 64th mayor in October 2010 after serving 10 years as Councillor for Ward 2 (Etobicoke North).Since he was sworn in as Mayor on December 1, 2010, Mayor Rob Ford has led a very busy Council agenda. In very short order, Mayor Rob Ford eliminated the Personal Vehicle Tax, putting $64 million back into taxpayers' pockets. He also declared the Toronto Transit Commissio...

For most of his 21 years at LIMRA, Hekeler has been involved in designing, conducting, and interpreting fee-based consortia and individual company proprietary research projects. During the last several years, he has also conducted research among employers and producers in the U.S. and Canadian group insurance marketplace and has been key player in LIMRA’s Strategic and Emerging Issues Research ...

Robert A. “Bob” Funk is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. With international headquarters in Oklahoma City, the company has more than 700 franchises in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa. Under his leadership, Express has put more than 5 million people to work worldwide. Sales for the international franchise company totaled more than $2.5 billion, with nea...

Roland Paris is founding Director of the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) at the University of Ottawa. He is also University Research Chair in International Security and Governance, and Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He was previously Director of Research at the Conference Board of Canada; Policy Advisor in the Privy Council Office ...

Ric was first elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Hays on April 23, 2012. Ric was appointed as Minister of Transportation in May 2012 and served in that role until December 2013, at which time he was sworn in as Minister of Infrastructure, a role he held until earlier this month. Ric was also a member of Treasury Board and the Southern Alberta Ministerial Flood Rec...

Rick specializes in strategic organization revitalization, governance, stakeholder management, complex systems thinking, and executional excellence within healthcare, population health, and consumer-centric organizations. He is currently the President and CEO of the Canadian Diabetes Association, a national health charity and the past CEO of the Wellesley Institute, a national applied rese...

Roseann O’Reilly Runte is President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton University. Dr. Runte graduated with a BA summa cum laude in French from the State University of New York and obtained her MA and PhD from the University of Kansas. She has previously served as president of l’Université Sainte-Anne, principal of Glendon College, president of Victoria University and of Old Dominion University...

Rich Kruger was appointed chairman, president and chief executive officer of Imperial on March 1, 2013. Mr. Kruger started his career with ExxonMobil in 1981 in Houston, Texas, and held various technical, supervisory, and management positions throughout the United States. Over the last 30 years, he has led projects around the world in a number of countries and regions, including Malaysia, A...

Rita Notarandrea, M.H.Sc, C.H.E, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) through a Governor in Council appointment on July 28, 2015. Ms. Notarandrea works with all levels of government as well as the not-for-profit and private sectors to ensure that addiction is recognized as health issue, that it remains on the national agenda for action and that ...

Roger Martin is Premier’s Chair in Productivity & Competitiveness and academic director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management. From 1998 to 2013, he served as dean. Previously, he spent 13 years as a director of Monitor Company, a global strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he served as cohead of the firm for two years. His research w...

Rebecca Blaikie is the President and Quebec Campaign Director for Canada’s New Democrats. Rebecca was born in Winnipeg, where she worked in community development, Aboriginal education, and for the Government of Manitoba. In 2007, she helped elect Tom Mulcair in a historic by-election that paved the way for the NDP’s Quebec breakthrough and rise to Official Opposition. She has been invited aroun...

Responsible for Valero Energy Corporation’s Canadian Operations including strategic direction, financial performance, integration with Valero’s international activities and positioning in the community. The Canadian Operations include the Levis refinery, 32 marine, rail and pipeline terminals and extensive Wholesale and Commercial sales operations. The leadership of Mr. Bayus is focused ...

R. Kenneth Carty is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of British Columbia where he was also the Brenda and David McLean professor of Canadian studies. As one of the country's foremost experts on Canadian party politics, he was honoured with the Mildred A. Schwartz Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Political Science Association in 2013. A former president o...

Rob Livingston is President and Country Manager for Visa Canada, where he oversees the strategic direction, key relationships, marketing, operations and financial performance of Visa’s Canadian business.

Robin Sherrington, PhD, Senior Vice President of Business & Corporate Development for Xenon Pharmaceuticals has twenty years of biopharmaceutical industry experience. He has successfully negotiated partnerships with Roche, Takeda, Merck, Isis, Genentech and Teva, and Xenon’s Genome Canada, Genome BC, and IRAP funded projects. In aggregate these deals could be worth over $1.5 billion in milest...

Ratna Omidvar is an internationally recognized expert on migration, diversity and inclusion. She came to Canada from Iran in 1981 and her own experiences of displacement, integration and citizen engagement have been the foundation of her work.

Ron Dizy, a veteran of the high-growth technology industry, uses his breadth of experience to focus ENBALA’s strategic direction, value, and growth. With his respected perspective on the Smart Grid and the evolution of the power system, he was recruited to the board of the Ontario Energy Association and elected vice-chair of the Corporate Partners Committee of the Ontario Smart Grid Forum and t...

Raj Kothari is the Managing Partner for the Greater Toronto area for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and National Practice Leader for the Asset & Wealth Management Industry in Canada. Raj graduated from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and obtained an MBA from the City University Business School, London, England. He also qualified as a chartered accountant from the UK a...

Joe Clark is a Canadian statesman, author, and corporate director, active in international development and business. He was elected eight times to the House of Commons of Canada, and is a former Canadian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister of Constitutional Affairs, and Acting Minister of National Defence and of Justice. He is vice-chairman of the Global Leadership Foundation, and a memb...

Raj practises in the areas of human rights, constitutional and administrative law, labour relations, civil litigation, professional negligence and discipline. He is a former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and presently acts for complainants and respondents in internal investigations and Ontario and federal applications. He has acted as a Board of Inquiry under the Ont...

Raymond Niaura, Ph.D., is director of Science at the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative, where he also oversees the pre- and post-doctoral training program. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Medical C...

As President & Chief Executive Officer, Roanie Levy is leading Access Copyright through a time of exciting transitions – striking new partnerships and finding innovative ways to serve our country's writers, publishers, readers, teachers and learners. A dynamic and engaging leader, Roanie has championed intellectual property rights throughout her career. In boardrooms, classrooms, and before po...

Rita Trichur is an award-winning journalist. She is the Financial Services Editor for The Globe and Mail and a Canadian business columnist for the Report on Business Magazine. Rita returned to Globe in July 2016 after spending about 2 ½ years as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s Canada bureau. She primarily covered domestic banks and insurance companies from Toronto, but also wrote a var...

Robert Ghiz is President and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) and Chair of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada. Twice elected Premier of Prince Edward Island, Robert’s accomplishments included his successful stewardship of PEI’s economy through the 2008 global financial collapse, overseeing its record-setting economic growth following the recession, implementin...

Richard Piticco provides leadership to all student-related areas for CPA Ontario, from seeking out and developing the best candidates to supporting students through their journey to becoming Chartered Professional Accountants. He oversees partnerships with post-secondary institutions to advance the profession. Prior to joining CPA Ontario, Richard served as a Director and Equity Research Analys...

Rina DeGrazia is Vice President, Financial Education for TD Bank Group In her role, she leads the future direction of financial literacy within the organization and drives positive change for our employees, customers and communities across the country. Rina joined TD through the Laurentian Bank acquisition in 2003. Over the last 25 years and especially since joining TD Rina has held a number...

Rajini Nagendran is Chief Inclusion Officer for BMO Financial Group and leads a team responsible for diversity & inclusion. She holds enterprise-wide accountability to drive diversity strategies, practices and programs across the company and grow a culture of inclusion.

Ray Pennings co-founded Cardus in 2000 and currently serves as Executive Vice President, working out of the Ottawa office. Ray has a vast amount of experience in Canadian industrial relations and has been involved in public policy discussions and as a political advocate at all levels of government. Ray is a respected voice in Canadian politics, contributing as a commentator, pundit and critic i...

AI & Analytics program executive with over 24 years of experience helping global organizations and governments in Canada and internationally. He has intervened across a number of industry sectors in financial services, public safety and defence, transportation / logistics, supply chain, and retail / CPG. Ramy combines a strong business acumen with depth in business transformation through the ap...

Ryan Holmes is the founder and CEO of Hootsuite. He started the company in 2008 and has helped grow it into the world’s most widely used social relationship platform, with 18-million-plus users, including employees at more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies. A serial entrepreneur who started his first business in high school, Ryan supports youth entrepreneurship through his charity, Lea...

Mayor Rob Burton won re-election to a fourth term as Oakville’s Mayor in October 2018. Working alongside Council and staff, he has focused on controlling growth, keeping debt and taxes low, protecting green space and the environment and developing more community facilities to meet the needs of the community. Prior to running for public office, Mayor Burton was best known for starting YTV an...

With over 18 years of legal and entrepreneurial experience, Rosy has launched and managed public companies as well as start-ups. She has served as strategic advisor for companies involved in the processing, distribution, and safe use of medical cannabis. Ms. Mondin is the Co-founder & Executive Director at the Cannabis Trade Alliance of Canada and serves as Advisory Board Member for FinCanna Ca...

Richard Zemel is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, where he has been a faculty member since 2000. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Psychology at the University of Arizona and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Salk Institute and at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the co-founder of SmartFinance, a financial technology start-up ...

Leadership is not simply a role that you fill; it is an action that you take each and every day. It is this philosophy that guides Cisco Canada President, Rola Dagher. Over her career of more than two decades, Dagher has worked with some of the brightest minds in the technology industry while honing her natural leadership style. Dagher joined Cisco from Dell EMC where she held a variety...

Rina Degrazia is the Vice President of Financial Education for the Canadian Personal Banking at TD Bank Group. She is responsible for helping set the future direction of financial literacy within the organization that will help drive a positive change for our employees, customers and communities. Rina joined TD through the Laurentian Bank acquisition and has enjoyed every moment along th...

Born and raised in Toronto, Roxy Earle parlayed her passion for marketing into a stellar career with Ogilvy and American Express. Her dedicated work at these institutions garnered several Canadian Marketing Awards and a Cannes Lion. She was then cast on the show The Real Housewives of Toronto; this opportunity gave her the stepping stone to build a business with a major shift and new meaning to...

Rhiannon is the President, CEO, and Owner of The Economic Club of Canada, Founder of The Jr. Economic Club of Canada and CEO & Co-Founder of The Global Institute for Conscious Economics (GICE). Rhiannon is redefining what it means to be a corporate leader in this country. She is passionate about highlighting the most important issues our nation is grappling with—from Truth & Reconciliation to r...

Rotem is a clinical psychology PhD student at York University, Toronto. He is also the Associate Director of the Psychedelic Studies Research Program at the University of Toronto and the director and co-founder of the Toronto Centre for Psychedelic Science. He has co-authored papers on the empirical and theoretical significance of microdosing psychedelics, as well as work on facial recognition,...

An entrepreneur and a visionary, Ronan is one the founders of Field Trip. Concurrent with his work at Field Trip, he is a partner at Grassfed Ventures, a venture capital and advisory firm focused on the cannabis and biotech industries and is a Member of the Board of Directors for Trait Biosciences Inc., a leading biotech company in the hemp and cannabis industries. Prior to his current roles, R...

Roanie Levy is an outspoken champion of creator rights, in Canada and abroad. An Intellectual Property lawyer by vocation, she currently serves Access Copyright, a collective that distributes millions of dollars annually in licensing royalties to creator and publisher affiliates, as President and CEO. Roanie has also held key positions on major policy files at Canadian Heritage and Industry Can...

Rizwan Khalfan is responsible for setting the strategic direction for all digital and payments activities, while creating more intuitive, personalized and integrated experiences that help customers live their lives. Rizwan's mandate includes partnering with business units across the organization to strategically invest in transformational digital capabilities, overseeing the evolution of the pa...

A successful entrepreneur and business executive, champion fundraiser, and dedicated public servant, Rocco Rossi joins the Ontario Chamber of Commerce in 2018 as President and CEO. Coming from his role as President and CEO of Prostate Cancer Canada and earlier as the CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation – one of Canada’s largest non-profit organizations – Rossi has overseen consecutive year...

Robert (Bob) Stasko is a successful business development professional with a large body of experience in the electricity sector. He is also an energy technology specialist who has worked in a wide range of management positions involving R&D, product development, market assessment and project implementation.

Critically-acclaimed Métis/Slovakian singer-songwriter Ruby Waters, often praised for her unique, raspy voice, evoking the enduring talents of Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse, has quickly garnered attention as a fast-rising indie alternative artist over the past two years. Hailing from the small town of Shelburne, Ontario, and the child of two musician parents, Waters was immersed in the world o...

RoseAnne Archibald of Taykwa Tagamou Nation, is a strength-based and heart-centered leader, with 31 years of experiences in First Nations politics. RoseAnne is a third generation Chief in her family whose leadership has been ground-breaking and historical for women and youth. She was the first woman and youngest Chief elected for Taykwa Tagamou Nation (TTN) in 1990 at 23 years of age.

As Chief Sustainability Officer & Senior Vice-President, Stakeholder Engagement, Rhona works to ensure environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are embedded in the company’s strategy and business plans. Rhona is also responsible for leading the company’s communications efforts and building strong relationships with stakeholders. This includes working with Indigenous community m...

Rag Udd was appointed President Minerals Americas in November 2020 based in Santiago, Chile. He has responsibility for all mineral operations and capital projects in the Americas region.

Dr. Toledano is a registered Clinical Psychologist. With 2 decades of experience as a clinical psychologist, her areas of expertise include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, OCD, Trauma and Stress Disorders, sexual disorders, couples, and marriage coun- selling, and addictions, among others. She oversees Inkblot’s Clinical Services across Canada and the US including our EAP program, Assessm...

Rachel Curran is a lawyer by training, and has nearly 15 years of experience in public affairs, including extensive experience providing strategic and policy advice to the Prime Minister of Canada and federal and provincial Cabinet ministers. As Director of Policy to the Prime Minister, Rachel was closely engaged in all matters involving the federal government, including foreign and defenc...

Network (OVIN), an initiative by the Government of Ontario to ensure Ontario’s leadership in the future of the automotive and mobility sector. At the helm of OVIN, Raed drives Ontario’s presence on the global stage, leading programming that supports research and development (R&D) funding, talent development, technology acceleration, business and technical supports through testing and demonst...

Ranya El-Masri joined GSK Canada in July 2018 as Vice President of Government Affairs and Market Access, is a member of the GSK Canada Commercial Leadership Team and the executive lead for the province of Quebec. Following a successful start as an entrepreneur, Ranya joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1999. Working in various roles, including market research, sales and customer relations,...