CEOs and Business Speakers

The road to real leadership is rarely a straight one. Among Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs, few have faced more obstacles than Zahra Al-Harazi. With a no-holds-barred attitude, Al-Harazi helps people and organizations realize their potential for succ...

Few people understand the importance of the arts and cultural sector better than Cameron Bailey. The artistic director and co-head of one of the world’s biggest and most important film festivals, he is responsible for the Toronto International Film Festival&...

Mark Brand is one of North America’s foremost social entrepreneurs. With 11 businesses under his belt, he is an example of a new form of leadership that encompasses good in every step. Determined to breathe new life into our struggling and disjointed com...

Leonard Brody has been called “a leader of the new world order” and was recently named one of top 30 management thinkers in the world. Brody is an award-winning entrepreneur, venture capitalist, bestselling author, and a two-time Emmy-nominated med...

Marcus Buckingham is a global researcher and thought leader focused on unlocking strengths, increasing performance, and pioneering the future of how people work. He shows audiences the correlation between strengths-driven, engaged employees and business fundam...

Hockey legend Brian Burke is a dynamic figure in both the worlds of business and sport. He is the president of hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and formerly held leadership positions in the organizations of the Calgary Flames, the Toronto Maple L...

Ben Casnocha is an award-winning entrepreneur and author from Silicon Valley. BusinessWeek named him”one of America’s top young entrepreneurs,” while PoliticsOnline called him one of the “25 most influential people in the world of inter...

Drawing from his unique experience as both a world-class manufacturer and award-winning retailer, Donald Cooper delivers the “straight goods” on how to sell more, manage smarter, grow your bottom line…and have a life. With wisdom, humour, and...

Bruce Croxon wants to invest in the next Canadian wave. The co-founder of the wildly successful dating site Lavalife, and a former “Dragon” on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Croxon shares informed insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s demanding entr...

If you dream of inspiring cult-like brand loyalty—the kind that involves mile-long queues and even permanent tattoos— then Johnny “Cupcakes” Earle is for you. The founder of the world-renowned tee-shirt brand Johnny Cupcakes, Johnny’s kno...

“The purpose of marketing is to deliver business results,” says Arlene Dickinson, renowned CBC “Dragon” and one of Canada’s most successful communications entrepreneurs. Whether explaining how to leverage marketing in even the tou...

Having successfully built two international businesses from the ground up, Mandy Gilbert has been recognized as a United Nations Global Accelerator and ranked as one of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs on Canadian Business‘ Profit 500 list and Cha...

Suneel Gupta went from being the face of failure in the pages of the New York Times to being the “New Face of Innovation” for the New York Stock Exchange. In his new book, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You...

Cameron Herold is known around the world as “The Business Growth Guru.” He is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth, helping to guide organizations to double their profit and double their revenue in just three years o...

Bruce Heyman served as the US Ambassador to Canada under President Barack Obama from 2014 until 2017. His leadership emphasized the importance of the Canada-US relationship and pushed for more collaboration and cross-border investments. Today, he continues to ...

International economist and author Glen Hodgson has nearly 40 years of experience in global and Canadian macro-economics, international trade and finance, fiscal and tax policy, and other “big picture” topics. Glen’s career has spanned the International ...

In our rapidly shifting business landscape, Michael Hyatt wants to inspire people to face change head-on, and give them the tools and insight needed to succeed. A self-made millionaire who built two highly successful tech firms, he ranks as one of Canada’s t...

Kaihan Krippendorff is one of the most in-demand business speakers in the world. A bestselling author, internationally recognized thought-leader, and a sought-after strategic advisor, Kaihan is known for his ability to turn difficult concepts into easy-to-und...

Josh Linkner is a creative troublemaker. He passionately believes that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar....

Preston Manning tirelessly championed the cause of democratic and political reform throughout his impressive career as one of Canada’s great political visionaries. His presentations provide an inspirational and substantive discussion of both current issues a...

The newest “dragon” to join CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Lane Merrifield is one of Canada’s leading tech entrepreneurs. He is the founder of Club Penguin, the largest children’s online social network. At age 28, he sold it to Disney for $350 millio...

Currently the President and Vice Chancellor of a large, multi-disciplinary post-secondary institution renowned globally for an ethos of trailblazing, Dr. Janet Morrison is an educator, thought leader, and change agent. She draws on her 35 years of experience l...

A passionate advocate for organizational change and lasting progress, Lekan Olawoye is a leader who is equally comfortable offering high-level business advice as he is passionately speaking about how to be an effective ally. His organization, the Black Profess...

Tech titan Michele Romanow is a serial entrepreneur who started six companies before her 35th birthday. A “Dragon” on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Romanow is the Co-founder and President of Clearco. Clearco has invested more than $2B into 4,600 compani...

David Segal is an entrepreneur and retail thought-leader. He is best known for bringing radical innovation to a 5,000 year old product category with the launch of DAVIDsTEA, the company he co-founded in 2008. Segal takes audiences through the entrepreneurial j...

Peter Sheahan is internationally known for his innovative business thinking and thought leadership. A highly successful entrepreneur, he is the founder and CEO of Karrikins Group, a multi-million-dollar consulting practice which attracts clients such as Apple,...

Barb Stegemann’s entrepreneurial vision was formed after her best friend—a soldier—was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Understanding that supporting Afghanistan’s economy was key to building stability for its people, Stegemann launched The 7 V...

Masai Ujiri is in his seventh season as President of the Toronto Raptors, leading the team to the most successful period in franchise history, including a NBA Championship. In June 2019, the Raptors won the first NBA title in the franchise’s 24-year hist...

Nicole Verkindt is passionate about leveraging the talents of entrepreneurs and innovation. Named “Canada’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” by StartUp Canada in 2017, Verkindt has a knack for finding industry gaps and building innovative plat...

Brett Wilson is a celebrated Canadian entrepreneur, respected philanthropist, and the all-time leading deal maker on CBC’s hit TV show, Dragons’ Den.  Within a penchant for investing in people rather than projects, Wilson is proof that it’s possible t...

Before laptops fit into briefcases, before iPads fit into purses, and before iPhones fit into back pockets, computers were as big as vending machines, and certainly not portable. In 1977, Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple (with Steve Jobs) changed all tha...