MATTHEW CASTEL

MANAGING PARTNER

Orion Legal Group and Logos LP

Matthew Castel is a founding partner at Orion Legal Group an alternative legal service provider offering emerging growth to large enterprises uniquely tailored corporate, commercial and transactional legal solutions. He is also a founding general partner at Logos LP a private investment partnership focused on providing superior absolute returns.

He lectures and publishes on the societal impacts of emerging technologies including a series of lectures on artificial intelligence at the School of Public and International Affairs of York University at Glendon. He also publishes a monthly newsletter offering timely information about the investment world and thought provoking ideas from around the web.

He has written several articles on cyber security and on the impact of artificial intelligence, which have been published in various scholarly publications like the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology.

IMAN ABUDAGGA

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BUSINESS LEAD

Microsoft

Iman is currently the Artificial Intelligence Business lead at Microsoft Canada. She is an Artificial Intelligence enthusiast; passionate towards leveraging technology and making a positive impact for today’s society and generations to come.

Throughout the years, Iman has led several large-scale business programs aimed at building relationships and driving business with individuals and organizations in the world of Cloud, Data, and now Artificial Intelligence, with a strong Technical background. Much of her success can be attributed to her understanding of Microsoft’s business solutions, unique value proposition, and her ‘customer-first’ mindset. Iman has many years of International experience in the ‘Cloud and Hosting’ business and has been recognized as a Cloud expert in the Gulf region.

As a lifelong and avid learner, Iman has completed her Masters in International Business Management, MBA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering with a major in Software Development

INMAR GIVONI

SR ENGINEERING MANAGER

Uber Advanced Technology Group

Inmar Givoni is a Senior Autonomy Engineering Manager at Uber Advanced Technology Group, Toronto, where she leads a team whose mission is to bring from research and into production cutting-edge deep-learning models for self-driving vehicles.

She received her PhD (Computer Science) in 2011 from the University of Toronto, specializing in machine learning, and was a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. She worked at Microsoft Research, Altera (now Intel), Kobo, and Kindred at roles ranging from research scientist to VP, Big Data, applying machine learning techniques to various problem domains and taking concepts from research to production systems.

She is an inventor of several patents and has authored numerous top-tier academic publications in the areas of machine learning, computer vision, and computational biology. She is a regular speaker at AI events, and is particularly interested in outreach activities for young women, encouraging them to choose technical career paths.

For her volunteering efforts she has received the 2017 Arbor Award from UofT. In 2018 she was recognized as one of Canada’s 50 inspiring women in STEM. She was featured in Toronto Life, The Globe and Mail, TWIML & AI podcast, ReWork’s list of 30 influential women in Canadian AI, UofT’s News, and other media venues.

JODIE LOBANA

RESEARCHER IN GOVERNANCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University

Jodie Lobana is a researcher in the Governance of Artificial Intelligence arena. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the DeGroote School of Business. Jodie lectures and publishes on Artificial Intelligence, and other emerging technologies related issues, and runs a LinkedIn group titled “Governance of Artificial Intelligence” - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12187486/

Jodie also serves as an Adjunct Faculty Member at York University where she teaches Governance of Information Technology since 2011. Previously, she has also taught "Accounting Information Systems" at the University of Waterloo. Further, Jodie has taught a soft Leadership course at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Jodie is currently an Advisory Board Member of the McMaster Artificial Intelligence Society (MacAI Society). She also serves as a Board Member with the International Internal Audit Standards Board (IIASB), and OECM. She has previously served on the Boards of University of Waterloo's UWCISA Institute, and the Institute of Internal Auditors Canada (IIAC), as well as on the McMaster University’s IT Strategy Steering Committee and CPA Canada's IMTAC technology advisory committee. She has also been a member of the Liaison Committee between CPA Canada and IIA Canada and initiated the formation of memorandum of understanding between these two prestigious institutes. Jodie has also served in the past as the Audit Committee Member for Compliance Audit Committees of the City of Brampton and Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board. Jodie has more than 20 years of work experience in Governance and Enterprise Risk Management, Internal & External Audit, and Accounting & Finance arenas. She has been serving as the Managing Director of Lobana Consulting Group Inc. since 2005.

Jodie has provided services to more than 50 national and multi-national organizations in North America. Further, she has traveled to 40 countries and worked in 7 countries.

Jodie has been awarded two degrees from the University of Waterloo - Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and Master of Accounting. Jodie holds many professional designations including Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA from Canada), Certified Public Accountant (from USA), Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Information Systems Auditor and Project Management Professional.

Jodie is the winner of the prestigious "2013 Award of Distinction" awarded by CPA Ontario to recognize CPAs who have made an early impact (under 40 category) through leadership and achievement in their professional, community, and/or personal lives.

AZWAR KHALID

SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT

247 Labs Inc.

CTO and software architect at 247 Labs Inc. Experienced in building digital solutions for organizations wanting to break thru. With hands on development experience in software engineering and 15 years experience in the field and having developed over 20 products including work for P&G, GM, IBM, Motorola, Loblaw, Rogers, RIM, J&J, University of Toronto, the Ontario and Canadian government. Azwar focus on tackling the most complex problems and finding simple software solutions for them using simple intuitive approaches that are cost effective and are much faster to go to market.

ELLIS ODYNN

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF AI OFFICER

Digital Finance Institute

Ellis Odynn champions the title of Canada’s first Chief AI Officer. Ellis is the Executive Director and Chief AI Officer of the Digital Finance Institute (DFI), a global technology think tank. In this capacity, she heads the Institute’s key initiatives — from building partnerships, supporting innovation development, growing the Canadian FinTech & AI communities, and managing international affairs.

Ellis has fully immersed herself in the tech world. Ellis is the Producer and Co-host of the Let’s Tech Podcast, the Founder and Executive Producer of Canada FinTech Week, a financial technology festival, the Executive Producer of Canada’s annual FinTech & AI Awards, and the host of both North America’s global Artificial Intelligence forum the AI World Forum and Canada’s National FinTech conference, FinTech Canada.

When she isn’t uniting the AI industry, Ellis dedicates her time to running a charitable organization that brings education, security and inclusion to refugee girls in Africa and the Middle East.

AMANDA HOLDEN

NATIONAL EXECUTIVE, FRAUD & SECURITY INTELLIGENCE

SAS

Amanda is a technology, fraud and operations leader with 25+ years experience in financial services and a focus on data, analytics and operational excellence. Amanda is a proven leader and facilitator of business-technology strategies and partnerships. In her current role as a National Executive for Fraud & Security Intelligence for SAS, Amanda is responsible for driving business development and go to market strategies for SAS Fraud and AML products and services. As a leader and evangelist, Amanda is focused on finding solutions to customers’ financial crimes, loss and AML problems. She is passionate about data & analytics and the role they play in reducing financial crimes in Canada. Amanda is the Executive Sponsor for the SAS Women in Analytics Network and a longtime supporter of empowering girls and women in STEM programs. She is a mother of one son and is proud to call herself a “geek” - rarely far from the many tools, technologies and gadgets that she enjoys in life and in business.

JEFF CATES

CEO AND PRESIDENT

Achievers

Jeff Cates serves as the CEO and President of Achievers. He was formerly the CEO and President of Intuit Canada, a software development company that
produces premier brands such as TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint. Jeff’s passion for creating environments where employees can do the best work of their
lives has helped Intuit Canada become a top “Great Place to Work” in Canada. During his tenure, the company was also recognized as a top employer for
women and millennials leading in diversity initiatives. Cates joined Intuit in 2011, with a background that includes innovative marketing, product leadership and entrepreneurship. Previously, Cates worked at Apple Canada leading their enterprise business, and Hewlett Packard as vice presidentof their consumer division. He earned an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster
University. Testament to his passion for the start-up industry and advocacy efforts for entrepreneurialism, he currently holds a role on the board of Start-Up Canada.
Jeff also sits on the board of CUSO, a not-for-profit organization focused on midwifery and economic development in third world countries.