Speakers

Keri Alletson

Keri Alletson is a consultant with Towers Watson, based in the firm’s Toronto office.

Over the past 13 years, Keri has played a key role in the firm’s research initiatives aimed at helping organizations maximize their employee engagement, wellbeing and business performance. The scope of her research includes both Canada-wide efforts to understand employer practices and employee attitudes, as well as global studies on topics ranging from talent management to rewards strategies.

Keri has worked with some of Canada’s largest organizations in a wide variety of industries. She is a published author on workforce management issues, and frequently speaks to management groups such as the Conference Board of Canada and the Strategic Leadership Forum on workforce strategy and HR effectiveness issues.

Session: 3C

Michael Campbell

Michael Campbell is the president of The Idea Generator, a firm that provides consulting and training in Dr. Edward de Bono’s tools and techniques. He is also a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and has led teams that have generated over $30 million in cost savings through the years. Michael’s diverse work background includes years of experience in both Manufacturing and Service industries. His goal is to enable clients to develop concepts and ideas which lead to real solutions for real problems.

Michael is the leading authority on Six Value Medals and its applications in the workplace. He trained with Dr. de Bono and has been a champion of implementing this latest class. After years of conducting classes, he earned the Master Trainer designation from de Bono Thinking Systems.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Sciences from Clemson University and a Master of Science in Statistics from the University of South Carolina.

His experience includes working with such companies as Rockwell International, Hanes Hosiery, Sara Lee, L’eggs Products, GMAC Insurance, Coach, Glaxo Smith Kline and many local companies in his home town of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Session: 5B

Rory Cohen

Rory Cohen is President of Entelekey Inc., and the co-creator of the Take 10 Success System™, a simple step-by-step system guaranteed to help users get started, stay motivated and keep in action on any goal, no matter how potentially overwhelming. She is an expert in the psychology of success, and a specialist in taking ideas from concept to implementation. Before using the Take 10 Success System™ to recreate her career and start her own business, Rory ran a $32 million managed care company and spent 10 years consulting in the health care field. She is a frequent public speaker and repeat media guest on topics ranging from the psychology of success to physician well-being. Her personal and professional national media appearances include ABC’s the View and CNN’s Paula Zahn Show, People Magazine, and National Public Radio. Take 10™ has also been featured on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine and StartingUp Magazine in Germany. Rory earned her B.A. in Community Health at Tufts University, her M.P.H. in Health Administration at Yale University and her MA in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica.

Session: Post-Con A

Lynda Curtin

Lynda Curtin is a Canadian now living in Southern California. She is an expert de Bono Thinking Systems practitioner. A talented facilitator, Lynda led the development of de Bono’s Focus on Facilitation workshop. She designed it to equip leaders with the tools and skills necessary to lead thinking together meetings that deliver remarkable results. She is the creator of the term “Innovation Instinct” used to create a simple framework to help people improve their ability to generate, build-on, and implement valuable ideas. Her work has taken her around the world with a diverse group of clients including ABB, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, The Hartford, HP, Barrick Gold, Genentech, JPL/NASA and OD Network Ottawa. Lynda also launched a new business division, de Bono for Schools, the official provider of de Bono school materials in North America. Her intent is to equip students to become excellent lifelong thinkers. Lynda is a keen golfer and shot her first hole-in-one on December 19th, 2009.

Session: Post-Con B

John DeHart

John DeHart is Co Founder of Nurse Next Door, which he founded in 2001 based on his personal experiences of trying to find a caregiver for a family member. His goal is to build a world-class healthcare brand in North America and in doing so, completely change the way that seniors are cared for. Nurse Next Door has grown to over 40 locations across Canada and is currently expanding throughout the United States. John graduated from Cornell University, holds a Master’s in Entrepreneurship from MIT, was named one of Business in Vancouver’s “Top 40 Under 40″ business leaders in B.C., and was the recipient of the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur Of The Year Award” 2006 for the Pacific Region as an Emerging Entrepreneur. He regularly speaks to Entrepreneurs and Leaders throughout North America on unleashing the power of vision inside of their organizations. His company, Nurse Next Door, was ranked as the #1 Company To Work For in British Columbia in 2009 by B.C Business.

Session: 4b

Erin Dick

As HealthyRETURNS manager, Erin is not only responsible for developing new HealthyRETURNS products and managing relationships with our service partners, but she also plays a key role in helping our group benefits clients design and implement effective employee health strategies for their organizations. With nearly ten years’ experience in health management, Erin brings a wealth of knowledge in planning, implementation and evaluation of wellness strategies across a variety of industries. Erin holds a degree in Physical and Health Education from University of Toronto and a post-graduate certificate in Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion.

Session: 1A

Jennifer Hubbard

Jennifer Hubbard has led the design, development, and delivery of rewards programs for the past ten years. Her mandate includes management of benefits, pensions, compensation, HR systems, communication, and policy development. Jennifer’s holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Master of Arts in Recreation and Leisure Studies from University of Waterloo, where she studied corporate wellness. She is a Certified Human Resources Professional and a Certified Compensation Professional. She is currently pursuing a Master of Human Resources Management at York University.

Session: 1A

Mira Jelic

Mira Jelic is Co-Founder of Novus Health and holds the position of Vice-President of Client Services and Product Development. Novus Health offers a range of custom solutions designed to help Canadians navigate the health care system and access trusted health information. It was Mira’s personal challenges – both as a patient and a caregiver – that inspired her to apply her expertise to the health care sector.

Mira has over 13 years of experience in senior management and product development in financial services, technology and health care. She has worked with 724 Solutions, The Bank of Montreal, AOL/Netscape and OntarioMD, a joint venture between the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario Government. With Novus Health, Mira assists benefit providers, employers and health care organizations to provide their members with innovative health navigation solutions, by bridging the gap between the end-user and business needs.

Mira holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto, various technical certifications, and she has lectured on e-commerce and communications at the post secondary level.

Session: 1C

Diane Lacaille

Diane Lacaille is an Associate Professor in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of British Columbia, and a senior scientist at the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, in Vancouver. She completed medical school and internal medicine training at Mc Gill University in Montreal, and her Rheumatology training and a Master’s in Health Sciences, clinical epidemiology, at the University of British Columbia.

Her research focuses on two areas: 1) Studying the impact of arthritis on employment and preventing work disability. 2) Evaluating the quality of health care services received by people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), using a population-based cohort of RA for the province of BC.

She holds an Investigator award from The Arthritis Society of Canada and is the Nancy and Peter Paul Saunders Scholar. Her research has been supported by peer reviewed grants from the Canadian Institute for Health and Research, the Canadian Arthritis Network and The Arthritis Society of Canada.

Session: 3B

Karen Liberman

Karen Liberman is Executive Director of the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. She is well known for her leadership in the quest to support individuals struggling with mental illness, their families, friends and communities. She has been active in educating communities and people in the workplace, building awareness and opening people’s minds and hearts to the invisible disabilities that are often the subject of unfortunate discrimination. Karen has spoken across Canada about her own journey into and out of severe depression. In recent years, she has teamed up with leading authorities in the mental health field to deliver tools and education to promote wellness benefiting both employees and employers.

Session: 1B

Graham Lowe

Graham Lowe is President of The Graham Lowe Group Inc., a workplace consulting and research firm and a Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta. His numerous publications include The Quality of Work: A People-Centered Agenda (Oxford University Press) and Creating Healthy Organizations (Rotman/UTP Publishing). He has extensive consulting experience and has given hundreds of talks and workshops on creating higher quality and more productive workplaces. He received the 2004 Canadian Workplace Wellness Pioneer Award.

Session: 5A

Dr. Peter Melnyk

Peter Melnyk joined BioMedCom from McGill University and the Montreal Heart Institute, where he obtained his PhD in pathology with a research focus on ion channel expression and distribution in cardiac rhythm disturbances. The communication of scientific information has long been one of Peter’s interests; his work has been published in several respected journals. As an Associate Director, Research Application at BioMedCom, Peter has been involved in many projects, including work on continuing education materials, budget impact model development, briefing documents covering several therapeutic areas, peer-reviewed manuscripts on a diverse range of topics ranging from dementia screening to workplace health promotion, and formulary submission dossiers for several emerging products. Peter is a co-author of the recently published study on the Tune Up Your Heart program.

Session: 3A

Chris Molineux

As the voice behind the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics and a well-known Stand-Up Comedian, Public Speaking Coach and Stilt Master — Chris will be our host for the Thursday Evening Dinner Event: Learn, Laugh, Lead.

Chris has worked as a professional stand-up comedian since 1986, and headlined at shows across North America, the U.K. and the Caribbean. His unique style is intelligent and oddly insightful, filled with accents, impressions, stories, observations and a healthy dose of physical comedy as well. Chris is something of a chameleon in the world of comedy and has enough range and material to entertain at a monastery or a biker clubhouse but he specializes in clean corporate shows and fundraisers and can provide custom tailored materials to fit with any group or situation.

Performed at:

• Just for Laughs
• H.B.O Workspace
• Vancouver Int. Comedy Festival
• Yuk Yuks across Canada
• Pantages Theatre, Tacoma
• Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg
• Vogue Theatre, Vancouver
• The Improv, L.A.
• Princess Casino, St Maarten

People He Has Worked With:

• Jerry Seinfeld
• Jim Carrey
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Norm Macdonald
• Frank Gorshin
• Harland Williams
• Tommy Chong
• Sam Kinison
• Mitch Hedberg

Thursday Evening Dinner Event: Laugh, Learn, Lead

Parkash Ragsdale

Deputy CEO & Director, Professional Services
British Columbia Pharmacy Association

Ms. Parkash Ragsdale is a licensed pharmacist who has assumed the position of Deputy CEO & Director, Professional Services for the British Columbia Pharmacy Association (BCPhA) in July 2008. In her role with BCPhA, she is accountable for supporting and enhancing the professional and economic well being of its members representing over 2,000 pharmacists and 650 pharmacies in order that they may provide accessible health care in British Columbia.

She held the position of Pharmacy Operations Specialist with Shoppers Drug Mart, BC Regional Office between 1998 and 2008. In her role with Shoppers Drug Mart, she was responsible for the pharmacy department in over 65 stores across BC, Grande Prairie and Whitehorse. She worked with pharmacist-owners with their day-to-day pharmacy operations to ensure professional and economic viability. Previously, she has worked as a community pharmacist at independent and chain pharmacies in rural and urban settings.

She became a Certified Diabetes Educator working with other health-care professionals to provide community solutions. She has provided numerous lectures to patient groups, peers and pharmacy students.

Ms. Ragsdale received her B.Sc. in pharmacy and B.Sc. in biochemistry from University of British Columbia.

Session: Lunch Networking Plenary

Insiya Rasiwala-Finn

Insiya Rasiwala-Finn is a Vinyasa (flow) Yoga teacher, Ayurvedic Educator and a writer who was born and raised in Bombay, India with the principles of Yoga and Ayurveda informing her life at an early age.

Formerly an executive at global advertising agency Leo Burnett in Chicago, USA; a marketing manager for lululemon athletica in Vancouver, Canada; during the company’s pivotal rise and a freelance writer, Insiya understands the stresses of corporate life.

Today, while living between Vancouver, and Ucluelet on Vancouver Island, she utilizes her east-west perspective; a passion for learning; and effective communication skills to apply the ancient wisdom and tools of Yoga in clear, contemporary language to create optimal balance, focus and health in our modern times.

When not in British Columbia, Insiya travels and teaches Yoga workshops and retreats around the world. You can learn more about Insiya and her husband and fellow yoga teacher + blissologist Eoin Finn at www.blissology.com. Insiya writes a blog on the sustainable yoga lifestyle at www.yogue.net.

Session: Pre-Con B

Karen Seward

Karen Seward leads the development of innovative health management products and prevention tools that promote workplace health and support employees’ well-being and their employers’ business productivity needs. Featured as a speaker at numerous conferences and seminars, Karen has also published articles in periodicals including Benefits Canada and Benefits & Pensions Monitor, and often appears in national media to speak on workplace health and productivity issues.

Karen was named a Who’s Who In Workplace Health by Working Well Magazine and Rogers Media in 2008. She is also a member of the American Marketing Association, the International Association of Business Communicators and the Conference Board of Canada. She holds a BA from the University of Toronto and is noted for her unique approach in treating health in the workplace as a business issue, bringing quantitative figures to show how an investment in a healthy workplace drives productivity and offsets disability costs to a company’s bottom line.

Session: 1B

SPEAKER TBA

Session: 5C

Stan Slap

Stan Slap is the president of the international consulting company called “slap”. Since 1985, Stan has been focused on creating success for his clients, and is credited with revolutionizing performance for some of the world’s biggest, smartest and fastest companies – developing explosive growth strategies and the cultural willingness to implement them. He coaches CEOs and the executive teams of many of these companies. Stan has directed the successful expansion for companies ranging from Patagonia to Pennzoil. He designed the plan that helped Oracle sell their strategic intent to 40,000 employees in 167 countries, and developed employee reengagement plans for HSBC, Europe’s largest bank. Stan has also developed a number of successful management training programs that have been implemented in more than 70 countries. He is intent on making a profound difference in the world.

Session: Final Keynote & Conference Closing

Mr. Allan Smofsky

Allan Smofsky is an independent workplace health strategist, dedicated to assisting organizations in aligning and optimizing strategies, goals/objectives and resources to create healthier, more productive workplaces. In 1997, Allan relocated to the Toronto area to head Bayer Care, a workplace health management unit of Bayer Inc. In his role, Allan developed a vision, executed a national business strategy and provided overall leadership to the Bayer Care team. Since then, he has demonstrated leadership in advocating – with both workplaces and government / community organizations – for a comprehensive and integrated approach to workplace health. Allan is a 2008 winner of the Rogers Media Working Well award.

Session: 3A

Billy Strean

Billy Strean is a professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta where he received the Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He teaches courses on communication at the undergraduate and graduate level and he leads workshops that help people to be more engaged and have more fun, while producing extraordinary results in their work and play. Dr. Strean is an award-winning educator with a unique variety of experiences. He has been teaching, coaching and leading workshops for over 25 years. With a background as a teacher and NCAA athlete and coach, he went on for a doctorate in sport and exercise psychology at the University of Illinois. Dr. Strean has worked with and learned from many world-class performers in sports, music, education, medicine/healthcare and business. He is the author of The HoHo Dojo: Lighten Up and Love Life Laughing.

Session: 4C