We heard you! The big buzz out of last year's program in Saskatoon was Warren Evans' breakout session, with an audience that got larger as the session went on! You told us this should have been on the main stage, and we're thrilled we have a commitment for Warren to return this year. (thanks again to Future Voices)

He will look at what the major trends are leading smart organizations to do, right now, to create advantage for themselves and comment on how these trends are shaping our industry as well.

Warren is one of the top speakers in Canada. His combination of solid insights, practical ideas, and irreverent humour has won him rave reviews in 3 dozen countries on 6 continents. If you've seen him, you'll want to see him again. If you haven't, don't miss this opportunity!

 

Marnie McBean

 

Presenting: The Power of More: How Small Steps Help Us Achieve Big Goals
Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 13:00-15:30 – 2.5 hours
The Westin Ottawa

Honours and Awards Luncheon

Marnie McBean is one of Canada's most decorated Olympians, and an expert in turning potential into performance. As one of only two Canadians ever to win three Gold medals in the Summer Olympics, she is used to performing under pressure. After a record-breaking rowing career, McBean now works with the Canadian Olympic Committee as a Specialist in Olympic Athlete Preparation and Mentoring. She has worked closely with three Olympic teams and is now involved with the 2012 London Games. McBean prepares athletes emotionally and psychologically to help transform their potential into reality. McBean's upcoming book, The Power of More, outlines how to set and achieve goals. The book publishes in spring, 2012.

McBean's ideas regarding performance -- rigorously tested and proven -- pave a path for the preparation, communication, and teamwork that are essential to winning in any competitive environment. With anecdotes and hard-earned wisdom, she connects with audiences as a real person, and leaves them with a framework for success that transcends sports and that can be applied to any competitive endeavour. McBean helps your team do what she has done time and time again: turn potential into outstanding performance.

 

Jill Austin – Director, Information Management Practice

Presenting: Do You Need an Information Management Policy?
Saturday, November 3 2012 at 11:00 – 12:30

Jill Austin has been working in information management and knowledge management for more than two decades, and leads MicroWorks’ Information Management practice. She develops enterprise content management systems; intranets, internets and extranets; electronic document and records management systems; virtual libraries; as well as custom databases. Her expertise is in managing ‘unstructured’ information, such as documents, Web content, and email.

Jill has expertise in IM/IT strategic planning, business analysis, IM/KM needs assessments, requirements definition, information architecture, and system design. The tools that she uses include focus groups, workshops, surveys, information audits, and interviews. She has extensive experience in developing business taxonomy, corporate metadata, controlled vocabularies and thesauri that underpin enterprise content management systems. These elements ensure that users can find information when they need it and in the form in which they can best use it. These systems are designed to manage information throughout its life cycle, protecting its confidentiality, integrity and accessibility.

She is experienced building electronic document and records management systems in SharePoint. These include managed metadata for controlled vocabulary, information management policies, file plan, and retention and disposition. Jill is very experienced deploying SharePoint solutions for knowledge management.

In addition to developing electronic systems, Jill works with organizations to adopt best practices in managing their information assets. This includes developing IM/IT policies, procedures, guidelines and standards for managing documents, records, collaboration and email.

Jill holds both a Masters and PhD in Library and Information Science. She has taught courses at the graduate level in research methods, systems analysis, information retrieval, and classification.

Gerald Bramm, Bramm Research

Presenting: Notes from the Frontlines: Social Media Benchmarking
Friday November 2, 2012 at 14:30-16:00

For more than 20 years Gerald Bramm has operated Bramm Research specializing in conducting marketing research for consumer and business-to- business clients. His focus is on industry and benchmarking surveys for associations and industry publications.

Prior to forming his own company, Gerald spent three years as the Director of Research for the Southam Magazine Group. During this period he worked closely with editors and publishers on numerous research projects directed at both readers and advertisers.

Before Southam he was the Director of Research with the advertising agency - J. Walter Thompson working both in Toronto and Montreal. In this position he worked on a large variety of packaged goods and service accounts.

Gerald has been a member of the MRIA (Marketing Research and Intelligence Association) for 26 years. He holds the CMRP designation (Certified Marketing Research Professional).

Bernie Colterman, Managing Partner, Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing

Presenting: Rethinking Your Association Sponsorship Model
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 14:30-16:00

For over 15 years, Bernie has provided strategic marketing advice and services to a wide range of association, non-profit and public sector organizations. Much of this work involves helping organizations take a more strategic approach towards sponsorships and other revenue generation initiatives. His company’s proprietary valuation model sets the standard in Canada for sponsorship value measurement. Bernie has facilitated hundreds of collaborative arrangements, raising over $25 million dollars in sponsorships for various causes, events and national campaigns.

Bernie is Co-Program Director and faculty member of Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, Professional Certificate in Public Sector and Non-Profit Marketing where he teaches Partnerships, and Low-Cost Marketing Techniques. His highly acclaimed Designing and Selling Your Sponsorship Program and Revenue Generation Boot Camp workshops are attended by hundreds of professionals each year. Bernie is a regular contributor to publications and a speaker at conferences aimed at government and not-for-profit audiences.Bernie’s Sponsorship and Partnerships Blog can be found at www.berniecolterman.ca

Dana Cooper, Association Management Consulting & Evaluation Services

Presenting: Strategic Use of Technology
Saturday November 3 2012 09:15-10:45

Dana possesses considerable breadth of experience with over 15 years in such positions as Executive Director, General Manager, Chief Operations Officer and Director of Government Relations. He is strategically oriented and has facilitated strategic plans for over 12 years for a variety of organizations. In addition to strategic planning, Dana has undertaken roles such as database implementation, interim Executive Director, benchmarking, evaluation strategies, analysis and implementation recommendations for the new not-for-profit corporations act, created and analysed surveys and much more.

Dana is very successful at building relationships and applying his skills to a wide variety of challenges. He has also taken the leadership role in human resources and developed many policies and procedures in areas such as hiring, orientation, performance evaluations, performance-based compensation, and more. Dana specializes in strategic communications and segmenting markets to improve communication efficiency.
With a very solid academic foundation (MBA and CAE), including teaching university courses in Leadership, Business Strategy, and Consumer Behavior, he brings together the: academic, in determining a course of action to address a challenge; and the practical, in adding his experience to meeting the needs presented by the challenges. Dana spent over six years in fundraising and authored the ‘Fundraising’ chapter in Canada’s only Association Management Textbook, “Associations In Canada”. He has authored articles on membership service and presented at conferences across Canada on service delivery, member and volunteer retention, and the client experience.

Dana is currently a Board member with the CSAE Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter and a member of the IABC Ottawa Chapter.

Karen Cooper, Carters Professional Corporation

Presenting: Update and Maintaining Your NPO Status
Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 11:00- 12:30

A partner with the firm, Ms. Cooper practices charity and not-for-profit law with an emphasis on tax issues at Carters’ Ottawa office, having formerly been a Senior Rulings Officer with the Income Tax Rulings Directorate of Canada Revenue Agency, as well as former counsel for the Department of Justice in tax litigation. Ms. Cooper also has considerable teaching experience, including as part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Common Law, and is a contributing author to The Management of Charitable and Not-for-Profit Organizations in Canada (LexisNexis Butterworths). Ms. Cooper has been recognized as a leading expert in charity and not-for-profit law by Lexpert and Best Lawyers.

Randal Craig, Pinetree Advisors

Presenting: Notes from the Frontlines: Social Media Benchmarking
and Bum in seats, Minds engaged and Clients happy: Using Social Media to Drive Event Attendance and Audience Engagement
Friday November 2, 2012 at 14:30-16:00

Randall Craig is the President of Pinetree Advisors. He has founded several successful start-ups, held a long-time position at a “big-four” firm, and was an executive at an American public company. Client focus is Professional Service Firms, Publishing/Media, Education, and Not-for-Profits.

Randall is the author of numerous books, including Leaving the Mother Ship, The Working Resume, the best-seller Personal Balance Sheet, the Online PR and Social Media for Experts series, and Social Media for Business. He is a frequent contributor to magazines, and is a sought-after speaker. He has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, and has been profiled in all national media. He lectures at the Schulich School of Business, and writes a weekly column on the Monster career site.

He lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and three children. Outside of the working day, Randall spends his time reading books, writing music, cycling, and practicing martial arts. He served as the 2010 President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Toronto Chapter, and is currently the host of the weekly interview show Professionally Speaking TV. He holds an HBA, CFA, MBA, CMC, and a Black Belt in Karate. More at www.LinkedIn.com/in/RandallCraig.

Bud Crouch, Tecker Consulting LLC

Presenting: Pre Conference Governance Summit
And The Innovative Association: Preparing for the “New Normal”
Thursday November 1, 2012 08:30-12:00

Bud Crouch is a Principal Partner with Tecker Consultants, LLC and President of Innovations Plus. Bud has completed projects internationally for hundreds of groups in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. He focuses on providing customized management consulting services to not-for-profit, corporate, charitable and public organizations. Bud has a twenty year track record of successfully helping organizations to identify issues of strategic importance and assisting them to confidently prepare for the future.

Drawing from substantial experience with a variety of organizations, Bud has utilized the most successful approaches to assist clients in solving their challenges by developing successful strategies that achieve their desired outcome, change their culture and positively affect many lives. He has a reputation for being a knowledgeable and practical expert on not-for-profit organizations.

Bud’s consulting work with individual clients spans the entire spectrum of not-for-profit sectors, including medicine and health care, scientific and engineering, education, academic and education, construction, financial, sports and hobby, religious, community organizations, business, accreditation, military, agriculture, local government agencies and organizations, association management companies, art and music and cause related organizations.

Jeff De Cagna, FRSA FASAE, Principled Innovation LLC

Presenting: Designing Association Business Models for the Network Age: An Intensive Senior Level Workshop
and Five Reasons Why Membership is Killing Association Business Models
Thursday , November 1 2012 at 08:30-12:00

Jeff De Cagna FRSA FASAE is chief strategist and founder of Principled Innovation LLC and the association community’s leading voice for innovation. After serving as an association executive for more than a decade, Jeff founded Principled Innovation LLC in 2002 to challenge association leaders to pursue the generative work of transformation. He is an author, speaker and advisor to associations across North America and around the world. Jeff is an ASAE Fellow (FASAE), and has served the association community throughout his career in a variety of formal and informal roles. In 2010, Jeff retired from the ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership Board of Directors after serving a three-year term, and he is a past chair of ASAE’s Executive Management Section Council. Jeff is a member of American Mensa, BoardSource and the World Future Society, and in 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK). He serves as vice chair of the Board of Directors of RedRover, a national organization that focuses on bringing animals out of crisis and strengthening the bond between people and animals. Jeff is the founder of Association Chat (#assnchat) on Twitter and executive producer of the Principled Innovation Blog and Podcast, which can be found online at www.principledinnovationblog.com. He also is one of the “Five Independent Thinkers” who wrote the groundbreaking book, We Have Always Done It That Way: 101 Things About Associations We Must Change. A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, Jeff earned a master’s degree from Harvard University. Jeff also holds an executive certificate in strategy and innovation from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and he is an alumnus of the prestigious Oxford Scenarios Programme at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School. Jeff can be reached at jeff@principledinnovation.com.

Fred Fox, The Exhibitor Institute

Presenting: Exhibitor Success – Breakthrough Thinking for Exhibitors
Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 08:30-10:00

Fred Fox is North America's leading exhibit marketing consultant and founder of the Exhibitor Institute. For the past 30 years, Fred has been providing consulting services and exhibitor training programs for show management organizations, from coast-to-coast in North America, as well as in the United Kingdom and Europe. A true veteran of the trade show industry, Fred brings a unique, down-to-earth approach to his training programs and has influenced thousands of exhibitors to achieve greater success.

Mark Katz, Davies Ward Philips & Vineberg LLP

Presenting: Practical Competition Law and Compliance Case Studies For Trade and Professional Associations
Thursday, November 1 2012 at 13:30-15:00

Mark Katz is a senior partner in the Competition and Foreign Investment Review practice of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto. Mark has advised domestic and international clients, including trade associations, on a wide variety of competition law matters, such as mergers and acquisitions, criminal cartel investigations, joint ventures, abuse of dominance, distribution and pricing practices, misleading advertising and compliance. Mark is involved in leadership positions with the Canadian Bar Association and the American Bar Association and is on the editorial boards of several competition and trade publications. Prior to joining Davies, Mark also acted as litigation counsel on several leading competition law cases in Canada, including appearing as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada on one of the first merger cases decided under the Competition Act.For more information about his experience and practice see: www.dwpv.com.

Mike Kujawski, Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing

Presenting: Social Media Monitoring for Associations and the Importance of Listening
Thursday, November 1 2012 13:30 – 15:00

Mike Kujawski is a passionate consultant, trainer and speaker, on the topic of strategic marketing and digital engagement. His specific niche and personal mission is to help governments, non-profits and associations excel in the modern social media landscape through careful, strategic planning. In 2005, Mike helped launch the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing (CEPSM), where he currently leads a team of strategists responsible for all major digital client initiatives in Canada and abroad. Mike’s recent consulting work includes the development of comprehensive strategic social media engagement plans, guidelines and/or audits for the Office of the Auditor General, Canadian Museum of Nature, Canada Health Infoway, Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, Baycrest, Public Safety Canada and Ontario 211. Mike has also recently worked on social marketing/behaviour change communications plans for the Government of Tanzania, the Canadian Department of National Defence and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.Over and above his consulting work, Mike is a distinguished international speaker, engaging blogger and highly sought out trainer in his field. He created Canada’s first national workshop and comprehensive workbook on how to develop a social media engagement strategy in a public sector setting. He has trained public servants and non-profit workers in numerous countries spanning across 4 continents.Mike is frequently quoted by the media and has been invited to keynote and/or speak at hundreds of public sector and non-profit conferences, panels and events all around the globe on the topics of new marketing, modern communications, social media, government 2.0 and the importance of developing a strategy before executing tactics. He has been asked to provide strategic digital engagement advice to central government agencies in Canada such as the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Privy Council Office and the Senate.In addition to his work with CEPSM clients, Mike is part of the faculty of the Professional Certificate in Public

Cary List, CA, CFP is CEO of Financial Planning Standards Council and Board President for Financial Planning Standards Council

Presenting: The Credentialing Landscape for Today and Tomorrow
Thursday November 1, 2012 at 08:30-10:00

 Cary first became involved with FPSC as a volunteer in 1998 as amember of theinaugural Panel of Examiners, which was responsible for setting the examination and establishing the passing standard for CFP certification. In 2002 he went from volunteer to staff with FPSC, first as Vice President of Standards and Certification, and later assuming the role of COO in 2004 and CEO in 2006.

At FPSC, Cary has overseen the launch of the CFP Practice Standards (2004) and the CFP Professional Competency Profile (2005) which clearly defined - for the first time - the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes Canadians should expect from financial planners. Cary also led the development and adoption of the new constructed response, competency-based CFP certification examination, introduced in 2010.
For two decades, Cary has embraced the importance of certification. He also embraces the importance of being part of the global community: In 2005 he was instrumental in the development of the international competency profile now used by 135,000 CFP professionals around the world, and has helped affiliates in China, Hong Kong and Thailand, among others, in developing their CFP certification programs. He has also continued to affirm FPSC’s reputation as an international leader in certification through ISO 17024 accreditation, one of only five organizations in Canada to receive this accreditation.

Under Cary’s leadership, his vision for a single set of national standards for financial planning is closer to fruition than ever before, through work with partner organizations across Canada.Cary’s insight has also brought groundbreaking research on the value of financial planning and of CFP certification, as well as Canada’s first-ever Financial Planning Week, now an annual event.

More recently, Cary has been encouraging governments to take a different look at financial literacy for youth; not just to increase knowledge of investing fundamentalsbut to instillhealthier behaviours regarding personal finance. Cary was also recently honoured as one of the inaugural recipients of the FELLOW OF FPSC® distinction for his years of commitment and dedication to establishing CFP certification as the standard for financial planning in Canada.List is also currently Board President of The Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE), the leading association for the credentialing and certification community in North America.

Before joining FPSC, Cary was an academic Director at George Brown College in Toronto, where he established the Centre for Financial Services and introduced the Bachelor of Applied Business program, the first ever degree program approved by the Ontario government to be offered by a Community College. Cary also spent several years as a financial planning practitioner with both an independent financial services organization and a large local credit union in Toronto. Cary holds an honours degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and is certified as both a Chartered Accountant and Certified Financial Planner professional.

Ann Max, Productive to the Max

Presenting: Successfully Managing Virtual Teams
Thursday, November 1 2012 08:30-12:00

Ann Max is one of North America’s pre-eminent specialists in organizational, professional and personal productivity. She engages and motivates audiences large or small to strive to new levels of professional productivity, performance, work/life balance, and to identify and achieve their own self-defined goals. Known for her lively and engaging approach to productivity and performance enhancement, her information-packed presentations are grounded on her active consulting and coaching practice that includes organizations, leaders and professionals in both public and private sectors, generating continuing insights to share with audiences. Her solid experience in Organizational Development, Human Resource Management and Administration means that audiences can sharpen their skills and walk away with an immediate action plan from more than a dozen in-depth workshops that are custom-tailored to their needs and environment. An effective coach, skilful facilitator, inspirational trainer, empowering mentor or motivational speaker, she addresses current challenges with a strong commitment and deep understanding of her subject. Personal and professional lives benefit from her wise counsel, ability to instil confidence, realistic approach, lively sense of humour and engaging style that creates immediate trust and rapport. She is the author of A Time Management Guide for Physicians which will be distributed by The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons to every physician in Canada forming the basis of a professional learning program. She is a National member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and a member of the Canadian Society of Association Executives. Ann publishes a monthly e-newsletter, MaxTips! which is distributed free to thousands of subscribers (back issues are available at http://www.MaxTips.ca). She publishes a weekly blog and usually manages to send out daily tweets on Twitter. She hosts a number of mentoring groups for women in senior executive and professional positions and is currently working on a series of webinars and e-learning strategies soon to be offered on-line.

Ellen Melis, Unlimited Potential

Presenting: Leading Through Coaching – A Hands on Approach
Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 08:30-12:00

Ellen Melis, owner and president of Unlimited Potential, is a Certified Executive Coach and Facilitator who delivers her services in English and French. Ellen specializes in Healthcare Leadership Development and Coaching, building on her clinical and health services experience. She brings her energy and enthusiasm to her coaching and facilitation. Results-driven, she will ask her clients to step out of their comfort zone to get to where they want to be. She will be a trusted partner along the way, holding clients accountable to their own action planning and growth. Health and Leadership are life-long passions and her personal mission is to empower leaders to lead change from within. She delivers workshops, online- courses and is a public speaker in the area of leadership.

A member of the International Coach Federation and the International Association of Facilitators, Ellen has extensive experience with government, not-for-profit agencies and associations. For the past twenty years Ellen’s work has focused on strategic priority areas in health services and policy research and knowledge transfer. She was the Associate Scientific Director of the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research at CIHR for the last five years. Ellen holds a B.Sc. in Physiotherapy and a M.Sc. in Rehabilitation Science from McGill University. She is a Certified Executive Coach through Royal Roads University and is also a Certified Association Executive through the Canadian Society of Association Executives. Ellen is also a certified Legacy Leadership© coach and facilitator and a certified LEADS in a Caring Environment Coach and Facilitator as well as a Coaching out of the Box® certified coach and trainer. She is the co-president of the Ottawa Chapter of the International Association of Facilitators.

Tim McConnell, McConnell HR Consulting Inc.

Presenting: The Association HR Dilemma
Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 09:15-10:45

Tim McConnell is Managing Partner and a Senior HR Strategist. He has over 25 years experience in Human Resources management, both as a Director of HR and as a senior HR consultant. Tim provides strategic HR and Organizational Design guidance to clients in the Non-Profit sector.

Tim was an adjunct professor in the Advanced Program in HR Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto from 2002 to 2008. He is also a former Sessional Lecturer at Carleton University, teaching HR Management in the graduate School of Public Administration.

He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from McGill University, and a Masters degree in Public Administration from Carleton University. He has earned professional designations in HR in both Canada (CHRP) and the United States (SPHR).

He is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC). He also recently earned the Human Capital Strategist (HCS) certification from the Human Capital Institute (HCI) in Washington, D.C. Tim is a past-President of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario.

He is a seasoned public speaker and the published author of several articles on HR management, Succession Planning, Compensation and Organization Design. His book - The NPO Dilemma: HR and Organizational Challenges in Non-Profit Organizations – was published in March 2012.

Lyn McDonell, CAE, C.Dir, The Accountability Group

Presenting: Structure Matters, Rethinking for Purpose and Capacity
Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 09:15-12:30

Lyn McDonell, CAE, C. Dir., is President of The Accountability Group, Inc., a governance, strategy and organizational effectiveness consultancy based in Toronto, Ontario. She is also Senior Consultant with Leader Quest Inc.
Lyn’s passionate purpose is helping leaders deliver on their missions through facilitating strategic planning, determining organizational accountabilities and scorecards, and helping align goals, roles, people and resources. She has special expertise in governance.

Lyn is a graduate of the Advanced Strategy Executive Program of the Richard Ivey School of Business and is trained in mapping strategy to create a Balanced Scorecard. She has helped developed strategies for associations, health charities, coalitions and service organizations. Lyn has served as Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Operating Officer in two national organizations in Canada -- as CEO of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and as COO of the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA). Her work with Board leadership at CDA resulted in recognition of that organization with the 2005 Conference Board of Canada/Spencer Stuart National Award in Governance.

Lyn is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and has the Chartered Director professional designation in governance awarded through The Directors College, offered by McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business and The Conference Board of Canada. She serves on the Not-for-Profit Task Force of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Lyn is also Vice-Chair of the Board of The Scarborough Hospital (TSH) and Chair of its Performance Monitoring and Stewardship Committee. TSH is Canada’s largest urban community hospital serving a community of close to one million people. TSH has 3,330 staff, more than 700 physicians, and 600 volunteers.Lyn offers consulting and training services to not-for-profit organizations in governance, strategy and organizational accountability.

Bruce McLeod, Vice-President, Human Resources Bioniche Life Sciences

Presenting: Leading Through Coaching – A Hands on Approach
Thursday, November 1 2012 at 08:30-12:00

Joined Bioniche in May, 2008. Held various positions over seven years in both operations and human resources with Farm Credit Canada, most recently as Director of Human Resources. Previously served as Human Resources Manager with the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board and Instructor in the Business Division of the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology.Graduated with a B.A. from Carleton University and a Certificate in Adult Education from Saint Francis Xavier University. Is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and hold his Certified Executive Coach (CEC) designation from Royal Roads University.

James Milne

Presenting: Strategic Use of Technology
Saturday November 3 2012 09:15-10:45

James Milne has been working at AMCES since May 2002. James received his M.B.A. in 2003 and his Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering in 2001 from Carleton University. His interests are in knowledge management (shared services), streamlining business processes/procedures, website architecture and design, and the effective use of technology in an organization.

He has various experiences with IT including: web architecture and design, online learning, computers and networks. He also provides technology audits, surveys, comprehensive research and various other technology oriented services.

Leacy O’Callaghan-O’Brien, CAMRT

Presenting: Rebranding a Profession: From Research to Recognition
Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 13:30-15:00

Leacy O'Callaghan-O'Brien began her career in association management in 1987, after an enjoyable decade working in advertising and as a freelance journalist. She has worked at the Canadian Library Association, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, and the Appraisal Institute of Canada. She also participated in an executive interchange program that provided her with a short and happy career experience in the federal government, managing a promotion and outreach project at the National Library of Canada.

Leacy has had the pleasure of working in almost every facet of association management; certification and professional development; management of member service and publications; and advocacy and government relations. She holds a BA in Art History from Carleton University, Ottawa, and completed her fine art studies at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Leacy earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation in 1989. She is an active member of the Canadian Society of Association Executives, and a past-president of the Ottawa –Gatineau chapter of CSAE, where she continues to play a volunteer role in education programs.

Victoria Prince, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)

Presenting: Legal Update 2012: What You Need to Know
Friday, November 2 2012 at 14:30- 16:00

Victoria is the National and Toronto Regional Chair of BLG’s Not-For-Profit Practice Group. Her practice involves advising not-for-profit organizations and charities on issues such as governance, by-laws, incorporation, obtaining registration as a charity, contracts and agreements of all types. Victoria also is the Business Department Manager in Toronto and a member of the Toronto Regional Management Committee. As well, Victoria is a member of both the Ontario Bar Association and Canada Bar Association Charities and Not for Profit Law Sections.

Among volunteer positions held in the industry, Victoria is a Director and Secretary of Kids Up Front (Toronto). Until recently a Director and officer (including President) of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, Victoria continues to be involved with that organization. She is also a Director and President of The BLG Foundation and has been a member of strategic planning and governance committees.
Victoria speaks on items of interest to not-for-profit organizations and charities at various seminars and conferences and enjoys the chance to speak with people in the industry about their challenges and interests."

David Saxby, Spark Communications Inc.

Presenting: Ignite Innovative Thinking! The Art of Turning Ideas into Action
Friday November 2, 2012 at 14:30-16:00

A former Creative Director and President of a leading western Canadian marketing firm David Saxby has 30 years of in-the-trenches marketing experience. A speaker, trainer and a sales and marketing consultant, he combines hard-learned lessons from his experiences in the marketing and advertising world with his knowledge as a visionary business leader and board experience with numerous associations. David’s first company grew from one man to a full service advertising agencyin less than two years. He followed that success nurturing his company through a major recession in the 80’s and grew into one of western Canada’s leading marketing communication fi rms with a staff of 23. The success of that business was due to an innovative approach to serving clients. Over the past 25 years, he has delivered presentations to thousands of business people, ranging from front line teams to home-based entrepreneurs, senior executives, professionals and the not-for-profit sector. David delivers practical, thought-provoking and inspiring presentations that provide insight into how individuals, teams and organizations can ignite innovation and achieve unparalleled success in their marketplace. He inspires, motivates and challenges people to look beyond the status quo and discover their unique business value. He shows clients how to find creative solutions, and to identify new sources of business through utilizing innovative approaches.David is a founding Board Member and Past-President of the Calgary Chapter of CAPS and a Past National Director of CAPS (the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers). He is also a Past Chair of Calgary’s Small Business Week.He is co-author of four books: Customer Service Goldmine and Sales Gurus Speak Out and Quantum Success and Foundational Success.

Michael Stanleigh, CMC, CSP, Business Improvement Architects

Presenting: How to Turn Your Conference into an Event
Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 08:30-12:00

Michael is a professional Management Consultant, coach, award-winning trainer and the CEO of Business Improvement Architects. He founded bia™ in 1989 to help organizations achieve operational success. Michael works with executives and senior managers around the world to help them enhance their operational effectiveness. He uses the bia™Operational Success System™to provide guidance to enhance an organization’s strategic direction, leadership development, project management and quality management. He has been instrumental in helping his clients increase productivity and profits with his clear processes and quality approach.

Aside from his busy consulting career, Michael delivers keynote presentations for conferences and events around the world about his research and experience in his organization’s core practice areas. He has become a leading expert and keynote presenter on Innovation and Creative Thinking. He shares his real life business experience and expertise with spark, energy and creativity in presentations that are tailored for each audience. He has worked in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Finland and other parts of Europe. His speaker web site is located at www.michaelstanleigh.com.

Michael holds faculty positions at the American Society for Quality and for Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is a past executive member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and International Society for Strategic Management and Planning as well as a past president of the Ontario Society for Training and Development. He has been featured and published in over 500 different magazines and industry publications.

Michael is a member of:

• Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS), Professional Member
• International Federation for Professional Speakers
• Project Management Institute (PMI) {on cover of PM Network Magazine, July, 2005; published by the Project Management Institute (PMI)}
• American Society for Quality (ASQ), Senior Member

 

Steve Szentesi, Law Corporation

Presenting: Practical Competition Law and Compliance Case Studies For Trade and Professional Associations
Thursday, November 1 2012 at 13:30-15:00

Steve Szentesi advises domestic and foreign business clients in relation to a range of competition and regulatory law matters and has provided legal advice in relation to corporate, competition, advertising, trade, litigation and other matters.

He counsels individuals and organizations on how to comply with laws and regulations in these areas.

Steve also provides compliance, education and policy services to companies, associations and government agencies.

He has practiced at several leading Canadian and international business law firms including Lang Michener (Vancouver), Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg (Toronto) and Linklaters (London, U.K.).

His academic work includes three years as adjunct professor of competition law at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law. He also served as in-house competition counsel for The Canadian Real Estate Association in Ottawa, one of Canada’s largest single industry trade associations. 

He has published widely in the competition and regulatory law areas, is a frequent guest speaker at conferences, seminars, compliance and industry events and is the author and co-author of several books: The Competition Law Guide for Trade Associations in Canada (Carswell 2012) and Competition Law and REALTORS®: What You Say and Do Matters (ACRE and CREA 2010), a national competition law course for Canadian REALTORS®.

Steve has particular experience in Canadian competition and foreign investment laws and has provided advice on hundreds of domestic and international competition law matters in the conspiracy, merger, abuse of dominance, misleading advertising and pricing and distribution law areas.

Recent matters include acting on domestic and cross-border cartel (price-fixing) cases and competition law related private actions, compliance and educational services for Canadian associations, advertising law advice for Canadian and international companies and legal and strategic advice in relation to the BHP/Potash, TSX/Maple and Viterra/Glencore mergers. Steve publishes a regular blog on competition and regulatory law at: www.canadianregulatorylaw.com.

George Torok, George Torok Seminars

Presenting: Make Every Members an Association Marketer
Thursday, November 1 2012 at 10:30-12:00

George Torok has delivered over 1,000 professional presentations to groups as small as six to over 1,000. He once delivered a presentation on a moving train. Don’t worry, he didn’t fall off. He is one of those few speakers who can work well with a keynote, workshop or facilitation.
You know that he is a top notch presenter because he trains managers, technical experts and sale professionals on presentation skills. He coaches CEOs and senior executives one-on-one to deliver million-dollar presentations. He has instructed the flag ship program, Effective Executive Speaking, for the Canadian Management Centre for the past decade. He taught presentation skills to MBA students at the DeGroote School of business. For the past seven years he has donated his time to teach public speaking to high school leaders.

He was not a natural presenter which means that he struggled to learn and perfect the skills of presentation. To improve his skills he has worked with several of the best presentation coaches in North America. That’s why he is so good. He understands the principles and masters the techniques.

George Torok is a charter member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, CAPS. He has served on the national and local boards as well as the convention committee and various project teams. He received the President’s Award and CAPS Service Award. He served on the marketing committee and awards task force for the local chamber of commerce. He is a past member of CSAE, Toastmasters International and CPSA

Richard Tremblay, Catch Your Road Runner

Presenting: Catch Your Road Runner!
Saturday, November 3 2012 at 09:15-10:45

Richard has been a mechanical engineer for over fifteen years. During that time, he invented and developed numerous products for industries as diverse as health care, wood, food and entertainment where he acted as designer of illusions for magicians.
Living in Quebec City, he made the transition from being a full-time engineer to a full-time speaker in April 2008.
Having been struck by the ineffectiveness of Wyle E. Coyote to catch the Roadrunner, he wants to share his expertise to help people develop their COYOTE ATTITUDETM and become more efficient and strategic at catching their own Roadrunner.

Huw Williams, Impact Public Affairs

Presenting: How to Be the Voice of Your Members with Government and the Public
Thursday November 1, 2012 13:30-15:00

Huw Williams is the President of Impact Public Affairs and specializes in government and media relations. With extensive experience in the print and broadcast media, he has appeared frequently as a corporate spokesperson on CBC and CTV national news. Mr. Williams’ government experience is diverse, having served as Acting Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada; as a Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Constitutional Affairs; and as a Legislative Assistant to the Speaker of the Alberta Legislative Assembly. He has also served as a congressional intern in Washington, D.C. Mr. Williams authored “A Government Relations Guide For Directors of Non-Profit Organizations” published by the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE). He also served on the board of directors for the Government Relations Institute of Canada (GRIC).
In 2010, Williams was named worldwide Public Affairs Professional of the Year finalist by PRNews Magazine. Williams’ other accolades include the CSAE 2010 Griner Award for outstanding “Business Excellence”, one of The Hill Times’ Top 100 lobbyists in Canada in 2009, and the Ottawa Business Journal’s “Top Forty under 40 Award” for professional success and community involvement in 2006.

Mr. Williams holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from the University of Calgary. He has also completed studies at the Université de Tour in France and is bilingual.