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Kathy Hurley
President, Kathy Hurley Consulting LLC, Co-Founder, Girls Thinking Global & Former EVP Pearson Foundation and Industry Consultant
Kathy Hurley
President, Kathy Hurley Consulting LLC, Co-Founder, Girls Thinking Global & Former EVP Pearson Foundation and Industry Consultant
Kathy has over forty years of experience in the education industry in both traditional publishing and the ed tech sectors. Kathy began her career as a special education teacher before moving to the private sector side of the industry. She has worked in sales, marketing and business development for DLM, IBM, The Learning Company, Grolier, Mindscape, Skillsbank, NetSchool, PLATO Learning and Pearson and the Pearson Foundation.
In addition to her work as an executive, Kathy has served on numerous education and industry boards including ISTE 100, CoSN, NSBF, SIIA, AEP/AAP, NCEA, AASA Advisory Board. She currently serves on the boards of NCTET People to People, Asia Society, Spark 101, Women s Education Project, and in 2009-2010, Kathy served as the Chair for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21).
In 2014, Kathy retired from Pearson after being with the company for ten years. Kathy, along with her colleague, Deb deVries, founded a new global non-profit, Girls Thinking Global, which seeks to connect changemakers to girls empowerment organizations across the world. She is also serving as an industry consultant and working with several companies in the ed tech sector. She is a co-editor with Priscilla Shumway of a book called "Real Women Real Leaders" which is being published in April by Wiley Publishing. Kathy completed the Harvard Advanced Leadership Program in 2014.
Steve Brown
President & Chief Executive Officer, NELSON
Steve Brown
President & Chief Executive Officer, NELSON
Steve Brown has made his mark in Canada and Internationally by leading organizations through digital transformation. His career spans a diverse mix of industry and technology experience from multi-media entertainment, logistics services, automotive, and now to learning solutions.
Since joining NELSON in September 2016, Steve has transformed the vision for this 104-year-old company by reimagining the role and purpose of a publisher in 2017 and beyond. Introducing a matrix driven view to the management culture, and unifying a K20 student-centric business division is at the core of this shift to a cohesive customer focused structure. He has reframed the organization’s digital competency by instituting a technology department comprised of some the world’s best and brightest talent based in Silicon Beach California. Additionally, over the past 12 months the company has engaged in various M&A activities, including the acquisition of one of its largest competitors, as well as signing numerous agency and partnership deals to ensure NELSON offers a world class portfolio of learning solution and for all its markets.
Steve’s passion and commitment to transforming education, and the student learning experience, continues to fuel the innovation pipeline at NELSON.
Daniel Sax
Co-Founder and CEO at Canadian Space Mining Corporation
Daniel Sax
Co-Founder and CEO at Canadian Space Mining Corporation
Daniel Sax is the Founder & CEO of the Canadian Space Mining Corporation. He is a visionary entrepreneur and angel investor, with a deep background in real estate investment, finance, and development, and a strong acumen in both private and public capital markets. He is responsible for overseeing CSMC's vision, strategy, academic and strategic partnerships, legal, hiring, capital raising, government relations, and communications. He has actively participated in over $4B of real estate deals across Canada, the USA, and Germany. Previous to CSMC, Daniel founded Sensi Properties, the first cannabis real estate investment company in Canada. Before that he worked in NYC in M&A for Hudson's Bay Corporation (HBC) on the acquisition of Galeria Kaufhof from Metro AG. He spent several years working in distressed real estate investment for a series of real estate private equity firms, first with Sabal Financial, and later Cohen Equities. Daniel has a passion for bleeding edge industries with high degrees of uncertainty. He has significant experience working with interdisciplinary teams on complex large scale mixed-use projects. He is a Director of Bordeaux Properties, and an Advisor to Hive Bio. He has a Masters Degree in Real Estate from Cornell University, and a BA in Economics from Dalhousie.
Diane Doersch
Senior Director of Information Technology, Digital Promise & Senior Director of Information Technology Digital Promise (WI), Cosn
Diane Doersch
Senior Director of Information Technology, Digital Promise & Senior Director of Information Technology Digital Promise (WI), Cosn
Diane W. Doersch is the Senior Director of Information Technology at Digital Promise. She was formerly a Chief Technology & Information Officer of a large Wisconsin School District. As a former classroom teacher, she has been involved in education for over 36 years. Diane holds a Masters Degree in Educational Technology from Lesley University and possesses her Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL) National Certificate from CoSN. Diane was a founding member and served as president of the WISEDash Local Consortium, a group of Wisconsin School Districts who built their own data warehouse. She is currently president of Northeast Wisconsin Women in Technology (WIT), an organization devoted to attracting, educating, and supporting women in the field of Technology. She is also the Consortium of School Networking's (CoSN) National Chair and leads the Board of Directors. Diane is passionate about helping IT leaders grow and providing technology opportunities to ALL students to be college, career, and community ready, inspired to succeed in our diverse world.
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Maxim Jean-Louis
Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord
Maxim Jean-Louis
Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord
Maxim Jean-Louis is President – Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education and Training Network, headquartered in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Maxim worked in senior management roles for over 15 years at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada’s open university.
He is also a member of the Comité consultatif en matière d’éducation postsecondaire en langue française dans les régions du Centre et du Sud-ouest.
Maxim is a former Chair of the Board of Directors of the World University Service of Canada and of the Optical Regional Advanced Network of Ontario, as well as a past member of Ontario’s Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board, and he served as a member of the Canadian Advisory Mission to support the implementation of the South African National Qualifications Framework (NQF) by the South African Qualifications Authority. He also served as President of Collège des Grands Lacs, one of Ontario’s three French-language community colleges.
In 2011, Maxim was appointed Special Advisor to Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities for an Ontario Online Institute, producing a 125-page report and recommendations to the Minister on opportunities for online learning in the province.
Katina Papulkas
Senior Education Strategist, Dell Technologies
Katina Papulkas
Senior Education Strategist, Dell Technologies
Katina Papulkas is an Education Strategist at Dell Technologies and is committed to serving students from K-20 across Canada. Katina is an experienced educator with a background in teaching, online learning, educational leadership, assessment, and educational technology. In her two-decade tenure in education she has been an elementary teacher and a central instructional leader where she designed and implemented system-wide initiatives around the effective integration of technology into the curriculum. Additionally, Katina served as an administrator of a middle school at the Toronto District School Board. Most recently, she was the Director of Educational Partnerships at Television Ontario (TVO) where she focused on the design and development of digital learning resources in a cross functional and agile environment. Katina holds a Master’s Degree in Education and Technology from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
Richard Barwell
Dean & Full Professor, University of Ottawa
Richard Barwell
Dean & Full Professor, University of Ottawa
Dean Richard Barwell began his career at the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom, where he earned a PhD in education. In 2006, he joined the Faculty of Education, and is currently a full professor and has been Dean since 2017. His research focuses on mathematics education, with a particular interest in the role of language in teaching and learning mathematics, an interest which first arose prior to his university career, when he taught mathematics in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Dean Barwell is also interested in how mathematics education can address climate change and environmental sustainability. He is currently Chair of the Ontario Association of Deans of Education.north_eastexternal link He co-led the 2022 publication of the Accord on Education for as Sustainable Future,north_eastexternal link a report which emphasizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge, relationality, social justice, well-being, advocacy and hope in education research and policy-making on the climate emergency.
Geoff Edwards
Co-Chair, Superintendent of Learning Technologies Ottawa Catholic School Board
Geoff Edwards
Co-Chair, Superintendent of Learning Technologies Ottawa Catholic School Board
Superintendent of Learning Technologies at the Ottawa Catholic School Board. Responsibilities for the St. Joseph and Notre Dame Families of Schools.
Andy Hargreaves
Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada and Research Professor at Boston College in the US
Andy Hargreaves
Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada and Research Professor at Boston College in the US
Andy Hargreaves is Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada and Research Professor at Boston College in the US. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Education, former President of the International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement (2018-2020), former Adviser in Education to the Premier of Ontario (2015-2018), and current adviser to the First Minister of Scotland. Andy is co-founder and president of the ARC Education Collaboratory.
- Andy has published more than 30 books and has 8 Outstanding Writing Awards. An exceptional keynote speaker and workshop leader, he has delivered invited addresses in more than 50 countries, 47 US states, and all Australian and Canadian states and provinces. He has been honoured in Canada, the US, and the UK for services to public education and educational research and is ranked by Education Week (US) as the #15 scholar with the most influence on the US education policy debate.
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Robert Martellacci
Founder & Conference Chair
Robert Martellacci
Founder & Conference Chair
Robert Martellacci (MA EdTech) is president of MindShare Learning Technology, Canada’s leading EdTech strategy, news & events company he founded in 2001. Mr. Martellacci is also president & co-founder of C21 Canada—Canadians for 21st Century Learning & Innovation.
Mr. Martellacci is a lifelong learner who is committed to connecting business and education to transform learning in the 21st century to support student success. He completed a transformational learning journey as a mature student earning a master’s in educational technology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California which inspired the creation of the MindShare Learning Report—Canada’s Learning & Technology eMagazine.
Mr. Martellacci has over 25 years of expertise and thought leadership in education as a former university administrator at York University; he also launched The Learning Company School Division for Kevin O’Leary which was the catalyst to forming his start-up MindShare Learning following the Mattel acquisition.
One of Martellacci’s signature slogans, “until next time, keep the learning curve steep.”
Bonnie Schmidt
Founder and President of Let’s Talk Science
Bonnie Schmidt
Founder and President of Let’s Talk Science
- I am the founder and President of Let’s Talk Science, an award-winning, national charitable organization that I started while completing my PhD in Physiology at Western University. Let’s Talk Science helps children and youth fulfill their potential and prepare for their future careers and citizenship roles by supporting their learning and engagement through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Let's Talk Science has achieved well over 15 million interactions with children, youth and educators since its inception.
- I am very interested in supporting education systems change and led the development of a series of reports that underscore the importance of engaging youth in STEM education. During 2016-18, I also spearheaded Canada 2067, an ambitious, collaborative initiative to shape the future of STEM education. That project led to international opportunities to support STEM learning, including a project with the Inter-American Network of Academies of Science and ongoing work supporting initiatives in Nepal. Canada 2067 findings, and subsequent reports such as the Climate Action Lab, inform Let's Talk Science's work and showcased the critical importance of youth voice.
- An active contributor to the scientific and education communities, I currently serve on the Genome Canada Board of Directors and am a member of the Federal Government’s AI Public Awareness Working Group. In 2020 I was a member of the PISA Expert Strategic Visioning Group to the OECD, which set about developing a new vision for the international science test that is administered in 80+ countries.
- Notable prior volunteer contributions include Chairing the National Leadership Taskforce on Education & Skills for the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC); MItacs Science Policy Fellowship Committee; Ontario Tech University Board of Governors; Ontario Genomics Board of Directors; Founding Co-Chair of the Science and Technology Awareness Network (STAN) and more.
- Committed to governance excellence, I completed the Directors' Education Program at the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto and acquired ICD.D designation.
Dr. Ron Owston
Professor Emeritus, York University
Dr. Ron Owston
Professor Emeritus, York University
Dr. Ron Owston is University Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at York University, as well as former Dean of the Faculty of Education, and founding Director of the Institute for Research in Learning Technologies.
A pioneer in teaching and learning with the web since its early days, Dr. Owston specializes in the evaluation of technology-based educational programs in K12, government, higher education, and continuing professional education. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences about blended and online learning, authored/co-authored some 50 commissioned studies, and published over 60 articles in top-tier journals, including Educational Researcher, Teachers College Record, Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, Journal of Information Technology in Teacher Education, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Internet & Higher Education, and Journal of Research on Computing in Education.
Dr. Owston published one of the first academic examinations of the role of the Web for teaching and learning in Educational Researcher in 1997. His work has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Health Canada, the Government of Ontario, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Canadian Fund for Innovation, and a variety of school districts and industry partners. Over the last several years his publications have addressed blended learning in higher education courses.
Currently, Dr. Owston ranks among the most cited blended learning researchers in the world in Google Scholar. Having retired from York in 2018, he is now actively engaged in research, consulting, and public speaking, and is a research associate at Contact North|Contact Nord, where he leads a successful series of webinars on the use of Zoom for teaching which over 10,000 educators around the world have registered for or downloaded.
Aman Sahota
Co-Founder at Ei Amplified -Canadian EdTech Startup of the Year
Aman Sahota
Co-Founder at Ei Amplified -Canadian EdTech Startup of the Year
Aman is currently working on a startup www.eiamplified.com that was named Canadian EdTech Startup of the Year and was apart of Top 21 of 2021 in Learning & Technology. He focus on data and experiential learning
Tom D’Amico
Director of Education, Ottawa Catholic School Board
Tom D’Amico
Director of Education, Ottawa Catholic School Board
Thomas D’Amico was appointed Director of Education and Secretary-Treasurer of the Ottawa Catholic School Board in August 2020. Previous to that, he served as the Associate Director of Education from 2015 to 2020. Mr. D’Amico has over 30 years of experience in education, including as a teacher, school administrator, and Superintendent of Human Resources and Superintendent of Learning Technologies. He is an award-winning educator recognized with the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence and Canada’s Outstanding Principal award. As a Superintendent, he received the EXL award to recognize excellence among members of the superintendency.
Mr. D’Amico holds a Bachelor of Education and a Masters in Physical Education from the University of Ottawa. He obtained his Honours in Physical Education from McMaster University. Tom also holds an Executive Certificate in Conflict Management from the University of Windsor Law Department. On a personal level, Tom is involved with his local parish, St. John the Evangelist. He is also an off-ice official with the NHL. Tom and his wife Michelle have two daughters, Laura and Christina, both graduates of the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
Peter Singh
Executive Officer – IT Services, TDSB
Peter Singh
Executive Officer – IT Services, TDSB
Peter brings 23+ years of K-12 sector technology know-how to his CTO portfolio. He has been at the forefront of bringing innovative technologies to the Toronto District School Board. He’s a practitioner of emotional intelligence who is spearheading the TDSB “Information Technology Services” team from a digital era to Quantum Age of Information Technology.