7 extraordinary industry & community leaders receiving honorary credentials at convocation

Cindy Gordon is the Founder and CEO of SalesChoice, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) SaaS (software as a service) advanced analytics company specializing in ending revenue uncertainty, improving employee engagement, and reducing employee churn. She is an expert in SaaS, AI, business innovation, digital convergence, customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce marketplace(s), and digital intelligence (sales and marketing operations). 

Dr. Gordon is also the Co-Founder and President of Emotional Cloud, an AI company specializing in voice and emotion detection. She has held senior leadership and partnership roles in global business-to-business (B2B) companies, including Accenture, Xerox, Nortel Networks, and Citicorp. Dr. Gordon was also a thought leader in the global knowledge management line of business, advising major FSI, high tech, and communications companies on modernizing their digital IT strategies and infrastructures. 

In addition, Dr. Gordon has been active in the financial community as a founder, venture capitalist, and angel. She is currently supporting SaaS companies, including Kaji, Corent Technology, LyfeUp, and TouchTown TV (recently acquired by Uniquest).  

She is also the former CEO and Founder of Helix Commerce International Inc., a strategy innovation firm which serviced global B2B clients in diverse industry sectors such as financial services (banking and insurance), communications and high tech, and global media and entertainment companies.  

Internationally, Dr. Gordon is recognized for her innovation leadership in SaaS, collaboration, AI, technology emergence. She is the author of more than 14 books and the recipient of several prestigious awards: 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year by Women in IT Award; 2022 Top Revenue Management Software Company Award; 2021 Top Technology Company Software Innovation Award; 2020 Technology Software Innovator to Watch; and the 2019 Mindbridge AI ‘AI Leader of the Year’ Award. 

Vanessa Harwood was one of the first graduates of the National Ballet School in 1964. She joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1965 and became a principal dancer in 1970 until leaving the company in 1987.  

Ms. Harwood was best known for her performances in Swan Lake, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, La Fille Mal Gardée, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Dying Swan, Solitaire, and Elite Syncopations. She has had many illustrious dance partners including Rudolf Nureyev, Alexander Godunov, Patrick Bissell, Frank Augustyn, Stephen Jeffries, and Gary Norman.  

In addition to her distinguished career on stage as a ballet dancer, Ms. Harwood coached bronze medal 1988 World and Olympic Ice Dance Champions, Tracy Wilson and Robert McCall, appeared as the ballerina in the film Stepping Out, starring Liza Minelli, performed at the Kingston Grand Theatre as Mollie Ralston in The Mousetrap, and spent a season as Artistic Associate with Theatre Plus in Toronto. She also appeared on the TV shows Road to Avonlea, Due South, and Nero Wolfe. Ms. Harwood was Artistic Director of the small chamber ballet company, Balletto Classico and President of the Actors’ Fund of Canada. For the past 20 years, she has worked as a photographer and has exhibited at several galleries and shows, including the National Ballet Art Show at the Sony Centre. 

Ms. Harwood has been honoured with several prestigious awards, including Officer of the Order of Canada; Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal; Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal; and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Joshna Maharaj is a chef, a two-time TEDx speaker, and activist who wants to help everyone have a better relationship with their food. She believes strongly in the power of chefs and social gastronomy to bring values of hospitality, sustainability, and social justice to the table. 

Ms. Maharaj works with hospitals and schools in Canada to build new models for institutional food service. Her first book, Take Back the Tray (May 2020), captures lessons and experience from her work to reconnect food with health, wellness, education and rehabilitation in public institutions around the globe. She is an enthusiastic instructor of students in the culinary arts and from other disciplines, constantly finding ways to make food stories come alive. 

Ms. Maharaj hosts Kitchen Helpdesk, a weekly call-in food show on CBC Radio, and co-hosts a food and drink podcast, HotPlate, currently in its 4^th season.  

During the 27 years Dianne Martin practised nursing, providing direct care to Ontario families, she worked in birthing units (where she estimated she has attended more than 3,000 births), operating rooms, and postpartum care units, advocating for women and their families. 

Ms. Martin’s leadership roles have included Director of Professional Practice at an Ontario hospital and Senior Policy Analyst with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.  She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario. Within that role, she has been recognized for her strong, compassionate and ongoing connection to frontline nurses, and her ability to build bridges among disparate groups. 

In 2016, Ms. Martin received the Premier’s Award, which recognizes college graduates whose achievements have made a difference in the province of Ontario. In 2020, she became a Charter Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing. 

Ms. Martin has been a nurse since 1979. She graduated first as an RPN and then as an RN with a diploma in nursing. Dedicated to lifelong learning, she obtained a BScN (York University) and a Master of Arts in Leadership (Royal Roads University).  She has chosen to remain dually registered as an RN and RPN and honours each designation as equally important within the profession of nursing. 

She is the daughter of a nurse, mother to a nurse, and she holds all those who care for others in the highest regard. 

Owner of the largest franchise of Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network, Al Roissl is a highly respected name in the industry with a career spanning a few decades.  With established offices throughout Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, he has helped countless financial advisors launch successful careers.  Under his leadership, his team of 200 plus advisors provide financial planning solutions to tens of thousands of Canadians across the country.   

Mr. Roissl was a multi-year award winner for his outstanding achievements in leadership and performance recognized by GAMA Global Canada, a premier industry association dedicated to professional development.  He has also been consistently recognized for his generous, meaningful charitable contributions in local communities and for his commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in his practice.  

Mr. Roissl is passionately committed to helping young people reach their full potential. Being a George Brown College graduate himself, it feels natural to him to give back to the students and programs here.  The Al Roissl Leadership in Financial Planning Scholarship awards students in business and finance who possess leadership qualities and face financial challenges.  He also generously donated to the Augmented Education Program supporting students with a history of mental health and addiction issues. 

As a long-time member of the Program Advisory Committee (Financial Planning) of George Brown College, Mr. Roissl works diligently to ensure students’ needs are prioritized to allow them to be the best they can be.