The 4th Annual Business Analytics Symposium has concluded

Nan Oldroyd is the AVP, Employee Experience at Definity where she leads Employee Engagement, IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility), Hybrid Work, Performance, Onboarding Design and Top Employer initiatives. She has led cultural transformations across private, public and non-profit organizations ranging in size from $4M to $42B, in the midst of significant changes including capital expansions, mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, divestitures and large-scale system/process implementations. Previously, she held progressively senior roles at Costco Wholesale, Tim Hortons, The Home Depot, George Brown College and most recently, was Chief, People at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Nan has her Certified HR Executive (CHRE) designation from HRPA and Master’s degree in Work, Organization and Leadership and Adult Education. As well, she is a Board Member for Why Not Theatre, an arts organization that is changing how stories are told and who is telling them. She has been recognized as Outstanding Senior HR Professional of the Year by HRPA, a Diversity Champion by Women of Influence and a DiverseCity Fellow by CivicAction. 

Greg has been in the insurance technology space for over 25 years. In that time, He has been the CEO, (17yrs, Canadian/UK operations) of the largest vendor in that space. As the founding partner of getClarity Inc., he developed profiling and segmentation solutions for the Canadian household population. This data and attributes developed from the data, became the core for multiple programmatic digital marketing campaigns. Greg successfully exited in 2019. He is currently the CEO of Rival Insurance Technology, where he is redefining how insurance broker and MGA management systems are developed and deployed. 

A business technologist with over 20 years of experience, Marcelo founded Novacene with the goal of putting artificial intelligence in the hands of analysts. A creative thinker with a deep technical background, Marcelo conceives solutions that combine cutting edge technology, elegance, and ease of use. 

Marcelo has a true passion for innovation and new ideas. He seeks to create a workplace environment that fosters collaboration and encourages learning through on-the-job training, courses, and certifications. 

Marcelo worked on projects with organizations including MIT Media Lab’s One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), NASA, and National Geographic. At Novacene, Marcelo oversees business development, recruitment, and strategic partnerships.

As a Senior Vice President & Practice Leader for the Financial Services, Insurance and Loyalty industries, Larry helps organizations realize value from data. He has more than 30 years of experience in developing and applying analytics solutions for clients across many industry sectors, including technology, financial services, retail, automotive, packaged goods, loyalty, travel and not-for-profit. Larry co-founded the Boire Filler Group, an analytics consulting practice that was acquired by Environics Analytics in 2016. He began his career at American Express and later worked at the Loyalty Management Group and MacLaren McCann Relationship Marketing. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Larry holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA in Marketing from Schulich School of Business at York University. 

Riddhi is a true embodiment of the Canadian dream, having moved to Canada as an international student 8 years ago with nothing but a dream of a successful life. And boy, has she succeeded! Riddhi has been working at Microsoft for over 4 years, where she has been instrumental in helping partners acquire certifications. She has also been focusing on getting them ready to go to market with strategic marketing plans. But that’s not all. After pursuing her post-grad from George Brown College, Riddhi dabbled into the education and energy space before eventually finding her way to the world of technology. And outside of work, she’s a passionate mentor to international students and new immigrants, sharing her experiences and giving back to society.

Danny Sprukulis serves as a Senior Associate Systems Engineer for SAS Institute. He has worked for SAS for 3.5 years, creating data-driven demonstrations and contributing to the development of technical assets. He attended the University of Toronto for Mechanical Engineering and earned an MBA. Additionally, he played for a short time on the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Guillaume is a Business Intelligence specialist with 12 years of experience in the field.

He currently leads the BI practice at IBM and specializes in Power BI; bringing data into reports and dashboard to provide actionable insights and recommendations to business users. He is a published author of a book on negotiation strategies.

John Weigelt leads Microsoft Canada’s strategic policy and technology efforts. He helps individuals and organizations across Canada innovate with technology while avoiding the unintended consequences that might arise. John has contributed to many technological efforts that established the foundation for the electronic services we take for granted today and he continues to lead efforts to evolve technology standards and policy. His extensive experience in technology, business and policy provides him with a unique perspective of our technology enabled economy. 

Scott is a 30+ year veteran of the Market Research industry.  After graduating from Queen's University, he started his career at the Angus Reid Group, where he spent 8 years learning the practice from Field through to Client Management.  

Scott spent the next 11 years in CPG with Warner Lambert (Adams Brands), and then PepsiCo Canada where he launched and Directed the Consumer Insights function for Pepsi/Quaker/Tropicana/Gatorade Canada.  His work at PepsiCo was recognized with the Chairman's Award in 2008.

Scott joined Kantar in 2010, as President of Millward Brown Canada, and brought it together with TNS in 2017 to form Kantar Insights Canada. Since 2021, he has extended his leadership into the US as Managing Director for the Central region and also as North American Industry Executive for Consumer Goods & Automotive.

He is a regular speaker at industry events, and currently Chair of the Dean’s Council for the Arts & Science Faculty of Queen’s University and Past President of the Canadian Advisory Council for the Insights Association.  Scott has enjoyed working with George Brown students over the past school year.

Over 25 years of management experience in the business operations and insurance sectors. Graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an honours business degree and a minor in psychology. Anita has achieved her Fellowship status through the Insurance Institute of Canada with her achievement of the FCIP designation specializing in management.  

In the last 15 years since joining CAA, Anita has coupled her operations, process and IT background with her vast insurance industry and operations knowledge. In the summer of 2011, Anita took on a new role and became a member of the executive team selected to launch a new Travel Insurance company. Orion Travel Insurance was successfully created as a new licensed Canadian Travel Insurance company.  

Starting late 2014, Anita led a transformational program for CAA where the core legacy ERP system was replaced with SAP. This three-year $25M+ program was a great success leading to attainment of revenue goals while driving greater efficiencies of the operations and creating better stability of CAA’s core systems. 

In 2018, Anita took on her most recent challenge leading the Club & Automotive division for CCG. While maintaining the business oversight into the systems used by our front lines, Anita is accountable for the end-to-end customer experience for Membership and Travel Insurance sales and service through our call centres, the overall performance of our Manitoba regional operations, and complete oversight into our automotive roadside rescue teams maintaining a critical focus on member and public safety. 

Miranda is a Manager within PwC's Chief Data and Analytics Office (CDAO). The CDAO's mandate is to empower PwC Canada to fully streamline and utilize trusted firm-generated insights to improve decision making, increase productivity and drive better outcomes for their clients. Miranda has an undergraduate degree in Honours Business Administration from Ivey Business School, a Masters in Management Analytics from Queen's Smith School of Business and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. Miranda is a vivacious explorer whose boundless curiosity leads to a myriad of adventures, including learning the art of ultimate frisbee, volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters and connecting with animals!

Jaspreet Sandhu is a proven leader in the arts and culture sector, known for her strategic vision and dedication to fostering positive change. With a unique blend of business acumen and community engagement expertise, she champions diversity, equity, and inclusion, recognizing their transformative impact on the arts.

In executive roles at the Corporation of Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Jaspreet has spearheaded transformative projects and cultivated strong relationships with diverse stakeholders. Her achievements include driving successful fundraising campaigns, launching impactful advocacy initiatives, and leading projects like the Massey Hall Revitalization and TIFF’s Share Her Journey campaign.

Jaspreet's commitment to community extends beyond her professional career, demonstrated through her volunteer roles with organizations such as the Toronto Arts Council, the Brampton Arts Council, and various grassroots organizations. 

Shiraz is an experienced Business Intelligence and Analytics professional with 12+ years of experience in helping businesses taking informed data driven decisions. He is currently working at Definity Financial as a BI Technical Lead. He had been working with a multitude of internal teams to better utilize data for enhancing performance and improving efficiencies. Shiraz has strong hands-on experience with SAS, Tableau, R, Google BigQuery, Vertex AI and Impala along with a variety of business applications in finance, insurance and retails/CPG.

Peter Rodriguez is an award-winning Marketing Executive, a business strategist, a consumer and brand expert and a mentor. As a business executive, he has run many iconic brands in Canada and globally in tier-1 companies like Pfizer, Nestle, J&J, Smucker and Kellogg. He has held all marketing positions including CMO / Head of Marketing for the largest international confectionery business unit worldwide at Adams / Warner Lambert. His experience also includes advertising and media with management roles at JWT and Leo Burnett. 

Peter serves as a Judge for prominent marketing awards shows including the North America Effie awards, the YouTube Works awards, the American Marketing Association (AMA) Collegiate Competition, and the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Awards. 

He is a member of the Brand Council at the Canadian Marketing Association and a contributor to its CMA NXT platform. He mentors senior marketers at the Mentor Exchange Program from the American Marketing Association.

Peter is the CMO and Founder of Brand Igniter® Inc., a consulting firm where he mentors business leaders and trains marketing teams to grow profit with brands and become Strategic Brand Leaders.

He serves clients in Canada and across 4 continents including Mondelez International, Queen’s Executive Education, Buchanan Advertising Group, Kruger Products, Terra Breads, Sightline, Puro Inc. and Kerecis Pharmaceuticals among others.  

Peter is the author of brand management frameworks including Brand Igniter®, BrandWay®, BrandMi® and BrandRoots®. He hosts the podcast BrandTips® for Decision-Makers with content to help Ignite Business Growth. His content can be found in his blog at BrandTips.ca.

Peter holds an MBA degree assessed by the University of Toronto and the Chartered Marketer Designation from the Canadian Marketing Association.

For over 20 years, companies ranging from start-ups to large national and multi-national corporations and financial institutions have considered David their trusted advisor for a broad range of technology transactions: software licensing, mobile payments, outsourcing, vehicular telematics, crypto-currency, and many others. Clients say that David provides exceptional client service, expert legal advice and superior results. His reasoned, innovative and low-key approach helps clients through difficult negotiations. They also appreciate David’s deep experience in - and understanding of - traditional technology transactions, his skill in quickly grasping novel technologies and business models, and his application of careful, rigorous analysis to identify, prioritize and address risks and opportunities. These skills and attributes allow David to provide strategic and targeted advice to clients and help them achieve their business objectives. David also leverages his strong background in accounting and finance to deliver practical, sensible and cost-effective advice on corporation transactions - such as financings and acquisitions - for technology companies. Peers and clients have seen fit to consistently endorse his abilities, leading to his inclusion in Lexpert® (Repeatedly Recommended) and Best Lawyers® in Canada.