Speakers
Justin Schmidt
Justin Schmidt joined Goldman Sachs as VP, Head of Digital Asset Markets in April of this year. Prior, Justin spent ten years as a quantitative equities portfolio manager for hedge funds in NY and London. Justin’s a graduate of MIT with degrees in Computer Science, specializing in artificial intelligence and distributed systems engineering.
Moiz Kohari
Alex Tapscott
Alex Tapscott is a globally-recognized writer, speaker, investor and advisor focused on the impact of emerging technologies, such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, on business, society and government. He is the co-author (with Don Tapscott) of the critically acclaimed non-fiction best-seller, Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World, which has been translated into over 15 languages. Alex’s work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, Fortune, Forbes, the Harvard Business Review, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and dozens of other publications. His TedX San Francisco talk: Blockchain is Eating Wall Street has over 600,000 views.
In 2017, Alex co-founded (with Don Tapscott) the Blockchain Research Institute, a multi-million-dollar think-tank that is investigating blockchain strategies, opportunities and use-cases. In November of 2017, Alex and Don Tapscott were recognized with the Digital Thinking Award from Thinkers50, as part of their Distinguished Achievement Awards.
Alex is a graduate of Amherst College (cum laude). He lives in Toronto, Canada.
www.alextapscott.com
Twitter: @alextapscott
Ravindra Bandaru
Strategic and insightful leader with 20+ years of progressive experience in large complex financial institutions. As a collaborative business partner and change agent, Ravi advises on Risk Management, Enterprise Data Governance, Regulatory and Compliance initiatives in Capital Markets, CRO, CDO, CAO organizations. He enjoys building/managing a team of SMEs that work across the organization using an approach that promotes out of the box thinking, forces innovative attitude and challenges status quo to pick the right solution. Ravi is a blockchain enthusiast and currently evaluating use of Private/Permission-ed Distributed Ledger Technologies to Simplify and Improve Governance, Risk and Compliance use cases in Capital Markets.
Jason Dearborn
Tanya Woods
Tanya Woods brings more than a decade of successful strategic advocacy experience to her role at the Chamber of Digital Commerce Canada. Tanya most recently served as the Interim Executive Director for the Blockchain Association of Canada and is a champion for Canada’s digital innovation ecosystem, domestically and globally. Tanya has held senior level positions in industry representing national and multinational organizations in the telecommunications, technology and entertainment sectors, including BCE Inc., Microsoft and Nintendo. She has also advised and represented the Government of Canada in global trade negotiations and on the growth of the country’s blockchain ecosystem. Tanya is a global public speaker and published author with degrees from London School of Economics, Ottawa University and American University Washington College of Law. She was named among the top 10 “Leading TechWomen in Canada” by the Government of Canada, a “Trailblazer” by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a “Top 40 under 40” in Canada’s Capital by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal.
Kaushik Venkatadri
Kaushik "KV" leads the Blockchain Centre of Excellence at RBC. He has a Masters in Computer and Information Technology from the University of Pennsylvania and has worked in the IT industry since 1998, starting as a developer. He spent a number of years working with Wall Street banks in New York City before moving to Toronto. His current role allows him to combine his two passions of financial technology and distributed systems. In his free time he likes to read literature and write short stories.
Jillian Friedman
Jillian is digital banking and fin-tech legal counsel at National Bank of Canada. Her expertise includes IT and IP law in the regulated financial services environment, virtual currency and blockchain technology, payments and commercial law. She regularly speaks at conferences and has testified about consumer protection law and digital currency before the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce. Jillian’s views on technology law issues have been published in legal, academic and news media, and she is a co-author of the first legal book on virtual currency.
Jim Skipper
Jim has been with several Financial Service organizations over the last 30 years since graduating from Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
He manages a team of architects across Canada, the US, Asia, and the UK. Recent accomplishments include the rollout of a Blockchain based initiative and the joint establishment of a cloud practice for Sun Life Financial. He has also been involved in a number of AI initiatives spanning machine learning, robotic process automation, and predictive analytics.
His personal interests include 3D printing and device automation through Raspberry PI and Arduino devices. He also enjoys swimming and a variety of fitness challenges.
Zach Masum
As the BCSC’s Manager, Legal Services (Capital Markets Regulation) Zach manages a team of lawyers and professionals working on a broad variety of matters including registration matters; marketplace, exchange and trading issues; SRO oversight (including IIROC and MFDA); conduct of dealers, advisers and investment fund managers; and other issues impacting capital markets. Zach also leads BCSC’s fintech team, which handles a broad spectrum of fintech and regtech matters including blockchain, robo-advising, crowdfinancing, AI/machine learning, crypto-assets, ICOs, online trading and other technology-focused business models. Originally from Ontario, Zach is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has been working for 15 years in private practice, in-house financial sector and government legal roles.
Shawn L. Graham
Alan Wunsche
Alan is CEO & Chief Token Officer of TokenFunder, a regulatory-compliant blockchain venture funding platform with Ontario's first regulated Initial Token Offering. He is also Chair & Co-Founder of Blockchain Canada, a Canadian federal not-for-profit corporation with a mission to connect Canadian Blockchain Innovators and to help Canada be a leader in blockchain technology. Alan is a finance technologist focused on new blockchain business models and the disruptive impacts of blockchain on global wealth distribution. He brings hands-on technology experience as a finance and risk transformation executive at a global bank (Scotiabank), management consulting (Deloitte, PwC), and startups.
Alan is a leading blockchain / fintech expert. Alan has hands-on finance and technology executive with deep governance, strategic planning, process reengineering, big data analytics, risk management and information management transformation consulting experience. Alan is elected Canadian Chair of Canada’s ISO/TC307 Blockchain Standards Committee. Alan is a blockchain startup CEO, conference speaker, blockchain community organizer. Throughout his 25 year career, Alan has been a trusted business partner to CIO’s, CFO’s CRO’s, CMO’s and CHRO’s, leading business performance improvement programs by transforming finance, customer and risk IT systems, processes, and organizational structures.
Andre Boysen
Andre Boysen is the Chief Identity Officer at SecureKey. Andre has led the pioneering privacy-engineering in his work at SecureKey in the evolution of its services, including the Verified.Me service, the SecureKey Concierge service and the BC Services Card. He consults with SecureKey’s public sector customers around the world on how to transform service delivery to offer citizens more choice, control and convenience while increasing business integrity and lowering costs. Recognized as a global leader 2016 through 2018 on identity, privacy, digital transformation, and blockchain, Andre also is a regular speaker, contributing author and media commentator.
Andre also represents SecureKey on key global advisories. Andre was involved with the creation – and now serves as a board member and treasurer – of DIACC (Digital Identity and Authentication Council of Canada), which brings together all the organizations in Canada that are bringing digital identity to life. He also serves on the board of Kantara Initiative, a global standards body for identity. In the past, he also served on the board of the Open Identity Exchange, and as vice-chair of the international committee at IDESG. He is an advisory board member to the EEMA LightEST trust-framework initiative, a global not-for-profit think tank.
Andrew McCormack
Andrew McCormack is the Vice President, Payments and Technology at Payments Canada. He is responsible for operations of the core payment systems as well Payments Canada’s technology strategy and emergent technology agenda. Andrew has an MBA from the Ivey Business School and Bachelor of Computer Science from Carleton University. Andrew lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with his wife and three young children.
Bram Abramson
Bram Abramson is General Counsel at Decentral Inc., one of Canada's leading blockchain startups. Past roles include Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer at TekSavvy, the independent telco; communications law associate at McCarthy Tétrault; and senior analyst at Ottawa-Gatineau’s CRTC and at Washington, DC’s TeleGeography, where he mapped the international Internet. Bram has served with the Mozilla Foundation as an Open Web Fellow at the University of Toronto's Munk School’s Citizen Lab, with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services as an industry director, and as a lecturer at Ryerson University’s School of Creative Industries and at Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a graduate of the WIFT Media Leadership Program and holds the Certified In-House Council (CIC.C) and Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP) designations, an Ontario private investigator licence, and degrees in law (McGill, BCL and LLB) and communications (Concordia, BA).
Jenna Pilgrim
Creator, Rower, Adventure-Maker. Stumbled into a blockchain-ridden life, now pursuing a new venture around the public discourse of new technologies. Outspoken in a good way.
Jenna is currently the Director of Business Development at Bloq Inc., a multipurpose software company building the next generation of blockchain and token infrastructure.
Jenna is also the Cofounder and COO of Streambed Media - a new era media company supported by a blockchain tech solution - aimed at reclaiming trust in media and video production.
In her previous life, Jenna was the Director of Business Development at the $multi-million Blockchain Research Institute, conducting the definitive investigation of blockchain strategies, opportunities, and implementation challenges and funded by companies and governments worldwide. The BRI was founded in March of 2017 by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott, coauthors of Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World. Jenna was brought on by the Tapscott Group in 2015 to be the hype-master for Blockchain Revolution, which has now become a bestseller in Canada and has been translated into 18 languages.
I hold a BBA in Finance from Trent University, and am a Certified Bitcoin Professional. I co-founded my first company when I was 18.
Usman Sheikh
Usman Sheikh is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office. Named in 2018 as one of the "Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers" by Canadian Lawyer and one of the top three fintech lawyers in Canada by Chambers, he serves as the national head of the firm's Blockchain & Smart Contracts Group, as well as the national litigation lead of the firm's Securities, Compliance & Investigations Group.
As leader of the firm’s Blockchain & Smart Contracts Group, Usman oversees a diverse team comprising more than 80 practitioners. Among the group’s many accomplishments is the listing of the very first blockchain company in the world.
Usman's practice focuses on complex corporate/commercial litigation, with an emphasis on securities litigation, cryptocurrency litigation (Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies), professional liability claims and class proceedings. He also provides legal advice on blockchain advisory mandates, including cutting-edge token sales, cryptocurrency exchanges and others. His clients include Canada’s largest banks, the co-founders of Ethereum, nine of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world, as well as several blockchain pioneers.
A highly sought-after thought leader on blockchain and distributed ledger technology, Usman has briefed the offices of several prime ministers, as well as ministers, on blockchain’s disruptive power, and is regularly invited to speak to business leaders and at global blockchain conferences throughout the world. He has lectured at the International Monetary Fund and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, co-lectured with the heads of blockchain for Nasdaq and the TMX, and has also presented to the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Law Society of Ontario, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, and several other regulatory organizations.
James Black
James Black is the VP, Listings Development for the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”). Based in Vancouver, BC Mr. Black manages the CSE’s domestic and international programs for attracting exciting new companies to the exchange as well as evangelizing the CSE as “the Exchange for Entrepreneurs”.
Prior to James’ tenure at the CSE, he was a manager at the National Angel Organization where his focus was on helping Angel groups launch, network with one another, and establish best practices for investing. He graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto with Honours majoring in Entrepreneurial studies.
Martine Lamoureux
Martine Lamoureux is a seasoned IT executive with over 25 years of experience in various industries, IT specialties, and focus areas in both Montreal and Toronto, Canada. Martine joined Scotiabank in 2005 as a Vice President supporting the Bank’s Canadian core banking systems and operations. She was appointed Senior Vice President, Canadian Banking Technology in 2014, where she was accountable for the strategic direction, plan execution, and support of more than 200 applications servicing the various Canadian Banking lines of business with a team of over 1200 internal and external IT professionals, including the Tech Mahindra’s offshore development team in India. In May, Martine was given the opportunity to take the leadership of a new group focused on Global and Enterprise systems such as HR, Finance, GRM, Call Center, etc. During her tenure, Martine has guided the successful implementation of many large initiatives including the deployment of a new Customer Information System (MDM), the implementation of a new data and application integration platform, the deployment of a new mid-tier mortgage and term lending system (TLS/RLP) and the deployment of a new investment platform (IP). More recently, she implemented broadly the usage of Agile as a new mindset and deployed a new, state of the art business process management platform (Pega) which is now being deployed globally. Martine is the past chair of the Information Technology & Solutions’ iWomen Committee supporting the advancement of women at Scotiabank, and is an active member of several Scotiabank operational and steering committees. Martine is a Baccalaureate graduate in Commerce (specialties: Information Systems and Marketing) from the École des Haute Études Commerciales in Montreal and is fully bilingual in French and English with functional knowledge of Spanish.
Mayu Saravan
Alexander Mehlman
Suzanne Ennis
Suzanne Ennis, an early cryptocurrency & blockchain investor and advocate, is currently the SVP of Global Partnership at Shyft International. She has been instrumental in establishing key partnerships with exchanges and data platforms all over the world.Suzanne, a designated Chartered Investment Manager, has worked with some of the largest asset managers in the world with a primary focus on both global retail and institutional business development. Suzanne has also spent a significant part of her career with an intense focus on business and product development with various cryptocurrency exchanges and and working with securitized tokens in the gold & mining sectors. Suzanne has spoken at panels all over the world about data privacy and blockchain technology and adoption. Originally from Toronto, Suzanne holds an Honors Degree from McMaster University in Political Sciences and Psychology. She is fluent in French and a lifelong student of Spanish & Japanese language study. She has worked with street children in India; lived on Shark research boats in South Africa; Ultra-marathoned in Greenland; and completed a two week Jungle survival course in the Amazon led by a former British Special Forces officer.
Sonali Guptabhaya
Sonali is the Director of Market Regulation Policy and the Chair of the Crypto-Asset Group at IIROC. IIROC’s Crypto-Asset Group reviews and makes recommendations to IIROC departments regarding initiatives related to cryptocurrency and other crypto-assets. Prior to IIROC, Sonali was a legal counsel in
the Market Regulation Branch at the OSC for eight years where she conducted marketplace oversight and developed market structure policy. Sonali began her career at a major law firm in Toronto. She holds an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School as well as an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.
Daniel Eidan
Daniel Eidan is a software engineer, business manager and results driven performer. He started his management career in the Israeli army, received an honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and has lead software development projects for some of Canada's largest companies. Daniel spent two years as the General Manager of BrainStation's flagship Toronto campus where he managed all aspects of business operations and drove business growth. Currently Daniel is a Solutions Architect at R3 where he implements Blockchain solutions for financial institutions and other highly regulated enterprise companies.
Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis is the Global Head, Financial Crimes Risk Management for Scotiabank and is based in Toronto, Canada. He has over 28 years banking and regulatory experience including and 16 years in running AML programs. He served previously as the Enterprise Chief Anti-Money Laundering Officer for the BMO Financial Group and has led the Global AML programs for USAA in Texas, for First Data Corporation, which included Western Union Financial Service and for Capital One. Stuart began his career with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Stuart is the Chair of the Toronto Chapter of ACAMS, Chair of the Canadian Banker’s Association sub-committee on AML and is the Co-Chair with Canada’s Department of Finance Advisory Committee on AML/TF. Stuart is a frequent speaker on AML, blockchain and virtual currency topics and has spoken at the UN, Canada’s Parliamentary hearings, OECD in Paris and other conferences globally.
Matthew Spoke
Matthew Spoke is the Founder of Aion, a world-leading blockchain protocol, and CEO of Nuco, a blockchain infrastructure company. Prior to his current roles, Matthew formerly founded Deloitte’s first blockchain team, Rubix, and is an active Founding Board Member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, as well as an advisor to t0, GlobalLive Technology and Polymath, among others. Aion is among the most ambitious new blockchain protocols in development today, and Matthew is actively focused on expanding its reach and relevance globally. As of April 2018, Aion is a team of more than 45 people spanning 4 cites around the world. In parallel to this work, Matthew is also a leading advocate for the potential social impacts of decentralized technologies, and is working actively with governments in Canada and globally to establish fair and responsible rules and principles for the future governance of this important new industry. As part of this focus, Matthew has served as advisor to the Ontario Securities Commission, the Ontario Ministry of Finance, and the Government of Barbados.
Amit Bhatia
Ana Badour
Ana Badour co-leads McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s national Fintech Group. She is a partner in their Financial Services Group and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. She advises financial services entities, including financial institutions and Fintech entities, on regulatory compliance matters, including with respect to consumer protection, anti-money laundering and other regulatory requirements. She holds a LLM in Banking and Financial Law from Boston University, a LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a BMath (Operations Research) from the University of Waterloo.
Kashmera Self
Kashmera Self leads research and emerging solutions to help shape the role that Interac plays within the Canadian innovation ecosystem.
Through her 20 years of experience in product management, and more recently as the business owner of the Interac Token Service Provider (TSP), Kashmera helped spearhead the organization’s move to mobile payments. The TSP platform for secure digital payments is what brought Interac Debit on Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay to Canada.
Kashmera and her team have received multiple industry awards, and she personally was the recipient of the Women in Payments ‘Rising Star Award’. She has been called upon to speak at multiple industry conferences, both within Canada and abroad, to provide her expertise and insights on e-commerce, mobile commerce, emerging trends and payments innovation.
Vishnu Mangal
