John holds an MBA from INSEAD and Macquarie University, as well as degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. John Pollaers has a proven track record in leading major Australian and international companies including Pacific Brands and Foster’s Group, and in his current roles is working across Government to bring about major reforms to vocational education and training and aged care. He is the founding Chair of the Australian Advanced Manufacturing Council and in 2017 was appointed as Chair of the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce for the Federal Government. He is the Chancellor of Swinburne University and is Executive Chairman of Leef Independent Living Solutions, an innovative functional health and assistive technology business. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2018, for service to the manufacturing sector, to education, and to business.

Dr. Betty Vandenbosch is Chief Content Officer at Coursera, where she oversees the company's content and credential strategy and partner relationships. Before joining Coursera, Betty was chancellor of Purdue University Global, an institution resulting from Purdue University's 2018 acquisition of Kaplan University. At Purdue, Betty oversaw academics for more than 32,000 students -- most of whom earned their degrees online. Before that, Betty held a number of leadership positions at Kaplan University and served as associate dean and associate professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Throughout her career, Betty has won several awards in teaching and research. She earned her PhD in Management Information Systems and MBA from Western University in Ontario, Canada.

Brice Scheschuk, CPA, CA is the Managing Partner of Globalive Capital (www.globalive.com). He was a co-founder and CFO of WIND Mobile as well as CEO of Globalive Communications. Brice has over twenty-five years’ experience building and operating companies at Globalive, WIND Mobile, Leitch Technology and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He obtained his CPA, CA designation at PricewaterhouseCoopers and B.Comm (Hon.) Finance from Dalhousie University. Brice served as a Maritime Surface Officer in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve.

Brice is a co-founder of MindFrame Connect (www.mindframeconnect.com), a not-for-profit focused on elevating the craft of mentorship and improving entrepreneurial resiliency. Selected current and past board and advisory positions include Acorn Biolabs, Botler AI, Convergence.Tech, CPA Ontario, Cranson Capital, Creative Destruction Labs – Atlantic and Toronto, DarkSlope/Lumeto, Dasher, Ellington Partners, Epic Kitchens, Espresso Capital, Finaeo, Findev (CVE:FDI), Flexiti Financial, Founder Institute, Globalive Communications, iLOOKABOUT, Level Jump Financial Group, Loran Scholars Foundation, MeazureUp, MindFrame Connect, Neighbourhood Holdings, OutsideIQ, Partsroom, various Plazacorp real estate vehicles, Plaza Ventures, Plantiga, PitchPoint Solutions, Pragmatic Solutions, Quayside Venture Partners, RSPNDR, Ryerson Futures, Samba Days/Rewards, SceneDoc, Shamba Foundation, Techstars Toronto/Global, Two Small Fish Ventures, Varicent Software, Web Host Industry Review, White Crane Capital, WIND Mobile, World of Angus, and Zoocasa. Brice is a frequent speaker on scale-up entrepreneurship and innovation.

Brice’s interests include Canada’s innovation and start-up ecosystem, entrepreneurial finance, mentorship excellence, resiliency, financial literacy, political moderation/centrism, military veteran transition, fitness, travel, good food, good books, and great friends.

‍

A boarding school education gave me the confidence to follow an unconventional path that has led me to being CEO of one of the world’s fastest growing non-profits. My mission is to inspire and support the World Commerce & Contracting team and our global community to collectively drive positive change in the world of commerce of contracting.

Having completed my law degree in London, I was drawn to the dynamic world of start-ups. Commercial Management was a field in demand, and I found myself in a series of fast-growth telecoms firms where I learnt by doing. Travelling the world, negotiating contracts and partnerships, working directly with and for top management.

In the early 2000s children entered my world and in 2007 I struck out on my own, offering contract and commercial services to start-ups and SMEs. My company flourished, in part through the strong link I had with the Association.

In 2014, I was invited to join World Commerce & Contracting as a part-time contractor, leading its activities in Europe... a year later I found myself working full-time as COO, charged with bringing structure and discipline to the fast-growing and entrepreneurial association.

The rest, as they say, is history... and it’s probably fair to say that my golden retriever, Benjy, has a better idea of what I do than my two sons ever will!

Mike has more than 33 year’s experience in a wide range of financial services businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe.

Mike is a Non-Executive Director of Sezzle a US based Buy Now Pay Later finance company as well as being an advisor to the Board with Credit Clear, an Australian Collections technology provider, PNO Insurance Brokers and Pepper Money A&NZ. In addition to this he is a co-founder of Kadre, a Credit Risk Management Consultancy.

Prior to this Mikes most recently served as the Group Managing Director for the information services business Equifax ANZ. And before that he held various CEO, CRO, Product and Operations roles with GE, ANZ, Wesfarmers, Halifax/BankOne and NAB.

Mike is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia and has previously served on the Boards of the Women’s Cancer Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Institute, the Australian Finance Congress, the National Insurance Brokers Association and the Australian Retail Credit Association. Mike has a BSc (Hons) from Hertfordshire University.

Sandra Ketchen is the President and CEO of Spectrum Health Care, one of the largest providers of home care services in Ontario. Prior to joining Spectrum, Sandra served as Senior Vice President of Operations at SE Health and Vice President of HealthTech at Celestica. Sandra brings a proven track record of using data and technology to drive outcomes that matter to patients and their families and is an advocate for integrated care solutions that give patients control over where and how they age. Sandra holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business and a B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Jaime Casap served as the Chief Education Evangelist at Google for more than 14 years and was the second member of the Google for Education team. In that time, Jaime launched Google’s GSuite tools into higher education and K12. He also launched Chromebooks into education and was the creator of the Google for Education Transformation Framework, a holistic approach to education transformation. 

Now Jaime is partnering and collaborating with higher education institutions, school systems, and businesses around the world, helping them build transformational policies and practices to elevate education and bring equity, diversity, and inclusion into their policies and practices. 

Jaime serves as an advisor to dozens of organizations focused on learning, skill development, and the future of work.  He is the coauthor of “Our First Talk About Poverty,” as a way to talk to children about poverty.  He is currently working on his next book.

He speaks on education, digitalization, diversity and inclusion, generation z, and the future of work at events around the world. You can follow and reach him on Twitter at @jcasap and watch his YouTube career advice videos at www.youtube.com/jaimecasap.

He is currently a consultant and Non-Executive Chair of IGO Limited, an ASX100 company specialising in battery metals. He is a board member of Western Chances, a Melbourne-based NFP which supports disadvantaged students with scholarships and leadership programs.

Michael’s most recent executive role was Chief Development Officer with Newcrest Mining Limited, the ASX20 Australian gold producer and prior to that MMG Ltd, the HKEX-listed base metals company.  His experience before that included roles with Western Mining limited and Macquarie Bank, spanning a range of commodities including gold, industrial minerals and base metals.  He has extensive international experience and has been involved with mines and development projects across six continents.  His career focus has most often been in the areas of strategy and business development.  Over the time of Michael’s experience, he has seen the industry change significantly in Environment, Social and Governance matters and has developed a strong interest in helping the companies he is involved with continue their ESG improvement journey. 

Michael is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM) and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).  He holds a BSc from Monash University and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Bruce leads a dynamic team at NII, a clean energy not-for-profit that runs industrial innovation projects in Canada’s nuclear power supply chain. NII focuses on how emerging technologies can improve operational and environmental performance in the industry, while fostering connections between nuclear and other low-emission energy sources. The Institute also has a mandate to promote greater public understanding of energy issues, and runs educational programs for K-12 students in science, technology and math.

Bruce learned the importance of a well-informed public over three decades living and working as a journalist across Europe, Asia and North America, reporting from conflict zones and writing broadly on politics and culture for Maclean’s, the Los Angeles Times and Reuters. Since then he has been a special advisor to Ontario’s Deputy Minister for economic development, research and science, and was Chief Creative Officer for NGen, Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. 

Bruce is the volunteer chair of the Lake Huron Coastal Centre, a conservation organization, and lives on the shores of the lake in Southampton, Ontario.

Marty brings over 30 years of Human Capital experience to her current endeavours.  Marty has been building strong People teams and Employee experiences for Silicon Valley based technology companies for over 16 years, and recently moved back to her native country of Canada to work with  a number of Technology companies across North America and Europe as an advisor and coach.

In Silicon Valley, Marty served as Chief People Officer of Twilio Inc., a publicly traded provider of a cloud-based platform, as the Chief People Officer of Fitbit, Inc., a publicly traded technology company delivering health solutions to consumers and as the Chief People Officer of NetSuite, Inc., a publicly traded provider of cloud-based business management software.   

Marty is dedicated to building world class HR talent and to providing an award-winning employee experience to her workplace.  She was recognized as one of the top 50 Women Leaders in Technology in 2020 as well as a Top Leader in Tech, and Top People in the last couple of years.  Her work has also been featured in both Forbes and Fortune.  Marty is particularly passionate about creating an inclusive culture, rich in diversity and dedicated to investing in, and developing talent throughout the organization.  Marty is also very dedicated to showcasing the world of STEM to young women around the world and a highlight of her endeavors was to be involved with the UNESCO Teach Her program under the Michelle Obama “Let Girls Learn” program.

In recent years, Marty has been lending her talents to the Board room, serving as a Board member for Ambra Health and SPS Commerce as well as an Advisory Board member to Open Classrooms and Semper Virens.  She is a strong advocate for including the voice of Human Resources in the Board Room and has been highlighted on Podcasts and articles on the topic.  She was recognized in 2019 by WomenInc as one of the Most Influential Corporate Board Directors.

Marty holds a Masters’ degree in Organization Psychology, a Bachelor of Commerce and an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and has spent many years as a Certified Behavioural Analyst studying Psychometric applications in the workplace.

My passion for the next decade is to support companies as they adapt to the future ahead, particularly given the impact of climate change and frontier technologies. I have a portfolio of initiatives to deliver this passion.

Prior to this current focus I was the CEO of Australian Red Cross. Prior to that I was the global COO for WWF International and before that the CEO of Lonely Planet.  

I am a leader who has diverse experience and knowledge. From leading a start-up to being the CEO of a 100-year-old organisation, from mergers and acquisitions to highly operational environments, from a large publicly listed Australian company to a small privately-owned company, from foreign exchange and investment management to people and culture; my success shows my ability to achieve outcomes in different operating environments, cultures and operating/business models.

I am known for my values-driven leadership and for building engaged cultures and great teams in turbulent and complex sectors. I have extensive experience in driving transformational change, including navigating shifting business models and market transitions.

I have also enjoyed being a collaborator on national and global initiatives focused on achieving positive change, including CSIRO’s Australian National Outlook 2019, The Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience & Safer Communities, the World Economic Forum Global Risk Assessment. I hold an MBA from Sydney University and have completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Leadership Program. Member of Chief Executive Women.