2022 Annual Conference - SPEAKERS

KEYNOTES

Ron Tite, Purpose-Driven Leadership and Marketing Expert

Relevant, engaging, and interactive, Ron Tite exceeds expectations every time he takes the stage. Named one of the “Top 10 Creative Canadians” by Marketing Magazine, he’s an awardwinning advertising writer and creative director. Addressing a variety of topics
surrounding leadership, strategy, motivation, and creativity, Tite’s presentations are not only information packed but also infused with his unique humour.

Dr. Bill Howatt, Founder and President of Howatt HR

Dr. Bill Howatt, Founder and CEO of Howatt HR, refers to himself as a behavioural scientist with a keen curiosity for how employees and employers can work together to reduce mental harm and promote mental health in the workplace. He is known internationally and is one of Canada’s top experts in workplace psychological health and safety. Dr. Bill is on the CSA OHS Standards Steering Committee and the Chair of CSA Standard Z1008: Management of Substance-Related Impairment in the Workplace. He is the co-creator of the Psychologically Safe Workplace Awards.

PLENARY SESSIONS

Bill Cox, FCPA, FCA, Partner, BDO Canada LLP. (Retired)

Bill is a (recently) retired partner of BDO Canada LLP.  For 38 years he provided audit and consulting services to local governments, crown corporations and agencies, and not-for-profit organizations.  He is a past member of the Public Sector Accounting Board and current chair of PSAB’s Government Not-for-Profit Strategy Committee.

Julie Bastarache, Chief Audit Executive, Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Julie Bastarache is the Chief Audit Executive at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. She is a CPA, CA with 20 years of global experience in the private, public and humanitarian sectors. In addition to both internal and external audit, she has worked in risk management, fraud prevention, evaluation, finance and treasury, training and HR, communications, public education and outreach, partnering, engagement and marketing – always with how each of those functions contributes to results in their own right. Driven by curiosity and getting things done, she considers herself an ‘expert’ generalist, and an agent of change who is energized by modernization, transformation, learning and problem-solving in creative ways.

After spending several years living and traveling abroad, including spending almost 2 years in Haiti post 2010 earthquake, she returned to Canada to rejoin the public service after almost 10 years away, bringing with her new perspectives and competencies to serve and deliver results for Canadians, regardless of the official role she occupies.

Andrew Grantham, Executive Director and Senior Economist, CIBC Capital Markets

Andrew Grantham is an Executive Director and Senior Economist with CIBC, with a wide range of experience in different areas of economic and financial market forecasting. Joining in 2011, he initially focused on the U.S. and international outlook and its implications for foreign exchange and fixed income markets. More recently, he has taken over responsibility for the Canadian and provincial outlook. Since joining, he helped CIBC win MarketWatch’s monthly contest for U.S. forecasters five times and is regularly quoted by the print and electronic media. Prior to joining CIBC in 2011, Andrew worked in London, England, for one of the U.K.’s largest banks.

Catherine Kloepfer, FCPA, CGA, FCA, ICD.D, Chief Financial Officer, City of Winnipeg

Catherine Kloepfer is the Chief Financial Officer of the City of Winnipeg with prior executive experience with the Winnipeg Airports Authority along with over 2 decades at KPMG in the assurance practice in Winnipeg. This background provides a broad range of experience with different business models across various industries, and the ability to work effectively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.

Heather Taylor, FCPA, FCA, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, City of Toronto

Heather is the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for the City of Toronto where she oversees an annual $15 billion operating budget, a $47 billion capital plan, and sets their strategic and financial direction. She has led the incorporation of an ESG lens into the City’s procurement and annual budgeting processes to ensure it is part of the City’s DNA.

Under Heather’s leadership, Toronto has demonstrated its commitment to sustainable finance as the first Canadian government to incorporate climate-related disclosures in their audited financial reports and as the first government in Canada to issue an annual Environmental, Social and Governance performance report.

Heather has led the development and implementation of a sustainability framework within Toronto’s debt and borrowing program, being the first Canadian municipality to do so, which includes the issuance of green and social bonds. For a second year in a row, the City of Toronto was awarded Social Bond of the Year Local Authority/Municipality at the 2022 Environmental Finance Bond Awards

Heather also created and co-champions Toronto’s inaugural edition of C40’s Women4Climate Mentorship Programme which encourages women to become global agents of change.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Hakim Bismel, CFP, CPA, CGA, Township of Langley

Hakim is the Infrastructure Asset Manager and asset management team lead at the Township of Langley.  He is currently leading an inter-departmental process to develop and implement an organizational asset management strategy. Hakim’s experience includes strategic planning, financial accounting, and financial planning.

Jamie Black, President, F.H. Black & Company Incorporated

Jamie Black is President of F.H. Black & Company Incorporated. For over 25 years, he has consulted and trained finance officers, auditors & accountants in government, higher education, and corporations throughout Canada and the U.S. His work focuses on increasing finance department efficiency and effectiveness through the implementation of technology and improved business processes.

Molly Boyle, Head of Solutions and Strategic Marketing, BlackLine

Molly (Welton) Boyle is a finance transformation expert with nearly 15 years of experience in public and corporate accounting. In her current role at BlackLine, she is responsible for helping companies understand the value of accounting automation, and she supports the go to market team with relevant messaging and thought leadership. Prior to joining BlackLine, Molly led the Corporate Accounting group at Under Armour where she coordinated the global accounting close process and led the financial close optimization efforts. Before joining Under Armour, Molly was a manager in the Assurance practice at EY where she coordinated and oversaw financial statement audits of a variety of clients.

Steve M. Brown, Manager, Program Management, BDO

Steve is a PMP certified Senior Project Manager with over 12 years of software project management and program management experience. 

He has successfully managed large multifunctional teams for engagements such as Cybersecurity Risk and Maturity Assessments, Data Privacy and Protection engagements, Technology Implementations and Strategic Roadmaps for small to medium sized organizations .

He’s delivered projects for clients across multiple industries, including, but are not limited to, Public Sector, Mining, Financial Services, Public Sector, Healthcare, Professional Services, NPO and Manufacturing and Distribution.

Jeffrey Channell, CPA, CGA, BA, CMM III, Executive Director, Financial Services & Administration #5460, York Regional Police Financial Services

JEFF CHANNELL is the Executive Director Financial Services and Administration at York Regional Police. Mr. Channell is a member of Canada’s sixth largest municipal police service.  York Regional Police is comprised of over 2,400 uniform and civilian members who provide services to York Region’s 1.2 million citizens. Ranked among Canada’s fastest growing municipalities, York Region is forecast to reach 2 million residents and 1 million jobs by 2051. Positioning York Regional Police to meet its growth and evolving community needs over the coming decades is critical.

Bailey Church, Partner, Accounting Advisory Services & Leader, Public Sector ESG and Climate Reporting Centre of Expertise, KPMG Canada

Bailey Church leads the National Public Sector Accounting Advisory service line and is the Leader of the Public Sector ESG and Climate Reporting Centre of Expertise at KPMG. Bailey is also the Leader of KPMG’s Global International Public Sector Accounting Standards working group. He has an extensive background serving the Government of Canada, provincial governments, crown corporations, municipalities, and not-for-profit organizations. Bailey has worked extensively with all levels of government on sustainability reporting matters.

Bailey has advised numerous mining and nuclear sector entities on matters related to environmental reporting, including Canada Fluorspar Inc., Ontario Power Generation, and Southern California Edison. Bailey has worked with more than 300 municipalities on sustainability reporting, including asset retirement obligations and contaminated sites. Bailey is advising municipalities across Canada on their roadmaps for ESG and natural assets reporting.

Bailey is currently advising various Crown corporations on their implementation of TCFD requirements. Bailey has advised the Government of Canada on some of its largest environmental liabilities, including Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s decommissioning obligation, and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s contaminated sites liabilities.

Bob Courtland, Senior Solutions Engineer, Questica

Bob Courtland is a Senior Solutions Engineer who has been with Questica for 4.5 years.  He has a long history of working with software solutions across various technology companies and has a background in Policy Analysis with an M.A. in Public Administration.

Jayrani Devi Bungsy, FCCA (UK), CIA, Senior Internal Auditor, Region of Peel

Jayrani is a bilingual Chartered Professional Accountant, Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK). She is also a Certified Internal Auditor of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

She has broad experience across different sectors in the Government as well as private sectors. She is a seasoned audit professional at the Region of Peel, Regional Municipality consisting of three Municipalities in Ontario. In her current role, she acts as a Trusted Advisor and works as a business partner with Executive Leadership Team and management to help them achieve the organizational objectives, in addition to providing assurance services and fraud management.

She is highly competent in helping organizations achieve strategic outcomes and contribute to continuous improvement of risk management, internal control and governance processes.

Jayrani is very active in volunteering at the Professional bodies and non-profit organizations. She is presently a Board Member at the Institute of Internal Auditor of Toronto Chapter; and Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee at Durham Association for Family Resources and Support. Jayrani is also Treasurer and member of the Executive Team of the Toastmasters Club at the Region of Peel. She is presently member of the ACCA Canada Network Panel. She served as past Vice-Chair of the ACCA Canada Networking Panel and have also been ACCA International Assembly member.

Passionate about travelling, she has visited France, England, Scotland, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, India, Rodrigues, New York, Ottawa and Quebec.

Charlie Francis, Government Finance Consultant

Charlie Francis is a municipal finance consultant. He has more than forty years of local government financial management experience in both the public and private sector, including twenty years of experience as a Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, he retired as the Director of Administrative Services and Treasurer for the City of Sausalito. He has also served as a finance manager for the Town of Colma, CA and as CFO for the Cities of Indian Wells, CA, Tracy, CA and Treasure Island, FL

Francis has also consulted with national and international governments. He assisted post-invasion Iraq with macroeconomic reforms, worked with Estonia on local government finance, and advised the San Francisco Housing Authority and the Berkeley Housing Authority on financial matters.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Francis taught Governmental Accounting and Budgeting at UC Riverside and has published numerous handbooks on municipal budgeting and finance.

 

Megan Hart, PhD, CCRMP, CEEM, Managing Director, Aon Reinsurance Solutions, Catastrophe Management

Megan is a Managing Director within the Catastrophe Risk Analytics Group at Aon in Southfield, MI. Megan holds a Bachelor’s Degree and PhD in Civil Engineering with a focus on Structural Engineering, both from the University of Notre Dame. Her graduate research focused on stochastic simulation, data-driven models, and wind engineering. Megan works on catastrophe model evaluation and customization as well as climate change analytics, leveraging her extensive experience in understanding natural hazard occurrence and associated property damage to find best fit solutions for Aon’s clients. She works with a range of model vendors on all natural catastrophe perils with a primary focus on both near-term and future-focused views of risk for North America. Megan leverages existing catastrophe models and their climate change capabilities for insights, partnerships with academic research institutions to incorporate state of the art (and rapidly changing) science into internally developed models and hazard layers, and engagements with third party climate service providers to evaluate new risk quantification tools as they enter the market.

Dustin Harvey, CIP, CRM, Senior Vice President and National Public Sector Broking Leader

Dustin is a senior vice president and broking leader for Aon’s National Public Sector Centre of Excellence. In this role, he leads Aon’s public sector marketing strategy nationally and is ultimately responsible for placing Aon’s $300M (gross written premium) public sector portfolio in the insurance market. He is also responsible for the management of Aon’s National Public Sector Centre of Excellence team. He develops insurer strategy and product development to ensure best in class insurance solutions for public sector clients; provides direct placement services to key public sector clients; develops and maintains strong market relationships specific to the public sector; and creates portfolio solutions to achieve mutual client objectives. Dustin also consults on complex program design and structure.

 

Helen Hasiuk, CPA, Manager of Capital Budget Review, City of Winnipeg

Helen has been with the City of Winnipeg’s Financial Planning and Review division since 2017.  As the Manager of Capital Budget Review she is part of a team that prepares the City’s annual operating and capital budget documents.  Prior to joining the City of Winnipeg, Helen worked at the Province of Manitoba for a number of years where she was involved in Financial Reporting and Budgeting.  When not at City Hall working on the budget, you can find Helen either on one of Manitoba’s beautiful golf courses or out training with her four Labrador Retrievers.

Tara Holowka, CPA, CGA, Director of Finance, Winnipeg Police Service 

Tara is the Director of Finance for the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS). With 20 years of Finance and Accounting experience working in a variety of industries from Hospitality, Insurance and Information Technology, Tara joined the WPS in November 2017 after a decade of working in Healthcare at the provincial level.  In the last four years, Tara has also been involved with the procurement and change management involved in implementing new programs for Alarm Permitting, Special (Paid) Duty and Point of Sale which have significantly improved financial and business processes. Tara is passionate about the CPA profession and has represented CPA Manitoba on a number of occasions as a round table host and various recruitment events in addition to being a current CPA Manitoba student mentor. She is also an Executive Member for the Canadian Police Finance Professional Group, a sub-committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

Jill Inget, PhD  Director, Corporate Ethics, Policy and Research Branch, Policy, Innovation and Engagement Division, BC Public Service Agency

Jill Inget is the Director of Corporate Ethics with the British Columbia provincial government. Jill leads the team responsible for strengthening ethics management in the BC Public Service, promoting compliance and the corporate values in the workplace. The corporate ethics program leads activities in the area of governance, awareness and outreach, evaluation and reporting while working to develop a centre of excellence for ethics within the BC Public Service. Jill holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Victoria and has more than 20 years of leadership and public service experience.

Chae Jun, Controller, Financial Services, Calgary Public Library

Chae has been in the leadership role in the design and implementation of financial management and risk management strategies, and the reporting of financial results to senior management and to the Calgary Public Library Board since 2019.  Prior to the Calgary Public Library, Chae managed a team of accounting and logistics for one of the national wireless telecommunication providers. 

Clyde MacLellan, Chair, Public Sector Accounting Board

Clyde is currently Chair of the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) – Canada’s national independent public sector accounting standards setter.

A retired Assistant Auditor General and former member of the Executive Committee of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Clyde has considerable experience in financial and performance auditing of Canadian public sector organizations and the promotion of strong governance, performance reporting, risk management and financial reporting and internal control within those organizations. He also has had experience with similar issues in the international public sector due to past responsibilities for the international audits of INTERPOL and UNESCO and representing the Office of the Auditor General of Canada at the United Nations Panel of External Auditors and its technical working group.

Cecilia McCorkell, Consultant, Budgeting and Implementation

Cecilia McCorkell is a Budgeting and Implementation Consultant for Questica Budget. She has over fourteen years of experience in public sector finance and budget management, most recently as Countywide Budget Division Director for Pinellas County, FL. She also served as Finance & Compliance Manager and CIP Advisor for Osceola County, FL.

Jessica McKeon, Senior Manager of Solutions Marketing, BlackLine 

Jessica McKeon is a finance transformation leader with experience in accounting-related research, content development, and product marketing. Jessica worked at Audit Analytics for more than eight years, where she served as a subject matter expert for core accounting research products and authored numerous thought leadership papers. As a Senior Manager of Solutions Marketing at BlackLine, Jessica is responsible for guiding companies on their path to modern accounting by understanding their business challenges and identifying solutions that save time and reduce risk.

Alex Metcalfe, Head of Public Sector, ACCA

Alex Metcalfe is the head of public sector at ACCA. He leads ACCA’s global public sector approach and oversees its public sector research and thought leadership. Alex represents ACCA with key contacts in the public sector, including policymakers within government and international organisations, to share good practices and insights in public financial management and to work together in the public interest.

Prior to ACCA, he has worked across central, provincial and local government in the UK and Canadian civil service, including as a senior economist – specialising in tax policy – at the Ontario Ministry of Finance. He has published material across a breadth of public sector topics, including: infrastructure finance, employment law, fiscal policy, immigration and skills, and adult social care.

Alex is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), member of Accountancy Europe’s public sector group and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants’ (CAPA) public sector committee, and on the editorial board for the academic book series Public Service Accounting and Accountability.

He studied at Oxford, Cambridge and Queen’s universities.

Roy Nader, Productivity Strategist & Culture Change Expert

Roy Nader is a productivity strategist and culture change expert who delivers high-energy keynotes presentations that challenge audiences to leverage their focus and pay attention to what matters most at work and in life. Audiences love his practical strategies that they can apply right after the engaging presentations. He has delivered over 300, in-person and virtual presentations, with over 1000 participants per session.

Roy received numerous awards and nominations for constantly raising the bar. He has a strong background in learning, managing large corporate initiatives combined with a passion for bridging the average users with the fast changing technology.

Organizations hire Roy to achieve the desired Digital Culture change, Change Management Events, and for Engagement Strategies.

Roy can be reached on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Jay Pacious, Managing Director, Public Sector Partnership, AON

Legal and a Business Development Leader for Aon’s Public Sector Partnership (PSP), which focuses on developing innovative solutions to help governments and other public institutions reduce volatility and increase the resiliency of their mission. The PSP is a global team of talented colleagues that have deep experience serving in government, insurance, reinsurance, and the capital markets.

 

Prior to his role with the PSP, Jay was Associate General Counsel with Fannie Mae where he was responsible for Fannie Mae’s legal strategy and response to the private mortgage insurance market during and following the downturn. Jay was also the legal lead in the creation of Fannie Mae’s reinsurance credit risk transfer to reduce Fannie Mae’s exposure in future housing downturns.

 

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Jay worked in private practice with a focus on litigation, risk, antitrust and intellectual property. Jay graduated from Duke University and Villanova University School of Law.

Christopher Paine, Director of Finance and Asset Management, District of Oak Bay

Christopher is a Chartered Professional Accountant with 15 years in experience working in local government. Christopher is the Director of Finance and Asset Management for the District of Oak Bay, and the Principal of FIT Local Government Consulting. Christopher currently serves on the Pooled Funds Advisory Committee for the Municipal Finance Authority and is a member of the Faculty for the Government Finance Officers Association of BC. 

Christopher has experience hiring countless financial staff in his management experience at the District of Oak Bay, the City of Colwood, the District of Central Saanich and the City of Victoria.

Rob Philpotts, Director, Cyber Threat Management & Response, BDO

Rob has over 20 years of cyber security and intelligence experience. Rob helps clients achieve their objectives through feasible courses of action that reduce risk.

A former Canadian Army Signals officer, he led signals intelligence and cyber operations in a variety of environments domestically and overseas. Within the military he established feasible tactical, operational and strategic interoperability models within NORAD and NATO integrating people, process and technology across teams, nations and alliances

Jude Pillainayagam, MBA, FEC, P. Eng., MIAM (UK), ISP., City of Coquitlam

Jude Pillainayagam is a senior engineer in municipal engineering sector over 20 years and the Utility Asset Manager at the City of Coquitlam. Jude possesses a diverse educational background and experience. Jude is also an accountant and a certified Information System Professional. He is the Western Regional Director of Canadian Network of Asset Managers (CNAM) and a member of the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), UK.

Renée Pichard, CPA, Partner, National Public Sector Assurance, Deloitte

Renée Pichard is a partner in Deloitte’s National Public Sector Assurance practice and leads the Accounting and Reporting Advisory practice in Ottawa. She has over 25 years of diverse professional and executive leadership experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Deloitte, Renée held the position of Assistant Auditor General at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, where she spent 17 years developing expertise in auditing and advising public sector clients on complex accounting transactions under IFRS as well as Canadian and International Public Sector Accounting Standards. Previously, Renée spent the first part of her career as an auditor at Deloitte and as led the corporate finance team of a multi-national telecommunication corporation.

Renée has contributed to the establishment of accounting standards in Canada and internationally for the past 15 years. She currently represents Canada as member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB). She previously served as Technical Advisor on the IPSASB between 2013 and 2019.

Renée earned her Bachelor of Accounting from the Université du Québec en Outaouais.

Tood pugh

Todd Pugh, Executive Director, CivicInfo BC & Instructor, School of Public Administration, Capilano  University

Todd Pugh started his local government career in 1994, as a professional weed-whacker in the Parks Department of a regional district in BC’s Lower Mainland. Twenty-seven years later, Todd is the Executive Director of CivicInfo BC, a Victoria-based not-for-profit information and data service.

At CivicInfo BC, Todd has helped to develop many innovative services including the country’s largest local government job boards, an online municipal statistics service, and the first province-wide municipal election results reporting system in Canada. 

Since 2007 he has also been an instructor in the School of Public Administration at Capilano University, where he teaches several courses in the school’s Local Government Program.

When he’s not working or driving his two kids somewhere, Todd’s hobbies include playing recreational hockey, recovering from the injuries that recreational hockey inflicts upon him, and firing-up a weed-whacker on weekends.

Michael Puskaric ,Director, Public Sector Accounting Standards for the Public Sector Accounting Board

Michael’s role is to be the champion for improving public sector accounting practices across Canada by sharing knowledge, encouraging collaboration and leading the development of standards. Michael has a broad base of experience based on 20 years working in public, private and not-for-profit sector organizations.

His is a member of the special advisory committee to the Auditor General of Canada that provides advise and consultation on financial accounting and auditing matters. Michael is a Chartered Professional Accountant holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto Canada.

Doug Spindler, CTP, Director Treasury Services, City of Burnaby

Doug Spindler, CTP is the Director Treasury Services at the City of Burnaby, where he oversees the investment portfolio, letters of credit bonding and deposits, banking, merchant services and cash management policies and daily operations. 

Prior to joining the City of Burnaby in 2000, Doug gained extensive finance and banking knowledge working at reputable financial institutions such as VanCity Credit Union, the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Bank of Hawaii.  Over his extensive career, Doug supported clients by providing core wealth management services through financial planning, portfolio investment management and core banking services.   Doug supported bank staff in the capacity of a Branch Compliance Officer for the mutual fund sales team and through providing sales and service training.

When not at the municipal hall, you can catch up with Doug in the great outdoors of beautiful British Columbia, biking, hiking and skiing with his family and friends.

Erin Stephen, CPA, CA, Managing Director, Office of the Chief Risk Officer, Risk Management, ATB Financial

A former government finance officer, Erin is currently Chief of Staff to ATB Financial’s Chief Risk Officer. Erin is a CPA, CA who has held leadership roles in public practice, as well as in the government, banking, and mining industries. Since 2003, Erin has been involved in CPA Canada’s professional education and development programs. She was a key contributor to CPA Canada’s Public Sector Certification Capstone program, and has instructed several CPA Alberta Public Sector Accounting Standards courses. Erin currently serves as a public audit committee member of Elk Island Catholic Schools, is the youth services director for the Rotary Club of Sherwood Park, and is a financial advisor to the Aboriginal Head Start Urban and Northern Communities program. In 2020, Erin was a recipient of CPA Alberta’s Distinguished Service Award.

Earl Warwick, CPA, CMA, CTAJ, Director of Finance and Asset Management, Saskatoon Police Service

Earl is the Director of Finance and Asset Management at the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS).  Trained and developed as a professional accountant, he has been involved in organizations in such diverse capacities as: auditor; business manager; salesperson; General Manager; self-employed professional contractor; governance and leadership; Chair of a Board of Directors; dispute adjudication; and, most recently, financial, procurement and asset management leader at the SPS.  A highlight has been leading and supporting the procurement of the SPS aircraft that provided outstanding operational and financial benefit to the citizens of Saskatoon.

Sam Weller, Recruitment Manager, KTH Management

Sam has a wealth of experience in local government finance, working for 25 years in several different cities in British Columbia.  Retiring in 2003, he took on organizing GFOA conferences teaching at UVIC’s School of Public Administration and volunteering for short-term International assignments in South America, Africa and the Caribbean.

He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia, and holds a Masters of Business Administration from City University in Bellevue, Washington.

Lana Whittaker, Sr. Solution Engineer, Questica

Lana is a Senior Solution Engineer with Questica, having previously been a Project Manager on the implementation team working with clients such as the City of Hamilton, City of Sault Ste. Marie, City of New Orleans, and VIA Metropolitan Transit. Prior to joining Questica, Lana gained extensive experience working within Corporate Services for the cities of Burlington and Hamilton. With much of her career spent in municipal government, she has a comprehensive understanding of the public sector – particularly in the areas of user experience, digital adoption, accessibility, continuous improvement, change management, financial analytics, governance, performance metrics, customer service, and content management.

Imran Zia, MSc, CPA, CA, FCCA (UK), CIA, CISA, CFE, CRMA, Director, Risk Management and Assurance, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority

Imran is a seasoned professional with rich internal audit experience spanning over decades. He has worked for various multinationals, Big Four Firms and National & International corporates. Throughout his career, he has established a reputation as a transformational leader who is committed to furthering standards of excellence.

Imran is a proud winner of “Internal Audit Excellence Award” from ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales). He has played a key role towards elevation of corporate governance practices in various corporates. Imran continues to contribute towards profession as a subject matter expert and as a thought leader. He also serves various professional bodies in different capacities.