Speakers

Rich has been successfully delivering change for over 25 years. He has consulted, coached and educated with organizations across all parts of the globe and regularly reflect on his legacy in developing the change delivery model for UK government, He is a founding member of the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) and was founding president of the Toronto Chapter for 6 years. He has also founded the Toronto Change Days conference, based on the highly successful Berlin Change Days, a hands-on weekend of fun learning about change unlike any other change conference in North America! He has a masters in change management and is certified in Project Management, Process improvement, Facilitation, HR, Coaching, Counseling and Psychotherapy. He is also a Certified Lego® Serious Play® Facilitator & Workshop Designer, Certified in facilitating organizations through uncertainty and complexity and an accredited emotional culture deck “elephant rider” ! His presentation delivery is known for its passion and direct challenges to the audience. He enjoys the opportunity to disrupt traditional thinking, bring humour to the learning space and enable curiosity to take control of the change space for everyone.

Sonny Brar comes with over 16 years of Corporate Retail, Human Resources, Health, Safety, Energy and Environmental experience. He is currently the Vice President of Member Relations and Education at the Retail Council of Canada and is an honors graduate of Criminology, Justice and Public Safety from Manitoba. Along with other functions, Sonny leads and supports RCC’s Membership, Education, Benefit Partner Programs, Human Resources, Health, Safety, Accessibility, Energy initiatives and is the Chair for RCC’s Loss Prevention and Human Resources Advisory Councils. Sonny has also had great successes in his tenure and has been a recipient of 3 Presidential Excellence awards with Maple Leaf Foods and Toys“R”Us along with several successes and recognition with his tenure at Sobeys and Ikea.

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Passionate, a word used often when describing Natalie. Whether she is helping you go after the life and dreams you were always meant to be living or showing organizations and leaders that there is a different way to lead, work and connect together, she brings enthusiasm, boldness, and kindness with her every time. As a professional leadership coach, speaker, facilitator, and contributor to Brene Brown's latest best-selling book, Dare to Lead, Natalie focuses on authentic and connected leadership development. Working in partnership with leaders she inspires and helps build their capacity for courage, candor, connection, vulnerability and trust in the workplace. Natalie has over 15 years of experience in human resources management, organizational development and employee and leader coaching in the technology and manufacturing industries. Along with coaching credentials through the Coaching Training Institute and the International Coaching Federation, she holds a BA (Hons) degree in sociology, a degree in Human Resources Management and a certification as a facilitator in Dare to Lead™.

One of the industry’s most prominent evangelists for frontline employee experience, Jordan Ekers is a mobile technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Nudge Rewards. He’s worked with many of North America’s leading retail, foodservice, and hospitality brands to design new, transformative approaches for executing on brand promise by empowering frontline teams. With extensive experience in customer loyalty, rewards strategy, and mobile innovation, he previously co-founded one of Canada’s most popular loyalty programs, Carrot Rewards, a wellness app which motivates over 1 million users to make better everyday lifestyle choices. Jordan has been a speaker and conference chair at major industry events, such as NRF Big Show, Future Stores, and Future Guest Experiences.

Tanja Fratangeli is Head of People & Culture for IKEA Canada, leading all aspects of IKEA People and Culture practices, policies, processes, linked to all co-workers in the country. IKEA is known for hiring on values, which builds on being inclusive, open and honest culture; Tanja embodies this in her day-to-day role. Tanja brings a wealth of knowledge from her 25 years in the Human Resource industry, where she has led significant change management, organizational and compensation initiatives. She is well known for her curious, collaborative and pragmatic leadership approach, with a passion for home furnishing.

Kevin Graff is the President of Graff Retail, based in Toronto, Ontario. Since 1988, Graff Retail has specialized in working with retailers around the globe to increase their revenue through improved staff performance. Kevin is widely respected as one of North America’s best retail speakers and trainers and was recently chosen as one of the Top 50 Retail Influencers. His principle belief is that retailers are losing too many sales each day in their stores that they should be capturing. Kevin’s approach to store operations and his intense focus on real, bottom-line issues continually produce outstanding results. Kevin is also the creator of Graff Retail TV, the retail community’s leading source of online sales and management training. Since being launched in 2008, Graff Retail TV has provided thousands of sales associates and store management teams with the skills they need to succeed.

Karl is Senior Vice-President, Public Affairs for the Retail Council of Canada, advocating the interests and views of Canada’s retail merchants. Areas of focus include trade, taxation, payments, retirement and income security at the federal level, along with a broad array of issues at the provincial level, Canada-wide, notably on employment-related issues, taxation, infrastructure and product safety. Mr. Littler serves on the Finance Canada Payments Consultative Committee (FinPay), formerly served as a federal appointee to the Stakeholder Advisory Committee of Payments Canada and is regularly consulted on legislative and regulatory initiatives by federal and provincial governments. From 2007 to 2012, as a senior consultant with StrategyCorp, one of Canada’s top public affairs firms, Karl advised and represented clients across the financial services, retail, energy, healthcare, transportation and entertainment sectors. Karl previously served in the Office of the Prime Minister as Deputy Chief of Staff with responsibility for Cabinet operations and legislation. He also worked as Senior Tax Policy Advisor to the Minister of Finance and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions. Karl was integrally involved with the entire run of domestic issues before Cabinet. As well, he focused on major revisions to the Income Tax Act, the Bank Act and other tax and financial sector statutes. Karl worked on many top-level federal policy initiatives over the period 1993-2006. Following an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, Karl earned a Juris Doctor degree from Dalhousie University. He has been a member of the Ontario Bar since 1993.

Frank Monteleone is the Senior Vice President, Human Resources and President of the Rexall Care Network. As a member of Rexall’s Executive Operating Committee, Frank oversees a diverse portfolio of strategic HR initiatives for McKesson Canada’s B2C businesses including Rexall Drugstores, ClaimSecure, Medicentres and Well.ca. Frank is responsible for all aspects of Employee and Labour Relations, Total Rewards (including Benefits), Talent Strategy and Acquisition, Organization Effectiveness, Learning and Development, and HR Services. In September 2018, Frank was appointed the President and Chair of the Rexall Foundation. In 2019, Frank led the subsequent transition and rebranding of the Rexall Foundation to the Rexall Care Network to bring more focus to Rexall’s giving platform and maximizing social impact. The purpose was to identify a cause that speaks to Rexall as an organization and reflects what is important to employees and customers - Caregiving is this cause. In his over 20 years of human resources experience, Frank has distinguished himself as a trusted advisor, a change champion, and a devoted employee advocate – leadership qualities that help to unlock the potential of Rexall employees and strengthen the brand. Prior to joining McKesson Canada / Rexall, Frank worked for Indigo Books and Music Inc. and RONA in a variety of progressive HR positions. Frank has been involved with supporting key priorities critical to the success of the business, such as employee engagement, cultural transformation, leadership talent planning, and strategic total rewards. Under Frank’s leadership, his team is currently stewarding diversity and inclusion efforts to advance diversity and women in business. Frank has completed his certified human resources executive designation (CHRE) from the Human Resources Professional Association, as well as being Prosci ADKAR certified in change management. He also has a Masters Certificate in Adult Training and Development from the Schulich Executive Education Centre. Frank holds a Bachelors of Arts, Mathematics for Commerce from York University in Toronto and also has a diploma in Human Resources Management from Humber College.

With over 15 years of experience as co-founder of the leading recruiting agency serving Canada's other large scale service industry - Retail - Jackie is an invaluable advisor and resource for JRoss Hospitality Recruiters. Her success has come from focusing on customer service, managing large teams of people across broad geographical areas, and navigating in a fast paced environment. Extensive hands on experience in those areas, combined with years of successful recruiting, has given Jackie the ideal background to guide JRoss Hospitality Recruiters to become Canada’s leading Hospitality-focused recruiting firm. After studying at the University of Western Ontario, Jackie began a retail management career spanning the full range of store operations. Her first positions were managing high volume locations for Tristan & America and Club Monaco. After relocating to Vancouver in 1993, Jackie joined the prestigious Holt Renfrew management team. Here she worked with several distinctly different business profiles, thriving in this high-end environment known for its excellent training, high standards of sales competence, and exceptional customer service policies. Joining Dumont & Associates recruiters in 1999, Jackie headed up the fashion division, successfully placing over 150 candidates with prominent retailers across Western Canada. Combining her understanding of both the search and hands on customer service professions, Jackie co-founded JRoss Retail Recruiters in 2002, and she and her team of Retail recruiters have successfully filled hundreds of positions from the executive suite to customer-service roles. Co-launching JRoss Hospitality Recruiters in 2005 was a logical extension of her track record of success in recruiting – and she hasn’t looked back since.

Bay Ryley is an employment and human rights lawyer and the President of Ryley Learning – a digital workplace learning company. Ryley Learning’s animated, engaging course on workplace sexual harassment is the training program of choice for a range of organizations across all sectors. Bay has been nominated for a 2019 RBC Women’s Entrepreneur award. Bay provides strategic advice and litigation support to both employers and employees in respect of a range of workplace law matters, and draws on many years of advocacy and policy work in human rights and employment law, professional regulation, and public inquiries. Bay is the founder of Ryley Law, prior to which she was counsel to: Human Rights Legal Support Centre; Ontario Human Rights Commission‎; Constitutional Law Branch (MAG) MFP/Computer Leasing Inquiry; Walkerton (Tainted Water) Inquiry. She articled at Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG). www.ryleylearning.com

Corey is a seasoned Talent Acquisition leader having led and transformed recruitment teams for iconic financial service organizations like TD, CIBC and Canada Life. His experience includes global recruitment delivery for several lines of business at all levels up to C suite leaders across the Financial Services spectrum - Retail and Commercial Banking, Insurance, Wealth Management, Capital Markets and Corporate

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