Norman Wilhelm, is a licensed private investigator with over 20 years of experience in open source intelligence and online investigations. He is a highly decorated and accomplished former member of Canadian military intelligence, who later worked in the human resource management industry. For the last seven years he has been a private investigator with one of Canada’s largest private investigation companies, specializing in online investigations. Many of his report results, numbering over 800 in the last seven years, were used in insurance claims, civil cases, family law cases, and class action suits. In November 2013, he was recognized by the Supreme Court of British Columbia as an expert in open source intelligence and online investigations.

Jesse Miller is a nationally recognised authority on social media awareness and education. As a consultant and educator, the majority of his expertise focuses on the topics of online safety, parenting connected youth, digital literacy, new media, and communication trends.

As a public speaker, he has presented to thousands of audiences across Canada, working with various provincial government agencies on cyber-bullying initiatives and launching digital literacy campaigns. Additionally, Miller serves as a consultant to education and public safety agencies across Canada with a focus on social media impacts within the public sphere.

In addressing the societal impacts of New Media, Miller’s innovative delivery opens dialogues about technology and associated communication trends, his presentations to corporate, education, and non-profit sectors have provided thousands of conference audiences with a unique view to the social media and technology trends occurring within Canada.

Jane Thornthwaite was re-elected to a second term as MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour in 2013.

On December 18, 2014 she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Child Mental Health and Anti-Bullying for the Minister of Children and Family Development. She is also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Secure Tomorrow and Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth, which published an interim report on child and youth mental health in B.C. in November 2014.

Prior to her current appointment, Jane was the Parliamentary Secretary for Student Support and Parent Engagement to the Minister of Education, a position which she had held from September 2012. She has also carried out duties on the Cabinet Committee on Families First and the Select Standing Committees on Children and Youth, Education, and Finance and Government Services.

Jane served as a School Trustee for the North Vancouver Board of Education and topped the polls in both the 2005 and 2008 municipal elections. She was elected Chair of the North Vancouver Board of Education in December 2008 and resigned from the Board June 2009 after being elected to the Legislature.

Previously, Jane was a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (B.Sc., B.H.E.) with a 22-year career in health care. Jane’s work experience includes positions in hospital dietetics and community health, as an instructor for a third year required Nutrition course at UBC, as a Corporate Nutritionist for an international Health Food Chain, and as a National Sales Representative for an international pharmaceutical firm.

Her writing has been published in a wide variety of publications and she has been a guest presenter and lecturer at numerous colleges and universities.

As a former self-employed health consultant, Jane has experience operating a small business and supporting a family as a mother of three kids.

Jane has had an extensive volunteer career on the North Shore and has lived there all of her life.

Christopher Gillespie has worked as a Privacy and Policy Advisor in the Privacy and Legislation Branch since May 2012. In that time he has developed over 150 privacy impact assessments, as well as been responsible for delivering privacy training and leading investigations into actual or suspected privacy breaches. Chris holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Victoria and is currently working on his Masters in Public Administration through the Royal Military College.

David Padgett is a Senior Auditor with the Privacy, Compliance and Training Branch (Ministry of Citizens’ Services). David manages the government’s privacy and information awareness training and delivers in-person training sessions to government, the broader public sector and the private sector. David has also been involved in the development of corporate privacy policy and messaging, and helped develop the privacy portions of the BC Services Card.

In addition, David has an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London and a BA in History and Politics from the University of Sussex, both from his native UK.

Kristina Petrosyan has been with the BC Government in the Information Security Branch for over seven years. She worked on development of a variety of security policies, standards and guidelines, focusing her efforts on providing the governance framework for IM/IT initiatives.

Caitlin Lemiski is an Adjudicator (Acting) with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. She began working for the Commissioner’s office in 2007 as an Investigator and then as a Policy Analyst. She is a graduate of the University of Victoria (B.A. 2002) and of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law (LL.B. 2005). After law school, Caitlin worked as a privacy officer with the Ministry of Justice. In 2012, she appeared with Commissioner Denham before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Study on Social Media and Privacy, and she has spoken frequently to public and private organizations about the challenges of meeting legislative requirements when using social media to screen and monitor employees. Caitlin is certified as a CIPP/C (Canada) and CIPP/IT (Information Technology) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Troy is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia and has worked there for six years. Troy has been lead on various OIPC systemic investigations, including the investigation into the use of employment-related police information checks in British Columbia.  Troy is a graduate of the UVIC Faculty of Law and worked in private practice for four years in Vancouver and Victoria before moving to the public sector.

Bradley Weldon is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia. His particular areas of expertise are in the privacy challenges posed by emerging technologies, surveillance, and the review of legislation for implications for access to information or the protection of privacy. Prior to joining the OIPC, Bradley practised employment and labour law in the private sector. He is a graduate of the University of British Columbia (Geography) and the University of Victoria (Law) and is a member of the British Columbia Law Society. Bradley is certified as a CIPP/C (Canada) and CIPP/IT (Information Technology) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Michael Garvin has over 20 years experience in information security and compliance, and IT architecture, administration, and management. He has been with Symantec since 2006 and is currently in Cyber Security Services (CSS). His responsibilities include live-fire cyber security training, skills development, and practice through cyber exercises and ranges, Symantec’s CyberWar Games and Cyber Readiness Challenge, and product management in related areas. Prior to his current role Michael was a member of the Security Advisory Services practice responsible for delivering assessment services for Fortune 500 companies, higher education, and state government addressing business-aligned audit, gap analysis, and remediation planning needs. He has also worked architecting and operating solutions at service providers, in pre-sales systems engineering for Sun Microsystems, with high-performance and Grid computing, and at institutions within the University of North Carolina system. Michael holds the CISSP, CGEIT, and CISM certifications.

Gary Perkins is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Government of British Columbia.  As the Executive Director of the Information Security Branch, Perkins is responsible for providing cybersecurity services in support of the province.  He has more than 18 years of experience in information technology, risk management and cybersecurity. Prior to joining the BC Government, Perkins worked in the private sector as chief of staff for security at TELUS and, earlier in his career, led teams responsible for incident response, operations, delivery and architecture for both corporate and managed security services customers.  A CISSP since 2004, Perkins also holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University’s Management of Technology program.

Jesse Miller is a nationally recognised authority on social media awareness and education. As a consultant and educator, the majority of his expertise focuses on the topics of online safety, parenting connected youth, digital literacy, new media, and communication trends.

As a public speaker, he has presented to thousands of audiences across Canada, working with various provincial government agencies on cyber-bullying initiatives and launching digital literacy campaigns. Additionally, Miller serves as a consultant to education and public safety agencies across Canada with a focus on social media impacts within the public sphere.

In addressing the societal impacts of New Media, Miller’s innovative delivery opens dialogues about technology and associated communication trends, his presentations to corporate, education, and non-profit sectors have provided thousands of conference audiences with a unique view to the social media and technology trends occurring within Canada.

Jane Thornthwaite was re-elected to a second term as MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour in 2013.

On December 18, 2014 she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Child Mental Health and Anti-Bullying for the Minister of Children and Family Development. She is also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Secure Tomorrow and Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth, which published an interim report on child and youth mental health in B.C. in November 2014.

Prior to her current appointment, Jane was the Parliamentary Secretary for Student Support and Parent Engagement to the Minister of Education, a position which she had held from September 2012. She has also carried out duties on the Cabinet Committee on Families First and the Select Standing Committees on Children and Youth, Education, and Finance and Government Services.

Jane served as a School Trustee for the North Vancouver Board of Education and topped the polls in both the 2005 and 2008 municipal elections. She was elected Chair of the North Vancouver Board of Education in December 2008 and resigned from the Board June 2009 after being elected to the Legislature.

Previously, Jane was a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (B.Sc., B.H.E.) with a 22-year career in health care. Jane’s work experience includes positions in hospital dietetics and community health, as an instructor for a third year required Nutrition course at UBC, as a Corporate Nutritionist for an international Health Food Chain, and as a National Sales Representative for an international pharmaceutical firm.

Her writing has been published in a wide variety of publications and she has been a guest presenter and lecturer at numerous colleges and universities.

As a former self-employed health consultant, Jane has experience operating a small business and supporting a family as a mother of three kids.

Jane has had an extensive volunteer career on the North Shore and has lived there all of her life.

Elizabeth Vander Beesen, has been with the British Columbia Provincial Government over 22 years. When government centralized Freedom of Information and Records Management in 2009, Elizabeth participated on the Business Transformation team responsible for the structure and set up of IAO, and developed and implemented improvements in order to streamline government’s performance. In her current role as IAO Director, Staff Administration, Elizabeth provides education and training relating to our obligations under FOIPPA for both internal IAO staff and for ministry clients within the provincial government. Prior to joining IAO, a large portion of Elizabeth’s career was with the Ministry of Forests where she was the Director, Information Operations where she was responsible for FOI Access, Privacy, Records Management, Litigation Services, Information Security and Information Technology Security.

Alexander Wright is the Senior Director of the Government Records Service, which provides centralized records management and archival appraisal services to the Government of British Columbia and many broader public sector agencies.  He began his public service career in 1991 as an archivist and since then has held a variety of management positions in Information Management, Freedom of Information and Privacy, Information Technology, and others areas.

Eileen Padgett is the A/Director of Operational Privacy within the Privacy and Legislation branch of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services). Eileen’s team reviews the privacy impact assessments for all government programs and proposed legislation. Eileen and her team also provide corporate guidance on privacy to ministries during the development of large cross-ministry programs and systems. Eileen has also been involved in leaning the PIA review process, as well as developing new templates and guidelines for PIAs within government. Most recently, Eileen has been heavily involved in the development of government’s Privacy Management and Accountability Policy, which codifies government’s privacy management program.

In addition, Eileen has an MA in Post-War Recovery Studies from the University of York, England, and two BAs from Simon Fraser University in Criminology and Political Science.

Matt Reed is the Executive Director, Privacy, Compliance and Training for the Province of BC Government’s Ministry of Citizens’ Services. After writing his Master’s thesis on social media advertising, privacy and choice, he began working for the branch, where he has been for the past ten years. During this tenure Matt has managed the privacy implications of many cross-government initiatives, including: cloud, social media, the mobile worker and open data strategies.

oline Twiss is a Policy Analyst with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.  She is interested in innovative policies, designs, and governance models that promote privacy in online environments. She completed her law articles and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/C) with the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

ISACA International Board member and Vice President Rob Clyde, CISM, is chief executive officer (CEO) of Adaptive Computing, which provides workload management software for some of the world’s largest cloud, HPC and big data environments. He is also a director on the board of Zimbra, a leader in social and collaboration software. He founded Clyde Consulting LLC and was chief technology officer (CTO) at Symantec. Credited with creating the first commercial intrusion detection system, he is a cybersecurity expert with over three decades of experience. He chairs a board-level ISACA working group and has served as a member of ISACA’s Strategic Advisory Council, Conference and Education Board, and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) Advisory Panel. He was also a founding board member of the IT-ISAC and SafeCode organizations.

John Waddell is a partner with the Victoria law firm of Waddell Raponi and practices in the area of civil litigation. He is an experienced arbitrator and mediator of all manner of civil disputes and a Member of the Civil Roster of Mediate BC. In 1995/96 he was President of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association. From 1990 through 1995 and from 2003 to the present, he has served as a director of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association and is currently Past President of that organization. He is a member of the Board of the CBA (B.C.) Benevolent Society. In 2001, he served on the Judicial Council of British Columbia and in 2002 and 2004 was a member of the Judicial Justice of the Peace Compensation Committees. He is a Past President of both the Greater Victoria YM/YWCA and the Government House Foundation of B.C., and a former Governor of the Law Foundation of BC .John has received both the Queens Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of his service to his community and the legal profession in Canada, and the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to the Government House Foundation of B.C. Presently, he is on the list of Special Prosecutors retained from time to time by the Minister of Justice of B.C. and sits as a member of the Law Society of B.C. Disciplinary Hearing and Credentials Panels.

Kerry Augustine is an Information Systems (IS) professional with over 20 years experience that spans a variety professional, business, and government organizations. His experience includes work with global technology integration and consulting organizations such Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), as well as Great-West Life, a Fortune 500™ Canadian financial services and insurance organization. Kerry has developed expertise in information services delivery, IT strategic planning, workforce management, and process and change management.

Kerry is the President and Co-Chair of the Canadian Cyber Defence Challenge (CDC). The CDC is a Canadian not-for-profit organization whose goal is to motivate secondary students to consider academic and career disciplines in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) by introducing them to the concepts of information, communications and technology (ICT) with a focus on Cyber Security and promoting Safe Online Security Practices. The program is unique to Manitoba and a first of its kind in Canada. The CDC is sponsored and supported by the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) Manitoba, International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc., (ISC²) Manitoba/Saskatchewan Chapter, and ISACA Winnipeg.

In his “day job”, Kerry is the Director of Application Management Services for the Manitoba Government, Business Transformation and Technology (BTT). In this role, Kerry provides overall direction to a group of 100 developers and architects responsible for the support and enhancement of Government of Manitoba applications and database systems for all departmental and Special Operating Agency clients. Kerry is also an instructor at the University of Winnipeg, in the Faculty of Applied Computer Science and the Department of Continuing Education where he teaches courses in information systems management and IT governance.

Kerry is actively involved in CIPS (Canadian Information Processing Society). He serves as the Regional Director for CIPS Manitoba and serves as a board member on the CIPS National Board. He is also a member of the advisory committee for the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).

Kerry is passionate about working with students and developing the next generation of industry workers and leaders – particularly in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Kerry has taught and presented to a variety of audiences on the importance and significance of STEM and the future competitiveness of Canada.

Kerry is a graduate of Red River College Computer Analyst/Programming (CAP) Program as well as the University of Regina and the University of Manitoba, where he achieved his Certificate in Management, Information Processing Management and more recently Certificate in Human Resource Management.

Kerry’s interests include spending time with his family, teaching, volunteering for not-for-profit (community and professional) organizations, exercising, camping, canoeing, kayaking, and golf.

Richard Purcell has been a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection challenges since the late ‘90’s. He leads Corporate Privacy Group (CPG), an independent consulting firm focusing on establishing sustainable and effective information security and privacy programs. CPG supports multi-national corporations, Internet start-ups and government agencies in planning, developing, and implementing enterprise-wide programs designed to respect and protect personal information. Utilizing its proprietary management model, 3PT™, CPG works from a basis of assuring that the right people develop and communicate the right policies supported by the right processes and technologies. CPG also offers award-winning Web-based education and training courseware for security and privacy awareness, knowledge and skills development. As Microsoft’s original privacy officer, Richard designed, developed, implemented and oversaw one of the world’s largest and most advanced privacy programs spanning Internet properties, software products, end-user support and information systems. In 2002, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative included the global privacy program as a key enterprise pillar. Throughout this period, Richard worked closely with regulators and legislators in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia to create global accountability and compliance standards and maintains those relationships today. Recently, Richard also served as Chairman of the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee to the Department of Homeland Security and as the Executive Director of the non-profit research agency, the Privacy Projects. Previously, he served on the Federal Trade Commission’s Online Access & Security Advisory Committee and as Chairman of TRUSTe, the pioneering online privacy certification agency. He sits on several corporate advisory boards and regularly addresses issues of information privacy and data protection domestically and globally.

Tim Wu is dedicated to resisting centralized management of what we see and hear online. As Forbes magazine said of him: “Columbia Law professor Tim Wu believes private enterprise poses as much of a threat to free expression as government censorship.” Tim tells us that we have much to worry about — how in the past, powerful new forms of communication such as the telephone and broadcast TV fell into the arms of a few corporate interests, creating monopolies, stifling innovation and destroying all the advantages of open access and competition. As a specialist in telecommunications law, copyright, and international trade, he argues forcefully that the information superhighway must remain open and beneficial to all the public, and not be dominated by corporate interests. Tim is the originator of the phrase “net neutrality” — the concept that all Internet content and websites should be treated equally by the networks controlling the flow and access to the Internet. Tim won the 2012 World Technology Award in the Law category. He was also chosen in 2013 for The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal. A battle is looming for control of the Internet, and his latest book illuminates and challenges to free speech and open access to its information and services. His insightful analysis and frank warnings are must reads: The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires and Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World (co-written with Jack Goldsmith). Tim regularly consults with policymakers on ways to keep the internet free from censorship and monopoly control. He has been recognized as one of fifty leaders in science and technology by Scientific American, and 01238 magazine has listed him as one of Harvard’s one hundred most influential graduates. Tim is a regular contributor to Slate, writing on topics in law, media, culture, travel, and cuisine. He has contributed to The New Yorker, TIME, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Forbes.

Gus Hosein has worked in the field of technology and human rights for over fifteen years. He has advised numerous international organisations and institutions including UNESCO, UNHCR, OSCE, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Human Rights. He has held fellowships at Columbia University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the American Civil Liberties Union. As Privacy International’s Executive Director he coordinates work advancing the protection of privacy across the world, with a particular emphasis on developing countries.

Tim Wu is dedicated to resisting centralized management of what we see and hear online. As Forbes magazine said of him: “Columbia Law professor Tim Wu believes private enterprise poses as much of a threat to free expression as government censorship.” Tim tells us that we have much to worry about — how in the past, powerful new forms of communication such as the telephone and broadcast TV fell into the arms of a few corporate interests, creating monopolies, stifling innovation and destroying all the advantages of open access and competition. As a specialist in telecommunications law, copyright, and international trade, he argues forcefully that the information superhighway must remain open and beneficial to all the public, and not be dominated by corporate interests. Tim is the originator of the phrase “net neutrality” — the concept that all Internet content and websites should be treated equally by the networks controlling the flow and access to the Internet. Tim won the 2012 World Technology Award in the Law category. He was also chosen in 2013 for The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal. A battle is looming for control of the Internet, and his latest book illuminates and challenges to free speech and open access to its information and services. His insightful analysis and frank warnings are must reads: The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires and Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World (co-written with Jack Goldsmith). Tim regularly consults with policymakers on ways to keep the internet free from censorship and monopoly control. He has been recognized as one of fifty leaders in science and technology by Scientific American, and 01238 magazine has listed him as one of Harvard’s one hundred most influential graduates. Tim is a regular contributor to Slate, writing on topics in law, media, culture, travel, and cuisine. He has contributed to The New Yorker, TIME, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Forbes.

Christopher Surdak is an industry-recognized expert in Collaboration and Content Management, Big Data, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance, and Cloud Computing with over 20 years of professional experience. Presently, he is Global Subject Matter Expert for Analytics, Information Governance and eDiscovery for HP Autonomy.

Mr. Surdak has held similar roles with other leading companies such as Accenture, Siemens, Dell and Citibank. Mr. Surdak began his career with Lockheed Martin Astrospace, where he was a spacecraft systems engineer and rocket scientist.

Mr. Surdak holds a Juris Doctor from Taft University, an Executive Masters In Technology Management and a Moore Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s Certificate in Information Security from Villanova University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Surdak is author of “Data Crush: How the Information Tidal Wave is Driving New Business Opportunities”, published by AMACOM Publishing, recipient of GetAbstract’s International Book of the Year Award, 2014.

He is also contributing editor and columnist for European Business Review magazine.

René’s forensic career spans over seventeen years. He has played a key role in numerous civil and criminal investigations. His broad range of practice includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (“RCMP”), the banking industry as well as consulting within mid and large range accounting firms in Canada, Europe and South East Asia. His international experience provides him with a very unique understanding of multi-jurisdictional digital evidence protocols.

René’s advanced skills and experience in e-discovery as well as collecting and preserving digital evidence give him an understanding of the information flow within a complex digital environment therefore significantly speeding up fact finding assignments.

René completed the CBIS (Computer Based Information Systems) program through the University of Victoria, holds numerous Forensics and Security certifications, and has trained with the Canadian Police College on Electronic Searches and Seizures and the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia on proper incident response for network intrusion investigations and hacking techniques.

General Dick Berlijn retired from the Dutch Armed Forces in 2008 as Chief of Defence. Trained in Canada and following his operational time as an F-16 fighter pilot, Commander of the Tactical Air Force (1998) and Commander of the Air Force (2000), in 2005 he became the first Commander of the Armed Forces. As such he was the highest ranking officer, commanding the Dutch forces – Navy, Army and Air Force – and acting as the main advisor to the Defence minister. In addition to being responsible for the operations of the Dutch military abroad, he was responsible for the many reorganisations during that period. During his tenure the Dutch Armed Forces were active in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Arabian Gulf and the African continent. He currently works within Deloitte’s Risk Services practice, where he is involved in advisory engagements, usually focusing on Public Order and Safety, Cyber security, strategy, international cooperation, risk management in general and leadership. Berlijn knows both the world of politics and the civil service inside and out. He knows the official and political possibilities and impossibilities. In addition to his work with Deloitte, Berlijn holds a seat in various advisory committees dealing with safety issues. What’s more, he regularly speaks leaders of the political parties and interest groups.

Mr. Assanie has over 13 years of experience consulting with private sector companies, governments, and international institutions in the telecommunications sector. As VP (Research), Mr. Assanie is responsible for coordinating IEMR’s research portfolio in the area of syndicated network operations research and OSS / BSS strategy research.

His particular areas of expertise in telecoms include consulting for mobile network operators, handset manufacturers, OSS / BSS vendors, and content and services forecasting.

Mr. Assanie has also undertaken several dozen research and strategy projects for customers in a wide range of verticals within the telecoms value chain, including in areas such as big data analytics, network function virtualization, WAN optimization, cloud services, OSS / BSS strategy, and M2M business models.

George designed and productized the first MDX Engine SDK that powers the majority of today’s MDX OLAP engines. He also designed and implemented the first engine to recover the star-schema from an OLAP cube. He is the CTO of Simba Technologies where he directs the product line that spans traditional SQL databases to NoSQL data stores to Big Data/Hadoop data technologies. Simba is the leading supplier for technologies that bridge Hadoop, Google BigQuery and similar technologies with proven and established enterprise-class reporting and analytic tools. George has a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from University of British Columbia. Catch him and his views on data at blogs.simba.com.

Peter Reid, CIPP/US, is the Privacy Officer for all of HP’s Business Groups and Global Functions and leads a team responsible for all aspects of privacy across all of HP’s operations. Prior to taking on this role following the acquisition of EDS by HP, he was the EDS Chief Privacy Officer. He has more than 40 years of international experience in the information-technology field, having worked in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Peter has worked in the privacy arena for the last 16 years and prior to joining EDS in 2001 he was vice president of NCR Corporation’s Privacy Center. At HP and EDS he has helped companies such as 7-Eleven, Sprint/Nextel and Home Depot in building their privacy programs. Most recently he led an initiative across all of HP’s operations to comply with the most recent HIPAA Omnibus Rule. He is a recognized expert in privacy, particularly in the areas of trans border data flows, CRM and Big Data. Peter holds a B.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. He resides in Frisco, Texas.

As the President and CEO, Paul provides the vision and technical leadership at PHEMI.  He also currently serves on the board of directors for Providence Health Care, advising on its subcommittees for innovation, quality, EMR and next-generation data strategies in healthcare. Paul also serves on the board of directors for Life Sciences BC and Molecular You, and is an advisor to the BC provincial government on next-generation data strategies. He is an adjunct professor in Big Data at Simon Fraser University and is a partner with Magellan Angel Partners. Paul spent over a decade as the secretary/treasurer and technology adviser for the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, British Columbia’s health research support agency, and was one of the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at SFU Venture Labs.  Prior to his experience in healthcare and venture capital, Paul was the CTO and cofounder of OctigaBay Systems – a pioneer in high performance computing – which was acquired by Cray Inc, the world leader in supercomputing. He was also the cofounder and CTO of Abatis Systems, which was acquired by Redback Networks in one of the largest technology acquisitions in Canadian history. Paul’s early career included senior roles at Newbridge Networks and at technology companies in the UK.  Paul was awarded Canada’s “Top 40 Under 40 award in 2000.  He holds an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management, a marketing diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a PhD in Electrical Engineering and an honours Bachelor’s degree from the University of Liverpool.

Kevin Chan is Head of Public Policy, Canada for Facebook Inc. In this capacity he leads the company’s public policy efforts in Canada, facilitating an ongoing dialogue with policy-makers about Facebook’s products and services, and engaging on a broad range of issues that impact the Internet sector.

Kevin was previously Deputy Secretary-General of McGill University and a Non-Residential Fellow at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. Earlier he served in executive roles in the federal public service, including in the Privy Council Office and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. He began his career as a strategy consultant at the Monitor Group.

Kevin serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada and the Dean’s Council at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management. He has held visiting appointments at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy and its Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue.

Kevin graduated from Harvard Kennedy School, the Ivey Business School and the Royal Conservatory of Music. A 2004 Action Canada Fellow and a 2013 CommunityShift Fellow, he is a recipient of the Public Service Award of Excellence and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Colin is the Head of Google’s Public Policy and Government Relations team in Canada.

Colin is a member of the board at MediaSmarts, a not-for-profit organization that provides youth with critical thinking skills to engage with media as active and informed digital citizens, and was a member of the Government of Canada Advisory Panel on Open Government. He also sits on the boards of the Canadian-American Business Council and the Missing Children’s Society of Canada.

Before joining Google, he worked at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, where his team researched the impact of the digital economy on personal privacy and then built online tools to help Canadians understand their privacy rights. Prior to that, he worked on science and technology, patent, copyright, innovation, and transportation communications and policy for the Government of Canada.

He has a B.A and M.A from the University of Toronto in International Relations

Mark is a leading privacy advocate, visionary social networking pioneer, award-winning author, and the founder of MeWe. At the turn of the millennium, Mark founded SuperFamily and SuperFriends (both became PC Magazine “Top 100” sites), which were precursors to today’s social networks. In 2011, he founded Sgrouples, the world’s first privacy-centric social network, which served as a beta platform for the development of MeWe.

As one of the world’s foremost privacy advocates, Mark has served as a Steering Committee Member of National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), and has been named Privacy by Design Ambassador by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada. He has been interviewed on countless media outlets, including CNN International, Fox News, ABC, and over 650 radio stations around the world. Mark is a Huffington Post technology blogger and has also been published in USA Today and Dark Reading.

A successful athlete, Mark was a silver medalist in the 2005 USOC State Games of America (tennis) and has climbed Kala Patthar, an 18,500 foot Nepalese peak. He is also an expert on individual and organizational greatness and is the author of the (2x Indie Book award-winning) HABITUALLY GREAT book series, endorsed by the late Dr. Stephen Covey. Mark received his BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz; and his MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. He currently resides in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Drew was formerly Vice President Corporate Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer for TELUS Communications, Canada’s second largest telecommunications provider. As Chief Compliance Officer, Drew was responsible for legal and regulatory compliance for all of TELUS’ operations, reporting to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. A major part of the Chief Compliance Officer role for TELUS was that of Privacy Officer. Drew was accountable for the development and implementation of TELUS’ privacy policy, which has been independently recognized as an industry-leading policy. As part of his Privacy Officer role, Drew was involved in fostering a greater understanding of the practical applications of Canada’s private sector privacy legislation. He was a founding member of the Canadian Council of Chief Privacy Officers operating in conjunction with the Conference Board of Canada, and was a long-standing member of their executive committee. In 2004 Drew founded a cross-industry networking association in British Columbia, to assist privacy practitioners in B.C. with understanding the implications of private sector privacy legislation. In 2006 Drew worked with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), an international organization dedicated to privacy education, to develop the Canadian professional certification program, and was the first individual to achieve the designation of Certified International Privacy Professional of Canada (CIPP/C). In 2007 Drew founded The McArthur Consulting Group and is working with a variety of clients assisting them with strategic initiatives, policy development and practical solutions for managing their business. He is currently assisting the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia by serving on her external advisory committee.

Faiz Abdulla is the Co-founder and CEO of PaySavvy Inc. PaySavvy is a national human capital management provider that offers cloud-based payroll, human resource, and time and labour management software based in Vancouver, BC. It is one of only four payroll providers endorsed by the CRA. Faiz is passionate about changing the story around cloud-based payroll through modern, intuitive software, a positive client experience and unparalleled data security. Despite higher costs, PaySavvy has committed to storing all data in Canada in order to guarantee better than bank grade security. Faiz has extensive start-up, financial, operational, and leadership skills, built through 25 years in diverse industries. He ran several start-ups with successful exits. Faiz also has a plentitude of consulting experience and has been involved in the restructuring and turnaround of several multi-million dollar organizations. He has won several awards for this entrepreneurial efforts including the Economic Development of Southern Manitoba Regional Entrepreneur Award. In 2015 he was nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Kathryn Loewen is the Founder & CEO of Control, a  management platform for the payments industry. Kathryn has been working in the payments space for over 15 years at companies including Citigroup and SAP, working on solutions for notable brands such as Apple, Toyota and Oakley.

Kathryn obtained an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce from Royal Roads University, and an Executive Certificate in Marketing Management from UBC Sauder School of Business. Kathryn is also certified in Product Management from the Pragmatic Marketing Institute and is a member of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Boris Mann is the founder and managing partner of Full Stack, an angel investment firm that works with early stage technology companies.

Boris has been active in the Vancouver startup ecosystem for over a decade. His first local startup was Bryght, the first commercial Drupal company. He then went on to co-found Bootup Labs, the first startup accelerator in Canada.

Bernd Petak is an advisor, mentor, consultant and investment professional to early and mid-stage internet-driven technology companies and their investors. After eight years as an engineer he graduated with a MBA from the University of Western Ontario Ivey School. Bernd finished a tenure at Deloitte as a partner responsible for the firm’s regional strategy and operations practice. Bernd left Deloitte to found his first startup, a computer game development studio. Since 2006 Bernd has provided strategy and operations advice to numerous technology companies including acting as COO, CFO or CEO to several. Bernd is an active contributor to the early-stage technology community as a mentor for several Vancouver-based accelerators and incubators including Decentral, Vancouver’s crypto-technology hub. Since 2010, Bernd has had a specific interest in crypto-technology, including crypto-currencies as well as smart contracts.

John Proctor, VP, Global Cyber Security, leads the Canadian Security Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Ottawa, which comprises over 200 security and privacy professionals, a 24/7/365 Security Operations Centre and one of three accredited security evaluation test centres in Canada. The CoE delivers security and privacy services to Canadian and global organizations, including a large number of Canada’s major corporations, financial institutions, Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments. John is accountable globally for Commercial Managed Security Services for CGI and is also responsible for CGI’s global security portfolio and overall cyber strategy, which involves CGI’s 1200+ security professionals around the world. With over 22 years of experience in the British and Canadian forces prior to joining the private sector, John is a qualified Intelligence Officer, HUMINT operator, Hostage/Crisis Negotiator, has served as aircrew flying helicopters in the Royal Navy, and spent six years working with Canadian Special Forces. John draws upon his unique technical background mixed with his individual and organizational behaviour expertise to support the people and organizational pillars in cyber security and privacy. Known for his ability to communicate effectively with both a technical and a business audience, John has quickly become one of CGI’s global cyber security subject matter experts and is a sought after speaker at numerous industry conferences and CGI client events. John is a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs ICT Advisory Board and is CGI’s advisor to the Canadian Council for Chief Executives Cyber Security Advisory Council.

A successful entrepreneur, Aran is the President and Co‐Founder of Vantage Analytics. As one of Canada’s leading digital and mobile economy strategists, with a focus on predictive analytics, Aran has spent the past two decades working with retailers, payment networks, banks, and wireless carriers to shape Canada’s ecommerce environment.

Aran is also an investor in tech startups accells technologies and Vello. He is an alumnus of such pioneering firms as Monitor, PSTG, MIST, Digital Cement, m-­Qube, VeriSign, and EnStream/Zoompass. He is the past Chair of the Mobile Transactions & Commerce Summit, and co-­founder of IdentityNorth.

Aran is a sought-after conference speaker with significant hands-on experience rolling out platforms for web and mobile commerce, m-payments, money transfer and digital ID and authentication.

As Vice President of the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), David is tasked with unlocking economic opportunities for Canadian consumers and businesses by working with the public and private sectors to develop a robust, secure, scalable, convenient and privacy enhancing digital identification and authentication ecosystem.

Prior to joining the DIACC David spent 20 years providing corporate development and strategy services for a broad range of organizations including OnX, Info-Tech Research Group, Metafore, GSD, and Asta corporation. His primary focus was on helping companies leverage new and emerging technologies to better service their customers and develop new offerings. David holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Paola Zeni is a member of the Legal Department at Symantec, the fourth-largest independent software company in the world. In her role as Director of Global Privacy, Ethics and Compliance, she manages the Privacy Office and the Office of Ethics & Compliance, and supports Symantec businesses and functions with legal advice on global privacy and ethical issues. The mission of her team is to directly incorporate privacy into every product and process that touches personal information and to foster a culture of compliance that promotes integrity and the highest standards of ethical behavior at Symantec. Paola has spent her whole career in the high tech sector with a variety of responsibilities, and has been working on privacy issues for almost 15 years, first in Europe for HP and Agilent Technologies, and later in the US as Global Privacy Lead for Agilent. She has a Law Degree from the Catholic University of Milan and a LLM in US Law from the University of Santa Clara. She is member of the IAPP, has practiced in Italy, and is a member of the California Bar.

Stroud is vice president of strategy and innovation at CA Technologies (USA). He joined CA Technologies from the Australian computer security company Cybec, where he was responsible for the company’s successful global expansion, including entry into the North American market. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the finance industry, successfully managing multiple initiatives in both the IT and retail banking sectors related to IT service management and process governance. He is a member of ISACA’s Strategic Advisory Council and Governance Advisory Council. He has served as international president of ISACA, chair of ISACA’s ISO Liaison Subcommittee and COBIT Steering Committee, and member of the Professional Influence/Advocacy Committee and Framework Committee. Stroud earned ISACA’s 2013 President’s Appreciation Award and ISACA’s 2014 John W. Lainhart Common Body of Knowledge Award. He was also named winner of the itSMF UK 2014 Paul Rappaport Award for his contributions to service management.

Gerry Bliss provides privacy advisory and mentoring services to a spectrum of organizations. He has set and lead the privacy agenda in provincial and national eHealth projects and applied privacy, security, and information governance expertise to the risk management needs of large organizations in Canada and the US. Past CISO of the Calgary Health Region, co-author of the original “Guidelines for the Protection of Health Information” he is a past president of ISACA Victoria, teaches at UVic, and is currently leading the development and deployment of web based SCORM compliant privacy and security education.

Ben de Bont is Chief Security Officer of HP Cloud Services. He has responsibility for all aspects of security for HP’s public cloud offering.

Prior to joining HP, Mr. de Bont led the MySpace Security Group as Director of Information Security (CISO), and sat upon the Global News Corporation Security Committee, working extensively with business units including the Dow Jones and 20th Century Fox.

Mr. de Bont has also previously led the Incident Response Group for Microsoft’s Online Services, and held security responsibility for Hotmail, MSN Messenger and Search business units. He is an active and well known member of the security community, contributing to groups such as OWASP, the Cloud Security Alliance, and ISACA.

Mr. de Bont holds a MS degree in Computer Science from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and his undergraduate degree from the same institution. His thesis addressed ‘Digital Watermarking Encryption Algorithms Attacks and Defenses’ and he holds numerous security certifications such as the CISSP, CPISM, CISA and CISM.

Michael Garvin has over 20 years experience in information security and compliance, and IT architecture, administration, and management. He has been with Symantec since 2006 and is currently in Cyber Security Services (CSS). His responsibilities include live-fire cyber security training, skills development, and practice through cyber exercises and ranges, Symantec’s CyberWar Games and Cyber Readiness Challenge, and product management in related areas. Prior to his current role Michael was a member of the Security Advisory Services practice responsible for delivering assessment services for Fortune 500 companies, higher education, and state government addressing business-aligned audit, gap analysis, and remediation planning needs. He has also worked architecting and operating solutions at service providers, in pre-sales systems engineering for Sun Microsystems, with high-performance and Grid computing, and at institutions within the University of North Carolina system. Michael holds the CISSP, CGEIT, and CISM certifications.

Don Laursen is a Sr. Product Manager responsible for F5 Core Services. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Product Security. This includes SSL/TLS, Key Encryption and Certificate Management, Platform Security and Libraries: OpenSSL, OpenSSH.

Additional areas of focus includes research and tracking of promoted standards from NIAP, NIST, CESG, ISO, ANSI, BSI and others as they relate industry best practices and compliance at the government, the region, or state or tribal level.

Prior to joining F5, Don was a Principal Technical Product Manager with OpenText, a leader in Enterprise Information Management. Areas of focus included Unified Communications and Microsoft Integration projects supporting MS SharePoint, embedded Search technologies, and Media Server Appliances, with SIP, and MS Exchange.

Don has been in the technology industry for over 20 years, an IEEE, ACM, and International Privacy Professional Member. He holds a MS in computer systems, is a CISSP certified professional and Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

Prior to joining the private sector Don spent 10 years serving as a US Naval Cryptologist, in an active-duty role, and as reservist.

Abha Apte’s role at IEMR allows her to come into contact with an expansive field area in the telecoms value chain where she researches broad global trends in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) space.

Abha has conducted multiple large scale industry research projects in the areas of emerging virtualization and software-defined technologies. Her knowledge of NFV technologies spans across the NFV strategies and tactics employed by a large number of global and regional carriers, along with leading vendors. She has had discussions with key stakeholders in this industry and has comprehensive insights into the aspects of adoption and deployment preferences and concerns. She has also conducted large scale SDN research projects spanning the NA, EMEA, APAC and LATAM markets and has a wide-arching knowledge base of SDN technologies, its NFV use cases, and the tangible dual strategies being employed for trial and commercial migrations to software-defined or virtualized architecture.

Abha has substantial experience with market research, analysis and forecasting in the spheres of Network Security, Application Delivery Controllers and WAN Optimization, Big Data, Cloud services, and OSS/BSS research.

Abha’s educational background in computer hardware/software design and development has provided her with first-hand knowledge in Object Oriented Programming (OOP), digital communications, digital systems design, signal processing and microcontroller programming, with a focus on software-engineered data analysis and network management, design and security. Abha has a Bachelors in Engineering (Hons) in Computer Engineering.

Spiros Angelopoulos is a Principal Sales Consultant and Oracle Enterprise Architect, specializing in security, with focus on Identity and Access Management, and PKI. He has worked at Oracle since 2006 providing security solutions to local, State, Provincial, and Federal government institutions. His expertise includes detailed requirements collection and analysis, systems architecture, deployment and operations, and project management. Product-wise, Spiros covers the whole Identity Management Suite and the DB Security options.Spiros’ work experience includes Entrust where he managed the Western US professional services organization for deployment of PKI technology to a variety of commercial and government institutions, and NASA where he was responsible for the deployment of PKI across the entire Agency. Spiros’ experience also includes designing life support and closed-loop control systems for micro-gravity/space environments.Spiros holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, as well as numerous CS certifications.

Michael Roncon is the Director of Security Services for CGI in Western Canada. As a senior IT services and security professional with over 25 years’ experience in the private sector, Michael is a consummate technology services and management consultant with broad-based business experience in information technology service environments. Michael has developed strategies and the execution of collaborative secure solutions, including MSS, SECaaS, Identity Management, Mobile Security, Information Assurance, Cryptography, End Point Encryption, FIPS 140-Level1,2,3 and Biometric business security solutions. Michael has with a sound understanding of interacting with Government, and multi-national corporations across a variety of cultures, as well as demonstrated familiarity working at a senior level within large, complex organizations, focused on providing clients with solutions based on a trusted advisor role.

Dave Karp is a member of the Office of the CTO, serving in the capacity of Vice President, Technical Enablement with responsibility for technical enablement of a global sales force, working closely with product marketing and product management on go to market strategy and product life cycle management.

Before joining Digital Guardian, Dave’s responsibilities included leading a technical team of Security Evangelists and Solutions Specialists focused on delivering McAfee’s SIEM, participation in the development of products aligned to the Risk and Compliance business unit, and active evangelist for McAfee solutions and offerings. He has published whitepapers on SIEM, correlation, and vulnerability management. In addition, Mr. Karp has taught classes and presented at security conferences across the world; he recently addressed audiences in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and other countries.

Gary Perkins is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Government of British Columbia.  As the Executive Director of the Information Security Branch, Perkins is responsible for providing cybersecurity services in support of the province.  He has more than 18 years of experience in information technology, risk management and cybersecurity. Prior to joining the BC Government, Perkins worked in the private sector as chief of staff for security at TELUS and, earlier in his career, led teams responsible for incident response, operations, delivery and architecture for both corporate and managed security services customers.  A CISSP since 2004, Perkins also holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University’s Management of Technology program.

Michael Argast is the Director of TELUS Security Solutions’ National Product Management and Solution Teams, joining in May 2011. As Canada’s largest managed security services provider, TELUS’ fast growing security practice provides wide ranging solutions from GRC consulting, Testing and Vulnerability Assessments, security technology acquisition and implementation, through to full security operations outsourcing. With over a decade of focus on information security, TELUS Security Solutions has hundreds of the largest Canadian government and private sector organizations as customers.

As an internationally experienced expert leading global teams, Fortune 500 companies in the financial services, healthcare and telecom sectors, government and higher education organizations – have relied on Michael’s counsel, and then grounded their implementation plans on his recommendations. A lengthy list of media outlets have sourced him as a security expert including: The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, USA Today, New York Times, Business Week, Forbes, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and CBC News.

ISACA International Board member and Vice President Rob Clyde, CISM, is chief executive officer (CEO) of Adaptive Computing, which provides workload management software for some of the world’s largest cloud, HPC and big data environments. He is also a director on the board of Zimbra, a leader in social and collaboration software. He founded Clyde Consulting LLC and was chief technology officer (CTO) at Symantec. Credited with creating the first commercial intrusion detection system, he is a cybersecurity expert with over three decades of experience. He chairs a board-level ISACA working group and has served as a member of ISACA’s Strategic Advisory Council, Conference and Education Board, and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) Advisory Panel. He was also a founding board member of the IT-ISAC and SafeCode organizations.

Ahmed Etman is the General Manager of Security and Enterprise Networking for Cisco Canada. In this role, he is responsible for Canadian growth within Cisco’s core technologies including enterprise routing, switching, and wireless networking. He is also responsible for managing Cisco’s cross-portfolio security solutions and leads a team of dedicated sales specialists across the country. Etman has over 12 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He joined Cisco’s Europe, Middle East and Africa team in 2006 as a security business development manager, based in Dubai. He is a mechanical engineer by training and started his career as a security systems engineer. Before joining Cisco, he held various positions at Internet Security Systems (now part of IBM), including Director of Technical Solutions, and was responsible for opening the ISS operation in the Middle East and Africa region. Etman holds a bachelor of science degree from The American University in Cairo.

Asif Savvas is an Associate Partner with Simeio Solutions. He is responsible for Simeio’s Canadian Practice advising customers in both the commercial and public sector space. Prior to joining Simeio, Asif held responsibility for delivery of identity solutions across Canada at Oracle/Sun. He joined Sun as part of the Vaau acquisition where he played a vital role in establishing the Vaau Role Management Product (now renamed Oracle Identity Analytics) as an industry leader in the areas of Role Management and Compliance. He has worked across North America serving clients in the utility, energy, telecommunications, and financial services industries and is seen as a subject matter expert in the areas of Identity Management, RBAC and Compliance. He holds a B.Tech in Information Technology from Madras University and an MBA from The University of British Columbia’s, Sauder School of Business.

Drew was formerly Vice President Corporate Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer for TELUS Communications, Canada’s second largest telecommunications provider. As Chief Compliance Officer, Drew was responsible for legal and regulatory compliance for all of TELUS’ operations, reporting to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. A major part of the Chief Compliance Officer role for TELUS was that of Privacy Officer. Drew was accountable for the development and implementation of TELUS’ privacy policy, which has been independently recognized as an industry-leading policy. As part of his Privacy Officer role, Drew was involved in fostering a greater understanding of the practical applications of Canada’s private sector privacy legislation. He was a founding member of the Canadian Council of Chief Privacy Officers operating in conjunction with the Conference Board of Canada, and was a long-standing member of their executive committee. In 2004 Drew founded a cross-industry networking association in British Columbia, to assist privacy practitioners in B.C. with understanding the implications of private sector privacy legislation. In 2006 Drew worked with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), an international organization dedicated to privacy education, to develop the Canadian professional certification program, and was the first individual to achieve the designation of Certified International Privacy Professional of Canada (CIPP/C). In 2007 Drew founded The McArthur Consulting Group and is working with a variety of clients assisting them with strategic initiatives, policy development and practical solutions for managing their business. He is currently assisting the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia by serving on her external advisory committee.

Dr. Avner Levin is an Associate Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management, and Chair of the Law & Business Department. He heads Ryerson University’s Law Research Centre which focuses on research related to law and legal education. He is also the Director of the Privacy and Cyber Crime Institute, a centre for research related to privacy and cybercrime. During the 2012-2013 academic year Professor Levin served as Ryerson University’s Interim Vice-Provost of Faculty Affairs and as Interim Assistant Vice-President of Human Resources. He is an alumnus of Tel-Aviv University, holding a B.Sc. and LL.B. degree, and of the University of Toronto, holding an LL.M. and S.J.D.

Professor Levin’s research interests include the protection and legal regulation of personal and private information, both locally and internationally. Among his recent research areas are social media, online advertising, the workplace, mobile devices, corporate risk management, electronic health records and the smart electricity grid. He has been a recipient of funding from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Public Safety Canada and Industry Canada.

Professor Levin has published his work in journals such as the American Business Law Journal, the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, the International Journal of Information Security and the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. He is the co-author, with Mr. Howard Simkevitz of the “The Law of Employee Use of Technology” and is a frequent commentator on these topics in the media.

Marc Saltzman is one of North America’s most recognizable and trusted tech experts, specializing in consumer electronics, business technology, interactive entertainment and Internet trends. Marc has authored 15 books since 1996 and currently contributes to more than 40 high-profile publications in North America, including USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, Costco Connection, Toronto Star, Postmedia, Telus Talks Business and Rogers Connected. Marc hosts various video segments, including “Gear Guide” (seen at Cineplex movie theatres and sister chains across Canada) and is a regular guest on CNN, CNN International and CTV’s Canada AM. Marc also hosts “Tech Talk,” a radio show on Montreal’s CJAD 800, part of Bell Media.

Micheal Vonn is a lawyer and the Policy Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association. She has been an adjunct professor in the faculty of law at the University of British Columbia and an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, where she teaches information ethics and intellectual freedom. Ms. Vonn is a frequent speaker on a variety of civil liberties topics including privacy, national security, policing, surveillance and free speech. She a board member of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and an advisory board member of Privacy International.

A successful entrepreneur, Aran is the President and Co‐Founder of Vantage Analytics. As one of Canada’s leading digital and mobile economy strategists, with a focus on predictive analytics, Aran has spent the past two decades working with retailers, payment networks, banks, and wireless carriers to shape Canada’s ecommerce environment.

Aran is also an investor in tech startups accells technologies and Vello. He is an alumnus of such pioneering firms as Monitor, PSTG, MIST, Digital Cement, m-­Qube, VeriSign, and EnStream/Zoompass. He is the past Chair of the Mobile Transactions & Commerce Summit, and co-­founder of IdentityNorth.

Aran is a sought-after conference speaker with significant hands-on experience rolling out platforms for web and mobile commerce, m-payments, money transfer and digital ID and authentication.

Arash Asli is founder and CEO of Yocale. He founded the company in 2013 with a vision of matching and connecting local consumers with service providers in their neighbourhood. Regarded as a thought leader and entrepreneur, Arash has been instrumental in driving leading businesses to transform into customer-focused companies by embracing new social, mobile, and local technologies.

Before Yocale, he oversaw a half-billion dollar portfolio of enterprise and SMB business solutions at Aptean as Executive Vice President of Business Solutions & Strategic Alliances.  Recognized as a pragmatic and a transformational leader, Arash has a unique blend of technology, business development, sales and general management skills and has held a variety of other roles including Worldwide VP of CRM, EVP Professional Services, VP Sales Consulting, and Director of Worldwide Business Development. He has worked and sold globally in a number of industries including financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and real-estate.

Arash holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Executive Management and is a Certified Management Consultant by the international Council of Management Consulting Institute (ICMCI). Arash is honoured to have been named the Business in Vancouver’s Top Forty under 40 business executive.

George currently is a lead consultant in the CGI Global Cyber Security Practice. He has over 18 years of experience in the IT Security industry across a wide range of domains and roles in the private and public sector with a focus on governance, risk, and compliance. George has been involved in the NERC standards committee, conducts training and assessments, and has participated and completed NERC recognized training seminars. He is trilingual, and has certifications including CISSP, CISM, CISA, and prior to CGI was a PCI-DSS qualified security assessor for the Payment Card Industry.  He has extensive business development experience throughout his career that has complimented his technical security knowledge and skill.

He has performed many compliance assessments, threat risk assessments, developed risk management strategies, instructed security courses and training for the Canadian Government and private companies, and managed security initiatives and activities focused on improving the overall security posture and compliance of organizations. George has held senior security roles with companies such as TELUS, the Senate of Canada, Nortel Networks, Computer Associates, Entrust, KyberPass, KastenChase, and Certicom. This experience has provided him with a solid foundation of strong technical and business understanding across a wide range of IT security subject matter expertise focused at IT Security compliance and governance. George has Top Secret clearance with the Government of Canada and has been officially recognized in various roles including Senior IT Security Methodology, Policy and Procedures Analyst and Senior Threat and Risk Assessment and Certification & Accreditation Analyst, and Senior IT Security Project Manager. He also is a professor at Algonquin College where he instructs courses on risk management, and IT security law and compliance including on topics of NERC CIP standards.

Don Laursen is a Sr. Product Manager responsible for F5 Core Services. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Product Security. This includes SSL/TLS, Key Encryption and Certificate Management, Platform Security and Libraries: OpenSSL, OpenSSH.

Additional areas of focus includes research and tracking of promoted standards from NIAP, NIST, CESG, ISO, ANSI, BSI and others as they relate industry best practices and compliance at the government, the region, or state or tribal level.

Prior to joining F5, Don was a Principal Technical Product Manager with OpenText, a leader in Enterprise Information Management. Areas of focus included Unified Communications and Microsoft Integration projects supporting MS SharePoint, embedded Search technologies, and Media Server Appliances, with SIP, and MS Exchange.

Don has been in the technology industry for over 20 years, an IEEE, ACM, and International Privacy Professional Member. He holds a MS in computer systems, is a CISSP certified professional and Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

Prior to joining the private sector Don spent 10 years serving as a US Naval Cryptologist, in an active-duty role, and as reservist.

As Cisco’s Chief Security and Trust Officer, John Stewart formed and leads Cisco’s Security and Trust Organization. John’s role in this organization underscores Cisco’s commitment to address security as the number one issue in boardrooms and on the minds of top leaders around the globe. Under John’s leadership, the Security and Trust Organization’s key mission is to protect Cisco’s public and private customers, Cisco’s entire mature and emerging solution portfolio, and Cisco itself from the expanding threat landscape in the era of Cloud and the Internet of Everything. John’s organization ensures that foundational security controls span the entire attack continuum—before, during and after cyber threats. Throughout his 25-year career, Stewart has led or participated in security initiatives ranging from elementary school IT design to national security programs. In addition to his role at Cisco, he sits on technical advisory boards for Area 1 Security, BlackStratus, Inc., RedSeal Networks and Nok Nok Labs, is a special advisor to Koolspan’s Board of Directors, and is on the Board of Directors for Shape Security, Fixmo, Inc., Shadow Networks, Inc., and the National Cyber-Forensics Training Alliance (NCFTA). Additionally, Stewart serves on the Council of Experts for the Global Cyber Security Center and the Cybersecurity Think Tank at University of Maryland University College. He served on the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency and on advisory boards for successful companies such as Akonix, Cloudshield, Finjan, Ingrian Networks, Riverhead, and TripWire. John is a highly sought public and closed-door speaker and most recently was awarded the global Golden Bridge Award and CSO 40 Silver Award for the 2014 Chief Security Officer of the Year. Stewart holds a Master of Science degree in computer and information science from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.

Richard Purcell has been a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection challenges since the late ‘90’s. He leads Corporate Privacy Group (CPG), an independent consulting firm focusing on establishing sustainable and effective information security and privacy programs. CPG supports multi-national corporations, Internet start-ups and government agencies in planning, developing, and implementing enterprise-wide programs designed to respect and protect personal information. Utilizing its proprietary management model, 3PT™, CPG works from a basis of assuring that the right people develop and communicate the right policies supported by the right processes and technologies. CPG also offers award-winning Web-based education and training courseware for security and privacy awareness, knowledge and skills development. As Microsoft’s original privacy officer, Richard designed, developed, implemented and oversaw one of the world’s largest and most advanced privacy programs spanning Internet properties, software products, end-user support and information systems. In 2002, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative included the global privacy program as a key enterprise pillar. Throughout this period, Richard worked closely with regulators and legislators in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia to create global accountability and compliance standards and maintains those relationships today. Recently, Richard also served as Chairman of the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee to the Department of Homeland Security and as the Executive Director of the non-profit research agency, the Privacy Projects. Previously, he served on the Federal Trade Commission’s Online Access & Security Advisory Committee and as Chairman of TRUSTe, the pioneering online privacy certification agency. He sits on several corporate advisory boards and regularly addresses issues of information privacy and data protection domestically and globally.

John Jacobson was appointed Deputy Minister, Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services, Province of B.C., on June 10, 2013.

He comes to government from the BC Innovation Council (BCIC) where he held the position of President and CEO.

John is a seasoned British Columbian entrepreneur and business leader with a track record of identifying new business opportunities and bringing innovative products to market. He got his start as an entrepreneur as the co-founder of a manufacturing company in North Vancouver in 1979 and he hasn’t looked back since.

Prior to joining BCIC, John was President and Chief Executive Officer of Monexa Technologies Inc., where he led the transformation of the pioneering internet service provider from the 1990’s into a leader in billing and payment services in the cloud. Before Monexa, John held leadership roles at Offshore Systems International (OSI Geospatial), MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates and PSC Group.

As Oracle’s Vice President of Global Public policy, Mr. Alhadeff is responsible for coordinating and managing Oracle’s international and Internet-related policy issues.As Chief Privacy Strategist, Mr. Alhadeff oversees Oracle’s strategic planning and advocacy related to privacy, personal information protection and management across all Oracle operations and product areas as well as global fora.In addition to his role at Oracle, Mr. Alhadeff serves a prominent role in several influential international organizations dedicated to Internet policy, security and privacy. Mr Alhadeff serves as the BIAC Chair to the OECD ICCP Committee, head of industry delegation to the OECD Security Steering Group, and a Vice Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Digital Economy Committee. In the EU, Mr. Alhadeff serves as Chair of the Data Protection, Governance and Identity Management working group of the EU Expert Group on Cloud Computing. In the US, Mr. Alhadeff chairs the Digital Economy Committee for the US India Business Council, co-chairs EABC’s Information Governance working group and is Vice Chair of USCIB’s Information Policy Committee. Mr. Alhadeff is also the Chair of the US ASEAN’s Malaysia Committee, Vice-Chair of the US-ASEAN Business Council’s Technology Committee and serves on the NCAPEC Board. Mr Alhadeff also serves on the advisory boards of the Digital Security Council of India, and Wiredkids.org.Prior to joining Oracle, Mr. Alhadeff was General Counsel and Vice President for Electronic Commerce for the US Council for International Business (USCIB) in New York. Mr. Alhadeff holds an M.B.A. in management and information systems from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

Marc Saltzman is one of North America’s most recognizable and trusted tech experts, specializing in consumer electronics, business technology, interactive entertainment and Internet trends. Marc has authored 15 books since 1996 and currently contributes to more than 40 high-profile publications in North America, including USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, Costco Connection, Toronto Star, Postmedia, Telus Talks Business and Rogers Connected. Marc hosts various video segments, including “Gear Guide” (seen at Cineplex movie theatres and sister chains across Canada) and is a regular guest on CNN, CNN International and CTV’s Canada AM. Marc also hosts “Tech Talk,” a radio show on Montreal’s CJAD 800, part of Bell Media.

For many years, Jim Reavis has worked in the information security industry as an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, technologist and business strategist. Jim’s innovative thinking about emerging security trends have been published and presented widely throughout the industry and have influenced many. Jim is helping shape the future of information security and related technology industries as co-founder, CEO and driving force of the Cloud Security Alliance. Jim has been named as one of the Top 10 cloud computing leaders by SearchCloudComputing.com.

Jim is the President of Reavis Consulting Group, LLC, where he advises security companies, governments, large enterprises and other organizations on the implications of new trends such as Cloud, Mobility, Internet of Things and how to take advantage of them. Jim founded SecurityPortal, the Internet’s largest website devoted to information security in 1998, and guided it until a successful exit in 2000. Jim has been an advisor on the launch of many industry ventures that have achieved a successful M&A exit or IPO. Jim is widely quoted in the press and has worked with hundreds of corporations on their information security strategy and technology roadmap. Jim has a background in networking technologies, marketing, product management and systems integration. Jim received a B.A. in Business Administration / Computer Science from Western Washington University in 1987 and serves on WWU’s alumni board.

Catherine Tully was appointed as the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Review Officer for Nova Scotia effective September 1, 2014.  After being called to the Ontario Bar in 1990, Review Officer Tully initially practiced law in the Ontario legal clinic system.  For the past 14 years she has worked exclusively in the area of access and privacy law.

From 2000 until 2006 she served as the Director of Access, Privacy and Records Management for three provincial government institutions in British Columbia.  She then worked in a variety of capacities with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia including as Assistant Information and Privacy Commissioner from 2008-2012.  Most recently Review Officer Tully served as the Director of Access and Privacy for the Canada Post Corporation.

Ms. Tully holds a B.Sc., B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Ottawa and an LL.M. from Dalhousie University.

As Oracle’s Vice President of Global Public policy, Mr. Alhadeff is responsible for coordinating and managing Oracle’s international and Internet-related policy issues.As Chief Privacy Strategist, Mr. Alhadeff oversees Oracle’s strategic planning and advocacy related to privacy, personal information protection and management across all Oracle operations and product areas as well as global fora.In addition to his role at Oracle, Mr. Alhadeff serves a prominent role in several influential international organizations dedicated to Internet policy, security and privacy. Mr Alhadeff serves as the BIAC Chair to the OECD ICCP Committee, head of industry delegation to the OECD Security Steering Group, and a Vice Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Digital Economy Committee. In the EU, Mr. Alhadeff serves as Chair of the Data Protection, Governance and Identity Management working group of the EU Expert Group on Cloud Computing. In the US, Mr. Alhadeff chairs the Digital Economy Committee for the US India Business Council, co-chairs EABC’s Information Governance working group and is Vice Chair of USCIB’s Information Policy Committee. Mr. Alhadeff is also the Chair of the US ASEAN’s Malaysia Committee, Vice-Chair of the US-ASEAN Business Council’s Technology Committee and serves on the NCAPEC Board. Mr Alhadeff also serves on the advisory boards of the Digital Security Council of India, and Wiredkids.org.Prior to joining Oracle, Mr. Alhadeff was General Counsel and Vice President for Electronic Commerce for the US Council for International Business (USCIB) in New York. Mr. Alhadeff holds an M.B.A. in management and information systems from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

Ben de Bont is Chief Security Officer of HP Cloud Services. He has responsibility for all aspects of security for HP’s public cloud offering.

Prior to joining HP, Mr. de Bont led the MySpace Security Group as Director of Information Security (CISO), and sat upon the Global News Corporation Security Committee, working extensively with business units including the Dow Jones and 20th Century Fox.

Mr. de Bont has also previously led the Incident Response Group for Microsoft’s Online Services, and held security responsibility for Hotmail, MSN Messenger and Search business units. He is an active and well known member of the security community, contributing to groups such as OWASP, the Cloud Security Alliance, and ISACA.

Mr. de Bont holds a MS degree in Computer Science from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and his undergraduate degree from the same institution. His thesis addressed ‘Digital Watermarking Encryption Algorithms Attacks and Defenses’ and he holds numerous security certifications such as the CISSP, CPISM, CISA and CISM.

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 leads Canadian outreach for a variety of technology policies including: Economic Development, Privacy, Security, Accessibility, AI ethics and Interoperability. He also leads Microsoft Canada’s Responsible AI program and was one of the authors of Canada’s National Standard on Ethics in the Design and Use of Automated Decision Systems.

Colin Bennett received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Wales, and his Ph.D from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 1986 he has taught in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, where he is now Professor. From 1999-2000, he was a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2007 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, he was Visiting Professor at the School of Law, University of New South Wales. His research has focused on the comparative analysis of surveillance technologies and privacy protection policies at the domestic and international levels. In addition to numerous scholarly and newspaper articles, he has published six books, including The Privacy Advocates: Resisting the Spread of Surveillance (The MIT Press, 2008), and policy reports on privacy protection for Canadian and international agencies. He is currently the co-investigator of a large Major Collaborative Research Initiative grant entitled “The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting.”

Nikolas is a Futurist with over 20 years of research, writing and speaking experience. He talks about urban design, technology and human connection, intimacy through technology, biohacking, privacy and surveillance, wearable computing, the deep web, disruption in traditional advertising and societal trends that are affecting our world.

He also produces amazing events, including Cyborg Camp, PRODUCT, From Now, DARK FUTURES, BRIGHT FUTURES, and Vancouver Futurists.

Michael McEvoy is Deputy Commissioner for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia (OIPC).

Prior to this appointment, he served as Assistant Commissioner and as Senior Adjudicator.

Before joining the Office he acted as legal counsel to the Labour Relations Board, practiced law in the private sector and was also an advisor to the Attorney General of British Columbia.

Mr. McEvoy’s community service has included Chair of the Greater Victoria Board, serving as President of the BC Trustees Association and the Canadian School Boards Association. He is a past Campaign Chair of the United Way of Greater Victoria.

He is married with two daughters, is a road bike enthusiast and continues to have dreams of glory as a hockey player with the Victoria Grey Leafs old-timers.

Carolina Moura is a Legal Consultant, a Lawyer, a Data Protection Officer and a Guest Professor invited by Universidade de Lisboa to present several lecturers regarding the Personal Data Protection (hereinafter “PDP”) area. Her passion for technology led her to become a specialist in the PDP area having completed a master thesis related to the privacy risks for individuals & companies of the processing of images, namely using facial recognition software by social networks and CCTV technologies in Europe with possible impact on more than 1 billion of users. In Portugal, Carolina worked as Solicitor/Barrister in one of the best Portuguese Law firms where she has led audit teams and was a legal advisor for international projects worth several million euros. In Ireland, Carolina has been providing specialist data protection compliance services to Irish companies in the financial, insurance and legal sectors and has been helping several software developers to create their products with a privacy by design approach.

Richard Purcell has been a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection challenges since the late ‘90’s. He leads Corporate Privacy Group (CPG), an independent consulting firm focusing on establishing sustainable and effective information security and privacy programs. CPG supports multi-national corporations, Internet start-ups and government agencies in planning, developing, and implementing enterprise-wide programs designed to respect and protect personal information. Utilizing its proprietary management model, 3PT™, CPG works from a basis of assuring that the right people develop and communicate the right policies supported by the right processes and technologies. CPG also offers award-winning Web-based education and training courseware for security and privacy awareness, knowledge and skills development. As Microsoft’s original privacy officer, Richard designed, developed, implemented and oversaw one of the world’s largest and most advanced privacy programs spanning Internet properties, software products, end-user support and information systems. In 2002, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative included the global privacy program as a key enterprise pillar. Throughout this period, Richard worked closely with regulators and legislators in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia to create global accountability and compliance standards and maintains those relationships today. Recently, Richard also served as Chairman of the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee to the Department of Homeland Security and as the Executive Director of the non-profit research agency, the Privacy Projects. Previously, he served on the Federal Trade Commission’s Online Access & Security Advisory Committee and as Chairman of TRUSTe, the pioneering online privacy certification agency. He sits on several corporate advisory boards and regularly addresses issues of information privacy and data protection domestically and globally.

F. Christian Byrnes is a managing vice president in Gartner. His team is distributed across the globe and covers the management of risk-related programs such as Information Security, Business Continuity, Privacy and Compliance. In addition, he consults with leading organizations worldwide on technology direction, security trends and best practices.
Mr. Byrnes is a former CEO as well as COO, vice president strategic marketing, vice president business development and vice president of software engineering at various software companies including IBM, Martin Marietta and Landmark Corporation. Mr. Byrnes created a unique formal methodology for deployment and delivery of information security in large organizations.

Charles started his career in InfoSec in 2002 as a network security analyst and network security officer within the US Navy. He has labored as a network security product tester for InfoWorld Magazine, led a technology consulting firm and currently serves as Consulting Security Architect for Lancope.

Charles spends most of his time consulting with Fortune 2000 companies in the Midwest US on detecting and mitigating advanced, sophisticated attacks that leverage 0day exploits and insider threats.

Ellen is President and co-founder of TMC IT and Telecom Consulting Inc. She is a graduate of Electrical Engineering of the University of Calgary.

Ellen is an IT and Telecommunications Management Consultant, author, speaker, strategic planner, and expert witness. Ellen has evolved from Telco engineer through R & D to Consultant. She has also been a technical writer for the Globe and Mail and other publications, and has lectured at conferences, colleges and has presented industry seminars across North America.

Since 1988 she has overseen her team to provide services including:

• IT assessments
• Enterprise Risk Assessments
• Cost optimization
  • Strategic planning
  • New systems and services acquisition
  • Project management
  • Regulatory review
  • Market research
  • Customer service evaluation
• Governance review
  • Executive technology briefings
  • Design assistance to manufacturers

Ellen has the ability to deal comfortably with people of all levels of the organization. Clients make reference to her professional, `user-friendly’ and easy to understand approach. She has always received excellent reviews when presenting technology seminars as she is able to translate jargon into English, but more importantly, she zeros in on the relevant issues and identifies the implications.

Chief Weighill served 31 years with the Regina Police Service, prior to joining the Saskatoon Police Service in 2006. In Regina he worked in Patrol, Communications, Crime Prevention, Commercial Crime, Property Crime, Drugs, Vice, Planning and Research and Senior Administration.

He has lectured to universities, police colleges, national conferences, federal, provincial and municipal governments and appeared before Parliamentary Committees regarding; crime trends, community policing, organized crime, street gangs, vehicle theft, leadership, and the future of policing.

Chief Weighill’s associations are:

• Member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police
• Co-Chair – National Police Information Services Advisory Board
• Governor – North Saskatchewan Corps of Commissionaires
• Member – Advisory Committee on Judicial Appointments – Saskatchewan
• Member – CACP Police Information and Statistics Committee
• Member – Canadian Safety and Security Program Advisory Board
• Member – Saskatchewan Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan
• Past Co-Chair CACP Information Technology Sub-Committee
• Past Chair Prairie Region of National Joint Committee of Senior Justice Officials
• Chaired – Business Requirements Sub-Committee developing the business requirements for the $134 million modernization of CPIC.

Chief Weighill holds certificates in Administration and in Continuing Education/ Administrative Development from the University of Regina. He has attended Executive courses at the Canadian Police College, the Banff School of Management and has graduated from the Senior Management Institute for Police, held in Boston and sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum in the United States.

Chief Weighill is the recipient of the Police Exemplary Service Medal and Bar, the Saskatchewan Protective Services Medal, the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and is a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces.

F. Christian Byrnes is a managing vice president in Gartner. His team is distributed across the globe and covers the management of risk-related programs such as Information Security, Business Continuity, Privacy and Compliance. In addition, he consults with leading organizations worldwide on technology direction, security trends and best practices.
Mr. Byrnes is a former CEO as well as COO, vice president strategic marketing, vice president business development and vice president of software engineering at various software companies including IBM, Martin Marietta and Landmark Corporation. Mr. Byrnes created a unique formal methodology for deployment and delivery of information security in large organizations.

Bernd Petak is an advisor, mentor, consultant and investment professional to early and mid-stage internet-driven technology companies and their investors. After eight years as an engineer he graduated with a MBA from the University of Western Ontario Ivey School. Bernd finished a tenure at Deloitte as a partner responsible for the firm’s regional strategy and operations practice. Bernd left Deloitte to found his first startup, a computer game development studio. Since 2006 Bernd has provided strategy and operations advice to numerous technology companies including acting as COO, CFO or CEO to several. Bernd is an active contributor to the early-stage technology community as a mentor for several Vancouver-based accelerators and incubators including Decentral, Vancouver’s crypto-technology hub. Since 2010, Bernd has had a specific interest in crypto-technology, including crypto-currencies as well as smart contracts.

Jane Hamilton has been working with the Canadian federal government since 1998. In her current capacity as Senior Policy Advisor with the Digital Policy Branch of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada), Jane’s focus is on policy development related to building trust and confidence in the digital economy. This work involves both security and privacy aspects.

Prior to working with the federal government, Jane worked for over 12 years in the financial services industry. As a member of the senior management team of the Canadian Payments Association, Jane was responsible for the development of polices and standards for electronic payments.

Jane assumed the role of Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Security and Privacy in the Digital Economy in 2011 and held that role until December of last year. She continues to be Canada’s delegate to the Working Party and provides advice and guidance to the new Chair in her role as a Vice-Chair of the group.

Nikolas is a Futurist with over 20 years of research, writing and speaking experience. He talks about urban design, technology and human connection, intimacy through technology, biohacking, privacy and surveillance, wearable computing, the deep web, disruption in traditional advertising and societal trends that are affecting our world.

He also produces amazing events, including Cyborg Camp, PRODUCT, From Now, DARK FUTURES, BRIGHT FUTURES, and Vancouver Futurists.

Dr. Christopher Parsons holds a Ph.D from the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, where he investigated the political drivers of Internet service providers’ network surveillance practices in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow and the Managing Director of the Telecom Transparency Project at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Dr. Parsons is currently investigating the rationales, processes, practices, and politics of third-party access to telecommunications data. He is also a Privacy by Design Ambassador and an advisor to several small- and medium-sized organizations.

Dr. Avner Levin is an Associate Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management, and Chair of the Law & Business Department. He heads Ryerson University’s Law Research Centre which focuses on research related to law and legal education. He is also the Director of the Privacy and Cyber Crime Institute, a centre for research related to privacy and cybercrime. During the 2012-2013 academic year Professor Levin served as Ryerson University’s Interim Vice-Provost of Faculty Affairs and as Interim Assistant Vice-President of Human Resources. He is an alumnus of Tel-Aviv University, holding a B.Sc. and LL.B. degree, and of the University of Toronto, holding an LL.M. and S.J.D.

Professor Levin’s research interests include the protection and legal regulation of personal and private information, both locally and internationally. Among his recent research areas are social media, online advertising, the workplace, mobile devices, corporate risk management, electronic health records and the smart electricity grid. He has been a recipient of funding from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Public Safety Canada and Industry Canada.

Professor Levin has published his work in journals such as the American Business Law Journal, the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, the International Journal of Information Security and the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. He is the co-author, with Mr. Howard Simkevitz of the “The Law of Employee Use of Technology” and is a frequent commentator on these topics in the media.

Robin M. Bayley (BA, MPA, University of Victoria), President of Linden Consulting Inc., Privacy & Policy Advisors, has co-authored several chapters and reports on privacy regulation and methodologies such as privacy impact assessments. She helps organizations subject to Canadian privacy laws identify privacy risks and address them with policies and processes, and has assisted privacy regulators develop privacy compliance guides and tools for organizations and the public.

Michael Argast is the Director of TELUS Security Solutions’ National Product Management and Solution Teams, joining in May 2011. As Canada’s largest managed security services provider, TELUS’ fast growing security practice provides wide ranging solutions from GRC consulting, Testing and Vulnerability Assessments, security technology acquisition and implementation, through to full security operations outsourcing. With over a decade of focus on information security, TELUS Security Solutions has hundreds of the largest Canadian government and private sector organizations as customers.

As an internationally experienced expert leading global teams, Fortune 500 companies in the financial services, healthcare and telecom sectors, government and higher education organizations – have relied on Michael’s counsel, and then grounded their implementation plans on his recommendations. A lengthy list of media outlets have sourced him as a security expert including: The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, USA Today, New York Times, Business Week, Forbes, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and CBC News.

Ms. Mari Heiser (pronounced Mary) is an IBM STSM (Senior Technical Staff Member) as well as an IBM and Open Group master certified architect with over 20 years architecture, governance, risk, compliance, and technical management experience in networks and web technologies, specializing in security, compliance and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Ms. Heiser is also expert in Identity and Access Management, Cloud, Security Analytics and leads the IBM internal Information Security Community of Practice for the Americas. Ms. Heiser’s industry specific experience has been concentrated in banking, manufacturing, distribution, bio-tech, education and aerospace industries. Ms. Heiser is currently a member of the IBM Global Cloud Security and Compliance team for SoftLayer. In this role, she is involved with IBM teams worldwide to insure secure delivery of IBM cloud solutions and architectures for customers both large and small.

Richard Purcell has been a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection challenges since the late ‘90’s. He leads Corporate Privacy Group (CPG), an independent consulting firm focusing on establishing sustainable and effective information security and privacy programs. CPG supports multi-national corporations, Internet start-ups and government agencies in planning, developing, and implementing enterprise-wide programs designed to respect and protect personal information. Utilizing its proprietary management model, 3PT™, CPG works from a basis of assuring that the right people develop and communicate the right policies supported by the right processes and technologies. CPG also offers award-winning Web-based education and training courseware for security and privacy awareness, knowledge and skills development. As Microsoft’s original privacy officer, Richard designed, developed, implemented and oversaw one of the world’s largest and most advanced privacy programs spanning Internet properties, software products, end-user support and information systems. In 2002, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative included the global privacy program as a key enterprise pillar. Throughout this period, Richard worked closely with regulators and legislators in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia to create global accountability and compliance standards and maintains those relationships today. Recently, Richard also served as Chairman of the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee to the Department of Homeland Security and as the Executive Director of the non-profit research agency, the Privacy Projects. Previously, he served on the Federal Trade Commission’s Online Access & Security Advisory Committee and as Chairman of TRUSTe, the pioneering online privacy certification agency. He sits on several corporate advisory boards and regularly addresses issues of information privacy and data protection domestically and globally.

Bram Abramson is Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer at TekSavvy Solutions Inc. TekSavvy is a leading independent, consumer-focused telecommunications provider based in Chatham, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec. Bram’s role at TekSavvy includes responsibility for privacy, copyright, communications regulatory, and commercial and consumer law matters. Bram joined TekSavvy from a national law firm where, since his call to the Ontario Bar in 2007, he had provided regulatory, commercial, and transactional advice to a broad range of private- and public-sector clients, for which he was recognized by the Chamber’s Global and Who’s Who Legal guides. Before his legal career, Bram worked in senior industry research roles with TeleGeography, a Washington, DC based firm, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Bram is based in Toronto, sits on the executives of the Ontario Bar Association’s Privacy Law and Canadian Bar Association’s Entertainment, Media and Communications Law sections, and is a graduate of Concordia (BA, Communications) and McGill (BCL/LLB, Law) Universities.

Steve Anderson is the founder and Executive Director of OpenMedia.ca. Steve is an open Internet advocate and commentator. His writing has appeared in numerous local and national print and online publications such as The Tyee, the Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, and the National Post. Steve is a contributing author of the CCPA book The Internet Tree. You can find Steve’s blog at http://openmedia.ca/SteveAnderson

Dr. Christopher Parsons holds a Ph.D from the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, where he investigated the political drivers of Internet service providers’ network surveillance practices in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow and the Managing Director of the Telecom Transparency Project at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Dr. Parsons is currently investigating the rationales, processes, practices, and politics of third-party access to telecommunications data. He is also a Privacy by Design Ambassador and an advisor to several small- and medium-sized organizations.

Chief Weighill served 31 years with the Regina Police Service, prior to joining the Saskatoon Police Service in 2006. In Regina he worked in Patrol, Communications, Crime Prevention, Commercial Crime, Property Crime, Drugs, Vice, Planning and Research and Senior Administration.

He has lectured to universities, police colleges, national conferences, federal, provincial and municipal governments and appeared before Parliamentary Committees regarding; crime trends, community policing, organized crime, street gangs, vehicle theft, leadership, and the future of policing.

Chief Weighill’s associations are:

• Member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police
• Co-Chair – National Police Information Services Advisory Board
• Governor – North Saskatchewan Corps of Commissionaires
• Member – Advisory Committee on Judicial Appointments – Saskatchewan
• Member – CACP Police Information and Statistics Committee
• Member – Canadian Safety and Security Program Advisory Board
• Member – Saskatchewan Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan
• Past Co-Chair CACP Information Technology Sub-Committee
• Past Chair Prairie Region of National Joint Committee of Senior Justice Officials
• Chaired – Business Requirements Sub-Committee developing the business requirements for the $134 million modernization of CPIC.

Chief Weighill holds certificates in Administration and in Continuing Education/ Administrative Development from the University of Regina. He has attended Executive courses at the Canadian Police College, the Banff School of Management and has graduated from the Senior Management Institute for Police, held in Boston and sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum in the United States.

Chief Weighill is the recipient of the Police Exemplary Service Medal and Bar, the Saskatchewan Protective Services Medal, the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and is a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces.

Ms. Mari Heiser (pronounced Mary) is an IBM STSM (Senior Technical Staff Member) as well as an IBM and Open Group master certified architect with over 20 years architecture, governance, risk, compliance, and technical management experience in networks and web technologies, specializing in security, compliance and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Ms. Heiser is also expert in Identity and Access Management, Cloud, Security Analytics and leads the IBM internal Information Security Community of Practice for the Americas. Ms. Heiser’s industry specific experience has been concentrated in banking, manufacturing, distribution, bio-tech, education and aerospace industries. Ms. Heiser is currently a member of the IBM Global Cloud Security and Compliance team for SoftLayer. In this role, she is involved with IBM teams worldwide to insure secure delivery of IBM cloud solutions and architectures for customers both large and small.

For many years, Jim Reavis has worked in the information security industry as an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, technologist and business strategist. Jim’s innovative thinking about emerging security trends have been published and presented widely throughout the industry and have influenced many. Jim is helping shape the future of information security and related technology industries as co-founder, CEO and driving force of the Cloud Security Alliance. Jim has been named as one of the Top 10 cloud computing leaders by SearchCloudComputing.com.

Jim is the President of Reavis Consulting Group, LLC, where he advises security companies, governments, large enterprises and other organizations on the implications of new trends such as Cloud, Mobility, Internet of Things and how to take advantage of them. Jim founded SecurityPortal, the Internet’s largest website devoted to information security in 1998, and guided it until a successful exit in 2000. Jim has been an advisor on the launch of many industry ventures that have achieved a successful M&A exit or IPO. Jim is widely quoted in the press and has worked with hundreds of corporations on their information security strategy and technology roadmap. Jim has a background in networking technologies, marketing, product management and systems integration. Jim received a B.A. in Business Administration / Computer Science from Western Washington University in 1987 and serves on WWU’s alumni board.

Rick is currently the Strategic Advisor to BI2PI.com and is also working with a number of start-up companies in the cloud computing industry.

Rick has over 35 years experience as a senior leader in the ICT sector with a focus on change management, and development of secure, scalable solutions. Prior to joining BI2PI.com, he worked with Bell for 14 years where he was the strategic advisor to public sector clients and a data centre and security practice leader. While with Bell, Rick was seconded to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee as a senior implementation manager, where he was responsible for the design and execution of a rapid, scalable IT deployment methodology for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Prior to joining Bell, Rick spent 25 years in the Canadian Forces, where he served as a Communications Electronics Engineering Officer, responsible for the design and operations of a number of National Defence’s global infrastructure services. Rick received his education at the Military College in Kingston Ontario and also served as an instructor for 6 Years.

Rick is an active member of NIST’s working groups for standards development on cloud and cloud carrier services.

As VP of Technology & Operations at Wavefront, Alan is charged with ensuring that he and his team provides all of its partners and audiences with current and relevant technical expertise on the wireless sector in Canada and around the globe. He brings over 25 years of intensive technical experience, to this role, having worked with some iconic innovators in the wireless world.

Prior to joining Wavefront, Alan was Director of Professional Services at Sierra Wireless where he led a team of project managers and integration, RF and hardware engineers, providing technical assistance, professional services and accredited UE testing services globally to OEMs. Alan started his career in the wireless industry at Motorola and held various senior management sales and engineering roles focused on the wireless data business sector – not only in Canada, but also much of South East Asia and China.

Alan also held the title of VP, responsible for research, product development and IP portfolio management at Soft Tracks Enterprises – a provider of innovative wireless payment solutions (acquired by IP Applications)

Alan holds a Bachelor of Science (University of Calgary AB) in Electrical Engineering.

Faiz Abdulla is the Co-founder and CEO of PaySavvy Inc. PaySavvy is a national human capital management provider that offers cloud-based payroll, human resource, and time and labour management software based in Vancouver, BC. It is one of only four payroll providers endorsed by the CRA. Faiz is passionate about changing the story around cloud-based payroll through modern, intuitive software, a positive client experience and unparalleled data security. Despite higher costs, PaySavvy has committed to storing all data in Canada in order to guarantee better than bank grade security. Faiz has extensive start-up, financial, operational, and leadership skills, built through 25 years in diverse industries. He ran several start-ups with successful exits. Faiz also has a plentitude of consulting experience and has been involved in the restructuring and turnaround of several multi-million dollar organizations. He has won several awards for this entrepreneurial efforts including the Economic Development of Southern Manitoba Regional Entrepreneur Award. In 2015 he was nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Geoff Fawkes is CEO of Vancosys Data Security, which specializes in multi-factor user authentication software and hardware to reduce fraud for enterprises, using convenient proximity based smartphone login.  His experience spans industries and technologies including security and online banking, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and telecommunications.  Prior to Vancosys, he was at HSBC Bank as Director, Engineering for global internet banking systems, and security and authentication technologies.  He holds an MBA degree from Simon Fraser University and a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.

Boris Mann is the founder and managing partner of Full Stack, an angel investment firm that works with early stage technology companies.

Boris has been active in the Vancouver startup ecosystem for over a decade. His first local startup was Bryght, the first commercial Drupal company. He then went on to co-found Bootup Labs, the first startup accelerator in Canada.

Valerie Silva is a Senior Advisor, PIPEDA Investigations for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In this role, she investigates complaints made pursuant to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Canada’s federal privacy statue that applies to private sector organizations.

Valerie previously worked at the Competition Bureau where, as a Competition Law Officer, she conducted investigations for the Fair Business Practices Branch, which administers and enforces the provisions of the Competition Act dealing with false or misleading representations and deceptive marketing practices. During her time at the Competition Bureau, Valerie also worked as the Special Advisor to the Deputy Commissioner of Competition for the Fair Business Practices Branch.

Valerie studied common law at the University of Ottawa, where she obtained her LLB and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She also holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from York University.

Christopher Surdak is an industry-recognized expert in Collaboration and Content Management, Big Data, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance, and Cloud Computing with over 20 years of professional experience. Presently, he is Global Subject Matter Expert for Analytics, Information Governance and eDiscovery for HP Autonomy.

Mr. Surdak has held similar roles with other leading companies such as Accenture, Siemens, Dell and Citibank. Mr. Surdak began his career with Lockheed Martin Astrospace, where he was a spacecraft systems engineer and rocket scientist.

Mr. Surdak holds a Juris Doctor from Taft University, an Executive Masters In Technology Management and a Moore Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s Certificate in Information Security from Villanova University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Surdak is author of “Data Crush: How the Information Tidal Wave is Driving New Business Opportunities”, published by AMACOM Publishing, recipient of GetAbstract’s International Book of the Year Award, 2014.

He is also contributing editor and columnist for European Business Review magazine.

Bette-Jo has been the Chief Information Officer for the Province of British Columbia since October 2012. The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) plays a leadership role in promoting and guiding the management of government information as a strategic business asset, and supporting technology infrastructure as a key enabler of business transformation. Prior to her current appointment, Bette-Jo was Assistant Deputy Minister of Service BC where she led cross government service delivery initiatives to improve services to the public across online, telephone and in-person channels, registry and statistical services.

Bette-Jo has been involved in the development of service delivery agreements with the private sector, including the negotiation of the Service BC – IBM Alternative Service Delivery Agreement for the provision of web channel and contact centre services.

Prior to joining the Government Agents Branch and Service BC, Bette-Jo worked at the provincial and community level in the field of community economic development. Before starting her career over 20 years ago with the British Columbia public service, Bette-Jo worked in the financial services industry, the federal government and non-profit organizations.

Bette-Jo has previously been the British Columbia representative on the Canadian Public Sector Service Delivery Council and past President of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Citizen Centred Service. She currently is the B.C. representative for the Public Sector Chief Information Officers’ Council.

Richard Purcell has been a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection challenges since the late ‘90’s. He leads Corporate Privacy Group (CPG), an independent consulting firm focusing on establishing sustainable and effective information security and privacy programs. CPG supports multi-national corporations, Internet start-ups and government agencies in planning, developing, and implementing enterprise-wide programs designed to respect and protect personal information. Utilizing its proprietary management model, 3PT™, CPG works from a basis of assuring that the right people develop and communicate the right policies supported by the right processes and technologies. CPG also offers award-winning Web-based education and training courseware for security and privacy awareness, knowledge and skills development. As Microsoft’s original privacy officer, Richard designed, developed, implemented and oversaw one of the world’s largest and most advanced privacy programs spanning Internet properties, software products, end-user support and information systems. In 2002, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative included the global privacy program as a key enterprise pillar. Throughout this period, Richard worked closely with regulators and legislators in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia to create global accountability and compliance standards and maintains those relationships today. Recently, Richard also served as Chairman of the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee to the Department of Homeland Security and as the Executive Director of the non-profit research agency, the Privacy Projects. Previously, he served on the Federal Trade Commission’s Online Access & Security Advisory Committee and as Chairman of TRUSTe, the pioneering online privacy certification agency. He sits on several corporate advisory boards and regularly addresses issues of information privacy and data protection domestically and globally.