For more than 35 years Stuart McNish has been involved in video journalism and storytelling.

Stu is the host of Conversations Live, a “Public Affairs Dialogue” platform carried on The Vancouver Sun.

Stu is also the host of Conversations That Matter, a weekly television show, YouTube channel, a podcast and a radio program that can be seen and heard on The Vancouver Sun, CHEKNews and Bell Media outlets in British Columbia.

He is also the founder and President of Oh Boy Productions, an independent video and television production studio in Vancouver. The company produces Carole Taylor’s Journal, BC Legends with Carole Taylor, Donnie & Dhali: The Team, Vancolour and Steele & Vance.

Ms. Tricia Geddes was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Safety Canada effective October 31, 2024.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Geddes held the role of Associate Deputy Minister of Public Safety as of June 2022.

Before joining the department, Ms. Geddes was the Deputy Director, Policy and Strategic Partnerships (DDP) at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) since April 2020. As DDP, she was responsible for key partnerships in the areas of strategic policy development, foreign relations, external review and compliance, communications, academic outreach and stakeholder engagement, as well as litigation and disclosure.

She also supported the Director and the Minister of Public Safety in their accountability for the overall operational activities of the Service, and ensured CSIS was accountable, transparent, and attuned to the strategic interests of the Government of Canada.

Ms. Geddes joined CSIS in 2014 as the Director General of Policy and Foreign Relations and then served as an Assistant Director, beginning in 2017. Previously, she held positions with the Canadian Armed Forces as Associate Director of Staff for the Strategic Joint Staff, as well as with the Privy Council Office in a number of analyst positions.

Ms. Geddes graduated from the University of Toronto (Trinity College) with a combined degree in Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies.

Ian Hanomansing hosts CBC News’ flagship program THE NATIONAL from Vancouver on Fridays and Sundays, and is also the host of CROSS COUNTRY CHECKUP on CBC Radio and CBC News Network.

Born in Trinidad and raised in Sackville, New Brunswick, veteran host and reporter Ian Hanomansing began his broadcasting career at CKDH Radio in Amherst, Nova Scotia, working at radio stations in Moncton and Halifax before joining CBC in Halifax in 1986. His assignments took him to Toronto the following year and eventually to Vancouver, where he was a national reporter for fourteen years.

Among his major assignments: the Exxon Valdez oil spill and San Francisco earthquake (both in 1989), the Los Angeles riot (1992), Vancouver’s two Stanley Cup riots (1994 and 2011), the Hong Kong handover (1997) the Slave Lake Alberta wildfire (2011), the Humboldt bus crash (2018) and seven Olympic Games, the most recent in Sochi in 2014.

He has hosted a wide range of programs including: Pacific Rim Report (1995-1999), which focused on Canada’s connection to Asia; Times 7 (2005), a joint venture between CBC News and the New York Times; Canada Now (2000-2007), a national supper-hour newscast; Still Talking Hockey (2004), a sports-themed late night program on CBC British Columbia; Feeling the Heat (2007), a summer series about the environment on CBC Radio One and CBC News Network with Ian Hanomansing (2012-2017) which won a Canadian Journalism Award in 2014 and shared a Canadian Screen Award in 2015, both for breaking news coverage.

Hanomansing also developed and hosted a series of innovative live specials, including Downtown Drugs (1998), which explored the problems and potential solutions in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside from the streets of that troubled neighbourhood, and 2005’s Crime on the Streets, which may be the only national news show broadcast live from the cells of a Canadian federal institution, in this case Manitoba’s Stoney Mountain. That program won a Justicia Award from the Canadian Bar Association for Excellence in Legal Journalism. Other national awards include the 2008 Gemini for Best News Anchor and the 2016 Canadian Screen Award for Best National News Anchor.

He also co-hosted with Johanna Wagstaffe the CBC podcast UNCOVER: BOMB ON BOARD in 2018. It investigated one of the biggest unsolved mass murders on Canadian soil, Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 21. It crashed near 100 Mile House B.C. in 1965, killing all 52 passengers and crew.

Hanomansing was born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and grew up in Sackville, New Brunswick. He graduated with an honours B.A. in political science and sociology from Mount Allison University in Sackville, where he was valedictorian; he also has a law degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax. While in university, Hanomansing won six national university debating and public speaking championships.

He is based in Vancouver.

Follow Ian Hanomansing on Twitter and Instagram.

Sami Khoury serves as the Government of Canada Senior Official for Cyber Security, providing cyber security expert advice and guidance to deputy ministers and senior officials across the Government of Canada. This role, with Sami’s extensive experience and knowledge, is critical to safeguarding Canada’s digital infrastructure and advancing our national security interests.

Previous to this, Sami was the Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) from 2021 to 2024. The Cyber Centre is the primary source of expert advice, guidance, services, and support on cyber security for government entities, critical infrastructure owners and operators, the private sector, and the Canadian public. Sami embarked on his career at the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) in 1992, initially as a research engineer specializing in the impact of emerging multimedia communications technologies. Over the years, he has held various operational and leadership roles. More recently, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister for Enterprise Technologies and Solutions. In this capacity, he was CSE’s Chief Information Officer, led CSE’s comprehensive Research program and the 24/7 Operations Centre.

Sami holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a Master of Applied Science from Concordia University in Montreal. In 2016, he completed a certificate program in Public Sector Leadership at the University of Ottawa.

Sami’s contributions have been recognized through various accolades, including the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal and the APEX Award of Excellence for Innovation.

Christian Leuprecht (Ph.D, Queen’s) is Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership, Department of Political Science and Economics, Royal Military College, Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University the inaugural Fulbright Chair in Canada-US Relations at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC and Eisenhower Fellow at the NATO Defence College in Rome. He is Adjunct Research Professor, Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University as well as the Centre for Crime Policy and Research, Flinders University. A recipient of RMC’s Cowan Prize for Excellence in Research and an elected member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada, he is also Munk Senior Fellow in Security and Defence at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. An expert in security and defence, political demography, and comparative federalism and multilevel governance, he has held visiting positions in North America, Europe, and Australia, and is regularly called as an expert witness to testify before committees of Parliament. He holds appointments to the board of the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies, the Police Services Board of the City of Kingston, and the Polar Research & Policy Initiative.

His publications have appeared in English, German, French, and Spanish and include 12 books and scores of articles that have appeared, inter alia, in the Florida State University Law Review (2019), Electoral Studies (2016), Government Information Quarterly (2016), Armed Forces and Society (2015), Global Crime (2015, 2013), the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal (2014, Maureen Molot Prize for Best Article), Canadian Public Administration (2014), the Canadian Journal of Political Science (2012, 2003), Regional and Federal Studies (2012), and Terrorism and Political Violence (2019, 2018, 2017, 2011). His editorials appear regularly across Canada’s national newspapers and he is a frequent commentator in domestic and international media.

Leuprecht has been Matthew Flinders Fellow at the Flinders University of South Australia (2017-2018), held a senior and visiting fellowships at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study (2016), the Helmut-Schmidt-University of the Bundeswehr (2016), Université Pierre-Mendès France (2015), the University of Augsburg in Germany (2011), the Swedish National Defence College (recurring) and the European Academy (recurring), and as the Bicentennial Visiting Associate Professor in Canadian Studies at Yale University (2009-2010). He is a research affiliate at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (since 2005), the Network for Terrorism, Security, and Society (since 2012), l’Université de Montréal’s International Centre for Comparative Criminology (since 2014), the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur les relations internationales du Canada et du Québec (since 2015), l’Observatoire sur la radicalization et l’extrémisme violent (since 2015), the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (since 2010), the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College (2003), the World Population Program at the International Institute for Advanced Systems Analysis in Vienna, Austria (2002), and held doctoral (2001-2003) and postdoctoral (2003-2005) fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University (2003), and graduate degrees in Political Science (1998) and French (1999) from the University of Toronto as well as the Institut d’Études Politiques at the Université Pierre-Mendès France in Grenoble (1997).

From 2015-2018 he held a Governor-in-Council appointment to the governing Council of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada where he also served on the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Committee on Discovery Research. He is also immediate past-president (2014-2018) of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee 01: Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution. Since joining RMCC in 2005, he has served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Deputy Head of the Department of Political Science and Economics. He has twice received the RMCC Commandant’s Commendation for Excellence in Service. A long-time proponent of experiential learning, Leuprecht has also been a finalist for RMCC’s Teaching Excellence Award and has received honourable mention for the Queen’s University Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award (2017). He is a member of the editorial boards of Armed Forces & Society, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Current Sociology’s Manuscript Series, and the Springer book series in Advances in Science and Technologies for Security Applications. Previously, he was associate editor of the Queen’s Policy Studies series published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.

David M. Luna is Founder and Executive Director of the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), and ICAIE’s Peace and Security Sustainability Foundation. A former US diplomat and national security official, David is a globally-recognized strategic thought leader, advocate for security of humanity, and a leading voice internationally on threat convergence, illicit trade, international affairs, geopolitical risks, changing character of war and peace, threat finance, and global illicit economies (“dark side of globalization”) that fuel greater insecurity and instability around the world. David is also President and CEO of Luna Global Networks & Convergence Strategies LLC.

David held numerous senior positions with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), including directorships for national security, transnational crime, and anti-corruption and good governance; and advisor to the Secretary’s Coordinator for the Rule of Law. David also served as an Assistant Counsel to the President, Office of the Counsel to the President, The White House; and other positions with the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Senate.

David is currently the Chair of the Business at OECD Anti-Illicit Trade Expert Group (AITEG); former Chair of the Anti-Illicit Trade Committee (AITC), United States Council for International Business (USCIB); Chair of the Peace & Security Committee, United Nations Association of the USA – National Capitol Area (UNA-NCA); Member of the Business Twenty (B20/G20) Integrity & Compliance Task Force; Advisory Council Member, Transparency International US; and previously served as the President of the OECD Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade; Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade and Organized Crime, Chair, APEC Anti-Corruption and Transparency (ACT) Working Group; co-Chair of the U.S.-China Anti-Corruption Working Group of the Joint Law Enforcement Liaison Group and in other leadership positions in the G7, and other diplomatic fora and public-private partnerships on anti-crime and global security. David was also Chair of a Summit for Democracy (S4D) Kleptocracy and Illicit Finance Working Group — a civil society-driven dialogue to fight strategic corruption and authoritarianism across hubs of democracy and in gray zones.

David is a Senior Fellow for National Security and co-Director of the Anti-Illicit Trade Institute at the Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center (TraCCC), Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University. David is a graduate (M.S.S.) of the U.S. Army War College, and received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, J.D. from The Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, and awarded numerous certificates from the Harvard Business School (HBS).

Rob Mendoza is completing his Master’s in War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada while serving in Canada’s Security & Intelligence Community, where he has held roles over the past 16 years. His career highlights include positions as member of a Special Advisory group to the Chief of Defence Staff and to the Deputy Minister of National Defence; Chief of Staff to the Deputy Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard; Deputy Director at the Department of National Defence; Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Coast Guard’s Director General of National Strategies; Intelligence Policy Advisor at Public Safety Canada; Legal Officer at the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Canada; and a former Federal Investigator.

In 2018, Rob was appointed as Co-Chair of the Canadian Association of Professional Intelligence Analysts (CAPIA), an organization within the Government of Canada supporting intelligence analysis standards and professional development across 34 agencies. Rob still occupies this position on an interim basis where he coordinates monthly intelligence community meetings, professional development sessions and conferences based out of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Rob leads efforts to bring together practitioners from Canada’s intelligence community with academia, to foster and improve dialogue on critical national security issues. He is currently authoring a comprehensive textbook on Canadian national security and he will be piloting an introductory national security course in 2025, at the Canadian Academy of Intelligence Analysis, based out of the Privy Council Office of Canada.

Some of Rob’s most memorable career milestones have consisted of leading negotiations with U.S. counterparts at the CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS on improving border security between Canada and the United States; co-authoring Canada’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy released in 2012, was a part of the team that wrote Bill-C51 Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act in 2015, authoring and receiving approval from the Prime Minister and Cabinet on a comprehensive proposal for a $2.5 billion dollar investment in Canada’s marine security sector, was the lead negotiator on behalf of the Department of National Defence with the National Security Committee of Parliamentarians as well as the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency when they were first established. In 2019, Rob led the establishment of the Defence Intelligence Oversight Board after he was asked by the Chief of Defence Staff to create the highest authoritative body, to approve the most sensitive and highly classified Defence Intelligence Activities undertaken by the Canadian Armed Forces.

Greg Levesque is the CEO and co-founder of Strider Technologies. Greg leads the company, charting and executing the company’s strategic vision.

As a leading expert on strategic intelligence, Greg works with government leaders around the world and Fortune 500 companies to identify, assess, and respond to state-sponsored risk.

Prior to founding Strider, Greg co-founded an intelligence firm, Pointe Bello. Previously, he led the China Services team at Crumpton Group and served as Business Advisory Manager at the U.S.-China Business Council.

Robert W. (Bob) Gordon is the executive director of the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX). Over his career, Bob has worked for four federal national security agencies—the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment, and Public Safety Canada—as well as in the private sector at CGI. While serving in these roles, Bob has been a senior assistant deputy minister, led the national counterterrorism program, overseen broad technology and internal security initiatives (including personnel, IT, and physical security), and designed Canada’s first Cyber Security Strategy. At the CCTX, Bob oversees information sharing and collaboration programs designed to create an open threat data exchange between the public and private sectors.

Dr. Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer is the inaugural Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He commenced his position at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on September 1, 2021. His principal responsibility is to realize the Allies’ vision for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in support of NATO’s purpose to guarantee freedom and security for its 31 member nations. Under the mandate of the North Atlantic Council, and under the delegated authority of the NATO Secretary General, he is tasked with facilitating ICT coherence across NATO’s 50+ civil and military bodies with 25,000 users. He also performs the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) function as the Single Point of Authority for cybersecurity.

From 2010 until 2021, Manfred directed all global computing and information technology systems for Sierra Wireless in Richmond, BC. The company provides Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that empower businesses to thrive in the interconnected global economy. Prior to assuming this role, he spent eight years at Hewlett-Packard (HP) IT in Business Intelligence and Strategy & Planning leadership roles. From 1993 to 2002, he oversaw Supply Chain systems at Compaq’s Latin America Division in Houston, Texas and São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, he supported material planning processes at Compaq’s European Headquarters in Munich, Germany and Gorinchem, The Netherlands.

Manfred has an MBA from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He also holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Business and Management Research and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Reading, UK.

Dharmesh Gandhi has over two decades of leadership experience empowering people through technology and is currently the Chief Information Officer for BC Hydro. Prior to his current role, Dharmesh held a series of executive-level leadership roles, including Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at SaskEnergy, Director, SAP Operations and Enterprise Analytics at SaskPower Corporation and various technology leadership roles at CGI Group Inc. Dharmesh is known for complex business transformations, his strategic vision for critical business applications and investment in emerging technologies. Dharmesh holds an Executive MBA from the University of Regina.

Travis is a Data Management specialist that has been a technical lead for EMC and Cohesity focused on data protection and scale out data solutions since 2010. Prior to that, he was the Storage Architect for a global hotel chain responsible for hundreds of storage solutions around the world.

Modern enterprises struggle with explosive data growth and that struggle gets amplified when considering Cyber Security and Resilience. Travis works with large organizations to help them organize, secure and manage their most important assets.

Ian L. Paterson is an entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience in leading and commercializing technology companies. Paterson has raised millions of dollars in private and public financing, completed international M&A transactions, and is co-inventor of 3 patents on digital identity and data analytics. As CEO of Plurilock, Paterson successfully built and grew Plurilock, leading to its successful public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture.

Previously Paterson served as founder and CEO of data monetization platform Exapik (acquired), and as Director of Insights for Terapeak (acquired), a venture-backed analytics firm. Paterson is a regular speaker, media commentator, and active angel investor.

Janice Fischer, BSc, with a postgraduate Diploma in Business, is a globally recognized leader in enterprise cybersecurity, technology operations, and risk management. She has spent decades working in Information Technology for Fortune 500 companies, delivering solutions focused on cybersecurity, risk management, compliance, and end-to-end enterprise operations. She is currently leading Fiscenzie Solutions, a boutique consulting firm she founded in 2023, supporting a diversity of clients, as well as serving on a number of not for profit endeavours.

During her career, she held a senior executive role at IBM where she served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for a public cloud. She was responsible for implementing pioneering controls for Financial Institutions in a globally operated public cloud. In a separate executive assignment, she held personal accountability for critical infrastructure while leading IT operations for an outsourcing portfolio covering crucial capabilities in leading financial institutions, governments, airlines, railways, and telecommunications companies.

Having lived and worked in Canada, the US and the UK, Janice’s international leadership experiences include overseeing all offshore delivery for IBM Technology Services through a global team of 45,000 professionals in Asia, Eastern Europe, South America, and Africa. Additionally, she created IBM Cloud’s Multi Zone Regions, an infrastructure model dedicated to performance, resilience, and security, and deployed them in Europe, Asia Pacific, North and South America.

She is known as an energetic and engaging consultant who can seamlessly transition from strategic planning to hands-on details as per the needs of the program. She is respected for effectively advising, supporting, and coaching global teams of diverse sizes and constituencies. Janice’s extensive experience in cybersecurity, risk management, systems, and applications makes her a valuable asset in supporting C-Suites and CISO’s. Further, she serves as a Director at the Council for Countering Hybrid Warfare.

Jillian Carruthers is a transformative leader who thrives on creating safe, accessible, and meaningful government services that put people first. With over 15 years of experience in digital transformation and service delivery, she has consistently challenged the status quo, solving complex challenges with innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches.

Jillian has a proven track record of solving complex challenges that bridge the critical gaps between, finance, policy, people, and technology. From leading the design-driven transformation of the BC Parks and CleanBC digital experiences to crafting policies and tools that build digital trust, she is deeply committed to fostering inclusive and secure digital experiences for all.

In her current role as Chief Information Security Officer and Senior Executive Director of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust for the BC Public Service, Jillian leads provincial strategies that enhance cybersecurity while delivering delightful and private digital interactions.

Martin Dinel is a trusted information technology and cybersecurity professional with over 35 years of leadership experience. As Chief Information Security Officer for the Government of Alberta (GoA), Martin is defining the organization’s cybersecurity vision and strategy to counter cyber threats and ensure the protection of Alberta’s digital assets. His recent key achievements include:

• 2023 Alberta Premier’s Award – Cybersecurity Toolset Modernization
• Board Member with BSides Edmonton
• Featured in the Public Sector Network’s top 40 Global Innovators Publication in 2022
• Created and now chairs the CyberAlberta Community of Interest
• Member of the National CISO Committee on Information Protection (NCCIP)
• Cybersecurity Champion and Speaker at various Cybersecurity and Privacy related events

Throughout his career, Martin worked in leadership positions in information technology and cybersecurity with various public and private sector organizations. In 2015, he joined the GoA as Chief Information Security Officer, taking on a mentorship role to develop a new cybersecurity centre of excellence, ensuring that Albertans can benefit from a strong, safe and secure Alberta cyberspace.

Jason has been architecting, designing, and deploying security technologies that secure the most complex computing environments for almost 2 decades. His understanding of operational and informational technologies, people, and processes enable him to deliver effective, comprehensive security solutions that align to an organization’s security goals and strategic imperatives. Jason is adept at addressing a range of risk profiles across multiple industry verticals; skills he has cultivated as an end-user security practitioner, partner/integrator, and now manufacturer as the FIELD CTO, focused on Cybersecurity for Cisco Systems. Jason is also active in the direct community speaking at BC Aware, Privacy and Security Conference, and has delivered multiple sessions at BSides. Jason also holds over 75+ designations across a variety of products and technologies including the CCIE designation.

Adam Marrè is the Chief Information Security Officer at Arctic Wolf. Prior to joining Arctic Wolf, Adam was the Global Head of Information Security Operations and Physical Security at Qualtrics. With deep roots in the cybersecurity space, Adam spent almost 12 years with the FBI, holding positions like SWAT Senior Team Leader and Special Agent.

Kevin Hilscher is the Senior Director – Product Management at Digicert. He works at the intersection of IoT and cybersecurity. Kevin is the product leader for the DigiCert Device Trust portfolio of products, focused on securing the Internet of Things (IoT). Kevin came to DigiCert from Microsoft, where he spent 7 years working with Azure customers, helping them adopt cloud and IoT. At Microsoft, Kevin helped design and deliver IoT products in his role as Principal Product Manager for Azure IoT.

Norman specializes in conducting investigations, due diligence, and compliance projects worldwide. His professional career spans more than 35 years, including 25 years when he was based in Brazil. He holds degrees from the Universidade Federal do Paraná and the University of British Columbia, and was formerly Compliance and Operational Risk Manager for two investment firms in Canada. Norman is also a Director of the Anti-Corruption Law Program at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, and is a frequent speaker on combating corruption and financial crime.

David Asher is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His work focuses on US foreign policy in Asia, global macro strategy, economic and financial policy toward US state adversaries, strategic law enforcement, and high technology development.

Dr. Asher has advised the US government on countering money laundering, terrorism financing, and sanctions evasion schemes as well as campaigns to undermine nation-state and terrorist adversaries. He has developed and conducted whole of government investigations into international issues involving nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons development and proliferation. Over the last 25 years, he has played a senior role in economic and financial pressure campaigns involving terrorist organizations, drug cartels, and weapons proliferation networks.

Most recently in 2020 he served at the State Department, advising and supporting investigations into nuclear biological and chemical weapons proliferation and development issues. At State, he spearheaded a task force for the Office of the Secretary looking into the origins of COVID-19 and the role of the Chinese government.

In 2014, Dr. Asher rejoined the Department of State where he led the development of the US government interagency and coalition economic Warfare Campaign Strategy against the Islamic State under the Presidential Special Envoy, General John Allen. This interagency and international campaign played a significant role in the destruction of the Islamic State’s finances and economic support base.

From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Asher advised the leadership of US CENTCOM on Iran-Hezbollah economic pressure strategy as well as on counterproliferation and counterterrorism operations. From 2010 to 2014, he served as a senior advisor to the US Special Operations Command for counter threat finance and counter network operations. As part of his work for CENTCOM and then SOCOM, he helped initiate and lead DEA’s Project Cassandra and Operation Titan Investigations into Lebanese Hezbollah’s global drug trafficking and money laundering networks. These investigations resulted in dozens of arrests and the largest counterterrorist civil financial action in the history of the US Department of Justice, the $483 million forfeiture claim against the Lebanese Canadian Bank (ultimately resulting in a $102 million asset forfeiture in the United States).

2001 to 2005, Dr. Asher was senior advisor for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department, special coordinator of the State Department’s North Korea Working Group (under the Secretary of State), co-chair of the North Korea Activities Group Policy Coordinating Committee for the National Security Council, and US delegation adviser to the Six-Party Talks. During the George W. Bush administration, Dr. Asher developed and oversaw the global targeting and disruption of the Kim Jong-il regime’s financial, illicit trading, and WMD networks, including FBI-USSS joint investigations Royal Charm and Smoking Dragon that penetrated North Korea’s criminal state via a “double sting operation” involving undercover FBI agents operating inside the Gambino crime family. These investigations led to 87 arrests inside the US in 2005 and hundreds more in Asia.

Dr. Asher also was the strategic architect of the September 2005 designation of Banco Delta Asia in Macao (North Korea’s key global financial artery), the February 2011 designation of the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB), and the April 2013 designations of the Rmeiti and Halawi Exchange Houses—all under Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act. The LCB network was Hezbollah and Iran’s main gateway to the global dollarized trade and financial system and both suffered severe consequences upon imposition of the 311 actions.

Dr. Asher has a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University and was a College Scholar at Cornell University as an undergraduate. He is fluent in Japanese. He has over two decades of experience working in the international financial community, including advising global hedge funds on Japan and Asia strategy. He is co-founder of Sayari Labs, a financial intelligence and commercial data provider, and a strategic advisor and limited partner at OMX Ventures.

Sue assumed the role of President and CEO at Equifax Canada in November 2020, spearheading the company’s transition to a fully cloud-based data, insights, and technology enterprise. With over 30 years of experience in Financial Services, FinTech and Payments, Sue is renowned for her customer-centric approach, fostering innovation, and driving tangible results. Her leadership has propelled Equifax Canada to the forefront of the industry, establishing it as a market leader, delivering critical data to government, Canadian business and consumers. Sue’s commitment to cultivating diverse talent has been instrumental in assembling high-performing teams throughout her career.

Prior to her tenure at Equifax, Sue held key executive positions at global
organizations such as Mastercard, Payments Canada, D+H Corporate (now
Finastra), HSBC, and Bank of America. She has also contributed her expertise to various boards, including Home Capital Group where Sue was also Chair of the Technology Transformation Committee, Women in Payments, Payments Canada, BC Women’s Hospital Foundation, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Sue earned her MBA from the Schulich School of Business and holds the ICD.D designation, underscoring her commitment to excellence in corporate governance.

Christian Leuprecht (Ph.D, Queen’s) is Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership, Department of Political Science and Economics, Royal Military College, Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University the inaugural Fulbright Chair in Canada-US Relations at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC and Eisenhower Fellow at the NATO Defence College in Rome. He is Adjunct Research Professor, Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University as well as the Centre for Crime Policy and Research, Flinders University. A recipient of RMC’s Cowan Prize for Excellence in Research and an elected member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada, he is also Munk Senior Fellow in Security and Defence at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. An expert in security and defence, political demography, and comparative federalism and multilevel governance, he has held visiting positions in North America, Europe, and Australia, and is regularly called as an expert witness to testify before committees of Parliament. He holds appointments to the board of the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies, the Police Services Board of the City of Kingston, and the Polar Research & Policy Initiative.

His publications have appeared in English, German, French, and Spanish and include 12 books and scores of articles that have appeared, inter alia, in the Florida State University Law Review (2019), Electoral Studies (2016), Government Information Quarterly (2016), Armed Forces and Society (2015), Global Crime (2015, 2013), the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal (2014, Maureen Molot Prize for Best Article), Canadian Public Administration (2014), the Canadian Journal of Political Science (2012, 2003), Regional and Federal Studies (2012), and Terrorism and Political Violence (2019, 2018, 2017, 2011). His editorials appear regularly across Canada’s national newspapers and he is a frequent commentator in domestic and international media.

Leuprecht has been Matthew Flinders Fellow at the Flinders University of South Australia (2017-2018), held a senior and visiting fellowships at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study (2016), the Helmut-Schmidt-University of the Bundeswehr (2016), Université Pierre-Mendès France (2015), the University of Augsburg in Germany (2011), the Swedish National Defence College (recurring) and the European Academy (recurring), and as the Bicentennial Visiting Associate Professor in Canadian Studies at Yale University (2009-2010). He is a research affiliate at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (since 2005), the Network for Terrorism, Security, and Society (since 2012), l’Université de Montréal’s International Centre for Comparative Criminology (since 2014), the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur les relations internationales du Canada et du Québec (since 2015), l’Observatoire sur la radicalization et l’extrémisme violent (since 2015), the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (since 2010), the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College (2003), the World Population Program at the International Institute for Advanced Systems Analysis in Vienna, Austria (2002), and held doctoral (2001-2003) and postdoctoral (2003-2005) fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University (2003), and graduate degrees in Political Science (1998) and French (1999) from the University of Toronto as well as the Institut d’Études Politiques at the Université Pierre-Mendès France in Grenoble (1997).

From 2015-2018 he held a Governor-in-Council appointment to the governing Council of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada where he also served on the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Committee on Discovery Research. He is also immediate past-president (2014-2018) of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee 01: Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution. Since joining RMCC in 2005, he has served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Deputy Head of the Department of Political Science and Economics. He has twice received the RMCC Commandant’s Commendation for Excellence in Service. A long-time proponent of experiential learning, Leuprecht has also been a finalist for RMCC’s Teaching Excellence Award and has received honourable mention for the Queen’s University Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award (2017). He is a member of the editorial boards of Armed Forces & Society, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Current Sociology’s Manuscript Series, and the Springer book series in Advances in Science and Technologies for Security Applications. Previously, he was associate editor of the Queen’s Policy Studies series published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Superintendent Adam MacIntosh has served with distinction in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for over 23 years, amassing extensive experience across a broad spectrum of high-impact policing roles. Throughout his career, he has operated at the forefront of frontline policing, major crimes, homicide investigations, and national security, including counterterrorism and organized crime, both domestically and internationally. His leadership and expertise have been instrumental in driving effective policing strategies in these complex areas.

An Accredited Team Commander and Critical Incident Commander, Superintendent MacIntosh currently leads the Cyber and Financial Investigation Teams (CFIT) in the Pacific Region, overseeing key units responsible for combating cybercrime, cryptocurrency-related investigations, anti-corruption efforts, money laundering, and financial crimes linked to capital markets. In addition, he commands the National Coordination and Support Team (NCST), a specialized unit focused on disrupting organized crime groups, particularly those engaged in extortion targeting South Asian communities across Canada.

Superintendent MacIntosh is a dedicated leader committed to advancing public safety through innovative, intelligence-driven law enforcement strategies. His commitment to policing excellence and public service continues to drive impactful solutions to the most pressing challenges in modern policing.

Mr. Richard B. Fadden was the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister from January 19, 2015 to March 31, 2016. Previously he was the Deputy Minister of National Defence starting in May 2013, he served as the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from 2009 until 2013. He has also served as the Deputy Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 2006 to 2009, the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Canada from 2005 to 2006, President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from 2002 to 2005, and Deputy Clerk and Counsel in the Privy Council Office from 2000 to 2002. In early 2001, he took on the additional position of Security and Intelligence Coordinator.

In the course of his career, Mr. Fadden worked in a variety of different positions across the Government of Canada including in the Department of External Affairs, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Mr. Fadden holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Laws from the Université de Montréal, and a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from McGill University. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Currently, he serves on a number of boards, is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

For more than 35 years Stuart McNish has been involved in video journalism and storytelling.

Stu is the host of Conversations Live, a “Public Affairs Dialogue” platform carried on The Vancouver Sun.

Stu is also the host of Conversations That Matter, a weekly television show, YouTube channel, a podcast and a radio program that can be seen and heard on The Vancouver Sun, CHEKNews and Bell Media outlets in British Columbia.

He is also the founder and President of Oh Boy Productions, an independent video and television production studio in Vancouver. The company produces Carole Taylor’s Journal, BC Legends with Carole Taylor, Donnie & Dhali: The Team, Vancolour and Steele & Vance.

For more than 35 years Stuart McNish has been involved in video journalism and storytelling.

Stu is the host of Conversations Live, a “Public Affairs Dialogue” platform carried on The Vancouver Sun.

Stu is also the host of Conversations That Matter, a weekly television show, YouTube channel, a podcast and a radio program that can be seen and heard on The Vancouver Sun, CHEKNews and Bell Media outlets in British Columbia.

He is also the founder and President of Oh Boy Productions, an independent video and television production studio in Vancouver. The company produces Carole Taylor’s Journal, BC Legends with Carole Taylor, Donnie & Dhali: The Team, Vancolour and Steele & Vance.

Brad West was first elected Mayor in 2018, receiving the most votes ever by a municipal candidate in the city’s history. In 2022, Brad was the first Mayor in Port Coquitlam to be acclaimed to another term in office.

Prior to his time as Mayor, Brad served three terms as a City Councillor. He is widely recognized for his strong, common sense leadership, his focus on what matters to Port Coquitlam families, and his ability to get things done.

Under Brad’s leadership, Port Coquitlam has been making significant improvements to the quality of life of its residents. With a focus on delivering the core responsibilities of the city, there has been tremendous progress on the community’s priorities while carefully and responsibly managing taxpayer dollars. Port Coquitlam is being widely recognized as one of the best cities to live in the province.

Brad is a life-long resident of Port Coquitlam and, along with his wife Blaire, is proud to be raising his two young sons in our community. The West family keeps busy with soccer, hockey, lacrosse and enjoying time in our beautiful parks and trails.

Brad is a graduate of the University of Victoria, St. Francis Xavier University and completed a program in Leadership at Harvard University.

Dr Zekulic was commissioned as an Infantry officer to the Croatian Armed Forces in 2002, after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Management of Information Systems from The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina. Given her additional bachelor degree in Criminalistics from Police College in Zagreb, she held numerous command and staff positions within the Croatian Military Police community, and deployed several times to NATO’s operational theatres. After completing the Croatian Command and Staff College in 2008, graduating first in her class, she was appointed an executive officer to the Croatian Deputy Chief of Staff. From 2010 until 2014, she commanded a battalion at the Croatian Defence Academy.

From late 2014 she served at the Allied Command Transformation, Strategic Plans and Policy Division, where she led the interoperation of high level political guidance and developed policy papers, strategies and inputs to NATO Military Authorities on issues relating to challenges of a changing security environment, hybrid warfare, resilience and Readiness Action Plan. This work led to a posting as a deputy head of the Strategic Assessment Element in the Emergency Security Challenges division at NATO HQ, where she wrote strategic assessments of emerging crisis, enhancing situational awareness and providing early warning for use by the Secretary General and the Chairman of Military Committee. Of special consideration are her assessments of the conventional and hybrid security challenges in Western Balkans and Africa.

In September 2017, LTC Zekulic ended her military career and transitioned to the NATO International Staff, Operations Division, developing assessments, policies and strategies relating to NATO’s operational preparedness and planning, particularly in relation to posture management and deterrence messaging, countering hybrid threats, and crisis management. As of July 2021, Dr Zekulic leads Strategic Issues and Engagements Branch in the Allied Command Transformation. She develops strategic issues identified by SACT, such as on out-partnering, and designs, plans and coordinates strategic level political-military engagement of HQ SACT with NATO’s senior leadership, industry and academia on all Command priority areas.

Parallel to her military career, she also continued with her academic education, gaining a Master of Science degree (2007) and PhD (2012) in international relations and national security. She is also a graduate of NATO Executive Development Program, and Executive Masters in Strategic Leadership and Digital Transformation (2021). Having published more than thirty expert and scientific articles, she is also a Scientific Associate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb, and a regular lecturer at the NATO School Oberammergau.

Dr Zekulic is a member of numerous associations, including the Atlantic Council of Croatia, the Board of Directors for the Centre for International Relations, the Scientific Council of International Military Academic Forum, World’s Council Affairs, and Women Green Leaders Association. She is the recipient of numerous personal awards and decorations from Croatian and NATO officials including the Order of the Croatian Interlace. In 2024 she was awarded a NATO Meritorious Service Medal by a Secretary General of NATO.

For more than 35 years Stuart McNish has been involved in video journalism and storytelling.

Stu is the host of Conversations Live, a “Public Affairs Dialogue” platform carried on The Vancouver Sun.

Stu is also the host of Conversations That Matter, a weekly television show, YouTube channel, a podcast and a radio program that can be seen and heard on The Vancouver Sun, CHEKNews and Bell Media outlets in British Columbia.

He is also the founder and President of Oh Boy Productions, an independent video and television production studio in Vancouver. The company produces Carole Taylor’s Journal, BC Legends with Carole Taylor, Donnie & Dhali: The Team, Vancolour and Steele & Vance.

David Asher is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His work focuses on US foreign policy in Asia, global macro strategy, economic and financial policy toward US state adversaries, strategic law enforcement, and high technology development.

Dr. Asher has advised the US government on countering money laundering, terrorism financing, and sanctions evasion schemes as well as campaigns to undermine nation-state and terrorist adversaries. He has developed and conducted whole of government investigations into international issues involving nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons development and proliferation. Over the last 25 years, he has played a senior role in economic and financial pressure campaigns involving terrorist organizations, drug cartels, and weapons proliferation networks.

Most recently in 2020 he served at the State Department, advising and supporting investigations into nuclear biological and chemical weapons proliferation and development issues. At State, he spearheaded a task force for the Office of the Secretary looking into the origins of COVID-19 and the role of the Chinese government.

In 2014, Dr. Asher rejoined the Department of State where he led the development of the US government interagency and coalition economic Warfare Campaign Strategy against the Islamic State under the Presidential Special Envoy, General John Allen. This interagency and international campaign played a significant role in the destruction of the Islamic State’s finances and economic support base.

From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Asher advised the leadership of US CENTCOM on Iran-Hezbollah economic pressure strategy as well as on counterproliferation and counterterrorism operations. From 2010 to 2014, he served as a senior advisor to the US Special Operations Command for counter threat finance and counter network operations. As part of his work for CENTCOM and then SOCOM, he helped initiate and lead DEA’s Project Cassandra and Operation Titan Investigations into Lebanese Hezbollah’s global drug trafficking and money laundering networks. These investigations resulted in dozens of arrests and the largest counterterrorist civil financial action in the history of the US Department of Justice, the $483 million forfeiture claim against the Lebanese Canadian Bank (ultimately resulting in a $102 million asset forfeiture in the United States).

2001 to 2005, Dr. Asher was senior advisor for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department, special coordinator of the State Department’s North Korea Working Group (under the Secretary of State), co-chair of the North Korea Activities Group Policy Coordinating Committee for the National Security Council, and US delegation adviser to the Six-Party Talks. During the George W. Bush administration, Dr. Asher developed and oversaw the global targeting and disruption of the Kim Jong-il regime’s financial, illicit trading, and WMD networks, including FBI-USSS joint investigations Royal Charm and Smoking Dragon that penetrated North Korea’s criminal state via a “double sting operation” involving undercover FBI agents operating inside the Gambino crime family. These investigations led to 87 arrests inside the US in 2005 and hundreds more in Asia.

Dr. Asher also was the strategic architect of the September 2005 designation of Banco Delta Asia in Macao (North Korea’s key global financial artery), the February 2011 designation of the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB), and the April 2013 designations of the Rmeiti and Halawi Exchange Houses—all under Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act. The LCB network was Hezbollah and Iran’s main gateway to the global dollarized trade and financial system and both suffered severe consequences upon imposition of the 311 actions.

Dr. Asher has a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University and was a College Scholar at Cornell University as an undergraduate. He is fluent in Japanese. He has over two decades of experience working in the international financial community, including advising global hedge funds on Japan and Asia strategy. He is co-founder of Sayari Labs, a financial intelligence and commercial data provider, and a strategic advisor and limited partner at OMX Ventures.

Jeff Mahon is Director of StrategyCorp’s Geopolitical and International Advisory Practice and Executive in Residence at the Canada West Foundation. Jeff advises clients on issues that are at the nexus of geopolitics, government policy and international business. His professional background includes both government and business experience. Jeff served as Deputy Director at Global Affairs Canada’s China Division where over several years he covered range of files including investment; science, technology & innovation (STI); economic security; and policy surrounding promotion of Canada’s key economic sectors: energy & resources, finance, automotive, life sciences and cleantech. While at Industry Canada he served as Senior Advisor on the Investment Canada Act. He also served as Nunavut’s Chief Negotiator for the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). He also founded an international trade brokerage company. Jeff is a frequent contributor on geopolitical issues having been featured in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, The Hub, and more.

Dr. Shiojiri earned his B.A. in Law, M.A. in International Studies, and Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Tokyo, and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School. During his service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2009-2019), he held various positions including Chief of Staff to Ambassador of Japan to the United States and officer in the G8/G20 Summit Office, Economic Policy Division, of the Economic Affairs Bureau. He is the recipient of the University of Tokyo President’s Award and has also served as an intern at the Council on Foreign Relations and Okamoto Associates. For his doctorate dissertation, Dr. Shiojiri has conducted research on the indeterminacy of Article XXI of the GATT 1994 which is the national security exception clause of the WTO law.

Robert W. (Bob) Gordon is the executive director of the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX). Over his career, Bob has worked for four federal national security agencies—the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment, and Public Safety Canada—as well as in the private sector at CGI. While serving in these roles, Bob has been a senior assistant deputy minister, led the national counterterrorism program, overseen broad technology and internal security initiatives (including personnel, IT, and physical security), and designed Canada’s first Cyber Security Strategy. At the CCTX, Bob oversees information sharing and collaboration programs designed to create an open threat data exchange between the public and private sectors.

Vince is the managing partner and senior risk advisor at the Critical Risk Team, bringing a unique mix of public and private sector executive experience. With a background in financial crime investigation, executive protection, and tactical operations from the RCMP, Vince has held high-level roles that included overseeing financial management for a major RCMP region and, most recently, leading a Canadian international airport as Managing Director. His experience spans risk management, security, and crisis response, with a focus on creating strategic and financially sound solutions. His C-suite experience and success in organizational change and lean management allow him to effectively support clients in navigating complex risks and security challenges.

Brian Duong maintains a generalist practice in civil and administrative litigation. His experience involves a broad range of matters including complex contract and shareholder disputes, property issues, franchise litigation, gaming law, constitutional claims, and freedom of information requests.

Brian regularly appears as litigation counsel before all levels of court in British Columbia, and has represented clients in chambers applications, trials, appeals, judicial reviews, mediations, arbitral and professional disciplinary proceedings, and inquiries.

In particular, Brian has served as counsel for a major participant in the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering, counsel for a municipality in a dispute over the City’s mode of policing, and counsel for an anti-drone company seeking to protect confidential information.

Brian holds law degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Cambridge, and clerked for the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. He has been a member of the Massachusetts and British Columbia bars since 2009.

Matt Malone is currently a Balsillie Scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. He is also the founder of Open by Default, and the incoming Director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and the Samuelson-Glushko Professor, both at the University of Ottawa.

Matt’s main research interest pertains to the various ways law protects secret information, especially in the context of trade secrecy, confidential information, access to information, privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity. He also maintains a broad interest in legal issues pertinent to modern workplaces, in particular workplace investigations. He runs the Network of Canadian Workplace Investigators. He is called to the bar in British Columbia, California, and New York.

Matt is a graduate of the University of Toronto (hBA), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (MA), and McGill University (LLB, BCL). He practiced law full-time in California at Morrison & Foerster and Van Dermyden Makus and began his academic as an Assistant Professor at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law. He is currently an academic partner at the Investigative Journalism Foundation and an advisory board member of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association.

Dennis Murphy is an Executive Vice President for Strider. Dennis works with corporate and government clients to deliver transformational technology that helps clients visualize, manage, and respond to economic statecraft risks across their organization.

Before retiring from the Government of Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) in 2018, Dennis spent 27 years conducting and leading operational activities across the national security spectrum. In his final role with CSE, Dennis served as Director of Partnerships where he oversaw the creation and subsequent leadership of a new CSE directorate charged with managing critical domestic and foreign partnerships with intelligence, law enforcement, and defense related organizations.

Previously, Murphy served as CSE’s senior liaison in the U.K. from 2013 to 2017 where he was responsible for managing strategic relationships with the U.K.’s intelligence community focused on intelligence and cyber operations. Earlier in his career, Murphy served as Chairman of an international executive board which established intelligence cooperation amongst its members on counter terrorism, cyber defense, and the management of a common technical infrastructure.

Most recently, Mr. Murphy has provided threat consultancy services to organizations across the energy, insurance, and legal sectors in the U.K.
and United States.

Alex Dalziel is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based public policy think tank, where he leads the National Security Project. He has over 20 years of experience in Canada’s national security community advising decision-makers across government and Canada’s allies. Previously, he held positions with the Privy Council Office, Department of National Defence and Canada Border Services Agency, and did assignments in law enforcement and the diplomatic service. During that time, he worked across multiple operational and strategic domains. He writes extensively on geopolitics and geoeconomics, with a concentration on the Arctic and national security. Alex has published in the Globe and Mail, Policy Options, the Hub and the National Post.

He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in history from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as certificates in Russia and Baltic Area Studies from the University of Eastern Finland and in European Studies from the University of Bonn. His foreign language skills include Russian, French and Finnish.

Cynthia Alkon is a Law Professor and the Director of the Criminal Law, Justice & Policy Program at Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas. Professor Alkon is a Senior Fellow and Steering Committee Member of the Council on Countering Hybrid Warfare. Professor Alkon has published articles about hybrid warfare, comparative criminal procedure and dispute resolution in the criminal context, with a focus on plea bargaining. In addition, with Professor Andrea Schneider, she published the book, NEGOTIATING CRIME: PLEA BARGAINING, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE CRIMINAL CONTEXT. In 2024, Professor Alkon taught an innovative new class at Texas A&M University on Conflict Management and Hybrid Warfare. In addition, she teaches Criminal Law, Advanced Criminal Procedure, Dispute Resolution Survey, and Negotiation.

Before joining academia, Professor Alkon was a deputy public defender in Los Angeles County. Professor Alkon then joined the American Bar Association Central and East European Law Initiative working as a Rule of Law Liaison in Belarus for two years (1998-2000). After Belarus Professor Alkon was the head of the legal department for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Albania. From 2002-2006 Professor Alkon was the Head of the Rule of Law Unit for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR). In that position Professor Alkon supervised the OSCE/ODIHR Rule of Law Unit’s criminal legal reform assistance projects in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.

Brent J. Arnold is a partner practising in Gowling WLG’s Advocacy department, specializing in cyber security and commercial litigation. Brent heads the firm’s Commercial Litigation Technology sub-group. In 2019, he co-authored the Canada chapter of Chambers Global Practice Guide: Data Protection & Cybersecurity, 2nd ed.

Brent’s experience includes cyber breach coaching, cyber risk analysis, class actions defence, consumer protection, implementation and other disputes for e-commerce vendors and software developers, administrative and insolvency law, shareholders’ rights, class actions, employment contracts, and general contractual disputes.

Brent is a Director of the Internet Society (Canada Chapter), Steering Committee Vice Chair for the Cybersecurity and Data Privacy section of the US-based Defence Research Institute (DRI), and Vice Chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Privacy and Access to Information Law section, having also served two terms on the Executive for the Civil Litigation Section of the Ontario Bar Association. Brent is also a member of the Canadian Technology Law Association and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Thomas Jarmyn, CD, LLM (York University 2010), MA (Saint Paul University 2009), LLB (Dalhousie 1994), BA (RMC 1983) is a lawyer and former naval officer, serving in the regular force until 1992 and the reserve force until 1997. He served in various capacities on HMCS Iroquois, HMCS Ojibwa, HMCS Skeena, HMCS Cormorant and HMCS Scotian. Upon leaving the Navy, he was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1995 and practiced law as an associate and partner with Burchell MacDougall in Truro and Wolfville, Nova Scotia until 2003. Mr. Jarmyn relocated to Ontario in 2003 and became a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and carried on a commercial and administrative law practice. He worked in the Office of the President of the Treasury Board during the implementation of the Federal Accountability Act and then as Counsel to the Minister of Public Safety. In 2014, he returned to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board as deputy chair and was the chair of the board from April 2015 to July 2018. He was appointed as Police Commissioner of Prince Edward Island in October 2018 and became Director of Legal Services for the Government of PEI in December 2020. Since January of 2023 he has practiced law in Ontario as a sole practitioner with a focus on accountability legislation (Access to Information Acts, Elections Acts, Conflict of Interest Acts and Elections Acts) and national security law.

A soon-to-be grandfather of twin girls, Scott is known to friends as an avid soccer player and Liverpool fan. He is a patriotic and dedicated professional who has spent most of his life in public service at home and abroad.

As a combat veteran, Scott served his country for 20 yrs in the Canadian Forces Army, Navy, and Air Force. Ending his decorated career as the Senior Domestic All-Source Intelligence Analyst at Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters, Scott routinely provided heightened awareness of the regional and international threat environment as it pertained to Canadian interests and national security.

After leaving the military, Scott was brought in to work for RCMP Federal and Serious Organized Crime at E-Division as an intelligence advisor where he developed an all-source intelligence team. Here he was tasked to identify Transnational Organized Crime and its convergences with national security threats. By creating think tanks with five eyes intelligence agencies Scott raised awareness of hybrid warfare and how intelligence can be utilized to address the most significant internal and external threats to Canada. Additionally, Scott built significant cross-border relationships by initiating and facilitating meetings between 5eyes intelligence agencies and the RCMP.

Moving from the federal to provincial government, Scott worked as the only gambling Intelligence Officer in Canada under the BC Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, where he advised the provincial government of TNOC operating within the Canadian gambling industry and how these bad actors related to hybrid warfare. Scott represented Canada at International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts’ gaming enforcement meetings where he established new lines of communication for information sharing and deconfliction.

Scott next took on the Head of Intelligence role for the largest private security company in Canada. Working with experts in the private sector assisted Scott in establishing further insights into how bad actors operate in the illicit markets and grey areas of society.

After leaving the government Scott provided expert intelligence analysis to news media, became a journalist and author. His latest book, The Mosaic Effect: How the Chinese Communist Party Started a Hybrid War in America’s Backyard has become a reference document for those seeking to understand foreign interference, repression, elite capture and how the Chinese are conducting a hybrid war in Canada.

Currently, Scott is the Managing Partner and CEO of Close Hold Intelligence Consulting Ltd. and is working on completing his Master of Laws in International Business Law through the University of Cumbria, UK.

Rob Bair joined Zscaler in July 2024, bringing over 20 years of government (including
Department of Defense) IT and cybersecurity experience to the company. Rob’s breadth of
experience includes offensive cyber operations, red team and blue team (incident response and threat hunt), SOC operations, threat intelligence, and national-level policymaking. He has extensive knowledge of defense and Intelligence Community (IC) missions and activities (both in the U.S. and foreign governments).

Rob’s government service included the U.S. Navy, where he served in positions at United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and various other Navy and joint military assignments. His final government position was Director for Intelligence Programs (Technical Intelligence) and Cybersecurity and Operations Policy (member of the team that developed Executive Order 14028) in the Executive Office of the President / National Security Council. He possesses a wide range of knowledge on critical infrastructure, U.S. and international policy and negotiation, the U.S. interagency process, foreign policy, and cryptography.

Prior to joining Zscaler, Rob was the Executive Director at Team Cymru, responsible for
government sales and support, including threat hunt and malicious infrastructure. He has experience with FED, FFRDC, SLED, DOD, IC, DIB, and national security-focused customers.

Dr. Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer is the inaugural Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He commenced his position at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on September 1, 2021. His principal responsibility is to realize the Allies’ vision for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in support of NATO’s purpose to guarantee freedom and security for its 31 member nations. Under the mandate of the North Atlantic Council, and under the delegated authority of the NATO Secretary General, he is tasked with facilitating ICT coherence across NATO’s 50+ civil and military bodies with 25,000 users. He also performs the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) function as the Single Point of Authority for cybersecurity.

From 2010 until 2021, Manfred directed all global computing and information technology systems for Sierra Wireless in Richmond, BC. The company provides Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that empower businesses to thrive in the interconnected global economy. Prior to assuming this role, he spent eight years at Hewlett-Packard (HP) IT in Business Intelligence and Strategy & Planning leadership roles. From 1993 to 2002, he oversaw Supply Chain systems at Compaq’s Latin America Division in Houston, Texas and São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, he supported material planning processes at Compaq’s European Headquarters in Munich, Germany and Gorinchem, The Netherlands.

Manfred has an MBA from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He also holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Business and Management Research and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Reading, UK.

Joe Adam George is a National Security Analyst with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He covers foreign policy and national security issues, specifically Islamist extremism in the West, and the Middle East and South Asia geopolitics and their impact on Canada and the U.S. His work has been featured in the National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Hill Times, The Hill, Real Clear World, The Times of India, and Focus on Western Islamism.

Joe previously worked in the Parliament of Canada as Cultural Press Secretary and Outreach Advisor to the Conservative Party Leader, The Hon. Pierre Poilievre, and his predecessor, The Hon. Candice Bergen. He was responsible for managing their cultural media relations and outreach engagements.

Joe was also a Non-Resident Research Intern at the Hudson Institute’s Centre for Political-Military Analysis in Washington, D.C.

During his 10-year communications and public affairs career, Joe worked with global public relations firms like Edelman, FleishmanHillard, and Hill+Knowlton Strategies. He managed some of the biggest brands including AT&T, Amazon Web Services, HP, Jaguar-Land Rover, and L’Oreal. Some of his PR career highlights include supporting the Australian federal government’s communications during the 2014 G20 World Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, handling AT&T’s crisis communications for the Asia-Pacific region during the 2013 NSA spying scandal, and managing media campaigns for the UN Foundation, UN Women, World Health Organization, World Vision, and the International Justice Mission.

Joe was raised in Muscat, Oman, and has a Master’s in Advertising and Marketing from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He loves globetrotting, soccer, and Formula One (not necessarily in that order). After having lived in six countries, Joe now calls Ottawa home.

Dr. Gregory Carpenter serves as the Chief Security Officer at KnowledgeBridge International and holds the title of Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in London and was named the National Security Agency’s Operations Officer of the Year. He is on the Board of Directors for ATNA Systems, a Senior Advisor for ARIC, Inc., and a member of the Special Operations Medical Association and the Military Cyber Professionals Association.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Carpenter held various senior military and civilian positions, including Vice President for Cyber Operations, Chief of Security Testing, Chief Operations Officer, Counterintelligence Division Chief, Chief of Special Space Operations, and Functional Team Lead for Electronic Warfare. Additionally, he has experience as an epidemiological primary investigator and research team leader.

With a 27-year career in the U.S. Army, Dr. Carpenter is a retired army officer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science degree, and a Doctorate in Public Health. His professional certifications include Certified Information Security Manager, Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt, and ISO-9000 lead auditor.

Calvin has spent over three decades of his professional career engaging with the “human element” of threat actors and their networks. This includes previously within international law enforcement and now in the private sector. His work is focused on advising and supporting clients managing and mitigating the risks of the 21st Century threats directed at corporations and working with law firms and C Suites. From insider threats, espionage, economic subversion and coercion, cyber attacks, kidnaps, extortion, blackmail, asset tracing, financial crimes, law fare activities and counter mis / disinformation operations from foreign states, his work has consistently involved acute risks, severe threats and the interface with the threat actors. As a former RCMP Senior Operations Officer overseeing Transnational Organized Crime, Chinese, Iranian and cartel activities were his staple threat networks. He was also Canada’s Team Leader for the ING, a team of kidnap ransom specialists supporting the Canadian government engaging with terrorist and transnational networks.

Calvin now serves as a Senior Partner of the Critical Risk Team, a global and boutique risk advisory firm specializing in acute risk management advisors and threat mitigation professionals. His team consist of intelligence, military, cyber, law enforcement, information specialists with global reach and capabilities offering a host of services ranging from due diligence, vetting, office sweeps, physical security assessments, risk / threat assessments, cyber advice, crisis management support and strategic responses to mitigate and counter threats. Calvin is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Council on Countering Hybrid Warfare, a NGO working with the private sector, academia, etc,. in enhancing awareness and exploring innovative ways to counter foreign threats. He is an advocate of the importance of practitioners and the need for the inclusion of the school of hard knocks in countering foreign threats and high risks threat actors.

Calvin advocates in the 360 degree approach to threat mitigation and brings the “been out after dark factor” to board rooms, law offices and in support of risk management teams.

His consulting firm is https://criticalriskteam.com/. He can reached at calvin@criticalriskteam.com or 604-652-2004. He is based in Vancouver BC.

Peter W. Klein is the founder of the Global Reporting Centre, a UBC-based non-profit focused on producing and innovating global journalism. He is former director of the University of British Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and has been a professor at the university since 2008. Peter was a longtime producer at CBS News 60 Minutes, and was one of the founding producers of New York Times TV. He has written for The Globe & Mail and other major publications in the US and Canada. He is the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including several Emmy Awards for his investigative reporting.

Dr. Heidi Tworek is a Canada Research Chair and professor of international history and public policy at the University of British Columbia, where she directs the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Her work examines the history and policy around media and communications, particularly looking at how new communications technologies affect democracy. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation as well as a non-resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Tworek has briefed or advised officials and policymakers from governments around the world on media, democracy, and platform regulation. She served on the Expert Advisory Group for online safety for the Heritage Ministry in 2022 and has served on steering committees for international working groups on freedom of expression and global platform governance.

Christian Leuprecht (Ph.D, Queen’s) is Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership, Department of Political Science and Economics, Royal Military College, Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University the inaugural Fulbright Chair in Canada-US Relations at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC and Eisenhower Fellow at the NATO Defence College in Rome. He is Adjunct Research Professor, Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University as well as the Centre for Crime Policy and Research, Flinders University. A recipient of RMC’s Cowan Prize for Excellence in Research and an elected member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada, he is also Munk Senior Fellow in Security and Defence at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. An expert in security and defence, political demography, and comparative federalism and multilevel governance, he has held visiting positions in North America, Europe, and Australia, and is regularly called as an expert witness to testify before committees of Parliament. He holds appointments to the board of the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies, the Police Services Board of the City of Kingston, and the Polar Research & Policy Initiative.

His publications have appeared in English, German, French, and Spanish and include 12 books and scores of articles that have appeared, inter alia, in the Florida State University Law Review (2019), Electoral Studies (2016), Government Information Quarterly (2016), Armed Forces and Society (2015), Global Crime (2015, 2013), the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal (2014, Maureen Molot Prize for Best Article), Canadian Public Administration (2014), the Canadian Journal of Political Science (2012, 2003), Regional and Federal Studies (2012), and Terrorism and Political Violence (2019, 2018, 2017, 2011). His editorials appear regularly across Canada’s national newspapers and he is a frequent commentator in domestic and international media.

Leuprecht has been Matthew Flinders Fellow at the Flinders University of South Australia (2017-2018), held a senior and visiting fellowships at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study (2016), the Helmut-Schmidt-University of the Bundeswehr (2016), Université Pierre-Mendès France (2015), the University of Augsburg in Germany (2011), the Swedish National Defence College (recurring) and the European Academy (recurring), and as the Bicentennial Visiting Associate Professor in Canadian Studies at Yale University (2009-2010). He is a research affiliate at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (since 2005), the Network for Terrorism, Security, and Society (since 2012), l’Université de Montréal’s International Centre for Comparative Criminology (since 2014), the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur les relations internationales du Canada et du Québec (since 2015), l’Observatoire sur la radicalization et l’extrémisme violent (since 2015), the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (since 2010), the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College (2003), the World Population Program at the International Institute for Advanced Systems Analysis in Vienna, Austria (2002), and held doctoral (2001-2003) and postdoctoral (2003-2005) fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University (2003), and graduate degrees in Political Science (1998) and French (1999) from the University of Toronto as well as the Institut d’Études Politiques at the Université Pierre-Mendès France in Grenoble (1997).

From 2015-2018 he held a Governor-in-Council appointment to the governing Council of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada where he also served on the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Committee on Discovery Research. He is also immediate past-president (2014-2018) of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee 01: Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution. Since joining RMCC in 2005, he has served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Deputy Head of the Department of Political Science and Economics. He has twice received the RMCC Commandant’s Commendation for Excellence in Service. A long-time proponent of experiential learning, Leuprecht has also been a finalist for RMCC’s Teaching Excellence Award and has received honourable mention for the Queen’s University Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award (2017). He is a member of the editorial boards of Armed Forces & Society, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Current Sociology’s Manuscript Series, and the Springer book series in Advances in Science and Technologies for Security Applications. Previously, he was associate editor of the Queen’s Policy Studies series published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Calvin has spent over three decades of his professional career engaging with the “human element” of threat actors and their networks. This includes previously within international law enforcement and now in the private sector. His work is focused on advising and supporting clients managing and mitigating the risks of the 21st Century threats directed at corporations and working with law firms and C Suites. From insider threats, espionage, economic subversion and coercion, cyber attacks, kidnaps, extortion, blackmail, asset tracing, financial crimes, law fare activities and counter mis / disinformation operations from foreign states, his work has consistently involved acute risks, severe threats and the interface with the threat actors. As a former RCMP Senior Operations Officer overseeing Transnational Organized Crime, Chinese, Iranian and cartel activities were his staple threat networks. He was also Canada’s Team Leader for the ING, a team of kidnap ransom specialists supporting the Canadian government engaging with terrorist and transnational networks.

Calvin now serves as a Senior Partner of the Critical Risk Team, a global and boutique risk advisory firm specializing in acute risk management advisors and threat mitigation professionals. His team consist of intelligence, military, cyber, law enforcement, information specialists with global reach and capabilities offering a host of services ranging from due diligence, vetting, office sweeps, physical security assessments, risk / threat assessments, cyber advice, crisis management support and strategic responses to mitigate and counter threats. Calvin is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Council on Countering Hybrid Warfare, a NGO working with the private sector, academia, etc,. in enhancing awareness and exploring innovative ways to counter foreign threats. He is an advocate of the importance of practitioners and the need for the inclusion of the school of hard knocks in countering foreign threats and high risks threat actors.

Calvin advocates in the 360 degree approach to threat mitigation and brings the “been out after dark factor” to board rooms, law offices and in support of risk management teams.

His consulting firm is https://criticalriskteam.com/. He can reached at calvin@criticalriskteam.com or 604-652-2004. He is based in Vancouver BC.

Sami Khoury serves as the Government of Canada Senior Official for Cyber Security, providing cyber security expert advice and guidance to deputy ministers and senior officials across the Government of Canada. This role, with Sami’s extensive experience and knowledge, is critical to safeguarding Canada’s digital infrastructure and advancing our national security interests.

Previous to this, Sami was the Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) from 2021 to 2024. The Cyber Centre is the primary source of expert advice, guidance, services, and support on cyber security for government entities, critical infrastructure owners and operators, the private sector, and the Canadian public. Sami embarked on his career at the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) in 1992, initially as a research engineer specializing in the impact of emerging multimedia communications technologies. Over the years, he has held various operational and leadership roles. More recently, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister for Enterprise Technologies and Solutions. In this capacity, he was CSE’s Chief Information Officer, led CSE’s comprehensive Research program and the 24/7 Operations Centre.

Sami holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a Master of Applied Science from Concordia University in Montreal. In 2016, he completed a certificate program in Public Sector Leadership at the University of Ottawa.

Sami’s contributions have been recognized through various accolades, including the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal and the APEX Award of Excellence for Innovation.

Jeff Mahon is Director of StrategyCorp’s Geopolitical and International Advisory Practice and Executive in Residence at the Canada West Foundation. Jeff advises clients on issues that are at the nexus of geopolitics, government policy and international business. His professional background includes both government and business experience. Jeff served as Deputy Director at Global Affairs Canada’s China Division where over several years he covered range of files including investment; science, technology & innovation (STI); economic security; and policy surrounding promotion of Canada’s key economic sectors: energy & resources, finance, automotive, life sciences and cleantech. While at Industry Canada he served as Senior Advisor on the Investment Canada Act. He also served as Nunavut’s Chief Negotiator for the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). He also founded an international trade brokerage company. Jeff is a frequent contributor on geopolitical issues having been featured in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, The Hub, and more.

René Ouellette is the Director General of Academic Outreach & Stakeholder Engagement for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. In this capacity, he manages the Service’s engagement with academic partners whose expertise and insight help provide CSIS with a broad understanding of trends to better inform the Service’s research and analytic capabilities. Through stakeholder engagement, Mr. Ouellette manages CSIS outreach with leaders in academia, civil society, the private sector, and various levels of government to help the Service learn from Canadians, and to raise public literacy on national security and intelligence matters.

Mr. Ouellette joined the Service in 2006 and has held a number of positions within the organization since then, including most recently as the Deputy Director General of Operational Support (Toronto Region) where he oversaw prioritization and planning of CSIS special operations in the Greater Toronto Area, Golden Horseshoe and south and southwestern Ontario. Prior to 2006, Mr. Ouellette served in a number of Government of Canada positions involved in public policy development and implementation, including as Director of Parliamentary Affairs for the Deputy Prime Minister, and Senior Advisor to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Ouellette has a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from Brock University (1999), a Master of Arts (Political Studies – Theory) from the University of Saskatchewan (2001), and a Professional Military Education from the Canadian Forces College (2014).

Mr. Ouellette grew up a proud Acadian in northeastern New Brunswick, and is an avid baseball fan. He lives in Ottawa with his wife, two young children, and two ridiculous cats.

Dr Zekulic was commissioned as an Infantry officer to the Croatian Armed Forces in 2002, after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Management of Information Systems from The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina. Given her additional bachelor degree in Criminalistics from Police College in Zagreb, she held numerous command and staff positions within the Croatian Military Police community, and deployed several times to NATO’s operational theatres. After completing the Croatian Command and Staff College in 2008, graduating first in her class, she was appointed an executive officer to the Croatian Deputy Chief of Staff. From 2010 until 2014, she commanded a battalion at the Croatian Defence Academy.

From late 2014 she served at the Allied Command Transformation, Strategic Plans and Policy Division, where she led the interoperation of high level political guidance and developed policy papers, strategies and inputs to NATO Military Authorities on issues relating to challenges of a changing security environment, hybrid warfare, resilience and Readiness Action Plan. This work led to a posting as a deputy head of the Strategic Assessment Element in the Emergency Security Challenges division at NATO HQ, where she wrote strategic assessments of emerging crisis, enhancing situational awareness and providing early warning for use by the Secretary General and the Chairman of Military Committee. Of special consideration are her assessments of the conventional and hybrid security challenges in Western Balkans and Africa.

In September 2017, LTC Zekulic ended her military career and transitioned to the NATO International Staff, Operations Division, developing assessments, policies and strategies relating to NATO’s operational preparedness and planning, particularly in relation to posture management and deterrence messaging, countering hybrid threats, and crisis management. As of July 2021, Dr Zekulic leads Strategic Issues and Engagements Branch in the Allied Command Transformation. She develops strategic issues identified by SACT, such as on out-partnering, and designs, plans and coordinates strategic level political-military engagement of HQ SACT with NATO’s senior leadership, industry and academia on all Command priority areas.

Parallel to her military career, she also continued with her academic education, gaining a Master of Science degree (2007) and PhD (2012) in international relations and national security. She is also a graduate of NATO Executive Development Program, and Executive Masters in Strategic Leadership and Digital Transformation (2021). Having published more than thirty expert and scientific articles, she is also a Scientific Associate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb, and a regular lecturer at the NATO School Oberammergau.

Dr Zekulic is a member of numerous associations, including the Atlantic Council of Croatia, the Board of Directors for the Centre for International Relations, the Scientific Council of International Military Academic Forum, World’s Council Affairs, and Women Green Leaders Association. She is the recipient of numerous personal awards and decorations from Croatian and NATO officials including the Order of the Croatian Interlace. In 2024 she was awarded a NATO Meritorious Service Medal by a Secretary General of NATO.

For more than 35 years Stuart McNish has been involved in video journalism and storytelling.

Stu is the host of Conversations Live, a “Public Affairs Dialogue” platform carried on The Vancouver Sun.

Stu is also the host of Conversations That Matter, a weekly television show, YouTube channel, a podcast and a radio program that can be seen and heard on The Vancouver Sun, CHEKNews and Bell Media outlets in British Columbia.

He is also the founder and President of Oh Boy Productions, an independent video and television production studio in Vancouver. The company produces Carole Taylor’s Journal, BC Legends with Carole Taylor, Donnie & Dhali: The Team, Vancolour and Steele & Vance.