SPEAKERS

Ryan Knighton - Wednesday Evening Dinner Speaker

On his 18th birthday, Ryan Knighton was diagnosed with a genetic condition that would slowly blind him over the next fifteen years. Today, Knighton has about 1% of his vision left, and is awaiting the moment when he will lose even that. In Cockeyed, his hilarious and observant memoir, he chronicles the trials and misadventures that have made him an off-beat writer and an even more off-beat blind man. The Boston Globe calls it "an unexpectedly wry view of a life that twisted into the extraordinary." Ryan Knighton is a faculty member at Capilano College, where he teaches writing (both creative and destructive). A National Magazine Award-nominated journalist, he has written about pop culture, politics, education and disability for The New York Times and The Globe and Mail, among others. The documentary on Knighton, As Slow as Possible--or ASAP--was released in 2008. The film shows his engaging talents as a speaker and storyteller and his belief that some of the most profound lessons can be found in the most minor of occasions.

Andre Picard - Keynote Speaker

André Picard is one of Canada's top public policy writers. He is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail and author of the best-selling books CRITICAL CARE: Canadian Nurses Speak For Change and THE GIFT OF DEATH: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy. He is also the author of A CALL TO ALMS: The New Face of Charity in Canada. André has received much acclaim for his writing, including the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism, the Canadian Policy Research Award, and the Atkinson Fellowship for Public Policy Research. In 2002, he received the Centennial Prize of the Pan-American Health Organization as the top public health reporter in the Americas. In 2005, he was named Canada's first Public Health Hero by the Canadian Public Health Association. In 2007, André was awarded a National Newspaper Award for his contribution to a series about cancer care in Canada. He is a former member of the advisory committees of the Canadian Institute for Child Health, Active Healthy Kids Canada, Centraide/United Way Montréal, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal. He is also a parent representative on the Montreal School Board

Carla Anglehart

Carla Anglehart, director of organizational development at NSAHO, is a dynamic facilitator and educator.  Carla studied Policy Governance at the Atlanta Policy Governance® Institute and completed her certification in Effective Health Care Governance in Ontario.  Past President of the Halifax Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, Carla has been working with health system leaders since the early 90’s to support them in identifying and achieving their goals.  For the past 7 years, Carla has been working with boards and leaders at all levels of the health system to promote understanding of and commitment to organizational health.  She believes that fostering healthier work environments will increase employee engagement, support recruitment and retention efforts and, ultimately, produce better patient/client outcomes.  Carla is well known for her sessions on leadership, governance, quality work-life and leading organizational change.

Sharon Bar-David

An expert in the field of respect in the workplace, Sharon Bar-David helps her clients create engaged workplace environments through the provision of training, organizational development services, coaching and keynote speeches. In her 20+ years of international experience as lawyer, speaker, consultant, coach and family therapist, Sharon has worked with over 22,000 people in Canada and overseas in a variety of industries. She is a regular guest commentator for the Canadian HR Reporter magazine  and her expertise in organizational change is featured in a book she has co-authored, Awakening the Workplace. In addition, Sharon offers free ongoing commentary and tips on workplace-related matters through her popular blog.

Lori Casselman

Lori Casselman is assistant vice-president, Health & Productivity Solutions at Sun Life Financial.  Prior to joining Sun Life, she was vice-president of Buffett & Company Worksite Wellness Inc., with overall responsibility for business development and operations and for leading the organization’s growth and innovation. Lori holds a BA in Kinesiology, a BSc in Nutrition, and an MSc in Exercise Physiology; from the University of Western Ontario. Lori has twelve years of consulting experience in the health & wellness field. She works with many of Canada’s well-known and progressive employers to develop strategic, sustainable approaches to organizational health management. She has spoken at many industry conferences and events, and has authored numerous articles on the topics of organizational health and employee engagement. Lori is also a Certified Excellence Professional with the National Quality Institute (NQI), and was a key member of the leadership team which enabled Buffett & Company to be awarded the National Quality Institute’s Gold Healthy Workplace Award in 2005 and the Order of Excellence in 2008.

Elizabeth Dulmage

Elizabeth Dulmage is manager, Cancer Prevention & Screening, with the Windsor Regional Hospital, Erie St. Clair Regional Cancer Program. She has spent over 20 years of her career dedicated to wellness, health promotion and disease prevention primarily in the public health arena. Her areas of focus have included: maternal child health, hi risk child health, school health, communicable diseases and most recently adult health & wellness. Currently, she has responsibility for prevention, screening and diagnostic programs related to the provincial screening programs for the region. She is a co-principal investigator on the Your Health Matters. Understand Your Cancer Risk- Comprehensive Workplace Cancer Prevention and Screening Program. Elizabeth graduated with a BScN from the University of Windsor and is a registered nurse. She completed her Masters of Science in Administration at Central Michigan University.

Sylvana Leclerc

Sylvana Leclerc is corporate wellness coordinator, Canadian Pacific Railway, and has been involved in healthy workplace initiatives for 20 years. At  Canadian Pacific, she leads the strategic planning, implementation and evaluation of health promotion initiatives to support the Human Resource and CP business goals. Before joining CP in 1998, Sylvana spent several years as a consultant helping small and medium size organizations design and implement cost effective wellness strategies. She is a Certified Exercise Physiologist with the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiologists, an active member of the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council and the Calgary Health, Work and Wellness Network and has served on several Advisory  Boards. Sylvana has spoken at several conferences in Canada and the U.S. and is a regular contributor to panel discussions on workplace wellness.

Chris MacDonald

Chris MacDonald has been the assistant vice-president, absence management solutions, Manulife Financial for the past 5 years, within the Group Disability Claims Operation. Prior to joining Manulife in August 2005, Chris worked extensively in the field of absence and disability management for 25 years. This experience included working with several major insurers in disability management roles beginning as a case manager and then progressing to various management roles within absence and disability claims operations.  In her current role, Chris and her national Absence Management Solutions department have been able to successfully work with multiple employers to deliver practical strategies that have been effective in positively impacting outcomes such as reduced absence durations and case incidence resulting in decreased costs. This has included ensuring a positive experience for employees that focus on their own health recovery and providing solutions to reduce health risk factors.  Chris’ education background includes receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Western Ontario, obtaining her Fellowship in Life Office Management,  NQI Healthy Workplace certification and attending Executive Business Administration programs at Queens University and Harvard Business School specific to Strategic and Operations Leadership.

Dr. Neil Mackinnon

Dr. Neil MacKinnon is the associate director for research and professor at the  Dalhousie University College of Pharmacy in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is also  cross-appointed to the Faculty of Medicine. A pharmacist, he completed his Masters and PhD degrees in the United States,  focusing on medication-use issues in the managed care environment. He has  edited two books published by the Canadian Pharmacists Association: Seamless  Care and Safe & Effective. He recently co-authored a new book, Take as  Directed, with a family physician, which will be published by ECW Press and  available in bookstores nationwide in September. Neil serves on the Medication Advisory Panel for Medavie Blue Cross and has  conducted research related to drug benefit management.

Dr. Peter Melnyk

Dr. Peter Melnyk joined BioMedCom from McGill University and the Montreal  Heart Institute, where he obtained his PhD in pathology. The communication  of scientific information has long been one of Peter’s interests; his work  has been published in several respected journals. Peter’s interest in  scientific knowledge dissemination has also led him to website development.  As an Associate Director, Research Application at BioMedCom, Peter has been  involved in many BioMedCom efforts, including work on continuing education  materials, budget impact model development, briefing documents covering  several therapeutic areas, peer-reviewed manuscripts on a diverse range of  topics ranging from dementia screening to workplace health promotion, and  formulary submission dossiers for several emerging products.

Judith Plotkin

Judith Plotkin is vice-president, business development with Human Solutions and has over 17 years of experience in the health and wellness arena. Judith Plotkin is a recognized industry expert and speaker; she has appeared on CTV, 680 News and CBC Radio Canada as an expert in workplace issues and mental health for employers. Judith is a former board member of EAPAT and currently sits on the Board of EASNA. She has a proven track record developing innovative solutions for organizations across North America. She has held senior positions in clinical and professional services, account management and sales leadership in organizations across the health and wellness field.  Judith has worked as a certified trauma counsellor and Substance Abuse Professional.   Many of Canada's largest employers have turned to her to help contain rising benefits costs while creating healthier, more effective workplaces. She holds an undergraduate degree in social work from Ryerson University and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Toronto.

Nicole Robinson

Nicole Robinson is co-principal investigator, responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Your Health Matters, Understand Your Cancer Risk – Comprehensive Workplace Cancer Prevention and Screening Project with the Erie St. Clair Regional Cancer Program. Nicole has over 10 years of directly related work experience in the areas of health promotion & education, prevention strategies, and project management in occupational health and human factors, public health and workplace wellness, and cancer prevention, screening and patient education. She is dedicated to supporting Cancer Care with innovative and evidence based strategies.  Her experience includes: community, targeted population, and occupational health promotion with a focus on health education and training, program planning and implementation, and program evaluation and research.  In addition to a Baccalaureate Degree in Science, she holds a Master of Applied Science degree and is a certified Black belt in Organized Problem Solving Strategies.

Dr. David Satok

Dr. David Satok has been the corporate medical director of Rogers Communications Inc. since April 2008.  He is also the director of Insurance Medical Services at Gamma Dynacare Medical Laboratories.  Prior to 2008 David held the position of Chief Medical Officer at Apotex Research Inc., ( Canada’s largest pharmaceutical company.) David has continued working in the area of Family Medicine seeing patients on a daily basis.  As an Associate Physician at the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine  David teaches medical students in his office.  David graduated from the University of Toronto Medical School in 1991 and completed a residency in Family Medicine in 1993.  He received his fellowship in 2003.   David has privileges at multiple hospitals in Toronto and is involved in committees at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and  Toronto Public Health.

Karen Seward

Karen Seward is the executive vice-president, business development and marketing at Shepell·fgi. In her role, she leads the development of innovative health management products and prevention tools that promote workplace health and support employees' well-being and their employers’ business productivity needs. Seward was named a Who’s Who In Workplace Health by Working Well magazine and Rogers Media in 2008. She is also a member of the Conference Board of Canada.  Featured as a speaker at numerous conferences and seminars, Seward has also published articles in periodicals including Benefits Canada and Benefits & Pensions Monitor, and often appears in national media to speak on workplace health and productivity issues. She holds a BA from the University of Toronto and is noted for her unique approach in treating health in the workplace as a business issue, bringing quantitative figures to show how an investment in a healthy workplace drives productivity and offsets disability costs to a company’s bottom line.

Dr. Marla Shapiro

Dr. Marla Shapiro is a practicing family physician in Toronto, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, the Department of Family and Community Medicine and has been committed to improving the lives of women suffering from osteoporosis through a number of activities both Nationally and Internationally. She has raised considerable awareness of osteoporosis and educated many as a result of her role as medical advisor in the media–both on Television with the CTV  and in print with the Globe and Mail. She has made an impact on a national level through her work with Osteoporosis Canada, and also with SIGMA (Special Interest Group on Menopause and Aging), as well and at the international level she has been extensively involved with NAMS– the North American Menopause Society through various roles.

Allan Smofsky

Allan Smofsky is an independent workplace health strategist, dedicated to assisting organizations in aligning and optimizing strategies, goals/objectives and resources to create healthier, more productive workplaces. In 1997, Allan relocated to the Toronto area to head Bayer Care, a workplace health management unit of Bayer Inc.  In his role, Allanmentored client-facing staff in consultative selling and relationship development approaches and provided overall leadership to the Bayer Care team. Allan is an active member of several industry organizations, including: The Canadian Healthy Workplace Council (Chair), Forum on the Advancement of Healthy Workplaces, Ontario Healthy Workplace Coalition, Benefits Breakfast Club Advisory Committee, Group Insurance & Pharmaceutical Committee (GIPC) Steering Committee.  Allan Smofsky is a 2008 winner of the Rogers Media Working Well Who’s Who in Workplace Health award, and is a frequently invited speaker and writer on workplace health issues.

  For more information, contact Kerry Maddocks Managing Editor, Working Well

This page was last updated: March 26, 2010