Speakers
Dr. Kamran Khan Founder & CEO, BlueDot
Dr. Kamran Khan is practising infectious disease physician and a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto. Motivated by his experiences as a frontline healthcare worker during the 2003 Toronto SARS outbreak, Dr. Khan has been studying outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases for nearly two decades to lay the scientific foundation for a global early warning system for infectious diseases. His research has been published in scientific journals from the New England Journal of Medicine, to the Lancet, Science, and Nature. Dr. Khan recently received a Governor General’s Award for his work transcending clinical medicine, public health, big data, and artificial intelligence. To translate and disseminate scientific knowledge into timely action, Dr. Khan founded BlueDot in 2013, an infectious disease intelligence company that combines human and artificial intelligence to help governments protect their citizens and businesses protect their employees and customers from dangerous infectious diseases. BlueDot’s role during the COVID-19 pandemic was featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
Rebecca Brown Associate, Zarek Taylor Grossman Hanarahan, LLP
Is there a Good gene for every Bad gene? - Genetic testing and the law – underwriting and risk rating in insurance – an update.
Rebecca Brown is an Associate at Zarek Taylor Grossman Hanarahan, in Toronto where she practices civil litigation, with a focus on insurance defence. Rebecca has appeared before several Courts and Tribunals, including the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the Licence Appeal Tribunal, and Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal.
Rebecca enjoys running, snowboarding, reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, and travelling, Her father has instilled in her an irrational love of the Toronto Maple Leafs, so she enjoys commiserating about with others.
Christopher Overholt President and CEO, OverActive Media
A Cultural Evolution: Esports, Driver-less cars and the challenge of embracing your 21st-century self.
With more than 20 years of experience in the elite echelons of the sports industry, Chris Overholt now leads Toronto-based OverActive Media Group, one of the most diverse esports organizations globally — owning more than seven international esports teams.
Chris has established himself as a leading and trusted voice in the worlds of sports and business. He joined the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in April 2010 in the dual roles of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). In August 2011, he was named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and was in that role until October 2018.
During his 25 years in business, Chris played a key role in the marketing, branding, and business strategies for some of North America’s top sports franchises, including: the Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers, and seven years with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment working with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors. He is very proud for having helped to recruit Michael Camacho into the Insurance Industry.
Christopher holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western University in London, Ont. and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Executive General Managers Program.
Dr. Ferial Ladak Director of Global Medical Affairs Global Excel Management Inc.
Dr. Ladak joined Global Excel in 2006. She received her Medical Degree from the University of British Columbia in 1983, and completed a Family Practice Residency in New York from 1983 to 1986.
Prior to Global Excel, Dr. Ladak has 15 years’ experience in family practice and the Emergency room. In addition she was the Medical Director of two U.S. hospitals in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Currently, she is responsible for the medical governance of all the Medical Case Management teams, for the entire enterprise. This includes making sure that all the assistance cases are held to a high standard of medical evaluation, adhering to the best practices of the day. She is also responsible for prudent financial handling of high cost inpatient U.S. files and complex or high-risk cases worldwide. She is a sought after speaker and author on behalf of Global Excel Management.
Carlos Juárez Cruz Mexico Program Director, Institute for Economics and Peace
Carlos leads the Mexico Program of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and has experience spanning academic, corporate, and social impact spheres, with a strong focus on peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He has led various multi-sector peacebuilding initiatives, including local governments, universities and NGO’s.
He has given talks and training in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala, and the United States, to diverse audiences ranging from military and police officers, to religious leaders and college students.
Carlos is a Rotary Peace Fellow, a graduate of Duke University (Master of International Development Policy), holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and is the father of three.
Jill McCutcheon Partner, Torys
Insurance Regulatory Update & Case Studies
Jill is co-head of the Financial Services Practice. She has more than 25 years of experience in providing counsel to the insurance industry on all aspects of the law. She acts as counsel to insurers, reinsurers, MGAs, intermediaries, third-party administrators, marketers, retailers, employers, and associations.
Chris Mathers Crime, Terrorism and Security Expert
Cyber Security: The Invisible War
Chris Mathers spent most of his life working undercover for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the US Customs Service. Posing as a gangster, a drug trafficker, and even as a money launderer, Mathers has seen and done it all. In his extraordinary talks, Mathers takes audiences into the underworld that only he can describe, letting people in on the stunning stories and secrets harboured by terrorists and those involved in organized crime.
Mathers retired after a 20-year career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. At the time of his retirement, he was the senior undercover operator at the RCMP Proceeds of Crime Section where he established and operated a number of “storefront” money laundering businesses in Canada and the US, targeting Colombian, Russian, and Asian crime groups. Mathers personally infiltrated criminal organizations in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe.
In 1995, Mathers joined the Forensic division of the international accounting firm, KPMG. In 1999, he was appointed to the position of President of KPMG Corporate Intelligence Inc. where he was responsible for international due diligence, asset recovery operations, and the investigation and prevention of organized crime and money laundering.
A popular media commentator and speaker, Mathers has served as a consultant on several feature films and documentaries relating to organized crime, espionage and money laundering. He has appeared on television and radio interviews on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, all of the Canadian national news networks as well as media outlets in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. Mathers is also the host of The Egyptian Job, on the National Geographic Channel. He is also the author of the bestselling book, Crime School: Money Laundering.
Dr. David J. De La Zerda MD, FCCP, Associate Professor of Medicine | Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine | Jackson Memorial Hospital
Health System Resilience: COVID 19 Response
Dr. De La Zerda is a Board Certified physician in the areas of Critical Care Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases and Internal Medicine. He was educated at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia and at the University of California. He is licenced to practice medicine in both California and Florida. Since 2015, he has served as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami. He serves as the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program Director and as the Jackson Memorial Medical Intensive Care Unit, Medical Director and the Co-Director of the Pulmonary Vascular Program at UM/JMH.
Allan Cole President and Owner of MacKinnon & Bowes
Final Journey Home
Allan is the President and Owner of MacKinnon & Bowes, a mortuary support firm that serves funeral homes, government agencies such as the Office of the Coroner, police agencies throughout Canada, Department of National Defense, Health Canada and many insurance providers that require repatriation assistance. He is the Current Vice President of the Board of the Funeral Service Association of Canada a trustee on the Funeral Service Foundation for the National Funeral Directors Association in the United States, Past President of the Canadian Funeral Trade Association, and the Toronto District Funeral Directors Association, and former director at the Ontario Board of Funeral service. Allan has the distinction as Canada's first civilian contractor for Mortuary Affairs for the Government of Canada. Allan has been awarded an Honorary Degree from the Canadian Forces Staff College, Senior Officers Joint Command and Staff Program and received the 2019 Chief of the Defense Staff Distinguished Service Medallion, and an Honorary Bachelor of Applied Studies Degree, Health Sciences, from Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in 2009.
Douglas E. Lavin Vice President, Member and External Relations, North America International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Governments’ Response to COVID-19 and its Impact on Commercial Aviation – Lessons (hopefully) Learned
As Vice President of Member and External Relations, North America, for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Douglas E. Lavin represents the interests of the organization’s 290+ international airline members, both in the United States and Canada, and is the head of IATA’s Washington, D.C. office. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been the lead representative of international airlines in negotiations with the Governments of Canada and the United States on their pandemic response. In addition, Doug and his team address a number of issues impacting IATA’s member airlines, including safety, security, facilitation and environment, consumer protection and disability rights, economic regulation, charges, taxes, and distribution.
Dr. Jim Chung Chief Medical Officer, Air Canada
Living with COVID
Dr. Jim Chung has been Air Canada’s Chief Medical Officer since 2016. In this role, he has oversight for the preventative, occupational, environmental and clinical medicine with the physiology and psychology of flight, which includes mitigation and management of global health risks, and both employee and passenger medical regulatory issues, first aid training, onboard medical procedures and pilot medical certification.
Dr. Chung is a graduate of the University of Toronto Medical Program and undergraduate studies at McMaster University.
Following completion of his residency in Family Medicine, he served in the Canadian Forces in various roles while stationed at CFB Petawawa. Dr. Chung also deployed to Bosnia on Canada’s NATO SFOR mission and to Turkey with Canada’s DART team in response to a major earthquake in 1999.
Dr. Chung attained his flight surgeon training through the Canadian Forces and also received his Master in Aviation Medicine and Post graduate diploma in Occupational Medicine through Otago University.
Dr. Chung also completed his emergency medicine training and certification at the University of Toronto following his retirement from the Canadian Forces, practicing as an emergency medicine physician in Toronto prior to joining Air Canada in 2009 as Senior Medical Advisor, Toronto, a role he held until his appointment to Chief Medical Officer.