An Interactive Virtual Event
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM

The Heart-Centered Leadership Symposium: Strategies for Strengthening Trust

Participants will have the opportunity to interact with inspirational speakers, take part in a transformative panel, and network with other professionals who share a commitment to strengthening trusted relationships.

National Best-Selling Author
and Global Trust Expert

David Horsager

Keynote Speaker

Sponsors
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
The Celebrate Group logo
Getting Ahead Education logo
Humanistic logo
Bronze Sponsors
WATCH
Discover compelling reasons to attend our upcoming symposium straight from David Horsager himself! Watch the video below and seize this opportunity to elevate your knowledge and career.
Join Us!

Explore how to lead with your heart in this era of rebuilding and reshaping your organization's viability.

Deborah Crowe (Host)

Deborah Crowe is a heart-centered entrepreneurial leader
 with a wealth of experience coaching leaders at all levels and stages of their careers while also teaching and sharing her knowledge as a College Professor.
Image of Dr. Kristen Woods

Dr. Kristen Woods (Host)

As an executive coach, Kristen engages with leaders who aspire to enrich their executive skillset, empowering them to emerge as trusted visionaries who shape organizational strategy and unlock the boundless potential of their organization's talent pool.
Who Should Attend?

This leadership symposium is designed for leaders—at all levels—across various sectors.

It is for people who are committed to fostering heart-centred leadership and rebuilding trust within their organizations. This symposium is perfect for those in leadership roles who are navigating the challenges of a post-pandemic era and are eager to learn strategies for integrating heart-centred principles into their leadership approach.
  • Corporate
  • Non-profit
  • Education
  • Healthcare
  • First Responders
  • Technology
  • Automotive
  • Startup
  • Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

  • C-Suite Executives (CEOs, CFOs, COOs)
  • Senior Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents

  • Directors and Senior Directors
  • Managers and Senior Managers
  • Team Leaders and Project Managers
  • Human Resources Leaders
  • Organizational Development Professionals
  • Change Management Consultants
  • Leadership Educators

Learning Objectives

1. Rebuilding and Strengthening Trust

Learn practical strategies to rebuild and strengthen trust within your organization, fostering a culture of integrity and reliability.

2. Integrating Heart-Centered Leadership Principles
Gain insights into heart-centered leadership practices emphasizing empathy, compassion, and emotional intelligence, enhancing your ability to connect with and inspire your team.

3. Enhancing Team Morale and Culture
Discover effective techniques for boosting team morale and cultivating a positive organizational culture, leading to higher employee satisfaction and retention.

4. Driving Innovation and Productivity
Understand how trust and heart-centered leadership can drive innovation, increase productivity, and contribute to your organization's success and growth.

5. Building Effective People-Centric Strategies

Develop comprehensive strategies that balance the needs of people and profit, ensuring sustainable success and a supportive work environment that encourages collaboration and high performance.

The Heart-Centered Leadership Symposium: Strategies for Strengthening Trust

An amazing line-up featuring five panelists from sectors such as Healthcare, Tech, Finance, First Responders, and Energy. Moderated by Vayner Media’s Chief Heart Officer, Claude Silver.
Moderator

Claude Silver

Global Chief Heart Officer, VaynerMedia
Claude Silver is VaynerMedia’s (and the world's) first-ever Global Chief Heart Officer, tasked with fusing empathy with agency to unlock employee potential and foster a culture of belonging across the 2000+ person organization.
Panelists
Technology

Michael Millar

CEO and Founder, Verto Health
Michael Millar is the CEO and Founder of Verto Health and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.
Finance

Kunal Chopra

Founder, Chopra and Company
Kunal is a 20-plus year Financial Services professional whose career spans Wealth Management, Retail Banking, Commercial Credit, and Insurance.
Healthcare

Cathy Faulds

Palliative Care Physician, St. Joseph's Health Centre
A graduate of Western University in 1986, Dr. Cathy Faulds received Certification in Family Medicine from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) in 1989, and she became a Fellow in 2004.
Energy

Michael Bee

Sales Application Engineer, TE Connectivity
Michael Bee’s impressive career in the electrical utility market spans over two decades, making him a seasoned professional dedicated to providing excellent customer service and support.
First Responders

Jennifer Noel

Inspector, London Police Service
Jennifer Noël joined the London Police Service as a Cadet in 2000. Over the course of her career she has held leadership roles in Patrol Operations, Human Resources, Professional Standards and Corporate Services.

A graduate of Western University in 1986, Dr. Cathy Faulds received Certification in Family Medicine from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) in 1989, and she became a Fellow in 2004. She completed her Certificate of Added Competence in Palliative Care from the CFPC in 2016 and her American Board of Palliative and Hospice Medicine in 2010.

Currently, Dr. Faulds serves as a palliative care physician with St. Joseph's Health Centre and is a staff family physician at London Health Sciences Centre. Since 1996, she has served as a clinical professor and mentor to undergraduate and graduate medical students at Western University. She is currently on Faculty of CPEP where she teaches ethical remediation. Dr. Faulds is Chair of the OMA and ARGI.inc Board of Directors. She has participated on the Board of the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) serving as Secretary-Treasurer, President-Elect, and President from 2011-2015. She concluded her term as Past-President in November 2016. She has served as a Director of the College of Family Physicians of Canada from 2013-17, Thames Valley Board of Research and The University of Western ON Foundation Board.

In addition to her experience with the CFPC and OCFP, Dr. Faulds has served on numerous committees at Health Quality Ontario on quality improvement plans and primary care metrics. She has been on the Technical committee of Accreditation Canada to cowrite primary care standards. She has served as Co-Chair of Family Medicine Alliance in Ontario. She has been a CPSO college investigator. Dr. Faulds is an Executive Coach and has received her Registered Corporate Coach designation through Worldwide Association of Business Coaches.

Jennifer Noël joined the London Police Service as a Cadet in 2000. Over the course of her career she has held leadership roles in Patrol Operations, Human Resources, Professional Standards and Corporate Services.

Jennifer currently serves as Branch Commander overseeing teams of sworn and civilian members performing functions related to research and planning, risk management and quality assurance, evidence-based policing, and business analytics. Her goal as a leader is to help others thrive in the workplace and to ensure everyone feels seen, heard, and respected by leading with her heart.

Jennifer lives in the country with her husband Carl and their chickens and cats. She enjoys gardening and cooking.

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Michael Bee’s impressive career in the electrical utility market spans over two decades, making him a seasoned professional dedicated to providing excellent customer service and support. From his early years working in Simcoe, Ontario, to his current role at TE Connectivity, Michael has consistently demonstrated his expertise and commitment.

As a Sales Application Engineer at TE Connectivity, Michael has had the privilege of supporting and working with a dynamic sales team, building strong relationships across the North American region. He excels in understanding customer needs and delivering value-added solutions.

Prior to his role as a Sales Application Engineer, Michael honed his skills in account management and product support. His diligence and ability to establish trust with customers have been instrumental in navigating complex sales processes and exceeding expectations.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Michael is a lifelong learner who is thankful for the influencers in his life. His unwavering dedication to excellence, coupled with his innate ability to forge meaningful connections, makes him an invaluable asset in the realm of electrical utility sales. As he continues to drive innovation and deliver exceptional results, Michael remains a beacon of heart-centered leadership, with both trust and integrity in his field.

Karen Davies is the President and Chief Executive Officer at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital, a leading healthcare institution in Southwestern Ontario. As the only hospital in Elgin County, STEGH plays a key role in providing essential healthcare services to the community. Under Karen’s dynamic leadership, the hospital has been recognized for its high standards of patient care and innovative practices.

Karen is a Registered Nurse
with an undergraduate degree in Administration and a Masters in Healthcare Leadership. She is a distinguished member of the Canadian College of Healthcare Leaders and maintains her standing as a Certified Health Executive (CHE). Karen is also a proud alumna of the Advanced Health Care Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto, and has completed the prestigious Women’s Leadership Program at the Yale School of Management.

In 2022
, Karen expanded her expertise by completing the Collaborative Heath Governance Program, and in 2024, she earned her Chartered Director designation from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. Her commitment to education is further demonstrated by her role as an Adjunct Professor with the Arthur Labatt School of Nursing at Western University.

With
over 33 years of experience in healthcare, Karen is deeply passionate about transformational leadership and the integration of lean principles and emotional intelligence in the workplace. She has extensive experience in pediatric healthcare and has been an advocate for patient and family centred care, ensuring their voices are integral to healthcare decisions. Karen has also contributed significantly to national healthcare standards through her work as a surveyor with Accreditation Canada for over a decade. She is celebrated as a visionary leader, known for her values-based leadership approach that emphasizes respect, trust, accountability, and results. Her dedication to improving the quality of healthcare continues to inspire her team and the broader healthcare community.
 

Kunal is a 20-plus year Financial Services professional whose career spans Wealth Management, Retail Banking, Commercial Credit, and Insurance. His diverse career has focused on consulting and implementation with specific expertise in strategy, transformation, operating excellence and enabling strategy via talent, operations, technology and data.  He has had the privilege to lead high performing, values driven, and outcomes focused humans and teams which have delivered over $120 million in tangible benefits for his employers and clients.  Kunal has worked with senior executives and CEOs in Financial Services in Canada, the USA and the Caribbean. He has published and spoken internationally as a senior subject matter expert on topics such as transformation, data, digitization and operating excellence.

Over the past 5 years he has been self-employed as the founder of “Chopra and Company”, a consulting and delivery firm which has supported CEO’s in Insurance, Banking and Higher Education as an advisor, Interim Executive and Chief Transformation Officer to deliver enterprise wide transformation, revenue growth, business and operating model innovation and efficiency.  While delivering for clients Kunal founded “Getting Ahead”, a talent platform built for diverse talent of all career stages and small to mid-size employers.

Kunal’s leadership values are centered in Kindness, Compassion, Development, Support, Transparency and Empathy. These are not just keywords for him. As a human first, values based leader Kunal’s success is centered in developing others, while building teams that support each other, focus on “performance over politics” and have a track record of outperforming expectations including those of the CEO of one of the largest banks in Canada who had personally met with Kunal to ask “How did you deliver  $15 million in benefits 18 months ahead of schedule?”.

A stroke survivor at 23, he has lived a unique path, is grateful for the compassion and mentorship of others and fortunate enough to live a productive life while trying to support others as they grow their careers.  Kunal has mentored numerous people from diverse backgrounds. Via “Getting Ahead”, Kunal aims to bridge the gap between great talent, employers and communities who are not adequately served by large recruiting platforms. The platform’s social focus includes revenue sharing with partners to allow them to invest in training, diversity and inclusion and communities.

Michael Millar is the CEO and Founder of Verto Health and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. As a computer scientist and a Master of Health Informatics, Michael combines his deep understanding of modern technology with a system-level understanding of the complexities of healthcare management to create innovative solutions for long standing problems in care coordination. Michael's experience in health administration at the Ministry of Health, AVP of Business Intelligence in finance, and 14+ years of software development helps him navigate the complicated world of digital health with confidence and clarity as he works to transform healthcare.

“Be someone people want in the room.” 

–Claude Silver

Claude Silver is VaynerMedia’s (and the world's) first-ever Global Chief Heart Officer, tasked with fusing empathy with agency to unlock employee potential and foster a culture of belonging across the 2000+ person organization. Between her deep education in psychology and spirituality and the two decades she has spent as an award-winning advertising strategist, Claude has been studying and influencing human behavior for over three decades. 

Outside of her role at VaynerMedia, Claude speaks globally about the need for empathetic leadership in today’s workplace and the importance of treating “employees” like humans, not numbers. Her success in guiding client relationships, global brand strategies, operations, management, and culture is driven by her abiding passion for creating spaces in which people can show up as their true selves and thrive as a result. 

 

 

 

Reta Ismail is currently a multi-skilled journalist and anchor with CTV News in London, Ont.

Reta is an Alumni of Distinction from Mohawk College’s Broadcast Journalism and Communications program.

Her media career began at an early age. In high school, she had a co-op placement at Mohawk College's radio station doing on-the-hour news updates and co-hosting a radio show.

Upon graduating College, she worked as a radio news anchor/reporter in St. Catharines for two years. During this time, Reta volunteered as a videographer with Rogers Television to gain on-camera experience.

Wanting to further her career and get into a major market, she applied and was hired to work as an assignment editor for CityNews in Toronto where she spent eight years as a Media Library archivist and as an assignment editor monitoring breaking news.

In January of 2015, Reta made the jump from behind the scene to on camera. She was offered an opportunity with CTV London’s news team as a weather anchor and videographer. She has been with CTV London since, and worked on a number of stories throughout her career.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Reta Ismail fled the war-torn country in 1990, lived in Greece for 3 years, before coming to Canada in 1993.

Reta speaks English and is fluent in Assyrian.

Kristen's approach is infused with a caring touch, ensuring that personal well-being and values are woven seamlessly into the coaching experience, fostering harmony and genuine authenticity across all realms of leadership and life. 

With an impressive 25-year track record in healthcare, spanning roles as a distinguished family physician and accomplished executive, Kristen brings to the table extensive expertise in areas including population health, change management, Lean system design, community collaboration, and health system operations.  Kristen's journey includes impactful roles as a C-suite executive within both an Accountable Care Organization and a prominent not-for-profit national health system. In these influential positions, Kristen held responsibility for steering strategy, optimizing financial performance, orchestrating clinical operations, and fostering a culture of coaching, anchored by LEAN principles. She adeptly navigated through complex organizational structures, deftly handling ambiguous authority and accountability matrices in a highly regulated industry landscape. Additionally, Kristen extended her expertise to diverse sectors including education, manufacturing, automotive, and retail, supporting them with benefit design and wellness initiatives during her tenure as a medical director for a commercial payer. Through constructive optimism and compassionate leadership, Kristen has left a lasting impact on every facet of her professional journey.

In Kristen's personal sphere, she radiates vitality and well-being, nurturing her health through a harmonious blend of physical activities. With a deep affinity for nature, she finds joy in exploring the great outdoors, whether it's strolling with her 3 dogs through lush forests, hitting the trails for a run, gliding across snowy landscapes on cross-country skis, or embracing the summer breeze while paddle boarding. Sharing special moments on the water with her husband and supporting her children on the soccer pitch at their universities add to the tapestry of her life. Rooted in compassion and a sense of responsibility, Kristen's approach to community and societal engagement is infused with generosity and positivity, reflecting her vibrant spirit.    

Deborah's story is woven with resilience and vulnerability against the backdrop of Ontario's serene landscapes. From her nomadic upbringing in rural Ontario to finding her heart's home in London, Ontario, her journey has embraced imperfection and growth.

Navigating the tumultuous waters of Tall Poppy Syndrome in her twenties became the catalyst for Deborah's extraordinary rise in her career. Embracing entrepreneurship at the tender age of 24, she embarked on a journey of self-discovery and innovation, fuelled by her education at Brock University and the Richard Ivey School of Business.

With over three decades of traversing the global landscape and a kaleidoscope of life experiences, Deborah has become a beacon of unconventional wisdom and boundless curiosity. Her unconventional approach to leadership and her relentless pursuit of learning have reshaped traditional paradigms.

Deborah's expertise extends far beyond the confines of conventional leadership. She is a trailblazer in fostering inclusive workplaces, championing change management, and nurturing the human spirit. Her work is a testament to the transformative power of vulnerability and authenticity in leadership.

Deborah's voice resonates with authenticity and warmth as a best-selling author and dynamic speaker. Her debut solo book, "The Heart-Centered Leadership Playbook," serves as a roadmap for navigating the complexities of modern leadership with grace and courage.

Beyond accolades and achievements, Deborah's true calling lies in guiding others toward their path of self-discovery and growth. With unwavering tenacity and compassionate listening, she empowers individuals to embrace their vulnerabilities and unlock their full potential.

In her life, Deborah finds joy in the simple pleasures of community, connection, and family. Whether volunteering, teaching yoga, or relishing moments with loved ones, she embodies the essence of living wholeheartedly.As she eagerly anticipates the arrival of her second grandchild later this year, Deborah continues to embrace life's journey with open arms, knowing that true fulfillment lies in embracing the messy, imperfect beauty of being human.