2008 Highlights

Dave Dobbin

President, Cogeco Data Services

Dave Dobbin is responsible for leading the market growth and development of Cogeco Data Services, with operational responsibilities for business strategy, sales and marketing, network operations, services creation and customer care.

Dave has an extensive knowledge of the telecommunications industry in Canada. In recent years, he has provided strategic counsel to carriers and large corporations in Canada and internationally on projects related to telecom network construction and optimization. He has been instrumental in assisting a large number of municipal electric utilities in Ontario enter the telecom business.

Prior to joining Cogeco Data Services, Dave was the Chief Operating Officer of Telecom Ottawa where he created a successful telecommunications subsidiary for Hydro Ottawa Holdings Inc. Prior to this, he was Project Executive at Hydro One Telecom/ SCBN where he managed the successful start-up of Municipal Area Networks and Wide Area Networks in Southern Ontario, as well as Vice President of Operations at BDO Watson/Watson & Associates.

Dave was recently named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40, a national program that celebrates the country’s leaders of today and tomorrow, and that honours Canadians who have reached a significant level of success but have not yet reached the age of 40.

Dave is the chair of the Toronto Board of Trade’s Information and Communications Technology Committee and serves on the Board of the United Telecom Council of Canada of the United Telecom Council in Washington, D.C.

Patricia Tiralongo

Vice President Relationship Management TD Asset Management Inc.

Patricia Tiralongo has worked for TD Asset Management (TDAM) since July 1999 after graduating from the University of Toronto at Scarborough with an Honours BA Specialist in Management. In September 2008, she joined the Institutional Relationship Management group, responsible for business development and client service for TDAM’s Canadian corporate and institutional clients.

Previously, she was a member of the Quantitative Portfolio Management team, focusing on transition services and equity index portfolio management. Her responsibilities included analysis, coordination and implementation of transitions for TDAM’s institutional clients.

Prior to joining the Institutional Portfolio Management division in 2005, Patricia worked as a Research Associate for an internal hedge fund portfolio within TD Asset Management and was also responsible for trading a variety of market instruments in a variety of arbitrage strategies, as well as analyzing, evaluating and ongoing monitoring of these investment opportunities.

Patricia was awarded her CFA Charter in 2004 and in her spare time is an active member of United Way Toronto’s GenNext Cabinet, focusing her efforts on enhancing volunteerism within the GenNext age bracket.

Joel Hilchey

Inspirational Speaker

Joel Hilchey has spoken to thousands of students, educators, & professionals across North America. Speaking on leadership, character and community, he helps schools and organizations who want to enhance their people’s experience and set them up for success!
Having spent his university years as a residence community advisor and leadership facilitator with both high and low ropes courses, Joel has now turned to sharing his experiences and mistakes to help inspire the best in others. Joel’s hilarious keynotes have helped with leadership development, school assemblies, and conferences of all sizes. Well-trained in experiential education, he is a skilled and experienced facilitator for corporate groups, non-profits, educational staff, and sports teams. Since 2006, Joel has been active as the Eastern Canada presenter for Premier – A School Specialty Company, and in that capacity, he is a certified presenter for Covey’s “7 Habits® of Highly Effective People/Teens.” Joel is a proud member (and one of the youngest members) of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the International Federation for Professional Speakers.
Having graduated from McMaster University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Engineering Physics and a Minor in Business, Joel went on to complete his Master’s in Environmental Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Tom Enright

Deputy Chairman of the Board, CNW Group

Tom Enright is Deputy Chairman of CNW Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the electronic publishing and financial information services industries. Prior to joining CNW Group Tom held progressive positions at The Financial Post DataGroup, and spent 15 years with The Toronto Stock Exchange.

Tom is on the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) and the Journalism Advisory Council at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario. He is also an active member of The Canadian and National Investor Relations Institutes and received an Arbor Award from the University of Toronto and is Honorary Chair of the University of Toronto at Scarborough Mentorship Program.

James D. McAuley

CSenior Vice President & Partner, KPMG Forensic Inc.

Mr. McAuley graduated from McMaster University in 1982 and is a Chartered Accountant, a specialist designated by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in Investigative and Forensic Accounting and a Chartered Business Valuator.

For the past 26 years, Mr. McAuley has practiced from KPMG’s Hamilton, Toronto and London England offices. Since 1989, Mr. McAuley has practiced in KPMG’s forensic and investigative accounting practice. As a senior partner in KPMG Forensic, he has led some of Canada’s largest and most complex investigative and litigation support assignments.
This includes litigation matters with amounts claimed exceeding $1 billion and significant investigations such as the enquiry into a $700 million collapsed hedge fund. He has testified in Court as an expert accountant on numerous occasions. Mr. McAuley’s engagements have involved investigations around the globe.

Mr. McAuley has written and spoken extensively on topics related to forensic accounting and investigations. In 2005, Mr. McAuley was named as one of Canada’s leading 20 expert witnesses by Lexpert. In 2007, he was included by Lexpert in a list of 24 Canadian cross-border accounting expert witnesses.

Dr. Susan Kichuk

Senior Vice President Corporate Development, Schenker of Canada

Susan Kichuk is the Senior Vice President Corporate Development (Americas) for DB Schenker which is the second largest Logistics company in the world providing integrated global, regional, and national transportation networks. She is responsible for facilitating the overall strategy and key initiatives for the Americas Region. Under her realm of responsibilities is also included Human Resources, Organizational Development and Communications for Canada.

Prior to joining DB Schenker, Susan also worked as a Senior Consultant for MICA Consulting Partners in Toronto, Ontario and as a university business professor at United States International University and California State University specializing in Strategy, Marketing and Organizational Development. During her tenure as a professor, she was also the elected chair of the Business Enhancement Committee for Rancho Bernardo where she won an award from the California Governor’s office for Chairperson of the Year.

Prior to her academic and consulting career, Susan worked for IBM in marketing and Bell Canada in an engineering capacity
Susan has a Bachelor of Engineering Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Ph.D. in Business from McMaster.

Stephen Scanlan

Head of HR Canada, Macquarie Group

Stephen Scanlan is the head of HR for Macquarie in Canada. Macquarie Group is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services. Prior to joining Macquarie Stephen worked for over ten years at Deloitte & Touche in Toronto. He served as a senior manager in their Human Capital consulting practice before becoming a National Human Resources Director. Stephen completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario and did a Masters degree in Education at the University of Toronto. Stephen has done management assessment work and career counselling with a range of clients from students to chief executives. He currently sits on the board of the Ontario Landlord’s Self-Help Centre and has been an active volunteer for Junior Achievement and in various amateur hockey organizations.

Andrew Coulson

Director of Enterprise Specialist Sales Group, Microsoft Canada

As Director of Microsoft Canada’s Enterprise Specialist Sales Group, Andrew Coulson is responsible for ensuring that Microsoft can be responsive to customers who are interested in business solutions across core IT infrastructure, Business Productivity and Application Platforms. His team is also accountable to enable partners to grow their capabilities in market around these business and technology solutions. The combination of Microsoft direct resources and a well enabled partner ecosystem ensure that customers can get the right information at the right time to increase their revenue, drive out costs and grow their business through technology enablement.

Since joining Microsoft Canada in 1992, Mr. Coulson has held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility. He began his career at Microsoft Canada as a Sr. Account Executive for Bell Canada. In 1995 Mr. Coulson took on responsibility for managing the BC Region branch office with a span of control over retail, enterprise, consumer, and small business segments. From 2000 to 2006 Andrew ran the Enterprise Partner Group with responsibility for all Enterprise Alliance. He has also brought several new business initiatives into Canada including Application Developer Customer Unit, Business Solutions Group, The Internet Customer Unit and most recently the Specialist Sales Group.

Previously Mr. Coulson contributed to Oracle Canada, Information Dimensions, and NBI Canada in sales and marketing capacities.

Mr. Coulson is Graduate of the University of Toronto, with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology/Physiology, and English. He enjoys hockey, yoga, skiing, and spending time with his family in Oakville, Ontario.