Franklin Holtforster

Keynote Speaker

Franklin Holtforster is President and CEO of MHPM Project Leaders, a company he founded in 1989. Over the last 20 years his firm has worked in every province and territory delivering over 5,000 projects valued at more than $5 billion. He is proud to have been an angel investor in a number of technology start-up companies – even if pride is the only yield that some of those investments have delivered. Franklin is a Member of the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, a recipient of the Order of Honour of Professional Engineers Ontario and the Province of Ontario Volunteer Award, and a Warden of the Iron Ring. Franklin regularly speaks on sustainability in capital projects. Franklin is speaking on the qualities required to be a good leader.

Anick Losier

Director, Media Relations
Canada Post
@Anick_CanPost

As director of media relations at Canada Post, Anick is the corporate functional authority for media and public relations policy and strategy and related tactical plans for one of Canada’s largest Crown Corporations. Her duties include communication strategy development, serving as spokesperson, the development of earned-media opportunities and strategic communications counsel to President and CEO, corporate board, senior executives and shareholders to effectively manage the corporation’s reputation and public image.

Jason Patuano

Director, Communications, Eastern Region
McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited

Jason Patuano has been working in the communications sector for nearly 10 years, specializing in public affairs and marketing communications. Since getting on board at McDonald’s in 2008, he has worked on some major projects in issues management. He is responsible for managing and carrying out all PR, public affairs and communications activities, including support for internal communications and governmental affairs, for the Eastern Region. He is the main point of contact for all media in Eastern Canada and provides media relations and media advice support to the more than 80 franchisees in the region. Jason is also responsible for managing social media in the region. Over the course of his career, he has worked at organizations such as the City of Montreal, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada and the Cirque du Soleil, where he has played various advisory roles in communications. He has a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences from the Université de Montréal.

Dimitri Soudas

Executive Director, Communications
Canadian Olympic Committee
@D_Soudas

As the Canadian Olympic Committee’s lead communications representative, Dimitri’s role is to provide overall direction, management and a strategic view for all COC communication activities, both internally and externally. He is a key corporate spokesperson and responsible for managing its brand message. He plays a key role in driving communications strategies with its stakeholder and partner groups: athletes, National Sports Federation's (NSF's), Organizing Committees, Sport Canada, broadcast partners, and business partners. Previously, Dimitri served the Prime Minister of Canada in a number of senior roles, including: Director of Communications, Chief Spokesman, Senior Advisor for Québec, and Press Secretary. As Director of Communications, Dimitri was responsible for advertising, marketing, media relations and crisis management across the Government of Canada. He reported directly to the Prime Minister of Canada and Cabinet on the operation and management of government-wide communications. Dimitri thrives in fast-paced environments and is a proven leader who delivers results in challenging conditions through strong management practices, superior relationship building skills and a keen ability to analyze, identify and overcome organizational challenges.

Bruno Guglielminetti

Director, Digital Communications 
NATIONAL Public Relations
@Guglielminetti

Bruno works to help his clients find the best digital platforms to tell their stories. Social networks, blogs, webcasts, podcasts, applications, websites, portals and video games can all be excellent communication tools for telling a story in different ways and reaching different audiences. With his extensive experience in the digital world, Bruno is a Canadian Internet pioneer. He has observed the evolution of the Web environment and continues to follow its trends. And as a former producer at Radio-Canada for 23 years, he knows how to tell a story. Bruno was named Communicator of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators in 2003. In 2004, he received the Mérite de la langue française [French language merit award] from the Office québécois de la langue française and in 2009, the Excellence in Science and Technology Reporting Award from the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance.

Brad Lavigne

Principal Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition in Canada 
New Democratic Party (NDP)
@bradlavigne

Brad was the New Democratic National Campaign Director for the May 2011 federal general election that resulted in the Party’s best election result in its 50 year history, gaining over 4.5 million votes and 103 seats, making the New Democratic Party Canada’s Official Opposition. Between 2008 and 2011 Brad served as National Director of the NDP, overseeing the political and administrative operations of the federal party. From 2006 to 2009 Brad served as Director of Strategic Communications for the Hon. Jack Layton and from 2003 to 2006 Director of Communications for the Party. For years Brad has been a regular columnist for the Hill Times Newspaper and a regular panelist on both CBC Newsworld and CTV News Channel. Prior to his assignments with the federal party, Brad worked for the New Democrat government in British Columbia. Between 1998 and 2001 Brad worked as an advisor in the Premier’s Office as well as an Assistant to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Advanced Education, Training & Technology.

Joseph Thornley 

Chairman and CEO
Thornley Fallis Group
@thornley

A very active participant in the social media sphere, Mr. Thornley is a co-founder of the Third Tuesday Social Media events where social media enthusiasts and communicators gather to explore new developments in social media and their impact on society, organizations and citizens. Mr. Thornley has been providing communications counsel to companies and organizations for over 25 years. Prior to co-founding Thornley Fallis in 1995, he spent over a decade in a series of progressively senior positions at Hill and Knowlton. At the outset of his career, Mr. Thornley served as Legislative Assistant to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance and as Legislative Assistant and Executive Assistant to the Minister of Communications. For 40 years, he was actively engaged in Canada's political process, holding several offices in the Liberal Party of Canada including Secretary-Treasurer of the Liberal Party of Canada and Chairman of the Federal Liberal Agency of Canada.

Scott Hannant 

Hannant Media Solutions Inc.

Scott Hannant's career has taken him from teaching English in revolutionary Iran to running CTV News in Ottawa. Last year, he retired from the rigors of managing one of Canada's most successful newsrooms to set up Hannant Media Solutions Inc. He is now doing what he loves; telling stories on video. He consults on media and communications. Scott also teaches at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University. As an active volunteer, Scott sits on the boards of the Ottawa Mission, the Ottawa Public Library Foundation, the Youth Services Bureau Foundation, The Vanier Institute of the Family, and Peace Camp Ottawa. During the summer you can often find him on his bicycle trying to work off the effects of his other hobby... cooking.

Melanie Coulson 

Sr. Editor, Online
The Ottawa Citizen
@mel_coulson

Melanie has been working in online news for more than 12 years. As the first hire at globeandmail.com, she was a part of the massive media shift from print to digital, and watched the online audience grow.  In 2006, she came to Ottawa to work for The Ottawa Citizen. After a brief stint working with the print product, she returned to her first love, online news. She teaches a reporting course at Carleton University’s journalism school (her alma mater) and is a founding member of the Ottawa chapter of the technology-journalist partnership, Hacks/Hackers. These days, her focus is engaging the Citizen’s audience through social media, community blogs, data journalism, live streaming video, live chats … and whatever else will be coming next.    

Christina Lawand

Master of Ceremonies

Christina began her professional career at CBC TV news, where she successively worked as a researcher, producer, and finally as a reporter for the better part of her 16 years with the corporation. She served as parliamentary correspondent for CBC's The National in Ottawa, where she was lead reporter on the sponsorship scandal, as well as on the health beat, covering the Romanow Commission and three federal-provincial health accords. Christina also served as a correspondent in Vancouver, Quebec City, and Montreal, where she won critical acclaim for a documentary series on mental health and homelessness. Since 2006, she has become a certified "data geek", working to shape health stories from the other side of the journalistic divide - first as manager of communications at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and most recently, as a Senior Researcher for the organization. Christina received her B.A. in journalism from Concordia University, where she received the Gordon Fisher prize for outstanding academic achievement. She is perfectly bilingual, and hails from Montreal.