Opening Keynote

Panel: Leading out Loud

to be announced

Anita L Sanchez, PhD Founder and CEO, Sanchez Tennis & Associates, LLC

The Four Sacred Gifts – Indigenous Wisdom for this time

Madiha Jafri, PhD, Senior Scientist (Artificial Intelligence & Cybersecurity), Lockheed Martin, RMS Moorestown

Overcoming Adversity to Passion

Panel: Beyond my Disability

To be announced

Jade Pichette (they/them), Manager of Programs, Pride at Work Canada

The Importance of Effective Communication – How to Communicate More Effectively and Rethinking Allyship

Allyship is a term often utilized in inclusion and diversity circles however, often identifying as an ally rarely leads to concrete changes in actions. During this session Pride at Work Canada’s Manager of Programs will challenge the idea of allyship and provide new solutions to addressing one’s own privilege, unconscious biases, and lead to real actionable change. Utilizing intersectional examples from gender and sexual minority communities, we will unpack the ally.

How to build an anti-racist organization where all people can thrive

MESH/diversity empowers professionals with the strategic support, tools, metrics and data needed to drive success across their organizations.

With the present public discourse around racism, many organizations are professing their desire to be actively anti-racist. In this interactive session, you will be introduced to a framework and tools to drive success across your organization and build high performance teams where all your people can thrive:

• Gain insight into your own leadership style
• Understand tools that help you develop your people and empower your leaders
• Drive real inclusive change

Priya Bates is an award-winning professional communicator with a passion for driving strong performance from the inside out. As President and owner of Inner Strength Communication, Priya builds strategic internal communication, engagement, branding and transformational change plans that enable, engage and empower employees to deliver business results. Her clients include organizations and leaders across technology, retail, financial, healthcare, mining and manufacturing sectors looking to build strategic internal communication expertise.

As co-founder for A Leader Like Me, Priya creates an empowered community for women of colour to help them build skills, define strategies, and find support to grow in their careers.

Simone Roche MBE has developed a specialist network of impactful women and men and curated a portfolio of campaigns, events and award winning podcasts which reach globally. Simone is proud of her Liverpool roots and lives by paying it forward. Simone is passionate about Liverpool and the North, paying it forward by championing talent and believes in the ‘art of the possible’. Simone was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2018 for services to gender equality and appointed Honorary Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy in June 2020. She has also been recognised on the Yahoo Finance Heroes List 2018, 19, 20 and awarded the IOD NW Chairs award for excellence in 2020. 

Simone has grown Northern Power Women and Northern Power Futures into a community in excess of 60,000 across all sectors, genders and socio-economic groups and in 2020 created the Power Platform to better connect people with opportunities. Founded on the principals of paying it forward, being generous and making a difference the platform helps individuals to expand their network meaningfully and signpost opportunities. A hub of trailblazers, go-getters and role models, the Power Platform will continue to innovate and adapt to ensure impactful positive change. 

Dr. Madiha Jafri received a BSc in Computer Engineering, MSc in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Old Dominion University in 2003, 2004 and 2007, respectively. Fully funded by the NASA headquarters, her accelerated PhD studies became the first pioneering work that used artificial intelligence to predict electromagnetic interference patterns on commercial aircraft.  While pursuing her doctorate, Dr. Jafri also completed post doctoral research in Biomedical Engineering at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center in Hartford, CT in 2007.  There, she studied fMRI data and brain behavior and generated models for classification of Schizophrenia using artificial intelligence. 

Outside of work, Dr. Jafri is a proud mom of two children (9 and 11 yrs old) and a STEM advocate, volunteering, mentoring and giving motivational talks on overcoming adversity and embracing diversity in STEM careers.

Mark has held senior roles in PR at Disneyland Paris (as part of the launch team), David Lloyd Leisure, Dixons Retail and Dixons Carphone.

It was during his time at Dixons that he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. As his condition progressed, he moved to a part-time role and focused on social media.

He is now Head of Comms for charity and social network Shift.ms and blogs at onemanandhiscatheters.com In his spare time he plays Wheelchair Rugby, badly.

Jade Pichette (they/them) is an inclusion, and diversity professional based in Tkaranto/Toronto. Currently Jade serves as the Manager of Programs at Pride at Work Canada where they work with over 150 large employers across Canada around sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression inclusion. Previously Jade served as the Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator at the ArQuives, the Education Programs Coordinator at Kind Space, and they continue to run an independent inclusion and diversity consulting business. They were one of the authors of the Transitioning Employers: A survey of policies and practices for trans inclusive workplaces. Jade is also a Ásatrú Gythia (priestess) of Vindisir Kindred. They have been involved in many interfaith, and anti-discrimination initiatives including being the first  trans-feminine person to present at the Parliament of World Religions in 2018.

A sociologist, Dr. Leeno Karumanchery is recognized as one of North America’s preeminent Diversity and Inclusion practitioners. Widely published in the field, Leeno is co-author of Removing the Margins (CSP, 2000), Playing the Race Card (Peter Lang, 2004), both critically acclaimed texts in the field of diversity & inclusion. As the Chief Diversity Officer of MESH Diversity, Leeno is focused on supporting organizations interested in bringing Emotional Intelligence and Diversity into the mainstream of their culture and approach. Leeno is sought out as much for his expertise as he is for his style as a communicator and his ability to enable people to reach their potential as effective leaders in their diversifying workplaces and communities.