Dr Chitra Anand
Dr. Chitra Anand is a renowned author, a celebrated speaker, a professor, an educationalist, and an entrepreneur. She has worked in top positions with Microsoft, TELUS, and Open Text, winning a number of prestigious awards for her pioneering work.
Chitra is a vanguard of Intrapreneurship. Her work and talks show how to keep on the leading edge of markets, technology, and consumer behavior. Her book The Green House Approach is a required read for the Forbes School of Business MBA program. She serves on the Advisory Committee for Forbes School of Business & Technology and for University of Ottawa and teaches as a professor at Centennial College.
Chitra is an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management and a PhD from Bradford University. She also has degrees from Harvard University and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Trevor McPherson
Trevor became the President and CEO of the Mississauga Board of Trade (MBOT) in August 2021. Prior to joining MBOT, Trevor was with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) for 15 years, most recently serving as its Vice President of Member Services.
Under Trevor’s leadership OCC’s membership saw an extraordinary growth. He also oversaw OCC’s annual Advocacy Day at Queen’s Park, one of the most successful OCC activities and its signature event. Earlier, Trevor was Director, Strategic Initiatives and Governance at the OCC and also led the provincial Ontario Economic Summit (OES) initiative. Prior to the OCC, Trevor worked with the Province of Ontario as an Area Director in the Trade Development Division.
A graduate of Queen’s University (Political Studies) and Seneca College (International Business Management),Trevor enjoys playing guitar, and spending time with his wife Jennifer and two daughters.
Sal Khan
Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. He is the founder of Khan Lab School, a nonprofit laboratory school in Mountain View, California, a cofounder of Schoolhouse.world, a nonprofit that offers free tutoring over Zoom, and cofounder of Khan World School, a new nonprofit online high school.
Sal’s interest in education began while he was an undergraduate at MIT. While there, he developed math software for children with ADHD and tutored fourth- and seventh-grade public school students. Sal also taught test prep courses for the MCAT and was named Teacher of the Year by a national test prep company. He holds three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Sal founded Khan Academy as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2008. Khan Academy’s platforms include more than 70,000 interactive practice problems as well as videos and articles that cover a range of preK–12 subjects. Khan Academy’s learning system is mastery based, which allows students to master key concepts at a pace that’s right for them before moving on to more challenging content. The organization partners with more than 280 school districts across the country. School districts use MAP Accelerator and Khan Academy Districts to help teachers tailor instruction for each student. Khan Academy is used in more than 190 countries and 51 languages.
Sal has been profiled by 60 Minutes, featured on the cover of Forbes, and recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In his book, The One World Schoolhouse, Sal outlines his vision for the future of education.
Sal lives in Mountain View, California, with his wife and three children.
Shahid Malik
President of PSEG Energy Group, a public company with $12 bn revenues and multibillion valuation, Shahid Malik is an accomplished energy industry and business leader with a powerful record of growing businesses under his leadership. He has also played a key role in several acquisitions and divestments.
Having successfully led major organizations in vastly diverse functions, Shahid is now embarking on his journey as an entrepreneur by founding a company in renewable and sustainable energy.
Shahid sits on several boards, including NY Stock Exchange and Nodal Exchange, Washington DC. Shahid holds an MBA from Rice University, Texas and another degree from Manchester University, England.
Wasif Rizvi
Wasif Rizvi is the founding president of Habib University – Pakistan’s premier liberal arts and science institution. He is an ardent advocate of higher education that provides a student-centric, interdisciplinary, and contextually grounded intellectual experience to the youth. Habib University, under his leadership, has become a globally recognized and appreciated university with established collaborations with leading institutions – including University of California Berkeley, Texas A&M University, Stanford University and University of Michigan.
With innovative curriculum, diverse student body, accomplished faculty, collaborations with leading global academic institutions, award-winning campus design, Habib University is also the first ever community owned institution in Pakistan, providing need-blind admission to high-merit students from disenfranchised backgrounds.
He holds twin graduate degrees from Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard School of Education. Prior to founding Habib University, Wasif was associated with the Aga Khan Education Services in Pakistan and spearheaded many development projects across Asia and Africa.
Paula Cruickshank - BDC
Paula oversees BDC’s financing and consulting services across Ontario, while also ensuring digital investment decisions and strategies for segmentation, omni-channel and client teams are aligned and continue to serve BDC’s clients.
Prior to her current position Paula was the head of BDC’s British Columbia and North region. Under her leadership BDC’s business and footprint registered extraordinary growth in that region. After joining BDC in 2009, Paula managed the government’s $12 billion stimulus program to revive the country’s asset-backed securities market in the wake of the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Since then, she has pioneered several important innovations for BDC, including the launch of BDC’s avant-garde Funding Platform for Independent Lenders (F-PIL).
Paula holds an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business and an LL.M in Banking and Financial Institutions from Osgoode Hall Law School.