We are pleased to host a spectacular line-up of inspiring and motivating speakers and keynotes.
Please check back regularly for updates on our Keynote Speakers!
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Olive Bryanton is a renowned advocate for the rights and dignity of older people, dedicating over three decades to promoting healthy aging, challenging ageism, and preventing elder abuse. A respected expert in her field, Dr. Bryanton holds key roles in various national and international organizations, including the Canadian Coalition Against Ageism, the National Seniors Council, and The Lancet Commission.
Her work has been instrumental in raising awareness about ageism and promoting evidence-based solutions. A recipient of numerous honours, including the Order of Prince Edward Island and Queen's Jubilee Medals, Dr. Bryanton received her PhD at 82, focusing on the voices of women aged 85+ living in rural PEI. She continues to inspire and inform policy and practice, promoting a culture of respect and empowerment for older people.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
De’Amon Harges is the original Roving Listener. He is a social banker. His calling in life is as an artist in a wide variety of ways, including with people. This led to him being hired to do what he was already doing, identifying the gifts, talents, dreams and passions of his neighbours in order to grow community, economy and mutual delight. He continues that work today as a neighbour and as the founder for the Learning Tree, a business he has built with his neighbours that has taken him (and others) around the world to help people remember the ways in which community is present and powerful everywhere - particularly in places where people are pushed to the margins. He serves as a consultant around the country with not-for-profits (public benefit groups), philanthropies, government, and religious organizations. He is a business owner, a husband, a father, a good friend, a neighbour, and so much more. Meet De’Amon Harges!
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Samir Sinha is a Geriatrician and Clinician Scientist at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Director of Health Policy Research at Toronto Metropolitan University’s National Institute on Ageing, as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Medicine.
A Rhodes Scholar, Samir is a highly regarded clinician and international expert in the care of older adults. As a former member of the Government of Canada’s National Seniors Council and a current member of its Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia he helped to develop and now oversee Canada’s National Dementia Strategy and recently led the successful development of Canada’s new National Long-Term Care Services Standard.
Internationally, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales. Furthermore, as a longstanding member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and a recently appointed member of the Board of Trustees for HelpAge International, he remains committed to supporting the implementation and administration of unique, integrated and innovative models of geriatric care and support that reduce disease burden, improve access and capacity and ultimately promote health.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Todd Hirsch is an internationally renowned economist, keynote speaker, and author whose research and work focuses on enhancing adaptability in an ever-changing world. Having had a front row seat to key issues transforming the global economy for the past 25 years, he delivers dynamic, clear-eyed talks on adaptability, creativity, and resilience to help industry and business leaders prepare for a future that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.
An economist by training, Hirsch recently served as the Director of Energy Transition Centre, an incubator of tech startups focused on navigating our path toward net-zero carbon. Prior to this, he spent 15 years as the VP and chief economist for ATB Financial, taught economics at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, and worked in the research department of the Bank of Canada.
In recognition of his work, Hirsch has received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the University of Alberta’s Alumni Honour Award, and an honorary degree from Mount Royal University. He has also spoken to hundreds of business audiences across the United States and Canada, and international audiences from Venezuela to Dublin.
The author of four books, Hirsch’s latest, Spiders in COVID Space: Adapting During and After the Pandemic, shares the inspiring and compelling stories of businesses and not-for-profits that reinvented themselves during the pandemic.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Patricia Makokis is a distinguished Indigenous leader and knowledge keeper on Turtle Island, with a three-decade legacy of advocacy. Internationally recognized, her profound connection to community, traditional wisdom, and her people's rich history. Renowned for her servant leadership in education, policy development, and community engagement, she has significantly advanced conversations and actions toward equality, justice, hope, access, and transformation across communities and nations. Committed to shedding light on historical truths, she fosters awareness of her people’s realities and propels actions toward reconciliation and a world that embraces unity.