Lynda Allair, NIGP-CPP, CPPO has over forty years of experience as a public procurement leader within the provincial, municipal, and health care sectors. She has extensive expertise in procurement legislation, both nationally and internationally, policy development, cross-functional planning, project implementation, procurement performance, sustainability program development and implementation, and business analysis.

She has served NIGP The Institute for Public Procurement in numerous capacities, is an OPBA Chapter Past-President, and is a frequent conference speaker and moderator. Lynda instructs public procurement classes for NIGP, the University of Guelph, and others upon request. Lynda has been a part of the NIGP Consulting Program since 2010 and is NIGP’s 2021 Anne Deatherage Meritorious Service Award and the 2012 Distinguished Service Award recipient in the public procurement profession.

I started my procurement journey in the private sector - buying steel and related products for the fabrication of Material Handling equipment, then moving on to the Automotive industry as an MRO buyer, and finally into purchasing for the Aircraft industry. I made the jump into public procurement in 2016 and spent the next six years with the County of Peterborough. In April of 2022, I took on the role of Purchasing Administrator for the City of Peterborough. Being employed in public procurement has provided many learning opportunities. One that really impacted my practice was the Lean Six Sigma program, and as a result, I thrive on making improvements within the procurement process. Every problem that I encounter represents an opportunity to improve a process. My newest focus is on responsible purchasing practices, and I'm working hard to incorporate both Social Procurement and Circular Procurement practices into the City's practices. When I'm not at work I can be found working on projects around the house with my wife, visiting our children (and helping with their projects), or helping the Fowlers Corners Lions Club with a cause.

John is the National Risk Management Leader in the Public Sector Practice and he is based in the Toronto office. In his role, he is responsible for the overall delivery of risk management services to all public sector clients across Canada.

Prior to joining Marsh, John spent 15 years in the public sector where he held several leadership appointments in large and multi-divisional organizations in the municipal and healthcare industries. John graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Science in Enterprise Risk Management and from the Laziridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid University with a Master of Business Administration. He also holds the Certified Risk Management Professional designation from the Risk Management Society.

Steven Cook is Deputy Director for Government Procurement Trade Policy in the Trade Agreements and Negotiations Branch of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). He has participated in various roles in a number of Canada’s free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, including the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Prior to his work on government procurement trade policy, Steven led and supported Canada’s FTA negotiations on rules of origin, as well as agricultural market access issues at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

Stéphanie Dion is a senior public procurement executive with 18 years experience at various levels of government including provincial and mash sector. She is the co-founder of the #RFPDreamTeam who provides training and consulting services on RFP. Stéphanie holds a bachelor degree in education and has been involved with professional development in various capacities, combining her passions for teaching and procurement. She has been an active volunteer and advisor with professional associations since 2012 including Chair of the Content Management Committee for the National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP). Stéphanie recently contributed a few articles to procurement magazines and is the recipient of NIGP’s 2021 Buyer of the Year Award.

Tracy Eso is the Risk Assessment and Solutions Manager in the Risk Management Department at Intact Public Entities with expertise in insurance claims, risk management, and captive insurance. She has over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry.

Tracy is an instructor for the Insurance Institute of Canada and has spoken at various industry conferences on topics ranging from climate change to liability claims. Her focus at Intact Public Entities is to research risks that municipalities across Canada are facing, develop ways to mitigate those hazards and educate municipal clients on best-practice solutions to create resilience in the face of an ever-changing risk landscape.

Meet Marc Forgette, the founder, and facilitator for Makatew Workshops, a Certified Aboriginal Business with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. Makatew Workshops provides a hands-on workshop to both Indigenous and non‐Indigenous groups. Founded in 2019, he decided it was time to honor his Ancestors and share his love for his culture with everyone in a safe space. Marc is Algonquin and French and a member of the Apitipi Anicinapek Nation (formerly Wahgoshig First Nation Band) in Matheson Ontario.

Rick Grimm has served as NIGP’s Chief Executive Officer for 25 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Florida International University. He served county governments and public school districts for 23 years, including over 12 years in the leadership of the public procurement function, before joining the NIGP team in 1998.

As NIGP continues to develop, support, and promote public procurement, Rick’s recent priority is the competency-based Pathways program that guides professionals on which learning and credentials are most relevant to their current roles and future career aspirations. The program provides a learning blueprint for the professional while aiding public entities in talent retention and succession planning. Today, professionals can choose between five certificate programs, eight specializations and a leadership-based NIGP Certified Procurement Professional designation. The NIGP-CPP targets seasoned public procurement leaders who seek high-level competencies. Since the launch of the new certification program in August 2020, the Institute has certified 1,168 public procurement leaders across 45 states and 5 provinces including 68 in Ontario.

Khusen Shukurov is an accomplished leader and highly skilled supply chain professional with over 10 years of experience in public procurement, strategic sourcing, and supplier relationship management. Khusen is currently the Director of Supplier Relationship Management at Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM). In this role, Khusen leads the Supplier Relationship Management Group in the development and implementation of a comprehensive Supplier Relationship Management program and plays a strong leadership role in setting growth strategies and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement of supply chain management practices and business processes.

Prior to joining OECM, Khusen established and managed the Redevelopment, Infrastructure and Facilities category at a leading shared services organization in the healthcare sector. In this role, Khusen provided, support to customer hospitals across the GTA to oversee procurement functions, and establish efficient procurement governance and category management models.

Previous to this, Khusen’s significant experience included public sector sourcing and category management as well as leading international development projects internationally, where he was the recipient of several prestigious awards.

Khusen holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration as well as a Master’s Degree in International Economics.

Greg Hersen is a partner and Chair of Torkin Manes’ Construction Law Group, where he provides ongoing strategic advice to public and private sector owners, general contractors, sureties, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals throughout the life cycle of construction projects. These projects include public infrastructure projects relating to transit systems, bridges, highways, flood management and erosion control, recreational infrastructure, educational, healthcare, and non-profit housing facilities, and private sector industrial, commercial, and residential developments. Greg was the first lawyer to be appointed to the Canadian Construction Documents Committee and participated in the revision and development of standard CCDC documents for more than a decade. Greg is proficient in drafting procurement documents and professional service contracts. He advises on numerous construction issues, including procurement, contract compliance, Ontario’s Construction Act, prompt payment, and claims relating to tender disputes, breach of contract, delay, claims for lien, deficiencies, contractor defaults, and COVID-19 damage claims. He advocates before the courts at all levels and participates in all ADR processes. In May 2001, Greg was certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Construction Law and continues to be annually recognized by preeminent legal directories as a leading lawyer in construction law.

Jessica Horwitz is an advocate and business advisor for Canadian and international clients on complex and highstakes matters relating to international trade, customs, import and export regulation and economic sanctions.

Jessica works with clients across a broad range of industries to creatively solve problems and resolve disputes concerning imports, exports and international investments. She has expertise in Canadian customs law, trade remedies (anti-dumping and countervailing duties and safeguard measures), cross-border excise taxes (GST/HST) and duties, bilateral and regional free trade agreements and WTO law, Canadian product regulation and labelling, export controlled goods and technology, national defence contracting and the Controlled Goods Program, Canadian economic sanctions, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist
financing and anti-corruption laws, forced labour compliance and supply chain integrity, and
other cross-border issues.

Jessica appears regularly before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) and the Federal Courts in customs appeals and trade remedy proceedings, and represents clients in trade verifications and enforcement matters involving the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and other domestic and foreign regulatory and law enforcement agencies. She helps businesses to design and implement effective trade compliance programs and internal controls, and to conduct risk assessments, reviews and investigations related to
trade, sanctions and anti-corruption compliance.

Jessica is ranked as Band 4 by Chambers Global in the area of International Trade/WTO Law, a Key Lawyer in International Trade by Legal 500 Canada, a Lexpert Leading Lawyer 'Repeatedly Recommended' for Commodity Tax/Customs and for International Trade.

Tina is the Manager of Procurement for the City of Hamilton. She has been working in procurement for nearly 30 years, with 19 of those years working at various municipalities in both Ontario and British Columbia. Tina has her CPPO and CPPB accreditations as well as an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Tina currently serves as the Past President of the Ontario Public Buyer’s Association. She has
previously held the positions of Director of the Principles Program, OPBA Treasurer, and Vice President and President.

In her public procurement experience, Tina has worked on many large and complex projects, many of which were consultancy and construction related. Tina teaches various Principles of Effective Public Purchasing Certificate courses on behalf of the OPBA and has authored two Principles chapters: “Introduction to Construction” and most recently, “Advanced Procurement for Construction”

Peter Jarosz has over 25 years of procurement law and international trade experience. An area of particular interest to him is advising on federal government procurement actions. Peter’s work in this space is enhanced by his experience in six years as legal counsel to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) which, under Canada's free trade agreements, is the bid challenge review authority for federal government contracts.

Peter Katz is a JUNO Award and Canadian Screen Award-nominated singer-songwriter who has spent the past 15 years touring internationally. He has been described by many of his fans and speaking clients as "a thunderbolt for the soul”.

Renowned CBC radio host Tom Power described Katz’s music as “one of the most heartfelt, beautiful, and vulnerable records of the year… an astonishing record”. To date, his music has been streamed over 6 million times and his music videos have over 25 million views on YouTube.

Katz is also one of Canada’s most in-demand speakers and facilitators, being called on to give his highly customized “keynote concerts” to hundreds of companies and organizations across various industries like Bell, Xerox, Royal Lepage, American Express, Mars, Trillium Health and the Royal Bank of Canada, to name a few. Over the last 18 months, Katz’s impressive move to virtual has seen him perform to over 75,000 people virtually around the world, including being asked to address the House of Commons of Canada.

“His ability to connect is unlike anyone I’ve seen. To be the highest standard of being a storyteller is to be like Peter Katz.” Jeff Pulver - Founder of Vonage

Lisa is a highly skilled consultant whose commitment to workplace well-being and equity radiates into all her projects. Having worked for more than 30 years in the Real Estate, Interior Design, and Workplace Strategy, she brings an intersectional lens to uncover systemic barriers that often impede the development of an organization. As a consultant and educator, she helps clients re-imagine future states that bring more energy to their organizations. As a facilitator and accredited coach, she works with leadership and teams to work through areas of tension to create harmony and higher performance through her business Lisa MacVicar Consulting & Coaching Inc.

Her deep curiosity about well-being led her to become a yoga and meditation instructor. She has certificates in Diversity and Inclusion, Psychological Safety in the Workplace, and Change Management. She is a Fitwel Ambassador, WELL AP, and WELL Advisor and has been on WELL Faculty since 2016. During her time on Deloitte’s Workplace Strategy team, she co-authored two ground-breaking papers on Well-being and ESG.

Steve Ness began his career in the surety industry in 1981, He is currently the President of the Surety Association of Canada having assumed the post in August 1994. He is also a founder of the organization and one of its original directors.

Steve has authored a number of articles on surety bonds and the suretyship process He has spoken on the subject in North America and in Europe. He has also lectured on the role of suretyship in the construction process at the University of Toronto and the Insurance Institute of Canada.

In 1992, Steve joined forces with five industry “renegades” to form what would become the Surety Association of Canada. As a founding member, he established the new organization by inducing all sectors of the industry to join. The association is the de facto voice of the industry and represents 97% of surety writers from coast to coast.

Lise Patry is a partner at LXM LAW LLP with over 25 years of legal and business experience gained in private and public sector settings, including as chief procurement officer in a pan-Canadian federal Crown corporation. Lise applies her technology background and her business and legal experience to help organizations with their legal needs in business areas such as sales, public procurement, construction tenders, intellectual property, leasing, privacy and information management and has supported several clients with their procurements of IT solutions in recent years.

Silvia Pencak is the President & CEO of WBE Canada, a Canadian non-profit organization certifying women-owned businesses and opening the doors to corporate & government supply chains under supplier diversity programs across North America.

Silvia has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit and business environment, leading transformational projects and teams. Her diverse international background spearheading successful initiatives gives her a wealth of experience to lead supplier diversity to the next level to support Canadian women-owned businesses.

Silvia believes in the power of partnerships and is always open to building alliances that benefit all involved. She is passionate about making a positive impact in her communities. She is a wife and mom to 2 girls.

Tammy Rimes serves as Executive Director of the National Cooperative Procurement Partners (NCPP), North America’s Association for educational content, legislative advocacy, and support for cooperative procurement.  She also formally served as Purchasing Agent for the City of San Diego, the 9th largest city in the nation and Emergency Logistics Chief during the 2007 Witch Creek Fires that raged for 17 days and destroyed over 2000 homes. Under her leadership, the City consolidated its warehouse operations, centralized all purchasing and contracting operations, and moved to a more customer focused approach. With past sales and marking experience in the airline, retail, electrical utility, and wine industry, she has the unique perspective of working in three different worlds – corporate, government and entrepreneurial.

Cecilia MarieRoberts is passionate about community mental health promotion and suicide prevention. She understands from a first-hand perspective the toll that mental illness, addiction, and suicide has on individuals, families, and communities.

Cecilia Marie is the Manager of Strategic Wellness Initiatives at the County of Wellington. In her role, she is supporting psychological safety in the workplace projects for the County of Wellington and the seven Member Municipalities. Cecilia Marie also created and leads Here4hope Wellington's life promotion suicide prevention project which is a partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo Wellington.

Cecilia Marie has worked in various roles in community mental health and suicide prevention, trained thousands of individuals to be alert to suicide, and has developed specialized programming to support individuals impacted by suicide loss.

Samantha Ryan (Proulx), C.E.T., RHFAC. BCIN is the principal of ABE Factors Inc. and Co-Founder of ProHara Inc. She is a leading Canadian Technical Accessible Built Environment (ABE) Specialist, an Inter-Provincially trained Building Code Consultant and an RHFAC Professional Assessor.

She has been working in the accessibility sector for over 12 years and has worked on and specializes in some of the most complex and diverse building facilities in Canada including international airports, sports stadiums, office towers, distribution centers, universities and more. Samantha has been recognized as an expert in her field and sits on several technical committees at the national level (NRC, CSA, ASC, RHFAC).

Samantha aims to help clients and the industry at large connect the dots between compliance and going above and beyond the Code in order to build a world that allows people to fully function and flourish in their surroundings, anywhere.

Jo-Anne St. Godard has served as Executive Director of Canada’s premier environmental non-governmental organization, Circular Innovation Council, since 2001. Her expertise focuses on development of policies, programs, and practices that accelerate Canada’s transition toward a circular economy, which prioritizes and delivers environmental and social benefits along with economic prosperity.
In doing so she leads innovative initiatives that put circular economy concepts into action: facilitating unique private and public partnerships; engaging and educating businesses, governments, and civil society; directing research to identify best practices; and conducting pilots to test theories and scale up solutions.
Ms. St. Godard‘s extensive experience in developing effective economic and environmental policies that drive circular markets spans decades. She is a sought-after subject matter expert for consultation, comment, and insight on policy development, by governments, interest groups, and media around the world.

Geneviève Sharkey became the Chief Procurement Officer for the City of Toronto in January 2023, with oversight of close to $2 billion spent on goods and services per year. 

In the role of Chief Procurement Officer, Geneviève leads a professional staff of approximately 170 and will be instrumental in leading large scale procurement transformations within the City. 

A highly skilled customer service professional and committed and effective people leader, Geneviève’s interest in procurement was piqued during her time at IBM within their Public Sector division, which led to her moving from the private sector to the public realm with Alberta Health Services within their Procurement and Supply Management team, followed by a move to the City of Ottawa Supply Branch.

Geneviève has worked on major projects in procurement on multiple levels during her career demonstrating commendable innovative problem-solving skills to achieve timely and cost-effective resolutions. She looks forward to the challenges brought forward by the evolving nature and growth in Public Procurement.

Geneviève is self-proclaimed procurement nerd who believes education, especially in procurement, is an ongoing lifelong process.

Jane is both Founder and Principal Consultant with Optimal Performance Consultants. Jane is a former professional tennis player, certified teaching professional, Physiotherapist & strategic consultant. As one of Canada’s first Professional Ergonomists & Accessibility Consultants she and her team of consultants’ partnerships with companies such as RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, the Cooperators, Apotex, Grand River Hospital, etc. have led to consistent measurable results using unique KPI’s for human performance and health outcomes. With more than 31 years of deep and strategic experience in several industries, Jane continues to lead her consulting team toward merging the science of Ergonomics/Human Factors Design with Accessible and Inclusive designs and processes.

During a time when corporations require optimization of human performance in the workplace for employees of all abilities, ages, gender, and culture, Optimal Performance continues to seek and work with architects, engineers, designers, and CRE who understand their role in the design of form with Optimal’s design for function. This is the only proven and researched approach which will ensure corporations, Universities, Healthcare, and industry are able to grow their businesses sustainably using the approach of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA).

Jane is Best Selling Author of three books on the topic of ergonomics and accessible design. She is a sought-after speaker interested in changing the paradigm from the separation of design from the science of humans towards designing for humans of all sizes, shapes, ages, abilities, languages, and cultures.

Vanessa Tantalo is a registered interior designer with over 17 years of experience, primarily in corporate workplace. In addition to being an active member of ARIDO, IDC, CIDQ, she is also a BCIN Large Building Certificate holder. In the past year, Vanessa has pivoted her role from Interior Design to Building Code and Accessibility Consulting. She is currently the Director of Special Projects for Vortex Fire, which specializes in Building Code, Fire and Accessibility consulting.