Saber Amini is an engineering professional with a PhD in electronics from the University of Toronto. Dr. Amini’s expertise is in the area of embedded sensor systems with focus on software visualization and storage of sensor data. He has consulted with several companies in implementing big data storage architectures and helping organizations use their data to make better business decisions and gain a competitive edge.

Dr. Amini is an advocate of entrepreneurship in the area of Big Data and believes that there is great potential in the next decade in implementing disruptive business opportunities. He currently runs a start-up focusing on using artificial intelligence for real time marketing and analytics.

Zeyad Azem is the Leadership Partner in Data & Analytics at Gartner focused on helping organizations across Canada build and advance their data and analytics strategies. Zeyad has been planning and implementing transformational data-driven solutions for over 20 years across a variety of sectors.

Zeyad previously spent over a decade in data and analytics consulting, architecting CoE analytics practices and delivering large-scale analytics solutions for several Fortune 500 companies including RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, and Genworth. He brings hands-on knowledge, experience, and leadership in advanced analytics across functional areas including Risk Management, Marketing, and Product Strategy. Zeyad has built and led several lean data science teams that leveraged data and analytics to drive customer value.

His experience is supported by a Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics & Computer Science from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Science degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Guelph. Zeyad also holds executive certificates in strategy, Innovation, and leadership from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Mayy is a software engineering professor and she has practical hands-on experience in developing machine learning algorithms and big data recommended systems. Her research work has been published in the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering journal and she has participated and published conference papers at the “IEEE Big Data” and the “Data mining software repositories” conferences. Mayy has developed and delivered courses in the areas of big data, data analytics, and data mining at universities and colleges across Canada.

Her practical 20+ years of experience covers the banking, telecommunication and academic industries. She has led many projects in fields of CRM, geo-marketing research, business intelligence, network expansions and channel migration across several countries worldwide. She continues to support data analytic initiatives in organizations, with a focus on maximizing the value obtained from data by building analytical models that relate to data & business processes with the objective of providing information for key decisions.

Indu is a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at HSBC Bank. She uses data to bring value to the business & our customers.  

Prior to that, she has worked with MNCs such as Accenture, Cerner, P&G, and Blackberry Messenger. 

Her roles have been diverse and evolved as an Engineer, Analyst, Data Scientist. She brings an international exposure of working in the Engineering & Analytics fields. 

She graduated as Master of Business Analytics from York University, Toronto and did undergrad in Computer Engineering from Staffordshire University, UK. She has been mentoring young students, budding engineers, graduates, skilled professionals who want to use Engineering as a means to bring innovative solutions to the multiple problems in the society.  

She is also part of different not- for profit organizations such as Women in Tech World, Women in Leadership. 

She wants to bring the male: female ratio in the STEM field at a better level than what she has seen so far. She wants to help young women & men to align their passion using right tools & skills. 

Rick is a mentor and educator whose work experience spans over 18 years in financial services industry. He is an educator in the fields of Big Data Analytics, Business Intelligence and Project Management. In the education area, Rick has developed and delivered many courses on topics related to big data, data provisioning, data quality, data governance, analytics, project management and business intelligence.

He has delivered courses in the classroom adding an interactive and experiential experience environment. In mentoring, Rick has assisted students in developing inquisitive business modelling comprehension that encapsulates a professional Major Research Project. Many of his projects have been with big name clients such as Napoleon, Busch Systems, Tangerine Bank. He has developed high performing teams that become refined presenters, storytellers, analysts and produce exceptional results.Rick has significant industry experience in the financial sector gained from wholesale and retail that include investments, pensions and capital markets. His expertise has been demonstrated in the areas of analytics and team leadership.

James Mwangi is a data science and analytics consultant, practitioner, researcher, and educator whose work experience spans over 15 years in financial services, automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, public service and education. He has undertaken complex end-to-end data science and analytics projects for banks, USAID, Land Rover Corporation and City of Toronto. Some of his flagship projects include institutional space optimization, enhancing traffic safety through analytics, workflow analytics and market basket analysis of business product lines.

James has a PhD in Information Systems focusing on Decision Tree Algorithms and a Master of Science in Distributed Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence. His bachelor’s degree is in computer science and statistics. He has broad experience teaching data science and analytics in colleges and universities in North America.

Mark is a leader, consultant and educator in the fields of business intelligence and data analytics. In the corporate education area, Mark has developed and delivered many courses on topics related to big data, data provisioning, data quality, data governance, analytics and business intelligence. He has delivered courses in both classroom and online formats to corporate and government clients on a global basis. In the consulting and operations fields, Mark has worked in information strategy, performance management, control center operations, transaction control, compliance, business intelligence, analytics, simulation, application development, 5 program leadership and project management. He has built and developed high performing teams that delivered quality results.

Mark has significant industry experience in the energy sector gained from operational, leadership and consulting roles at production, transmission and distribution companies. His domain experience is primarily in system operations, commercial transaction control and asset management. As a Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP) at the Mastery Level, his expertise has been demonstrated in the areas of analytics, information management and team leadership.

Mark teaches CSDA1030 Data Organization for Analysis and the CSDA1050 Advanced Analytics Capstone Course.

An accomplished professional with over 20 years of global technology consulting and teaching experience, gained from working in North America, Germany, Hong Kong and India, Preeti is a passionate advocate for the importance of Critical Thinking, Math and Technology education in driving innovation. In her role as Managing Director, Preeti provides leadership to promote Addity’s vision for learning enrichment by planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating various aspects of the curriculum and the program as a whole. A proactive relationship and alliance builder, with strong people development focus, she is consistently recognized by clients for exceptional leadership and dedicated customer service. She is the past chair of the IEEE Women in Engineering group and an invited speaker at events and part of many Conference Organizing Committees.
 
Preeti teaches the CSDA1030 Data Organization for Analysis course.

Hashmat is the Assistant Vice President & Managing Enterprise Architect at The Co-operators Group. For over 10 years he has effectively led initiatives that have involved rapid advancement in data, analytics, digital, and business leadership. As a technology enthusiast and lean startup evangelist, he is renowned for building a “never rest, kill complexity and care more” culture that manages existing technical debt and prepares the organization for future disruptions by leveraging emerging business models and digital ecosystems.

Hashmat is a published data science, IT, and agile delivery practitioner and academician with over 5 years teaching and curriculum development experience at colleges and universities in Canada. He has also organized conferences and workshops, and been interviewed on print, radio, social media and TV as an analytics expert.

Hemant Sangwan (PhD-Business, University of Toronto) is a Professor at Seneca College, School of Marketing and a sessional at Schulich School of Business and Rotman School of Management for courses in marketing, analytics, and data science. Prior to his teaching career, he spent 12 years in industry—management consulting, marketing research, and economics and policy research in leading consulting firms—the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), GfK, IHS Markit.  

Hemant uses rigor of academic knowledge in strategy, marketing, data science & analytics, and economics, and creativity of real-world experience to deliver consulting solutions and problem-solving approach. He has served clients across industries – CPG, retail, financial services, and telecom, both in Canada and international market. On his consulting engagements, he has demonstrated his expertise on problem formulation, project management, data interpretation & translation on cases in growth strategy, branding, pricing, CRM, and new product development. He has an exceptional knowledge of analytic thinking and decision making under uncertainty.   

In addition to his teaching and consulting interests, Hemant also has a passion for discussion on economic and public policy topics. He was a strategist for a political campaign for a candidate in Ontario municipal election in 2018. As a strategist, he used skills in marketing, strategy, branding, and social media to advise the candidate on campaign logistics, voter segmentation, platform positioning and campaign messaging in both print and social media channel. 

Outside work, Hemant likes to watch sports, movies, reading books on business history, and learning about long terms investment strategies. 

Ghassem Tofighi received a BSc in electrical engineering (Communication) from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, in 2006.  He continued his academics and pursued a MSc in computer engineering (Artificial Intelligence) from the University of Isfahan, Iran in 2011. In January 2017, Ghassem defended his thesis and graduated with a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. 

Ghassem has worked as a curriculum developer, and an instructor for data science, machine learning, deep learning, electrical and computer engineering, mathematics, and business management courses at York University, Ryerson University, University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo. In August 2018, he joined Sheridan College as a professor of Cognitive Computing and Machine Learning. He has also worked as a Research Scientist in Silicon Valley, USA, and as a Senior R&D Engineer in Tehran. 

Ghassem’s research interests are in the areas of computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, and data science. He has published several scientific papers and patents. 

 For more information about Ghassem Tofighi, please visit: https://ghassem.com 

Jennifer is a data science & AI strategy consultant, and an inaugural class member of the Masters, Management in AI program at Queen’s. In addition, she is a recent graduate of the MIT Executive Program on AI: Implications for Business Strategy, and holds an Honors Bachelors of Commerce with a minor in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.

Jennifer has over 7 years of experience in a strategy, finance, operations and data analytics capacity. Her passion for business, and emerging technologies has been refined over the years via strategic roles at leading global organizations including ABInBev, Uber, PepsiCo, JP Morgan and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Jennifer is passionate about digital literacy, serving as the Toronto Lead for Canada Learning Code, and as a course developer and instructor for the Intro to Artificial Intelligence course delivered by Durham College and assessable to the entire Ontario College System.

When not immersed in an IDE, or exploring the latest python package, Jennifer can be found sailing or going for a run along the waterfront.

Dr. George Wanganga works for Moneris Solutions as an automation developer while teaching part time in post graduate courses in various institutions like Lambton, Sheridan, Georgian among others.  As an ardent researcher, with Doctorate degree in Computer Science (Big Data Analytics) he has a keen focus on big data tools, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, deep learning and in synergistic value co-creation in the utilization of big data resources.

He has presented his machine learning, sentiment analytics and deep learning research in top class international conferences and symposiums as wells published with the most reputable journals such as IEEE. He also holds BSc. Mathematics & Computer Science, MSc. Software Engineering with business administration and personnel management diplomas. George has over 25 years of experience in the wider IT field and has largely been involved in research, teaching, curriculum development in universities and colleges as well in extensive industry-based IT consultancy. 

Hashmat is currently the Assistant Vice President & Managing Enterprise Architect at Cooperators Group of companies. He is responsible for leading The Cooperator’s digital strategy and execution, with a focus on Enterprise Architecture & Applied Innovation.
 
Hashmat’s career has centred on ‘data science’ and ‘digital transformation’ with a focus on delivering significant and sustainable value right through from strategy to execution.
 
Besides being a practitioner, Hashmat also teaches software engineering, data science and agile delivery. He co-founded DisrupIT Labs that helps clients harness data analytics and digital in support of business strategy, deliver cross-functional, rapid prototyping capability to push and test new value propositions in the market fast.
 
His professional training as a software engineer, quantitative analyst, experience as a data scientist, fraud examiner, information security professional, digital integration specialist and entrepreneur gives him a unique advantage in driving organisational transformation and value.

Tarun Dhot is a principal consultant at Capco and advises financial institutions in how they can derive business value through their data assets. Tarun is a recognized leader in the fields of advanced analytics and machine learning, serving on advisory councils of industry bodies. Tarun previously held management and consulting roles at CIBC including leading the advanced analytics group and supporting multiple business verticals that included client experience, fraud strategy, decision science, channels, products and payments. Tarun has also collaborated with multiple organizations including the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Google. Tarun holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science specializing in Artificial Intelligence and a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering.

Duncan Rowe is a public sector executive who cares about helping York Region experience the power and value of using data for good. A leader in the data, analytics and visualization services branch, the team Duncan leads loves to work with people and their data. Duncan gets great satisfaction when clients enhance their programs informed by analytics, are inspired by visuals to share, and connect deeply through data storytelling.
 
He has over 25 years’ experience working in the field, and has been working at the Regional Municipality of York for more than 15 years. In addition to building data and analytics capacity across the organization, Duncan and his team provide corporate analytics and visualization services to all of the service areas delivered in York Region.

Duncan has an undergraduate degree from York University, and a Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership from the Schulich School of Business.

Roland Merbis is responsible for leveraging customer data and feedback into meaningful insights that drive business results for Scotiabank. He has close to 20 years’ experience in the customer insights profession, starting as a market research professional supporting clients in various industries, from consumer packaged goods to government agencies. In his current role, Roland champions the voice of the customer and manages a team of data analysts and data scientists with a mandate to integrate market research insights with the bank’s customer and transactional data. His team is responsible for developing strategic insights using consumer research data and customer analytics to effectively manage business issues and identify business growth opportunities.

Roland currently serves as treasurer on the Board of the Canadian Mental Health Association (Durham) and recently completed his term as member of the National Board of Directors of the Marketing Research & Intelligence Association (MRIA).

Rachel Solomon is the executive director of performance improvement at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, with accountability for enabling standardized, evidence-informed and data-driven decision-making and quality improvement throughout the hospital. Previously, Rachel held a variety of senior management roles at Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). Most recently, she was the senior director of performance measurement and information management, leading the LHIN’s analysis and performance measurement work, capital planning, and initiatives to improve quality and equity in health care.

Prior to joining the Toronto Central LHIN, Rachel worked at University Health Network as the director of health system integration, leading the provincial development and implementation of the multiple provincial information systems. In this capacity, she also oversaw the first regional implementation of a referral program in Toronto that matches patients’ needs to system resources. Previously, Rachel worked in the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in several capacities, including managing the provincial Wait Time Strategy and playing an instrumental role in the implementation of the Ontario Stroke Strategy.

Ian Scott is Deloitte’s Chief Data Scientist and leads advanced analytics and big data practice. He received a Ph.D. in Physics in 1993 from Harvard University. Previous positions in private industry he has held include vice-president at Lattice-Engines (a Silicon Valley big data company), CTO of Angoss (Toronto-based analytics software company on the Gartner Magic Quadrant serving banking and the broader financial services industry) and data scientist at Capital Fund Management (a Paris-based hedge fund).

Ian’s academic career includes professor and postdoctoral positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stanford University, and CERN (European Centre for Particle Physics Research in Geneva).

Boris Kralj holds a PhD in Economics from York University. Dr. Kralj has lengthy experience in various management, research, and consulting positions with both public and private sector organizations. Currently he holds the positions of Chief Information Officer/Chief Analytics Officer at the Ontario Medical Association (OMA). He provides leadership and oversees the technology as well as the economics, research, and analytics functions. He is responsible for the effective planning, development, deployment, security, operation and support of OMA and its subsidiaries, information and communication technologies to support the OMA’s strategic business objectives and operations. Additionally, Dr Kralj provides guidance and oversight to the economic research, policy, and evaluation work associated primarily with the negotiation and implementation of physician fee-for-service (FFS) and non-FFS agreements and the physician fees/tariff setting processes. He he is also responsible for enterprise analytics initiatives.

Dr. Kralj has authored and published a broad variety of research reports. His publications relate to physician payment reform, primary care, medical services utilization, physician human resources, workers’ compensation, physician billing, oncology practices, prescribing patterns, and walk-in clinics. He has lectured on microeconomics, macroeconomics, industrial organization, and labour economics for over 15 years.

Deepak Sharma is an executive in the healthcare industry who uses big data analytics in leading corporate initiatives such as funding optimization analysis, clinical quality improvement projects, IT system implementation, privacy policy development, and performance measurement in large hospitals and government agencies. Currently, Deepak is the director of patient flow, health information management, and business intelligence at North York General Hospital. Previously, he was the director of decision support at London Health Sciences Centre, and the director of transformation and performance evaluation services at Rouge Valley Heath System.