Speakers
Sharon Avery
President & CEO, Toronto Foundation
Entrepreneurial and innovative, Sharon Avery has been challenging traditional notions of fundraising and philanthropy throughout her thirty-year career.
As President & CEO of Toronto Foundation, Sharon has championed “new philanthropy” an inclusive, participatory, and power-shifting approach to charitable giving and grant-making. With Sharon at the helm, Toronto Foundation has become a gathering place for diverse new philanthropists, community organizations and grassroots leaders to embark on learning journeys and build partnerships to more effectively fight inequality in the city.
Under her leadership the Foundation has introduced programs, such as Vision 2020 and Vision Next, aimed at mobilizing next generation philanthropists; the Trust Collective, focused on investing in women and girls; and harnessing the potential of social impact investing. Sharon played an instrumental role in helping secure $300 million in government funding to support global gender equality through the Equality Fund, an innovative multi-sector partnership between the non-profit sector, philanthropists and investors.
Armed with a broadcasting degree Sharon found her real calling in the charitable sector and has held senior roles at UNICEF, SickKids Foundation, Save the Children Canada and Tim Horton Children’s Foundation.
Anton Boegman
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections BC
Anton Boegman was appointed as British Columbia’s Chief Electoral Officer on June 1, 2018, after serving in senior leadership roles at Elections BC since 2005. Acknowledged as a planning expert and innovative leader, Anton is passionate about accessible elections and preserving electoral integrity. As CEO he has focused on how election agencies can respond to emerging challenges in election administration, including disinformation and foreign interference. He is a former naval officer with an MBA from Athabasca University.
AMIRA ELGHAWABY
Canada’s Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, Government of Canada
Amira Elghawaby, a journalist and human rights advocate, became Canada’s Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia in January 2023. Prior to her appointment, she was a contributing columnist at the Toronto Star, offering frequent media commentary on equity and inclusion. Amira, with a background in strategic communications and campaigns, previously worked at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and held roles in Canada’s labour movement and the National Council of Canadian Muslims. Amira has been actively involved in initiatives countering hate and promoting inclusion, including as a founding board member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. She has served two terms as a Commissioner on the Public Policy Forum’s Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression and currently sits on the National Security Transparency Advisory Group. A writer-in-residence at the 2019 Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Amira holds an honours degree in Journalism and Law from Carleton University (2001). Her 2019 TedX Ottawa talk is titled “Multiculturalism: Worth Defending.”
Greg Essensa
Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario
Greg Essensa was appointed Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer with the unanimous consent of the Legislature in June 2008. He is the seventh person to hold the position. Mr. Essensa has over 35 years of municipal, provincial and international election experience.
He began his career as a student worker in the former City of Toronto’s election warehouse. Over the years, he took on positions of increasing scope and responsibility and prior to his appointment he served as the Director of Elections and Registry Services for the City of Toronto.
A dedicated election official, governments of all levels, associations and not-for-profit organizations have sought his election administration expertise. He has advised on municipal elections in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick and primary elections in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.
Born and raised in Toronto, Mr. Essensa studied economics at McGill University.
Holly Ann Garnett
Co-Director, Electoral Integrity Project & Professor, Royal Military College of Canada
Holly Ann Garnett is the Class of 1965 Professor of Leadership and an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Economics at the Royal Military College of Canada. She is cross-appointed faculty at the School of Policy Studies and Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University and an Honourary Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia.
Garnett’s research examines how electoral integrity can be strengthened throughout the electoral cycle, including the role of election management, registration and voting, cyber-security and election technologies, civic literacy, and campaign finance. Her most recent work published on these topics include Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy (MQUP, 2022; edited with Michael Pal) and Building Inclusive Elections (Routledge, 2020; edited with Toby S. James). She is the 2023 recipient of the Cowan Prize for Excellence in Research at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Garnett is co-director of the Electoral Integrity Project, a global network of academics and practitioners that engages in empirical research, publicly-accessible data collection, and stakeholder engagement on issues relating to election quality around the world. She is also co-investigator with the Human-Centric Cybersecurity Partnership (HC2P); co-investigator with the Consortium on Electoral Democracy (C-Dem); fellow with the Queen’s Institute for Intergovernmental Relations (IIGR); and collaborator with the Investigate Journalism Foundation’s work on campaign finance in Canada.
Rowan Gentleman-Sylvester
Executive Director, CityHive
Rowan Gentleman-Sylvester (she/her) is the Executive Director at CityHive, an award-winning non-profit organization on a mission to transform the way that young people are engaged in shaping their cities and communities. Rowan is an experienced convenor, educator, and engagement practitioner, and has a deep passion for democracy in action. As a settler who has spent her life on Coast Salish lands, Rowan strives to bring a critical lens to the roles of power, privilege and place in shaping our communities.
Transitioning into the Executive Director role in 2023, Rowan built upon her prior experience at CityHive, where she spearheaded various youth-centered initiatives across Metro Vancouver. Her leadership has been instrumental in projects intersecting civic engagement and climate advocacy, such as Transport2050, BC Hydro’s Clean Power 2040, and CleanBC. Rowan has also designed and delivered many youth programs like City Shapers, the North Shore Young Civic Forum, and the Elections Ambassadors. Recently, she co-chaired IAP2 Canada’s Young Professionals’ Community of Practice.
With a profound interest in experiential education, civic engagement, and place-based climate action, Rowan has extensively researched the involvement of youth (ages 13-30) in democratic processes, exploring the balance between activism and voter turnout. She finds inspiration in witnessing the innovative ways young people contribute to their communities and tackle complex challenges head-on.
Rob Goodman
Author, ‘Not Here Why American Democracy Is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself’ & Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University
Dr. Rob Goodman is a political theorist joining the Department of Politics and Public Administration. He received his PhD in political science from Columbia University and was previously a Mellon postdoctoral researcher at McGill University.
Dr. Goodman’s research interests include rhetoric, classics, and the history of political thought. His book manuscript, Eloquence and Its Conditions, investigates the development of models of skilled speech in classical antiquity, as well as their translation into modern institutional settings. It proposes that these models remain a valuable resource for critiquing the current state of political speech.
Dr. Goodman’s academic work has been published in the European Journal of Political Theory (2019), the American Political Science Review (2018), Redescriptions (2017), History of Political Thought (2016), The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (2014), and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal (2010). He is also the co-author of two books: A Mind at Play, a biography of Claude Shannon (Simon & Schuster, 2017), and Rome’s Last Citizen, a book on Cato the Younger and the Roman Republic (Thomas Dunne, 2012).
Before beginning his doctoral studies, Dr. Goodman worked as speechwriter for US House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senator Chris Dodd. He studied at George Washington University (MA in Public Policy) and Duke University (BA in English).
Sabrina Grover
Founder and principal, Shakti Strategies
Sabrina Grover is the founder and principal of Shakti Strategies and is an experienced political, advocacy and communications professional who has worked extensively with civil society and non-profit organizations both in the Canadian and international contexts. Sabrina has been involved in politics in both Ontario and in Alberta since she was 21 years old. In 2021 she ran as the Federal Liberal Candidate for Calgary-Centre in the Federal Election and most recently she served as the campaign manager for the winning Mark Sutcliffe Campaign for Mayor in Ottawa. Sabrina has also served as an international election observer being deployed in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka as well as the co-chair of the 2018 G7 Youth Summit in Canada. Professionally, Sabrina's consulting practice has focused on the international development and global health sectors pursuing advocacy with Canada and beyond our borders.
Allison Harell
Professor of Political Science, Université du Québec
Allison Harell is a Professor of Political Science at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the co-director of the Consortium on Electoral Democracy (C-Dem). She is a principal investigator on the 2019, 2021 and upcoming Canadian Election Study (CES) and has published broadly on questions of electoral behavior and public opinion. She is broadly implicated within the social science community in Canada, serving as a fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), an associate director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (CSDC) and co-founder of the Laboratoire d’analyse en communication politique et d’opinion publique (LACPOP). She was a elected as a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018 and is currently serving a three-year elected term on the governing council of the International Society of Political Psychology.
Jennifer Hollett
Executive Director, The Walrus
Jennifer has worked as the head of news and government at Twitter Canada and is the co-founder of the fact-checking Super PAC App, which debuted at number one in the App Store. As an award-winning host, reporter, and producer, she’s covered stories across Canada and around the world with CBC News, CTV News, and MuchMusic. Jennifer has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA with a specialization in journalism and communications from Concordia University.
Oksana Kishchuk
Director, Strategy & Insights, Abascus Data
Oksana is Director, Strategy & Insights at Abacus Data. Oksana combines her passion for data and her curiosity to create impactful research plans, cultivate new practice areas, and support Abacus’s growing portfolio of clients. With nearly a decade of experience in the market research industry, Oksana has worked with clients large and small to ask the right questions and provide insights that our clients can leverage today, tomorrow, and beyond. Oksana has a bachelor’s degree in public policy and a master’s degree in political management from Carleton University.
VICTORIA KUKETZ
Director of Corporate Engagement, Catalyst
Victoria is an established public policy, communications, and engagement professional focused on social impact. Her mission is to accelerate growth and momentum on innovation, inclusion, and the protection of democracy. She is currently the Director of Corporate Engagement at Catalyst Canada, a fellow of the Public Policy Forum focused on Digital Democracy, and host of the Democracy Dialogues at TMU's Democratic Engagement Exchange. Victoria was a Civic Action Diverse City fellow from 2021-2022 and volunteers for Mila in their AI for Humanity work and sits on the Selection Committee for MLSE’s Community Connection Grants.
Shaci Kurl
President, Angus Reid Institute
Shachi Kurl is President of the Angus Reid Institute, Canada’s non-profit foundation committed to independent research. She works with public opinion data to further public knowledge and enhance the national understanding of issues that matter to Canada and the world.
Kurl is often found offering analysis on CBC’s “Power and Politics”, in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and on the editorial pages of the Ottawa Citizen, among other places. In October 2020, she moderated BC’s only televised provincial election debate, presented by the British Columbia Broadcast Consortium.
She spent the first part of her career as political reporter and holds a degree in Journalism and Political Science from Carleton University. She returned to Carleton University as an Adjunct Research Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication in 2022.
Kurl is a recipient of the prestigious Jack Webster Award for Best TV Reporting. Along with former Australian and UK Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and Margaret Thatcher, she is an Alumnus of the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. She is a national co-chair of the Canadian Cancer Society.
Kurl moderated the 2021 English language leaders debate during the 44th federal election. She also won the Industry Marvel Award from Darpan Magazine in October of that year.
Dave Leichtman
Director of Corporate Civic Responsibility, Microsoft
Dave Leichtman is the Director of Corporate Civic Responsibility at Microsoft. As part of the company’s Democracy Forward program, he leads nonpartisan civic engagement efforts and works with election officials and those upholding democracy worldwide to address tech, security, and AI needs. Dave also leads the company's internal US and international election strategy.
Dave has held this and similar roles for 10 years at Microsoft. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at several US political technology firms. He also served as state leadership for a major US political party for over a decade.
Dave holds a B.S. in Physics and Computer Science from William & Mary and an M.S. in Particle Physics from University of Washington. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Miley Leong 梁伟祺
Engagement Consulting Manager, CityHive
Miley Leong 梁伟祺 (she/hers) is a facilitator, strategic thinker, and community builder. Miley is a Hakka Chinese immigrant-settler from Malaysia living on unceded, stolen Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh homelands. She thrives when she’s able to apply creativity and strategy to support meaningful social transformation work.
With a degree specializing in Organizational Change and Consulting, and Gender, Race, and Social Justice from UBC, she is interested in re-imagining the ways that people and spaces are organized. Miley believes in meeting people where they’re at while holding a sharp analysis on systems and the ways we interact with power.
From critical youth engagement at Apathy is Boring and Vancouver Foundation, provincial policy and public engagement with BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, transformative consulting with Bakau Consulting, and transformative accountability processes at Salal Sexual Assault Support Centre (previously known as WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre), Miley has a wide range of experience leading values-oriented work. She is personally and professionally committed to centering collective liberation and working in service of communities she’s a part of as well as communities she seeks to be in right relationship with.
April Lindgren
Principal Investigator, Local News Research Project (LNRP), & Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University
Professor April Lindgren is the principal investigator for the Local News Research Project (LNRP) at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism. Her research focuses on local news poverty, a term she uses to describe situations where the critical information needs of communities are not being addressed by local media. She spearheaded creation of the crowd-sourced Local News Map, an ongoing project that tracks the launch - and loss - of local news organizations in Canada, and has led research projects that document the extent to which local news is at risk and unevenly available across the country. In January 2021 she launched the Local News Data Hub, a student-industry collaborative project committed to shoring up local journalism across Canada by supplying newsrooms with data-based stories and training student data journalists.
Stewart McDonough
Advisor, Municipal Engagement, Association of Municipalities of Ontario
Stewart has two decades of experience in civic engagement, communications, and strategic planning with non-profits, municipal governments, and now with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). At AMO, Stewart leads the organization’s Healthy Democracy Project, which is working to increase diversity on municipal councils, improve the tone and tenor of local political discourse, and test innovative solutions to improve civic engagement and education. During eight years at the City of Guelph he managed strategic communications for the City’s CAO, led innovation files, and developed and revised Guelph’s Community Plan. Stewart is a community builder in his spare time and is the Board co-chair for the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition and, perhaps most proudly, he’s the Head Hoser once removed and Chief Crokicurler for the Summy Acres neighbourhood rink.
Katherine O’Neill
Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Edmonton
Katherine O’Neill joined YWCA Edmonton as Chief Executive Officer in 2020. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of girls and women and inspiring people to hear the important call of community service.
Katherine has worked in leadership positions in communications and politics throughout her career. A writer by trade, she spent most of her journalism career working as a national correspondent with the Globe and Mail, dispatching stories from across Canada and even the battlefields of Afghanistan in 2008. After leaving journalism, she led several political organizations in Alberta. She also ran a small communications company that specialized in crisis communications and media relations.
Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Journalism from Carleton University. In 2022, Katherine was awarded Alberta’s Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in recognition of her public service.
Stéphane Perrault
Chief Electoral Officer of Canada
Mr. Stéphane Perrault was appointed Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on June 8, 2018. He was previously Acting Chief Electoral Officer at Elections Canada from December 2016 to June 2018. In 2007, Mr. Perrault joined Elections Canada as Senior General Counsel and, in 2014, was appointed Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Regulatory Affairs. His areas of responsibility included Political Financing, Legal Services, the Electoral Integrity Office and Internal Audit, as well as Regulatory Instruments and Systems. After the realignment of the Agency's business lines in 2017, Mr. Perrault also became responsible for Public Affairs.
From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Perrault worked at the Privy Council Office in the Legislation and House Planning Secretariat, as well as in the Democratic Reform Secretariat. After serving as a law clerk to the Honourable Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé in 1997, Mr. Perrault joined the Department of Justice as Counsel in the Human Rights Law Section. Mr. Perrault was a member of the Quebec Bar from 1990 until his nomination and holds both a Master and Doctor of Laws. He previously lectured at the Université de Montréal and McGill University, where he was a Boulton fellow from 1995 to 1996.
Sami Khoury
Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Communications Security Establishment (CSE)
Sami Khoury is the Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, part of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). The Cyber Centre is the single unified source of expert advice, guidance, services and support on cyber security for government, critical infrastructure owners and operations, the private sector and the Canadian public. Sami began his career at CSE in 1992 as a research engineer and over the years has held various management positions and leadership roles at CSE more recently as CSE’s CIO.
Sami is a graduate of Concordia University with a Masters of Applied Science. He also completed a certificate program in Public Sector Leadership. Sami was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the APEX Award of Excellence for Innovation in 2020.
Sean Speer
Editor at Large, The Hub
Sean Speer is an editor at large at The Hub (www.thehub.ca). He is also a senior fellow at the Public Policy Forum and the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Sean previously served as an adviser to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Laura B. Stephenson
Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Western Ontario
Laura B. Stephenson is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario. She specializes in political behaviour, elections, and voting and is co-director of the Consortium on Electoral Democracy.
Dave Sommer
Vice-President, Strategic Communications at Enterprise Canada and Associate Creative Director at Creative Currency
Dave Sommer brings decades of combined experience in communications, politics and digital strategy to his current role focused on helping brands and institutions develop an impactful online voice that resonates with their audiences. Prior to joining Enterprise in 2023, Dave was Head of Politics and Government at Instagram in Washington, DC, where he advised global political leaders, government agencies, NGOs and IGOs on digital strategy and best practices. He also conceived, developed and shipped on-platform products - such as digital “I Voted!” stickers - to help Instagram’s users celebrate key elections and other civic events around the world. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of Communications, Digital, for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. From the history-making 2015 federal election campaign to 2019, Dave led the team responsible for all the Prime Minister’s video, web and social media properties, conceiving, writing and producing all digital products in the PMO, as well as planning long-term strategy, and coordination with ministries. Before that, he worked as a reporter, editor and producer in various Canadian radio and TV newsrooms, including CTV National News, where he was headlines and promotions producer.
Daniel Stockemer
Professor, Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies, University of Ottawa
Daniel Stockemer is Full Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa and since May 2021 chair holder of the Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Connecticut (2006), a teacher’s and Master’s degree from the University of Mannheim (2007), and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut (2010). His research focuses on key challenges of representative democracies. These include (1) the effects of migration on political attitudes, (2) the populist tide that has swept the world, (3) transformations in the conduct of elections and the determinants of vote choice, and (4) unequal representation of various cohorts of the population including women, minorities and youth. Throughout his academic career, Daniel has published 5 single authored books, 3 edited volumes, 2 textbooks and more than 150 articles in peer reviewed journals. Daniel is very active in the discipline of political science and has several editorial commitments. Since the fall of 2019, he is an editor of the International Political Science Review, and in early 2020, he started editing the Springer Book Series in Electoral Politics.
Michael Wernick
Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management, University of Ottawa
Michael Wernick is the Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management at the University of Ottawa. His 38 year career in the federal public service culminated in serving from 2016 to 2019 as the 23rd Clerk of the Privy Council. In 2021 UBC Press released “Governing Canada: A Guide to the Tradecraft of Politics”. Wernick contributes regularly to a number of publications and provides advisory services and mentorship to emerging leaders and students. He is a Senior Strategic Advisor to MNP Digital Inc.