Summit 2021 Speakers and Bios

Sonia Baxendale is a highly respected executive who has more than 20 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in the financial services industry. Ms. Baxendale serves on the Board of Directors for a number of Canadian and international corporate and not-for-profit organizations. As the President and CEO of GRI, Ms. Baxendale leads the premier risk management organization for the financial services industry globally.

In this role, Ms. Baxendale brings together leaders from industry, academia and government to focus on emerging risk management issues. The global pandemic has brought to the forefront a confluence of domestic and global concerns - geopolitical tensions, climate change, systemic racism, social and economic disparities. Under Ms. Baxendale’s leadership, GRI has stepped up to develop strategic research and education. She has brought together experts from across the country and the globe to focus on long-term, sustainable solutions for Canada’s economic recovery.

In addition to her role with GRI, Ms. Baxendale is a Director on the Board of Laurentian Bank, Foresters Financial, RSA Group PLC, and The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited. She is Chair of the Board of SickKids Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Hospital for Sick Children.

Prior to joining GRI, Ms. Baxendale was President of CIBC Retail Markets where she led Retail and Wealth Management businesses. Ms. Baxendale played a key role in developing strategy and direction for CIBC and held various leadership roles including Senior Executive Vice-President, CIBC Wealth Management, Executive Vice-President, Asset Management, Card Products and Collections, and Executive Vice-President of Global Private Banking and Investment Management Services. Prior to CIBC, Ms. Baxendale held various positions with American Express Canada and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Ms. Baxendale is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she was named University of Toronto, Victoria College Alumni of Distinction in 2017. She was named one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada” for three years in a row and then joined the ranks of the Top 100 Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2000, she was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

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Mark Hughes is the chair of the Global Risk Institute. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of UBS Group AG as well as the chair of the Risk Committee. Previously, he was the Group Chief Risk Officer of Royal Bank of Canada and retired in 2018 after 37 years with RBC. He serves on the boards of a number of industry associations and not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Hughes is also a Senior Advisor with McKinsey & Co associated with the risk practice and he is a frequent lecturer at Universities of Leeds and Manchester in England.

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Vanda Vicars is Chief Operating Officer at the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services since 2019 where she leads strategy development and execution for member services, events and education, marketing, communications, and corporate services.

A respected C-Suite executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector, Ms. Vicars has held senior roles at leading organizations including CEO, Canada Infrastructure Services, Capgemini; President Capgemini Canada; Senior Vice President of ICT Solutions, Bell Canada; and IBM where she held various mandates in the Global Services organization leading operational teams servicing Canada’s largest institutions in the areas of Technical Support and IT and Network Outsourcing.

Ms. Vicars oversees the cyber risk file at GRI working with researchers and delivering Board level education on the topic of cyber security oversight. Over the course of her career, she has led teams delivering project and cyber services to the financial sector and various government entities.

Ms. Vicars is currently on the Quantum-Safe Canada Governing Board and is the Corporate Secretary for the Global Risk Institute. She has served as a corporate director on the boards of Bell Capital Markets Solutions, Createch, and Capgemini Canada.

An advocate for women in the ICT sector, Ms. Vicars has served as an executive coach, mentor, and public speaker on the topic. She was instrumental in launching networking and development programs for women at Bell Canada and IBM. She also served on the board of Canadian Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) for 9 years.

Ms. Vicars holds a BBA, Management Science from Bishop’s University. In 2009, she participated in the Fellows program of the International Women’s Foundation (IWF) at Harvard’s Business School (US) and the Changes in Global Leadership Program at Cambridge’s Judge Business School (UK). She completed the Director’s Education Program at University of Toronto (2018) and holds the ICD.D designation.

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Travis Antoniono is an Investment Manager within the Board Governance & Sustainability division of California Public Employees' Retirement System. Travis’ main area of focus is climate strategy and helping decarbonize CalPERS’ $490 billion investment fund. This includes researching new and innovative solutions to support the integration of climate change risk and opportunity factors into investment decisions.
Prior to CalPERS, Travis was most recently an Associate Portfolio Manager within the Sustainable Investment & Stewardship Strategies division of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System where he co-managed CalSTRS $10 billion sustainability-focused public equity and private markets portfolio, led environmental and climate-related corporate engagement efforts, and chaired CalSTRS cross-asset class Green Team.
Prior to joining CalSTRS Investments, Travis worked as a Management Consultant for CalSTRS and served as an officer in the United States Air Force. Travis received Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Risk Management from California State University, Sacramento and received an MBA from Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

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Kathy is Chair of the Sustainable Finance Action Council, having recently stepped down as the inaugural President of the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices. Previously, her professional career spanned nearly four decades with The Co-operators Group Ltd., retiring from her role as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2016. Kathy holds a Bachelor of Science (Math) from University of Manitoba and an MBA (Marketing) from McMaster University. She was appointed Honorary Chartered Insurance Professional with the Insurance Institute of Canada and Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Guelph. Kathy currently serves on the boards of Foresters Financial, Wawanesa, RGA Canada and University Pension Plan. Previous governance experience includes chairing the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation, CANATICS and serving on the boards of University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, and Metrolinx.

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Bruno Bertocci announced he will be retiring in March 2022 after a 40+ year career, having been Head of Sustainable Equities and lead Portfolio Manager of the Global Sustainable Equity portfolio since 2007.

While he has stepped down from his day-to-day responsibilities as Lead PM, he remains a senior Portfolio Manager within the Global Equity team, ensuring a smooth handover of responsibilities.

Bruno has played a critical role within the team over many years, having led the development of the team's distinctive approach from a negative screening to positive screening process since December 2007, when he became lead Portfolio Manager of the Global Sustainable Equity portfolio.

Prior to joining UBS Asset Management in 1998, Bruno managed the global equity investment group at Stein Roe & Farnham.

Previously, his positions included regional portfolio manager and global equity portfolio manager at Rockefeller & Co. Before assuming these roles, Bruno was based in London, then Hong Kong, as manager of that firm’s foreign offices. Bruno began his career at T.Rowe Price Associates as a US equity analyst.

Bruno represents UBS on committees such as the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee and the Institutional Advisory Group for SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) as well as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

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Bruce Choy joined the Global Risk Institute in January 2021 as a member of the senior executive team and to develop their research mandate on future and emerging risks. Dr Choy brings a track-record in university research, executive financial institution leadership and management consulting, with extensive global financial services experience in North America, Asia and Australasia.

Prior to joining GRI, Dr Choy was a management consultant with PwC from 2014 to 2020. He advised C-suite, Boards and senior leadership of financial institutions on financial and non-financial risk management, corporate governance and strategy. He held various roles in PwC’s New York and Toronto offices, including Risk Consulting practice leader for PwC Canada. From 2003 to 2013, Dr Choy was a senior executive with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He was a General Manager that led the Balance Sheet Management and Group Market Risk departments. Prior to the Commonwealth Bank, he worked in the front-office with ANZ’s Global Capital Markets team after leaving a tenure-track academic career with the University of Sydney’s engineering faculty.

Dr Choy is a Governor on the Board of George Brown College and a member of their Audit, Finance and Property Committee. He is also Vice President and Board member of the Toronto Chapter of the Risk Management Association.

Dr Choy was awarded a doctorate from the University of Sydney, Australia, for his research on the mathematics for risk management. He is a University and R.A. Priddle Medalist from the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and a Sloan Fellow from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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Blair is the Head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo. Previous positions he has held include Vice President, Sustainable Development, Bank of Montreal/Jones Heward Investment Council; Director, Sustainable Development, Ontario Power Generation; Partner, Sustainable Investment Group/YMG Capital Management. Blair has written textbooks on Sustainable Banking (2016: University of Toronto Press), and Aquatic Ecology (1992: CAB International).

He is on the federal committee to develop Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy. He is a member of Climate Proof Canada (Insurance Bureau of Canada), and he is on the Sustainable Finance Advisory Council, Global Risk Institute. He is Chair, Adaptation Council, Canadian Institute for Climate Choices (Environment and Climate Change Canada). He is on the Board, Climate Change Adaptation, Minister of Environment (Ontario). He was Chair, Federal Government of Canada Expert Panel on Climate Adaptation.

Blair was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Waterloo. He holds a Ph.D in Theoretical and Applied Ecology (University of Toronto), Master’s in Arts (Wilfrid Laurier University), Master’s in Zoology (University of Toronto), and Hon. Bachelor’s Biology (University of Toronto).

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Rod Garratt is a Professor of Economics at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has served as a Technical Advisor to the Bank for International Settlements, a Research Advisor to the Bank of England and is a former Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. During his time at the FRBNY he co-led the Virtual Currency Working Group for the Federal Reserve System. After leaving the FRBNY he consulted for Payments Canada and R3 on Project Jasper: a proof of concept for a wholesale interbank payment system. Garratt received his undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He has published in the top economics journals including Econometrica, the American Economic Review and the Journal of Political Economy. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures, the Journal of Network Theory in Finance and the Journal of Public Economic Theory.

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Gillian K. Hadfield is the director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. She is the Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society, professor of law and of strategic management at the University of Toronto, a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and a senior policy advisor at OpenAI. Her current research is focused on innovative design for legal and regulatory systems for AI and other complex global technologies; computational models of human normative systems; and working with machine learning researchers to build ML systems that understand and respond to human norms. Her book, Rules for a Flat World: Why Humans Invented Law and How to Reinvent It for a Complex Global Economy, is now available in paperback and on Audible.

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Diane Kazarian is PwC Canada's first female GTA Managing Partner and a member of the Extended Leadership Team. She leads PwC’s largest Canadian market, managing more than 3,500 professionals across all key industries. With more than 30 years of experience in the professional services industry, Diane has been recognized as a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA) of Ontario and is a recipient of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 award. Diane is the co-sponsor of PwC’s award-winning Women in Leadership (WiL) program and is one of the founding partners of #movethedial. She is a member of the Steering Committee at the Financial Institution Forum and sits on the Board of Bryant University and Kingsway College School, Ontario Brain Institute and St. Joseph's Health Foundation. Diane is a sought-after speaker and is an active participant and advocate of women’s career advancement as well as diversity and inclusion.

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Melissa Kennedy leads Sun Life’s legal, compliance, government relations and corporate secretary functions and is the Executive Sponsor of Sustainability. Through proactive partnership and ensuring optimal governance, Melissa and her teams guide the company to deliver on its Purpose to help Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.

Melissa joined Sun Life in 2014 with a breadth of experience spanning private practice, regulatory and in-house roles. Prior to joining Sun Life, she was SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Affairs for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Melissa started her career in private practice, followed by roles as head of the prosecution team at the OSC and as VP, Associate General Counsel at CIBC.

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Melissa is a founding member of Legal Leaders for Diversity, a group of Canadian GCs who promote DE&I in the legal community. In 2012, Melissa received the General Counsel of the Year Award and in 2016, WXN recognized her as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women. In 2017, Melissa received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from U of T and in 2019, Chambers and Partners recognized her as one of Canada’s 15 Most Influential General Counsel. In 2020 she was honoured by The Directors’ Roundtable with World Recognition of Distinguished General Counsel.

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Marion Labouré is a senior economist and market strategist at Deutsche Bank, a lecturer at Harvard University, and a recognized expert in financial technology (fintech). In addition to designing her own financial technologies course at Harvard University, she speaks extensively about payment systems, blockchain, and digital currencies at conferences and seminars. She has won several awards for excellence in teaching, and she received two first prizes from the American Actuarial Society. Revue Banque nominated her as one of six rising stars in finance, and Business Insider named her one of eleven cryptocurrency masterminds. Marion has extensive private sector, public policy, monetary policy, and academic experience, including at the European Commission; Harvard University; the Luxembourg Central Bank; Deutsche Bank; and Barclays. She is the co-author of two books on capital markets, and she has lectured on economics and finance at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, Yale University, Sciences-Po Paris, and University Paris Dauphine.

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Marcia Moffat is a Canadian business leader with extensive global industry experience, who is dedicated to employees, clients and making a positive impact on the world around her.

She is the Country Head of Canada for BlackRock, a global investment management and technology solutions firm that manages trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. BlackRock helps a wide range of Canadian investors build better financial futures through its iShares, institutional, technology and advisory businesses.

As Country Head, Marcia drives the company’s vision and strategic direction for BlackRock's Canadian operations, while empowering teams to find their own ways to support and advance it. She believes in the power of diverse thinking and voices and is a champion for diversity and inclusion within the workplace and on corporate boards. Marcia is also a member of BlackRock’s Global Operating Committee and a past member of its Human Capital Committee.

Beyond the firm, Marcia is a strong supporter of the not-for-profit sector and her community. She believes that companies and governments should take a long-term view to better society and is actively involved with the C.D. Howe Institute, the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, the Ontario Brain Institute, the Business Council of Canada and McGill University, among others.

Outside of work, Marcia is a mother of two sons and enjoys spending time with her family outdoors.

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As Group Head & Chief Risk Officer for Scotiabank, Daniel Moore is responsible for global management of risk, including enterprise, credit and market risk. Prior to his appointment in March 2019, he was Chief Risk Officer and Executive Vice President and Chief Market Risk Officer.

Daniel is a member of the Bank’s operating committee, as well as the senior risk policy, asset liability, market risk, and credit committees.

Daniel joined Scotiabank in 1997 and has held progressively senior roles in Toronto, Europe and Asia. Prior to becoming Chief Market Risk Officer in 2016, Daniel ran the Global Banking and Markets business in Asia- Pacific. He brings a strong focus in developing risk management strategies that align with the Bank's risk tolerance, business objectives and customer focus.

Daniel holds a D. Phil. in Theoretical Physics from Oxford University and a B.Sc. from Queen’s University.

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Dr. Mussio is one of Canada’s premier business historians and the chair of the Long Run Institute. He has spent his professional career studying and writing books about how big decision-making engines in finance, government and technology shape and are shaped by the world around them. As CEO of his own consulting company, Signal Influence Executive Research and Communications (SIERC), he is also an active entrepreneur. The result of these hybrid activities is that he offers a unique perspective on human judgement in action. Dr. Mussio is able to connect insight and hindsight to contemporary leadership challenges in a compelling, engaging and creative way.

In the last decade, Dr. Mussio led a massive research project to capture the history of one of North America’s most important financial institutions. The result was the landmark publication, in 2020, of a two-volume history of the Bank of Montreal, called Whom Fortune Favours: Bank of Montreal and the Rise of North American Finance. The historian Niall Ferguson called Dr. Mussio’s book an “exemplary, deeply researched and insightful history” of one of North America’s founding financial institutions.

The culmination of Dr. Mussio’s work on decision-making and management comes with his current and most exciting work on artificial intelligence and human judgement. The Decisionmaker’s Dilemma: Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Judgement, coming out in 2022, will focus on what AI targets most profoundly: human judgement.

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Peter Routledge was appointed Superintendent of Financial Institutions in June 2021, for a seven-year term.

He previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) beginning in November 2018. While at CDIC, Mr. Routledge led a successful transformation of CDIC’s culture, strategy, and technology vision. Mr. Routledge has extensive experience in Canada’s financial sector. Prior to joining CDIC, he was a Senior Advisor at the Department of Finance where he provided advice on a range of policy issues including financial stability, housing finance, and competition in Canadian financial services.

Mr. Routledge has held a variety of leadership roles in the financial services industry, both in Canada and abroad. He served as managing director of research at National Bank Financial, where he led a team responsible for producing equity, fixed income, and derivatives research on Canadian financial institutions. Prior to that, Mr. Routledge led the Canadian Financial Institutions Group at Moody’s Canada, with responsibilities for covering issuers in the banking, life insurance, personal and commercial insurance and reinsurance industries in Canada and the United States.

Mr. Routledge holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Simon Fraser University.

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Alyson leads Global Risk Institute's Sustainable Finance initiatives with the aim of supporting Canada’s financial sector in the transition to a climate-smart economy and sustainable future. She brings 20 years of international experience to this role, with expertise in climate change, inclusive finance, and sustainable development gained through her work as a senior executive at the Global Reporting Initiative and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.

She worked to enhance corporate transparency on environmental and social issues with the world’s leading sustainability reporting standard setting organization, the Global Reporting Initiative. She held various leadership roles including strategy, services, and emerging markets over the course of 12 years. Alyson also spent five years in Asia with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion working with central banks from emerging markets on building more inclusive financial systems, and in support of H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her role as UN Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. She has also been a management consultant supporting businesses on sustainability strategy and stakeholder engagement. Alyson brings the ESG perspective to her role as a member of the Continuous Disclosure Advisory Committee of the Ontario Securities Commission and represents the financial sector perspective on the Sustainable Development Advisory Committee of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Alyson started her sustainability career at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Geneva in 2000. She received her Master's Degree from the University of British Columbia, and an honors Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University, both with a focus on environmental management.

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John Turner is a Professor of Finance and Financial History at Queen’s University Belfast and is the founder of the Centre for Economic History and a co-founder of the Long Run Institute. He is the former Head of Queen’s Management School. He has been a Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England and an Alfred Chandler Fellow at Harvard Business School. Professor Turner’s research is on the long-run evolution of banking, bubbles, and financial markets. He is an editor at the Economic History Review and Economics Observatory. He has recently co-authored Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles, which was listed as a Financial Times best book of the year in 2020.

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