Pierre Cléroux,

Vice President, Research and Chief Economist
BDC

Pierre Cléroux was appointed Vice President, Research and Chief Economist at BDC in 2012.

Pierre leads a team of experts who analyze economic data to identify business and sector trends impacting Canadian entrepreneurs. A seasoned speaker, he helps business owners understand the risks and opportunities presented by the economic environment.

Hasitha Sridharan

Head of Growth – North America
Greenly

Hasitha Sridharan is Head of Growth for North America at Greenly. With 8 years of experience in management consulting, she specializes in strategic, large-scale, and complex transformations for Fortune 500 companies. Currently based in Toronto, ON, Hasitha holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Windsor and a master’s degree from Tulane University. She also holds a Certificate in Sustainable Business Strategy from HBS.

Larry J. Keating

President
NPC DataGuard

Larry Keating is the president of NPC DataGuard. Through NPC he invented and brought to market his industry’s first secure managed endpoint computing solution.

Larry is also president and CEO of Keating Technologies he founded in 1987, that has generated more than $2B in technology sales and services to Canadians, and is a three-time national winner of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies award.

Jeremy Neil

President
Canvalen Management Corp.

Jeremy is the president of Canvalen Management Corp. and an accomplished manufacturing industry executive with over 25 years of multi-disciplinary experience in business development, contract negotiation & management, operations management, project management, human capital management, legal & regulatory compliance, supply chain management and quality
management.

He has played a fundamental role in the sale and execution of numerous large scale domestic and international capital equipment projects with a combined value of over five hundred million dollars, providing advanced manufacturing solutions to some of the world’s most prominent manufacturers in over 40 industries.

Matthew Aiken

Sector Development Lead, Advanced Manufacturing & Materials
Toronto Global

Matthew Aiken is currently the Sector Development Lead for Advanced Manufacturing at Toronto Global, working with international manufacturers to better understand their supply chain network costs, helping them identify opportunities here in local industry value chains, and how the Toronto region may be their best option for expanding their operation.  Before Toronto Global, Matthew gained a unique breadth and depth of industry and consulting experience across all functional areas in supply chain management in a number of different business sectors, including manufacturing, retail, energy, and transportation.

Alison Glober

Partner, Advisory Services, 
KPMG Canada

Alison is a Partner in Management Consulting focused on value realization. She is also KPMG in Canada’s National Manufacturing Sector Leader. With over 25 years of experience leading large transformational initiatives across numerous industries, Alison has a well-established track record of successfully analyzing financials and data to identify opportunities to improve EBITDA; she makes a difference to organizations by helping them execute and deliver on savings and/or process improvement, to create value.

Umang Handa

Partner, National Cybersecurity Managed Services Leader,
PwC Canada

Umang Handa is a Partner at PwC Canada and is the National Cybersecurity Managed Services Leader. He is responsible for leading managed security services nationally within PwC Canada, which includes outcome focussed managed security services in cybersecurity.

Umang has played various global roles and has worked extensively with large organizations in North America, Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe to create end to end cyber programs, all the way from Strategy to Implementation and Operations. Umang has over sixteen (16) years of experience in Cyber Security Implementation and Operations, Governance, Analytics, Darkspace Intelligence, Advanced Threat Defenses and Hunting.

Mervin Naidoo

Vice President, Operations
Mircom Group of Companies

Mervin currently serves as the Vice President of Operations, at Mircom Group of Companies, where he has a paramount role in enhancing performance in this high-tech multi-site global business. During his tenure at Celestica, he served as the Director of Engineering, and previously as the Director of Operations. Mervin showed a commitment to excellence during his time as the Honeywell Operating System Site Leader and Senior Program Manager at Honeywell Aerospace and Defense, where he led the charge in elevating operational standards and execution of complex projects on platforms such as Airbus A380, Airbus A350, Boeing 737, and Lockheed Martin F-35.

Mervin’s educational background as a Lean Expert and Six Sigma Black Belt, combined with his foundation in Industrial Engineering, forms the core of his operational philosophy. In a growth-focused environment, his mission at Mircom is steadfast: to support the highest standards of performance and quality, develop robust stakeholder relations, and drive a high-performance culture across the organization.

Christy Michalak

Director, Manufacturing Development Programs
NGen

Christy Michalak is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Queen’s University.  In her 20 years in the automotive, aerospace and defense industries, Christy has had the pleasure of working for, and consulting with, major multi-national manufacturers and SMEs from around the globe. Today she is fortunate to continue to collaborate with members at NGen Canada, the not-for-profit running Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing, where she is the Director of Advanced Manufacturing Development Programs. Christy also sits on the board of the Canadian Composites Knowledge Network, acts as an Industrial Advisor for the Canadian Robotics Council, and is Vice-Chair of the Canadian Standards Association’s Committee for Smart Manufacturing.

Sal Rabbani

Managing Partner
BDC Advisory Services – GTA

Sal actively contributes to the mission of BDC by providing Advisory Services that increase the competitiveness of Canadian businesses.  Sal is responsible for the effective coordination and completion of BDC’s Advisory Services offerings in the Greater Toronto Area and works closely with the bank’s functional areas and industry experts to ensure that the right mix of skills is in place to successfully complete each engagement.