Team Category: Presenter

Tiana Field Ridley is an enthusiastic mental health advocate with a passion for turning systems knowledge into real-world change. She is currently working as a program manager at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, where she supports employers in building workplace mental health strategies that align with the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.

Her former experience includes six years serving on the Alberta Mental Health Review Panel where she gained extensive experience within both mental health and judicial systems. She was also previously self-employed as an independent Mental Health First Aid instructor and conflict management consultant with a focus on community development.

Tiana holds a degree in Human Services, along with certifications in Psychological Health and Safety, Mediation, Communication and Conflict.

Ziv Finkelstein holds a Master of Arts from York University where they researched the trajectory of medieval antisemitic perceptions to modern literary antisemitism, specifically in children’s fantasy literature. They find it important to educate about antisemitism and who the Jewish people are.

Muriam is a master’s student at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Her primary research interests include understanding the role of minority voices included in artificial intelligence, as well as emphasizing the importance of diversity and inclusion in technology. Muriam recently completed her BA in Peace, Conflict, and Justice with a double minor in Indigenous Studies; Diaspora & Transnational Studies at University of Toronto. In her undergraduate studies, her specialization focused on criticallyanalyzing both the onset and consequences of conflict specifically looking at cases of war, genocide, and civil conflict.

Currently, Muriam works at the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network Youth in their Youth Solutions Hub team. The program connects youth innovators with industry and academic professionals to help scale their solutions. Furthermore, she is also part of the Youth Advisory Group at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, in which she is directing the AI ethics project.

Danielle Elias is a Senior Consultant of Diversity and Inclusion with the Public Service Commission of Nova Scotia. Growing up in Castries, St. Lucia, Danielle left to receive an undergraduate degree in Sociology at St Mary’s University in Halifax where she discovered her love of this city and her hate for Canadian winters. To escape said winters, Danielle returned to St Lucia and took on the role of Professional Officer in the Gender Relations Department and AIDS Action Foundation where she focused her work on gender violence and HIV/AIDS education.

After realizing that she has yet to live in a city that has grey skies and rain 11 months of the year, Danielle traveled to Wales to complete her Master of Economics – Social Development, Planning and Management at the University of Wales Swansea, United Kingdom. It turns out grey wasn’t for her so after completion of her Masters, Danielle once again landed in Castries where she worked as a consultant. In 2010, Danielle decided that she might give these cold months another shot and she permanently immigrated to Nova Scotia, starting her work with the Nova Scotia Public Service Commission in 2012.

Danielle currently lives in Halifax with her wife and their amazing toddler.

Lindsay Evans (she, her) is the Global Leader for IBM’s Marketplace Diversity team.

With a deep understanding and personal mission of inclusion, she is a relationship builder, DEI-B advisor, educator, life-long student, cis-gendered queer member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, proud Neurodivergent, and experienced change management leader with a keen focus on access and accessibility.

Presenting authentically, Lindsay is passionate about human-first culture, equitable opportunity, and enablement of good people of good tech, approaching all things with an opportunity to learn and grow.

Be it formally or informally, she commits daily to bolstering measurable, positive impacts and furthering DEI across all business streams by continuously striving and advocating for intersectional equality; taking pride in continuous unlearning and evolution of self, taking every moment she can to create access for others to do the same.

Bio coming soon.

Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia

As Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, Ms. Elghawaby serves as a champion, advisor, expert, and representative to support and enhance the federal government’s efforts in the fight against Islamophobia, systemic racism, racial discrimination, and religious intolerance. She promotes awareness of the diverse and intersectional identities of Muslims in Canada and provides advice to the government in the development of inclusive policies, legislative proposals, programs, and regulations that reflect their realities. In so doing, she also helps advance respect for equity, inclusion, and diversity and shines a light on the important contributions of Muslims to our country’s national fabric.

Prior to the appointment, Ms. Elghawaby was a contributing columnist at the Toronto Star and was a frequent media commentator on equity and inclusion, delivering keynote presentations and tailored workshops for a variety of audiences.

Ms. Elghawaby most recently led strategic communications and campaigns at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. She also previously worked in Canada’s labour movement in communications and human rights and spent five years promoting the civil liberties of Canadian Muslims at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) between 2012 to 2017.

Ms. Elghawaby has had an extensive career supporting initiatives to counter hate and to promote inclusion, including as a past founding board member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and past board member at the Silk Road Institute. She has served two terms as a Commissioner on the Public Policy Forum’s Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression. She currently sits on the National Security Transparency Advisory Group, an independent, arms-length committee that advises the Deputy Minister of Public Safety Canada.

Ms. Elghawaby was a writer-in-residence at the 2019 Literary Arts Residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her 2019 TEDXOttawa talk is titled “Multiculturalism: Worth Defending”.

Ms. Elghawaby obtained an honours degree in Journalism and Law from Carleton University in 2001.

Matt Dunn is Dene and a citizen of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. He joined the OVPIE team in 2019 to support the development and implementation of First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultural programming, policies, procedures and strategies, and education that advance the University of Saskatchewan’s 2025 Strategic Plan, Indigenous strategy, and the OVPIE vision and mandate, specifically related to Indigenization, reconciliation, decolonization and manachitowin.

Introducing Michelle, a trailblazer in the field of Human Resources and DEI. Michelle is a highly accomplished and seasoned HR professional with over 25 years of industry experience both domestically and internationally. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her credit, Michelle is a true leader in her field.

Her educational background is equally impressive, spanning three continents: a Bachelors in Accounting from Africa, a Masters in Human Resource Management from University of Regina, representing North America and currently a Doctor of Business Administration candidate with specialization in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Europe.

Her ongoing contributions to the field of DEI are nothing short of remarkable: Michelle has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, serving as the inaugural Super Regional DEI Lead for Amazon Logistics, Canada and, playing an instrumental role in helping to revise the Diversity and Inclusion framework for one of the governmental institutions in Canada. Her dedication to promoting equity,diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism is unwavering, particularly when it comes to the advancement of visible minorities and increasing the visibility of BIPOC women in business and leadership. With her unique combination of experience and education, Michelle is a force to be reckoned with in the world of Human Resources and DEI.

Bhavna Duggal is a global Financial Services leader, with over 16 years of finance management and advisory experience across Canada, Europe & Asia. Bhavna has worked in progressively senior roles within public accounting firms EY & Deloitte, and banks including JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Bhavna is a qualified CPA (Ontario, Canada) and recognized as a Fellow chartered certified accountant with the ACCA, in the United Kingdom.

Currently Bhavna is Vice President of Finance, leading the Client Financial Services function at Investment Management Corporation of Ontario. Bhavna also co-chairs the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and led the establishment of the vision, mission & charter guiding the framework for the tactical and strategic goal setting of the DEI Council.

Prior to this, Bhavna was a Partner with Ernst and Young in Toronto, where she specialized in leading Finance function advisory services, assisting Finance Leaders in their agenda, helping them drive transformation and change. Bhavna has provided advisory services and worked with senior leaders, C-suite executives, and Boards at companies within Banking and Capital Markets, Asset Management, Insurance, Private Equity and Pension Funds. She is a regular speaker at several internal and external industry forums.

Bhavna is passionate about volunteering and giving back to the community and as a proud mother to two amazing children, she is hoping to pass those values to them. Together with her husband Jai, she has organized and run a series of fundraisers aiming to benefit different communities. These personal initiatives were core to Bhavna and Jai’s ethos of paying it forward and giving back to various communities. The fundraisers varied from raising benefits to victims of the devastating Nepal Earthquake to raising awareness and fundraising for Aboriginal Women’s shelters in Toronto.

Bhavna is an avid advocate and Board Member with Ascend Canada – a non-profit leadership organization focusing on diversity and inclusion in Corporate Canada. She is also a member of Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation’s committee for their annual fundraising Gala.

In her spare time, Bhavna is an avid adventurer, traveler, and sports enthusiast.