Team Category: Presenter

Ms. Woo-Paw holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work from the University of Calgary and has dedicated her career to promoting active civic engagement and volunteerism, social inclusion, cross-cultural understanding and antidiscrimination awareness.

An active part of her community for 40 years, Ms. Woo-Paw founded seven organizations including the Asian Heritage Foundation, the ACCT Foundation, the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary (Action Dignity) and the Calgary Chinese Community Services Association as well as served on over 30 committees and boards at local, provincial and national levels. Ms. Woo-Paw is also a member of the Calgary Arts Foundation currently.

Her community service has earned Ms. Woo-Paw an Immigrant of Distinction Award, YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award, the Chinese Canadian Legend Award, the Queen’s Jubilee Award for Multiculturalism and Community Services, the Canada 125^thCommemorative Award for Community Services and the Queen Elizabeth’s 60^thJubilee Award.

Ms. Woo-Paw is the first Trustee and Chair of the Calgary Board of Education of Asian Canadian descent (1995 to 1999) and the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and Cabinet Minister of Asian Canadian descent (2008-2015).

Other than her accomplishments in community and political services, she is also a consultant by profession, including diversity training, and has worked for the Calgary health region, United Way of Calgary, the Red Cross, Calgary Board of Education, the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, and the Calgary Immigrant Aid Society.

Bio coming soon.

Elaine Whitehead has been a Registered Nurse and Certified Canadian Occupational Health Nurse (OHN) for over 30 years. She has been an integral part of the Medical Services team at Loblaw Companies Limited since 2003. Loblaw employs over 200,000 colleagues which span retail, distribution and store support nationally.

As OHN within this large corporate environment, Elaine initiated the Medical Accommodation in the Workplace policy, Alcohol and Drug policy, educator and trainer for Mental Health Awareness to people leaders, instructor for Mental Health First Aid, and member of the senior team of Able@Loblaw – a group supporting diversity and inclusion, and celebrates the unique abilities of people with disabilities, and educate leaders on hiring and managing people with disabilities.

With an unwavering dedication to social justice, gender equity, and Indigenous Reconciliation, Nan is a passionate relationship builder with expertise and over a decade of experience in the realm of philanthropy, policy, and social change.

Nan holds a BA (Hons) in Applied Economics from Carleton University, serves on multiple Boards including the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW), and is the proud mother of two fierce young feminists.

Lenworth (Lenny) Wallace is an experienced facilitator, educator, and DEI specialist.

For over 20 years, Lenny has amassed a wealth of experience in managing, customizing and facilitating instructor-led and eLearning training content to meet clients’ needs in English and French. His skills in graphic design and communication serve to enhance his mission of supporting client learning and involvement in diversity and inclusion.

With a background in Geography and the Humanities, Lenny is highly passionate about supporting cultural understanding and development. Since 2020, he has worked as a Learning Manager at the CCDI and Diversity Instructor at the Toronto Transit Commission, hosting near 300 sessions on issues around DEI.

An avid sports fan and music lover, Lenny loves to play soccer and softball. Outside of work he does graphic design, and provides mentorship to several educators and teachers in an effort to aid them in improving their skills and competencies.

Val joined Scotiabank in August 2017 in a newly created role, Director of Sales Effectiveness, bringing with them, 20+ years experience in sales, sales leadership, and sales performance development. During their five years in role, they established the national sales strategy, in addition, with a passion for DEI, embedded the Automotive DEI strategy.

Their passion for DEI led to leading the Pride ERG as well as the LGBT Global Council of Chairs. October 1^st, 2022, Val was appointed into a newly created role, Director, Diversity Equity, and Inclusion for Canadian Banking. In this capacity, Val is leading the way in developing a holistic and integrated strategy to drive awareness, knowledge, and ability for Allyship, and at the same time to recruit, retain and to create a sense of belonging for all underrepresented groups.

Event Specialist | Inspirational Speaker | Social Advocate

Producer | Host: The Victory Speaks Show & Podcast

Nicole Waldron is a professional Event Planning Specialist, an Inspirational Speaker, Community Advocate and is the producer and host of The Victory “Speaks” Podcast and Show.

As an impactful thought leader, she believes in working on projects that edify individuals and organizations that create a positive impact on society. Nicole serves onvarious boardsand committees in the Community for Mental Health, Caregivers, Housing and the Care and advancement of Women and the underserved.

Nicole sits on the boards of the Ontario Caregivers Organization, the Co-operators, the Cooperative Housing Federation of Canada, and on Cooperative Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT) Charitable Fund Board. She is a member of the Family Advisory Council at CAMH and Stella’s Place,representingthe lived experience of Mental Health Family caregivers.

Ms. Waldron has been named one of the Outstanding Black Women by the City of Brampton and Shifter Magazine (IWD), one of the 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada, and one of the 150 Women by How She Hustles –HERStoryin Black. She is the recipient of the 2020 Brian Burch Community Service Award from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto and the Social Housing Service Corporation Kathleen Blinkhorn Award for Excellence in Volunteerism.

Gaurav Upadhya is the Global Chief Actuary and Chief Risk Officer at Foresters Financial, a nearly 150 year old fraternal Canadian life insurance company serving over 2.5 million members and certificate holders in Canada, US and UK. He is also a Board Director at Amex Bank of Canada and at Canadian Club Toronto, Chair of the Advisory Committee of Ascend Canada and a member of the Advisory Board for the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

He has broad experience in the financial services sector including a succession of leadership positions with Manulife John Hancock, including Senior Vice President, Product and Insurance Risk Management, and Vice President, U.S. Risk and Capital Management.

He is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries (FSA), Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA), Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA), Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Gaurav has a Master of Mathematics (Actuarial Science) from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.

Gaurav was born in India where he contracted polio when three years old and has since walked with crutches and leg braces. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 12 after living in Africa and UK for some years.

Manju Varma, Ph.D. moved to Canada with her family at the age of two and grew up in Moncton, NB. She obtained her doctorate in anti-racist education from the Ontario Institute in Education/University of Toronto. For the past 30 years she has focused on issues around diversity and anti-racism in New Brunswick and has published both national and internationally on the topics of mental health, diversity & youth and anti-racist education. From 2001-2008, she was an Assistant Professor with the University of New Brunswick. Later she joined the Federal government and has worked at Canadian Heritage, Correctional Services Canada, and currently, is the lead for the Office of Inclusion, Equity and Anti-Racism at the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. She is also a certified Conflict Mediator (Harvard Law School) and Negotiator (Dalhousie University).

Juliet is an Asian Canadian woman dedicated to the mission of creating more equitable opportunities in the world of work. To support this endeavour, Juliet is proud to be accredited in both Canada and USA as a Certified Canadian Inclusion Professional (CCIP) and Certified Diversity Executive (CDE)..

Juliet has a unique perspective that fuels her belief that diversity is the key to creating a more sustainable physical and metaphysical world. With over 30 years of hands-on talent acquisition experience; Juliet melds her lived experience, with her work expertise and knowledge to unlock tangible outcomes.

Juliet is passionate about volunteering and currently serves on the boards of the National Association of Asian American Professionals and Lean In Canada.