Horizons Toronto AI + Digital Innovation

Paul Teshima is the Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Wealthsimple, Canada’s leading financial innovator managing roughly $125 billion for over 4 million Canadians. Joining in 2020 as Chief Client Experience Officer, he was named one of Canada’s Best Executives by The Globe and Mail in 2023. Today, he oversees Wealthsimple's marketing, consumer, commercial, and channel sales teams. Paul holds engineering degrees from Queen's University and the University of British Columbia.

Laura Money is Executive Vice-President and Chief Information & Technology Innovation Officer at Sun Life, leading the company's IT strategy and digital transformation. An acclaimed executive, her numerous awards include WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada and the Globe and Mail’s Best Executive Award. Alongside her corporate role, Laura chairs Bowtie Life Insurance Company, serves on Ontario Tech University’s board, and is an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Manas Vijh is Chief Operating Officer, Canada at eBay, where he leads the Canadian marketplace and owns P&L, product, marketing, and operations. He spends majority of his time on growth initiatives and new customer experiences. Prior to eBay, he held senior leadership roles at Amazon and Walmart, building and scaling products in e-commerce across digital and omnichannel. He has lived on and worked in 4 continents, and now calls Canada his home.

Samantha (Sam) Taylor is the WestJet Group Executive Vice-President and Chief Experience Officer. Her portfolio oversees critical guest touchpoints, including all Marketing, Guest Experience, and Contact Centres for WestJet and Sunwing Vacations. Sam initially joined Sunwing as CMO in 2020, later becoming Chief Marketing & Digital Officer of Sunwing Vacations Group and joining WestJet’s executive team in 2023. Before this, she held executive roles such as Chief Marketing Officer at Indigo and Director of Sales and Consumer Products at Mattel.

Leanne Gibson is an accomplished leader with more than 25 years of experience in roles spanning retail, digital media, and technology. As Senior Vice President at Loblaw Advance™, she is focused on driving growth, innovation, and strategic partnerships within Canada’s evolving retail media landscape. Leanne has been recognized for her ability to navigate transformation, champion innovation, and lead with a customer-first mindset. Leanne is a passionate mental health advocate and currently serves on the board of the North York General Hospital Foundation.

Sukhmani Dev is Head of Digital and Acceptance Products, North America at Mastercard, where she leads the strategy and development of digital payment experiences that are shaping the future of commerce. She oversees innovations across tokenization, digital wallets, agentic commerce, and AI-powered payments, helping accelerate digital adoption while delivering secure, seamless experiences for businesses and consumers.

Nasim Sarir is a seasoned product design leader at Meta, where she drives design strategy for some of the company’s most widely used global products. With over a decade of experience across tech and digital innovation, Nasim is known for building and mentoring high-performing teams that balance craft, strategy, and empathy. Her work focuses on designing systems that scale while staying grounded in real human needs, bridging user insight with business impact.

Hugh Kolias is the CEO and Co-Founder of Canada Rocket Company, leading the development of Canada's sovereign space launch capabilities. He focuses on building domestically controlled, reusable medium-lift vehicles with advanced methalox engines to address critical gaps in national defense and commercial infrastructure. Leveraging his mechanical engineering background and previous success founding the SaaS platform Yuhu, Hugh excels at driving rapid growth to revitalize the Canadian aerospace industry and secure Canada's industrial resilience.

Cedric Abali is the Director of AI Products & Enablement at BMO, where he leads cross-functional AI transformation programs that evolve the organization's capabilities from foundational chatbots to advanced autonomous agents and enterprise orchestration. He focuses on architecting multi-year AI enablement strategies that align with overarching business priorities, establishing the robust governance frameworks and technology roadmaps required to accelerate AI maturity from early experimentation to fully scaled, enterprise-wide products.

Jason Field is the Founder and CEO of BrainStation, the global leader in digital and AI skills training for teams of professionals with locations in New York, London and Toronto. BrainStation works directly with industry leaders to design and deliver innovative training programs that equip professionals with the in-demand skills needed to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy and has certified over 35,000 professionals to date.

Michael Bennett is a Vice President at BrainStation, the global leader in digital and AI skills training for teams of professionals with locations in New York, London and Toronto. BrainStation works directly with industry leaders to design and deliver innovative training programs that equip professionals with the in-demand skills needed to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy and has certified over 35,000 professionals to date.