Connected Intelligence with Sonia Sennik

In this episode, we chat with Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Cameron shapes the vision and strategy of one of Canada’s premier cultural brands, responsible for presenting the world’s largest public film festival every September. 

A champion of diverse voices and bold storytelling, he’s been the guiding force in transforming TIFF into a global hub known for groundbreaking international premieres to Oscar-bound favourites.

With an eye for brilliance and a heart for storytelling, Cameron Bailey talks to us today about the evolution of technology in film, creating...

In this episode, we get Professor Janice Stein's view on key events from 2024 - from global unrest to the reshaping of politics, the intersection of emerging technology and policy, Taylor Swift (of course) and Janice’s beloved Toronto blue jays (keep listening for why!). Janice is a legendary Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. She is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Janice is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of...

What is the impact of ambiguity in the workplace?

Professors Laura and Jan Doering from University of Toronto help answer this question from their recently published research, co-authored with Professor András Tilcsik. 

Laura Doering is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and is cross-appointed in the Department of Sociology. Jan Doering is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. 

As an economic sociologist, Laura examines how interactions and social psychological processes shape outcomes for households, organizations, and markets. Jan’s research is situated in two areas: social control and confl...

How do you future proof yourself in a world of technology that is rapidly changing? Iliana Oris Valiente is an accomplished corporate executive, innovation and emerging tech pioneer, startup investor, respected board member, published author, and sought-after global public speaker. With a clear vision and unwavering determination, she is a thought leader on a mission to build a future humans want to live in. Iliana is currently the Managing Director and Innovation Lead at Accenture Canada. Iliana is widely recognized for her trailblazing contributions to the blockchain industry, having advised corporations, government leaders, regulators, and startups as a translator between...

What opportunities lie on the other side of taking risks and embracing changes in your career? Ava Yaskiel is a Senior Strategic Advisor to the public and private sectors focusing on business planning, strategy and structure. She was the G7/G20 Deputy Minister of Finance & Associate Deputy Minister of Finance for Canada until 2021. Ava has held various roles over her 30-year career as a lawyer at Norton Rose & Fulbright where she was Partner, Global Head of Corporate, M&A and Securities. Ava also spent six years at the Ontario Securities Commission holding a variety of positions in Senior Legal Counsel...

How do you revitalize a company as it bounces back from a low point? Yousry Bissada is President and Chief Executive Officer of Home Capital Group. Yousry has more than 30 years of financial services experience focused on the mortgage industry. He is a CPA, GCA and Accredited Mortgage Professional. Prior to joining Home Capital, Yousry served as President and CEO of Kanetix Ltd., an insurance and financial products digital platform. He has held many senior executive roles across the financial services and fintech industry in Canada. He was named CFO of FirstLine Trust Company in 1989, which was later acquired by...

This episode features two thought leaders – Professors Maja Djikic & Tiziana Casciaro. Maja is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Self-Development Laboratory at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Tiziana is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and the Marcel Desautels Chair in Integrative Thinking at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. This conversation is a blend of the thought leadership between Maja and Tiziana. We discuss Maja’s recently published book “The Possible Self: A Leader’s Guide to Personal Development” and integrate this with elements of “Power, for All: How it Really Wo...

How do you overcome the feeling of "being stuck" to become your possible self? Maja Djikic is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Self-Development Laboratory at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She is a psychologist specializing in the field of personality development. Her work focuses on how self changes, and means of developing a congruent and flexible self. Her work also examines the impact of self-change on relationships. She has published more than 30 articles and book chapters in the area of personality development in journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Research in Personality, Creativity...

How do you transform doubt into focus and determination? Janet speaks to us about her career journey from Procter and Gamble to Staircase Ventures, being a competitive long distance runner, and maintaining focus and determination when people say “it cannot be done!” Janet Bannister is the Founder and Managing Partner of Staircase Ventures. In 2004, Janet launched Kijiji.ca and grew it to become one of the most visited websites in Canada. Before Kijii, Janet spent four years at eBay in Silicon Valley where she helped transform eBay from a Collectibles to a mainstream marketplace. She started her career as a Bran...

How can AI enable transformation in addressing population and public health challenges? This video episode brings back our recurring segment Going Viral with Dr. Rosella because the list of things we bring to work sometimes includes viruses(!) The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how and where we work, and made us all aware of the importance of public health. So, we invite epidemiologist Laura Rosella to chat about the state of global public health. In this episode, we discuss the current state of COVID-19, Dr. Rosella's new program, AI for Public Health, and robot doctors. Professor Laura Rosella is a Canadian...

Is our future with generative AI terrifying, exciting, or fascinating? In this episode, we talk about the adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace, the opportunities to implement AI in healthcare delivery, and privacy in a world enabled by generative AI. Avi Goldfarb is the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and a professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Avi is the Chief Data Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute and the Schwartz-Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau...

This is our annual Year in Review with Professor Janice Stein where she helps us understand key global events and news stories of 2023 – from global unrest to climate change, from technological advances in artificial intelligence to the Toronto Blue Jays. Janice is a legendary Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. She is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Janice is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of On...

How can we reimagine everyday conversation for more connective personal and professional dialogue? Caitlin (Caity) Begg is the founder of Authentic Social and sociological researcher researching technology’s effect on conversation. She founded Authentic Social in 2016 after writing her undergraduate Harvard sociology honors thesis on how digital communication affects relationships and social interaction. Caity presents her sociological research around the United States and Europe at a variety of academic and industry conferences. In parallel, she is conducting ongoing independent sociological research, with a focus on technology's effect on conversation and sociotechnical systems. Within these contexts, further areas of focus include: th...

It’s been one year since the launch of chatGPT - how has regulation and policy evolved since then? And where does it need to go? Recently appointed a Schmidt Futures AI2050 Senior Fellow, Professor Gillian Hadfield is a scholar of law and economics with a focus on the intersection of legal system design and the governance of AI. She is currently spending her time in an area of urgent importance for humanity: 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 bu...

How does the CEO of a skunkworks operation built in a garage in Alberta – become a globally recognized leader in agriculture, technology and innovation? Alison Sunstrum is the CEO of Conserve X, a Canadian company developing and investing in emerging technology in agriculture, and a General Partner of The51 Food and AgTech Fund, investing in outliers transforming the business of food and agriculture. Alison is a Venture Partner and LP at Builders VC, a San Francisco/Calgary venture capital fund. Alison is a Founding Partner and Fellow in the Ag Stream of CDL-Rockies, and the Manufacturing stream at CDL-Seattle. Alison’s co...

What did it take to become the youngest woman ever to hold the role of Chief Economist at a major Canadian financial institution? Patti Croft is regarded as one of the country's most influential business leaders and financial commentators. She has 30 years of experience on Bay Street, working at Burns Fry and Wood Gundy. In 1996, Patti was named Chief Economist of TD Canada Trust. Patti has worked with Sceptre Investment Counsel, Phillips Hager & North Investment Management and was named Chief Economist of RBC Global Asset Management in late 2008. Patti has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, commenting...

Why can’t large language models make us a cup of tea? Suzanne walks us through the answer to this question to illustrate the importance of developing embodied artificial intelligence. We chat about Geordie and Suzanne’s working dynamic, how both robots and AI are essential to the factory of the future, how we might manufacture in outer space, and why it is critical to maintain hope and purpose in life. Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert are co-founders of Sanctuary AI - a company on a mission to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots. Prior to Sanctu...

How do you find signals for greatness in a noisy world with thousands of ideas? James Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta. At the firm, he focuses on investments in data-centric and machine learning-related companies. Previously, he was a Principal at Trinity Ventures where he focused on investments in consumer services specifically ecommerce, social media, and digital media. James was a Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners where he focused on advanced web technologies and investments in consumer internet services, security, and digital media sectors along with a number of seed investments. While with Boston Consulting Group, James developed...

How does one “get it done”? Brendan Calder is the former CEO, chair and president of CIBC Mortgages (1995-2000) and former chair of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation and the Toronto International Film Festival. Brendan created the award-winning MBA course, GettingltDone. Brendan is chair of Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking and the founding chair of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management at the Rotman School of Management. He is also a corporate director and continues to make major philanthropic contributions throughout his community. For his efforts spanning more than three decades, he has been awarded numerous honours and awards, incl...

We welcome singer-songwriter legend, Chantal Kreviazuk (sitting at her piano!) to the podcast. Chantal is a one-of-a-kind talent - she has recorded 9 studio albums including her debut album “Under these Rocks and Stones” in 1996 and her latest “Get To You”, released in 2020. Chantal is a prolific songwriter, collaborating with global superstars like: Drake, Pitbull, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Kendrick Lamar and Pink. Her work has been recognized through numerous awards, and the Order of Canada. Outside of music Chantal dedicates her time to War Child, Artists Against Racism, and Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba – she now lives in L...

How do you build a Canadian organization into a globally recognizable brand? Piers Handling was CEO of TIFF from 1992 - 2018. Piers is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been awarded the Order of Ontario. He was named to France’s highest cultural insignia. We talk to Piers about his vision for bringing Canadian cinema to a global audience, the similarities and differences between TIFF, Cannes, and Sundance Film Festival, his “pinch me” moments as CEO, how and when directors like Steven Spielberg have launched their films at TIFF, and the 10-year journey to build a forever home to cel...

How do we embrace failure in a fast-changing world? Harvard Business School Professor, Amy Edmondson, is ranked #1 on the latest Thinkers50 ranking of the world’s most influential management thinkers. Amy is the winner of Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award for being a “pioneer of psychological safety and author of The Fearless Organization, a ground-breaking blueprint on creating a fear-free culture.” Amy is also the winner of the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management. Named the Most Influential International Thinker in Human Resources by HR Magazine in 2019, one of Amy’s books - The Fe...

Are there common elements that make a great leader or CEO? Adam Bryant is an expert on executive leadership who has interviewed more than 1,000 leaders for the “Corner Office” series he created at The New York Times and for his four current leadership series on LinkedIn—with CEOs, CHROs, board directors, and prominent Black leaders. Adam is the author of four books on leadership, published by the Harvard Business Review Press – including “The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership,” and “The CEO Test: Master the Challenges that Make or Break All Leaders,” the book that we discuss on th...

In a world that’s changing every day, what is most important to young entrepreneurs? Karen Greve Young is the Chief Executive Officer of Futurpreneur Canada, a national organization dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39. A graduate from both Stanford and Harvard, Karen previously held finance, management and strategy roles in San Francisco, New York and London, UK, at organizations including Bain & Company, Gap Inc. and the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research. She was the Vice President, Corporate Development & Partnerships at MaRS Discovery District. Along the way, Karen co-authored a book with her mother about their shared experience thro...

How did a class clown turned award-winning comedian light up the artificial intelligence research community at the intersection of theatre and machine learning? Kory is a Senior Research Scientist with Alphabet’s DeepMind and an Associate Industry Member at Mila – the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute in Montreal, Canada. He is a Lab Scientist with Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto, where he supports massively scalable science-based startup ventures. Kory also serves as a Special Advisor to the National Research Council of Canada. We talk about the importance of self-expression, the intersection of creativity and technical rigour, how many diff...

In our world of 24/7 news cycles, where organizations are directly connected to their stakeholders, what role does governance play in a company’s overall performance? And what does good governance look like? Richard (Rick) Powers is the National Academic Director of the Governance Essentials Program and the Directors Education Program that operates at Canada’s top business schools. A recipient of numerous teaching awards, Rick’s areas of expertise include corporate governance, ethics, business and corporate law and sports marketing. He also teaches in the University of Toronto’s Rotman Executive MBA, OMNIUM, MBA and Executive Education Programs. He is a direct...

What does investment look like at the intersection of impact and VC-paced growth? Rhiannon Davies and Cathy Bennett are both the Founding and Managing Partners of Sandpiper Ventures, running one of the first venture funds in Canada investing in women-led companies at the seed stage, and among the first all-woman GP national funds in Canada. Rhiannon’s business leadership spans Europe, Asia, South and North America. She built and led the $2B revenue subsidiary of GrandVision N.V. and was COO and Board Director that expanded GrandVision into 20 new markets through multiple acquisitions and organic growth, to a successful IPO th...

Why and how are we vulnerable to a global supply shortage of semiconductors? This episode kicks off a new recurring segment: “A Global Affair with Professor Janice Stein”. In these episodes, we will dig deep on a topic that influences society as we know it today. Whether it is public policy, geopolitical issues, or the impact of technological advances. Professor Janice Stein is a Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. She is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the Univ...

How did a trained architect become a global innovator and end up building a social entrepreneurship community? A seasoned advisor, mentor and an expert in healthcare, digital health and women’s healthcare, Eve builds and invests in ventures that transform how we define, access and interact with care. As Co-Founder of Future Family, the world’s first fertility company to bring together financing, technology and concierge care in a digital platform, Eve shaped the startup’s vision for the future of affordable, accessible, and comprehensive fertility care. She was at the helm of strategy, partnerships and operations as the startup scaled...

How does your individual leadership style change as you evolve as a person? Maja Djikic is an Associate Professor and the Director of Self-Development Laboratory at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She is a psychologist specializing in the field of personality development. Her work focuses on how self changes, and means of developing a congruent and flexible self. Her work also examines the impact of self-change on relationships. She has published more than 30 articles and book chapters in the area of personality development in journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Research in Personality, Creativity Research Journal...

Dr. Richard Norman is a researcher, lecturer, and futurist who works with people to affect change towards a more socially just, sustainable, and resilient future. His work is focused on the lived experiences of peoples who have been marginalized in our society via the “Sport, Diversity, & Race Project” for the Future of Sport Lab (FSL) in the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University. Richard’s research is committed to approaches that can open up dialogue and discourses towards a more humane and morally driven worldview.

We talk to Minister Navdeep Bains about his family - his wife and two daughters, how to know when to step away from a job you love, and his approach to being a role model. The Honourable Navdeep Bains is the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Rogers Communications, and most recently was the Vice-Chair of Global Investment Banking for CIBC where he was responsible for strengthening all Capital Markets and Commercial Banking with a particular focus on Innovation, Sustainability, and Industrial sectors. He was one of the longest-serving federal Ministers of Innovation, Science and Industry, where he introduced the most...

This episode brings back our recurring segment because the list of things we bring to work sometimes includes viruses(!) The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how and where we work, and made us all aware of the importance of public health. So, we invite epidemiologist Laura Rosella to chat about the state of global public health. In this episode, we go back in time to explore the insights learned from 2003 SARS outbreak, 2011 H1N1 outbreak, and how these lessons informed our response to COVID-19. Professor Laura Rosella is a Canadian epidemiologist and Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public...

Phil is currently an Expert, Sustainability at McKinsey & Company where he helps solve industry’s hardest decarbonization problems. Phil was the youngest-ever Director at the National Research Council of Canada where he built and led a $57M collaborative research program on Canada-made transformative technologies to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. He is a Governor General Gold Medal-winning scientist, a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is an entrepreneur and innovator having raised $2M in non-dilutive funding as a carbontech co-founder, Carbon XPRIZE Finalist (1 of...

Emily Scarratt is Vice Captain of the Red Roses, and may be most known as the player who secured England’s 2014 World Cup win with six minutes left in the final match. Emily was the top point-scorer at the 2014 World Cup; and helped lead England to finals in the 2017 and 2022 World Cups. She captained Team Great Britain at the Rio Olympics, won a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and represented England at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Emily returned to the 15-a-side game in January 2019, joining the Loughborough Lightning and turning professional when the Rugby Football Union broke new gr...

Kristjan Vassil is the Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Tartu and an Associate Professor in Technology Studies. Kristjan has a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, and his research group focuses on qualitative assessment of the impact of IT, analysis of Big Data in e-Government and prototyping of predictive digital services. He has studied the relationship between voting advice application and political behavior, particularly voting preferences, and went on to write a book on behavioral effects of internet voting. Kristjan holds the role of Director of the Board of Tartu University Clinic (a...

Mary-Kay Messier is Vice President, Global Marketing at Bauer Hockey, the company that developed the first skate with a blade attached to a boot, forever changing the game of hockey. Mary-Kay is a committed advocate for the game with the goal of making it more accessible, inclusive, diverse and focused on fun. Under Mary-Kay's leadership, her team created the internationally successful First Shift program. Through partnership with the NHL, NHLPA, and Hockey Canada, First Shift has welcomed over 30,000 new families to hockey. For the women's game, Mary-Kay is focused on advancing equity for the best women players in the world...

Erin McLeod is a professional athlete, playing soccer for top teams around the world with an incredible 2-decade career as a goalkeeper for the Canadian Women’s National Team. She was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019, as Erin has represented Canada at three Olympic Games. She competed in the 2008 Beijing Games and won a bronze medal in London in 2012. In 2021 at her third Olympic Games, Erin won a gold medal for Canada in Tokyo, knocking off FIFA's number 1, 5, and 7 ranked teams en route to the podium. Prior to this, McLeod was in net when the upstart Ca...

After a distinguished career as a test pilot, Hadfield became an astronaut in 1992. Over the course of his career, he achieved a series of Canadian firsts: he was the first Canadian to be a space mission specialist, to operate the Canadarm in orbit, to do a spacewalk and to command the International Space Station. He was also the first to record a music video in space — a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” — viewed by 100s of millions of earthlings. Hadfield retired from the Canadian Astronaut Corps in July 2013. Colonel Hadfield is an advisor to SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, Board Chai...

Jeff is the Assistant VP of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Site Lead for Creative Destruction Lab – Atlantic. Prior to his role at Dalhousie, he practiced law in Halifax at McInnes Cooper, and in Toronto with both Fasken Martineau and CIBC. He taught law at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and the University of Malawi. He has also held senior positions in the investment sector as VP and General Counsel of Halifax-based Clarke Inc. and as Executive Director of Business Management and Chief Compliance Officer with CIBC...