Missed the event? Watch the videos from the Summit
Keynote presentation – sharing the report findings
Panel Discussion and Q&A with Diversity and Inclusion Leaders
Fireside Chat – the Five Ws of Workplace Inclusion
Guest speakers and panelists
Rola Dagher
Global Channel Chief, Dell Technologies
Leadership is not simply a role that you fill; it is an action that you take each day. It is this philosophy that guides Dell Technologies’ Global Channel Chief, Rola Dagher. Over her career of more than two decades, Dagher has worked with some of the brightest minds in the technology industry while honing her natural leadership style.
Dagher returns to Dell Technologies after leading as President of Cisco Canada for three years. Prior to this, she held various sales leadership roles at Dell and Bell Canada. While Dagher is a proven sales and channel champion, she will be the first to say that her success is a direct reflection of the dedication and drive of the entire sales organization.
Dagher believes in diversity of thought and has made it her mission to empower, support, and foster diverse talent. Her commitment to empowering women is shown through her recognition as one of the 2020 Top 25 Women of Influence™, by WXN as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100™, and by Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) as the 2019 Woman of the Year. She was selected as one of RBC’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrant winners for 2019, was named the “Lady of the Cedar” by the Lebanese Embassy, and received a 2018 Leadership Award from the Lebanese Chamber Business of Commerce.
In addition to her role at Dell Technologies, Dagher sits on the board of Cedars Cancer Foundation and is an advocate for pediatric and young adult cancer patients. She is a co-founder of the BlackNorth Initiative, an active member of the 30% Club, and sits on the Circle of Champions for the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, promoting growth through diversity in the workplace. A champion of mental health, Dagher sits on the foundation board for the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health. She also sits on the advisory board for Catalyst, where she supports their work to accelerate progress for women in the workplace and is a member of the Kids Help Phone board.
As an active member of the Business Council of Canada and a member of the U.S.-Canada Innovation Partnership, Dagher helps shape policy around the workforce of the future and promotes the adoption and acceleration of emerging technologies, innovation, and research.
Yet, through all of her accomplishments, Dagher firmly believes that no one achieves greatness in a silo. She believes that you have to “learn it, earn it, and return it,” and this process is one that she continues to work through at every stage of her career.
Mary Lou Maher
Head of Global Inclusion & Diversity, KPMG International and Managing Partner, Quality and Risk Management, KPMG in Canada
A FCPA, FCA, Mary Lou Maher is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario’s and became a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2009. Mary Lou has been chief human resources officer for KPMG Canada and Partner in Charge of GTA audit practice. She served a seven-year term as chief financial officer of KPMG Canada and also took on the duties of chief inclusion officer. She was appointed the Canadian managing partner for quality and risk management in January 2018, in addition to her role as global head of inclusion and diversity. She also created KPMG Canada’s National Diversity Council and is the executive sponsor of pride@kpmg.
In 2005, Mary Lou was named a Trail Blazer for Women Chartered Accountants and inducted into the Hall of Fame for the WXN Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada. She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Standing Proud, a business networking organization of LGBT professionals, and the Senior Leadership Award for Diversity from the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. In 2019, she was the honoured recipient of the 2019 Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award.
Gopal Bansal
Vice President, Diversity & Inclusion, Royal Bank of Canada
Gopal Bansal is Vice President, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) at RBC, responsible for D&I strategies and programs that drive impact on talent, clients and the community.
Previously, Gopal was Senior Director, Communications, Employee, HR and CAO, supporting both RBC’s CHRO and CAO, leading the teams responsible for internal and external strategic communications for the HR and CAO functions, as well as employee communications across RBC. During his time in that role, Gopal took a lead role in updating RBC’s D&I storytelling approach, differentiating RBC’s voice and position in the market, and helped bring RBC’s Speak Up for Inclusion video series to life.
Joining RBC in 2014 as Director, Communications for Caribbean Banking, Gopal also supported RBC Insurance as Director, Communications. In both of these roles Gopal worked closely with senior executives to develop and execute strategic communications to support the businesses and drive employee engagement through periods of significant transformation and change. This included working closely with media and other key external stakeholders, and managing reputational risk issues.
Prior to joining RBC, Gopal held a variety of roles in corporate communications, marketing and public affairs, bringing a strategic view to help solve complex business challenges. Gopal is a member of the US Conference Board Council of Global Diversity and Inclusion Executives, the Women Executive Network (WXN) Diversity Council, and Ascend Canada’s Chief Inclusion Officer Forum.
Gopal holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from York University. He and his wife live in Brampton with their three children.
Lisa Khoo
Diversity and Inclusion Trainer, CBC Learning and Development
Lisa Khoo is an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion specialist currently leading the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s training programs on Inclusive Newsrooms and Unconscious Bias, which she created in 2017. She consults on EDI issues in the nonprofit and post-secondary education sectors, including in journalism. Since 2018 Lisa has served as Chair of the Board of Regents at Victoria University, U of T. She is Senior Producer of The World This Weekend at CBC National News. Her series, “Mixed Blessings,” on her British-Chinese-Canadian heritage, aired CBC Radio’s The Current. Lisa obtained her MS from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and BA from the University of Toronto.
Karen Sihra joined CPPIB in 2018 as a Director to lead the enterprise-wide Inclusion and Diversity efforts. Prior to this appointment, she held several progressively senior business roles at a large bank with her final appointment leading its Women in Leadership and Business specific inclusion and diversity efforts. Karen has a PhD from the University of Toronto where she focused on the underlying barriers of and solutions to the inclusion of difference. She has taught university-level courses and seminars on related subjects including “Diversity Matters” and “Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability”. She has also published work in international books and journals on topics of democracy and social change. Her passion also manifests in her active involvement in community volunteering with a focus on enhancing opportunities for others.
TRIEC Presenters
Adwoa K. Buahene
CEO, Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)
Adwoa K. Buahene has spent the last 20 years in leadership positions, focusing on organizational and departmental strategy as well as revenue generation. Her interest in TRIEC and her desire to be a part of its mission is grounded in her own family’s experience, as her father is an internationally-educated physician. She believes it’s important to create understanding of the challenges immigrants face in making the transition to their professions in Canada, as these impact the individual newcomer professional, as well as the partner and the children who are witness to the struggle.
Buahene co-founded and managed for 12 years a boutique leadership consulting and training company that worked with private sector and not-for-profit organizations, as well as all levels of government. Most recently, she served as Vice President, Donor and Community Partnerships at Habitat for Humanity GTA. Her prior roles in business development and operations allowed her to work in Munich, Toronto, Paris, Bucharest, and Mumbai. She holds a Master of Arts in Analytic Philosophy from Dalhousie University.
An avid volunteer since she was 12 years old, Adwoa just joined the board of The Philanthropic Foundations of Canada. Past experiences include 12 years of volunteering with United Way Greater Toronto as a community allocations panel chair and member of the management advisory group, in addition to years with VHA Home Healthcare, culminating as board chair.
Dr. Catherine Chandler-Crichlow
Executive Director, Career Management & Corporate Recruiting, Ivey Business School, Western University; Chair, TRIEC Board of Directors
Dr. Catherine Chandler-Crichlow is the Executive Director for Career Management and Corporate Recruiting at the Ivey Business School – Western University. Prior to this role, she was President & Chief Human Capital Officer of Toronto-based staffing company 3C Workforce Solutions where she assisted clients with performance and training programs, conducted workforce research, and mentored young entrepreneurs and job seekers.
Dr. Crichlow has extensive experience in human capital research and development and her projects have spanned private, public, and voluntary institutions in Canada, Central Europe, Latin America, South-East Asia, and the Caribbean.
An active volunteer and immigration champion, Dr. Crichlow was on the panel that led to Ontario’s first-ever immigration strategy in 2012. She has served in an advisory capacity as a member of the External Advisory Committee on Inclusion and Diversity – Secretary of Cabinet (Ontario Public Service). Among others, she is a board member for the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) for the Ontario Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, is Board Chair for the Toronto Region Immigration Employment Council (TRIEC) and Co-Founder and Chair of the African and Caribbean Board of Industry and Trade.
She has a PhD in education from the University of Toronto, a Master of Education degree from Harvard University, and both a Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Science degree from University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr. Yilmaz Ergun Dinc
Manager, Research and Evaluation, Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)
Dr. Yilmaz E. Dinc is the research and evaluation manager at TRIEC. He specialises in research and cross-country project management with a focus on immigration and international development, including workforce participation of underrepresented groups and immigrant inclusion. Before immigrating to Canada, he was a program analyst at United Nations Development Program’s global private sector hub in Istanbul, Turkey.
Yilmaz holds an MSc degree in global politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and earned his PhD in strategic management from Yeditepe University in Turkey, with his research on flexible working arrangements and job re-design.
Embracing Immigrant Talent: Perspectives and Practices of Toronto Region Employers
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Hidden Talent: Unlocking the Employment Potential of Newcomer Youth in the Toronto Region
Download the Full Consolidated Report
Download the report “Hidden Talent: Unlocking the Employment Potential of Newcomer Youth in the Toronto Region”
Canadian workplaces are diverse, reflecting our diverse population.
This is a good thing! Diverse organizations are more innovative and productive – but to be productive, workplaces also need to be inclusive. Diverse teams need environments where everyone feels that they belong and that they can contribute.
How exactly do you create an inclusive workplace? The TRIEC Inclusive Workplace Competencies can answer this question. They provide a framework to help you and your colleagues build organization that works for everyone.
The competencies are based on research and consultations with a range of experts. But what do we mean by competencies, and why should your organization use them?
Competencies describe the knowledge, skills, and behavior that you need to perform effectively at work. Nowadays, being great at your job is about more than just getting through a list of tasks – it’s about being able to demonstrate key behaviors in different situations. Creating an inclusive organization is everyone’s job and goes way beyond what an individual employee does. So competencies are also about how teams work together and the organization’s culture.
There are 15 competencies, divided into three areas: myself, my team and my organization. You can add them to your existing competencies and customize and adapt them to meet the needs of your workplace. For example, if innovation is a priority for your organization, you can set the competency “collaborate in diverse teams to foster productive outcomes” at a high level for all of its employees.
One of the great things about these competencies is that you can use them in many different ways. You can use them to write job descriptions, in recruitment, to design training, to review organizational policies and processes, and much more. To find out more about how the competencies work and try them out for yourself, visit triec.ca/competencies.
