Speakers

H.E. Signe Burgstaller

Ambassador of Sweden to Canada

 H.E. Jason LaTorre

Ambassador of Canada to Sweden

hon. vic fedeli

Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade

The Honourable Victor Fedeli is a lifelong entrepreneur, serving the Ford government as Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

His business experience led his firm Fedeli Corporation to be ranked in the Top 50 Best Places to Work in Canada in 1989. It also served him well when elected to two terms as Mayor of North Bay, restoring hope and restoring solvency.

In 2011, Vic was elected to the Ontario Legislature and is now serving his fourth term as MPP for Nipissing.

He is married to local humour writer Patty and is always seen in one of his trademark yellow ties.

Jan Larsson

Chief Executive Officer

Jan Larsson commenced his tenure as CEO of Business Sweden in May 2021.

With over 30 years’ experience in private business, politics and government, Jan has struck a unique balance of understanding the needs and challenges of the commercial world as well as establishing deep insights into the political and democratic realities and possibilities.

Most recently, Jan Larsson has held pivotal roles in high profile private sector companies including as Head of Group Communications and Sustainability at Handelsbanken, CEO of a vocational education and training company YrkesAkademin ), Consultant at McKinsey & Co and Brunswick Group, and Chief Communications Officer at Nordea.

In government and politics, Jan Larsson has deep and extensive experience from roles including State Secretary, Chief Campaign Manager for the Social Democratic Party, and prominent positions supporting a former Swedish Prime Minister.

Rhonda Barnet

Chief Executive Officer

Rhonda Barnet has over three decades of experience as a female trailblazer, achieving great heights in male-dominated industries and institutions. A STEM graduate in mathematics, she is a successful executive, entrepreneur, and director, as well as a key voice in Canada, and around the world, on industrial policy, skills of the future, and diversity. As a champion for building the skilled labour force of the future, Barnet was recently appointed CEO of Palette Skills, a national nonprofit focused on meeting the needs of Canada’s most innovative companies by upskilling workers from diverse backgrounds to transition into new industries. Barnet has held various positions in her manufacturing company, AVIT Manufacturing (formerly Steelworks Design Inc.), including VP Finance, President & COO, and Chair of the Advisory Board. She has grown this company into a global automation company offering custom solutions to the largest manufacturers in the world.

Barnet was the first woman in history to chair the National Board of Canada’s oldest, largest trade association, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME). Barnet is the founder of Canada’s Women in Manufacturing Initiative, led by CME and funded, in part, by the federal government’s Ministry of Women and Gender Equality. Most notably, she led a campaign to add 100,000 new jobs for women in Canada to the manufacturing sector. Barnet is a member of the Government of Canada’s Industry Strategy Council, and was the voice of manufacturing, diversity and skills in the final strategy set to position Canada for growth in key sectors. Barnet is a sought-after Canadian advocate for the advanced manufacturing sector and is an international spokeswoman on diversity, women in manufacturing, innovation, skills, and the future workforce. Rhonda believes in the value of mentorship and upholds the philosophy “If you can see me, you can be me.”

Johan Stare

Professor, Production Systems

Johan is a Professor, innovation manager, and community-builder in the field of production & manufacturing. He is proud to head a division of truly amazing people focused on Production Systems, at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden.

Johan is a co-director of the Swedish Strategic Innovation Programme, Produktion2030, which funds national production innovation, research, education, and upskilling.

During his career, Johan has had strategic and operational roles in the building of several large innovation ecosystems, nationally and internationally. He is deeply involved in the European manufacturing research agenda and has the honour to contribute to initiatives at the World Economic Forum.

Claudia krywiak

Chief Executive Officer & President

Dr. Claudia Krywiak is President and CEO at Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), a not-for-profit organization that works with industry, government, and academia to accelerate the commercialization and adoption of new technologies. Since joining OCI in 2011, Dr. Krywiak has championed innovation as a key driver of competitiveness, productivity, and economic growth. She has led the development and deployment of large-scale strategic initiatives that brought together multiple levels of government, post-secondary institutions, anchor firms, and start-ups to fuel growth in emerging technology areas, including artificial intelligence, autonomous and electric vehicles, 5G and next generation networks, cybersecurity, and clean technologies. 

Prior to joining OCI, Dr. Krywiak held the position of Vice President, Business Development at Mitacs, a national research organization that funds research and training programs. Dr. Krywiak started her career at Bruker Corporation, a world-leading manufacturer of scientific instruments for molecular research and industrial analysis. Dr. Krywiak serves on the Boards of Directors for IBI Group and Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre. 

She received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto

Stephanie Holko

Director of Project Development

Stephanie has 17 years of experience leading teams and projects in the Steel Industry.  She loves connecting emerging technologies with existing manufacturing problems and believes the future of manufacturing is in the adoption of new ways of working. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Applied Science – Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and a Master of Business Administration specializing in the Management of Innovation and New Technology from McMaster University. 

Outside of work, Stephanie serves on multiple boards for organizations that promote skilled trades and industry, and she mentors youth to see options in their career paths.  

 Pierre Cormier

VP, Forestry & Woodland Operations - Quebec

Pierre Cormier has dedicated his career to the sustainable management of Canada's forests. In his role as VP Forestry and Woodland Operations for Quebec-Ontario, he oversees the supply chain for 13 sawmills, managing an impressive volume of 2.4 billion board feet.

Mr. Cormier obtained his F. Eng. diploma from Laval University in 1988 and began his professional career as a Woodland Supervisor for REED Paper Ltd in Forestville. Over the years, he took on increasingly influential roles, from planning and supervision at Donohue to managerial positions at Boisaco, Produits Forestiers Alliance, Abitibi-Bowater, and finally, Resolute Forest Products in 2014.

Pierre is involved at the national level with FP Innovations as Chairman of the collaborative research program in Forest Operations.

Chris Walton

Chief Executive Officer

Chris Walton is the CEO for the Centre for Research & Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE); Chris is a management professional with over 20 years of experience specializing in government relations, strategic planning, sustainability planning & project development, with a focus in the forest products & bio-economy sectors.

Prior to joining CRIBE, Chris was the President & Principal Consultant for a Thunder Bay based boutique management consulting company that specialized strategic planning, government relations & organizational planning and prior to that he was responsible for the environment and energy portfolio for a large integrated pulp & paper facility.

Sachin Jari

General Manager Mining North America

Sachin Jari has served as the General Manager, Mining North America for ABB Process Industries since 2020. He leads the company’s efforts in harnessing the knowledge and creativity of great minds to help customers achieve great mines that are safe, sustainable, and productive.

He joined ABB in 2000 as a Project Manager and held several positions of added responsibility including customer success management as well as business unit General Manager with P&L oversight.

Prior to joining ABB, a strong foundation of influence based decision-making skills were built during seven years as a project and construction engineer in an EPCs environment. This has led to a growth focussed versatile leader with 30 years of success in business P&L management, sales & marketing, customer service, operations, project management & detailed engineering.

Shawn Samuels

Business Line Manager/Acting Global Business Manager, Electrification Solutions Canada

Shawn Samuels has been a valued member of Epiroc Canada’s Parts & Service Division for over 15 years. Starting his career as a Service Shop Manager, Shawn eventually moved into a Product Sales Manager Contracts role and then transitioned to Service Operations Manager.

As electrification and battery technology continues to advance, Shawn utilizes his knowledge and experience to support customers as they transform their operations to zero emissions. In his previous position as Product Manager Rocvolt Canada, Shawn played an important role in developing Epiroc’s BEV portfolio and supporting battery electric implementation on site. With his impressive resume, Shawn was selected to become Business Line Manager, Rocvolt Canada and eventually transitioned into his current role as Business Line Manager Epiroc Electrification Solutions Canada, Acting Global Business Manager Epiroc Electrification Solutions.

With Shawn in this leadership role, Epiroc in Canada, and globally, has celebrated numerous milestones in battery technology and service deals that ultimately benefit productivity for customers.

Nicholas numainville

President and General Manager

Nicholas joined Atlas Copco Compressors Canada in 2005 as a Contract & Project Engineer. In 2008, he became the Engineering Supervisor. Then in 2009, Nicholas began his journey in the Operations department where he was employed as Service Operations Manager. Not long after, Nicholas was promoted to National Service Operations Manager in 2011. With his strong experience in service, he then became Business Line Manager – CTS Sales & Marketing in 2016. In 2020, Nicholas started as Business Line Manager – CTS. He then started in 2022 as President and General Manager which is the position he currently holds.

Cecilia Warrol

Programme Director

Extensive experience of innovation and collaboration projects, including systemic changes in education, up-skilling and dissemination in Sweden and in Europe.

More than 20 years of experience developing industry R&D policy, industry R&D funding tools, as well as developing industry relevant test and demonstration facilities. Extensive experience building networks and collaboration's with industry, research institutes and academies in Sweden and internationally, including prior Chair of EIT Manufacturing (2020 – 2023)

Peter Kurzwelly

Head of Operations - Canada

Peter Kurzwelly is a serial entrepreneur and business developer with 10+ years of experience working with startups and tech companies. He believes that the AI toolbox can help people and organizations solve some of our biggest challenges as long as we learn to use the toolbox and scale the solutions. He is currently responsible for AI Sweden's presence in Canada and helping Swedish organizations understand how they can create value with the AI toolbox.

Lawrence Hooey

Program Manager

Susanne GYLESJÖ

Internationalization Manager

Robin Kaushik

VP, Cloud & Enterprise

Sarit Tamir

Founder & CEO

Sarit is an experienced CEO and business development executive with a strong focus on innovation. Skilled in navigating startup landscapes and leveraging AI technology. Sarit excels at transforming ideas into executed solutions that deliver high impact. With a proven track record of leading successful, high-ROI projects, her strengths lie in team building, strategic development, and creating long-term value.

Sarit is passionate about using AI to enhance safety in high-risk industries, ensuring technology fosters both human protection and business growth.

Lamin Faye

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Lamin, CEO of Buddywise, has served in various roles across Europe such as VP of Safety and Director of Digitalization at Swedish energy giant, Vattenfall. In 2018, Lamin studied computer vision at Singularity University and was captivated by advances in the field made possible by breakthroughs in deep learning.

Lamin believed computer vision, applied to workplace safety, could dramatically improve safety and productivity by taking safety monitoring beyond the era of paper and pens. At the time, no service used computer vision solely to improve and automate workplace safety monitoring.

Markus Drugge

Chief Executive Officer 

Markus, the visionary and strategist. Our CEO has a background in Industrial economics and engineering and as a forest owner.

Axel Bogos

Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder

Computer vision researcher at Mila.  5+ years innovating AI solutions

Gry Lenschow ANdersen

Project Manager

I have a background as an industrial design engineer with focus on leading development projects in the manufacturing industry. Today I am a project manager at Paper Province and have the opportunity to lead and participate in several interesting innovation projects which all have the circular forest bioeconomy in focus. Imagine to have the privilege to call that my daily job!

Victor isaksen

Managing Director

Victor Isaksen is the CEO of Sting Bioeconomy, a leading Swedish business accelerator focused on supporting and developing startups in the bioeconomy sector. With a strong background in sustainability and innovation and 25 years in the startup world as a founder and investor, Victor leads eGorts to drive forward new solutions that promote a circular and bio-based economy. His passion for creating business opportunities that are both profitable and environmentally friendly has made him a key player in the green transition.

Williams Munoz Toro

Development, Science & Funding

Williams Munoz Toro has Engineering and Master degrees in Timber Manufacturing, a Ph.D. in Wood Sciences and an MBA. 

His career started at the Wood Engineering Department of the Bío-Bío University of Chile, in 1998, where he worked as a project engineer for over 4 years. In 2007, after finishing his Ph.D., he started as a research scientist of the Advanced Building System group at FPInnovations, in Canada, where he was also involved in strategic partnerships and business development. Since 2013, Williams works for Chantiers Chibougamau, coordinating initiatives of strategic watch, funding, investment, and development projects.

ANdrew Bauder

Industrial Technology Advisor

Fredrik GÖTHE

Programme Manager - International Cooperation

GeneviÈve Latour 

VP, Communications and Member Services

Geneviève Latour is Vice-President, Communications and Member Services at Propulsion Québec, the electric and intelligent transportation cluster. She supports Propulsion Québec's ambitious roadmap through communications strategies and the deployment of events and trade missions aimed at accelerating vehicle electrification, supporting companies in the transition to ESTs and greening Québec's economy. Previously, she was General Manager, Communications and Communities at Rio Tinto, a world leader in mining and metals. She has over 20 years' experience in public affairs, corporate communications, strategic partnerships and social responsibility. She has also held positions at Canada Post, Dairy Farmers of Canada and Sherbrooke University. Geneviève is passionate about long-term social and economic development in Québec and abroad. She holds a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's in education.