Speakers

Elatia Abate

We live in an age of tremendous change and unbelievable opportunity. The future is ours to create. Are you ready? Elatia Abate, the founder of The Future of Now, is an entrepreneur on a mission to revolutionize the practice of leadership and empower humanity in the age of AI. Named a Forbes leading female futurist, Abate is a globally recognized expert on the future of work and strategy, helping organizations design new ways to scale and create growth — even in the face of uncertainty.

Currently the Futurist-in-Residence for Paylocity, Abate was previously the Global Director, Talent Acquisition with Anheuser-Busch InBev and Vice President of Human Resources at Dow Jones & Company. Today, through her consulting firm, The Future of Now, she works with a range of organizations — from startups to Fortune 500s — helping them manage disruption by turning strategic, future-focused solutions into manageable, executable systems.

Abate’s “Future-Led Leadership” learning and development content has helped organizations such as Verizon, UniGroup, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Grupo Globo, CME Group, Arcus Power, GMAC (Graduate Management Admissions Council), and The College of William and Mary Raymond A. Mason School of Business. She has been featured in Fast Company, Esquire, Chief, Forbes, Exame, and La Voz, as well as in work with Trevor Noah and Tony Robbins.

The author of the career design book, Build a Career You Love, Abate is a sought-after keynote speaker on the future of work, leadership, and resilience. She has a TEDx talk titled, “Pioneering the Future of Work” and has shared her messages with such clients as Citi, NY Life, VRBO, Deloitte, Honeywell, Belcorp, and SHRM, among many others. In 2020, Abate was the only woman to contribute to the Tony Robbins Business Resiliency Expert series.

Abate earned a BA and MBA from the University of Chicago. She is an instructor for LinkedIn Learning, in the Continuing Studies Department of Stanford University, and the Executive Education Department of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

John Baker

John Baker founded D2L in 1999, at the age of 22, while a student at the University of Waterloo. He envisioned D2L as a global software company dedicated to changing the way the world learns.

John is a strong believer in community involvement and devotes both his personal and business efforts to supporting young entrepreneurs who are developing and applying technology to improve society worldwide. He was appointed to the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is also a member (Entrepreneurs’ Circle) of the Business Council of Canada and the Business Higher Education Roundtable, is past chair of the board of Communitech, and is a board member of Canada’s National Ballet School. John has been awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Ontario for Software and Technology), the Young Alumni Achievement Medal from the University of Waterloo, and the Intrepid Entrepreneur of the Year in the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

John graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honors B.A.Sc. in systems design engineering, with First Class Honors and an option in management sciences.

Allison Sinclair

Allison Sinclair is a Customer Advocacy Manager at D2L. Allison began her career as an educator in an intermediate classroom, and has a Masters of Teaching with a specialty in Science. A passion for technology pulled Allison into ed-tech seven years ago with experience in customer success, onboarding and training, and customer advocacy. Joining D2L in 2021, Allison supports D2L Champions and enjoys sharing their stories of success.

Anita Joshi

Anita Joshi is an Instructional Designer on the Learning Services team at D2L. She loves working with her clients to thoughtfully design and build accessible and engaging content in Brightspace. Anita has a wealth of knowledge and experience in Ed-Tech, with over 15 years experience working in Customer Success, Account Management, Sales, and Training. She’s also spent time in the classroom as an elementary teacher and ran her own successful preschool before joining D2L in 2020. Anita is passionate about how technology in education can truly transform the way the world learns.

Barry Dahl

Barry Dahl is the Teaching & Learning Advocate at D2L.

Prior to D2L, Barry served as the Vice President of Technology and Lake Superior Connect e-Campus at Lake Superior College in Duluth, MN, where he was the senior administrator in charge of online learning. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Instructional Technology Council that concentrates on providing useful services to member schools. He has a total of 27 years of work experience within higher education, and also milked his college student career for as long as he possibly could.

Stephen Laster

At D2L, Stephen leads D2L’s strategy, product, services, sales, and marketing teams, working alongside Founder and CEO John Baker. He is focused on delivering world-class product and customer experiences that enable D2L’s customers to reimagine learning.

Stephen has over 25 years of leadership experience in digital transformation, product development and technology enablement. Before joining D2L, Stephen was the Chief Product Officer of Ellucian, the market-leading student information system provider for global higher education. Prior to Ellucian, Stephen held critical roles including Chief Product Officer for Penn Foster, Chief Digital Officer for McGraw Hill Education, and Chief Information Officer for the Harvard Business School. He also served as a Trustee, member of the faculty, and head of innovation for Babson College. Previously, Stephen founded and ran Intelligent Solutions, LLC, a higher education technology consulting firm. Stephen has been a board member of IMS Global, Microsoft Higher Education Advisory Board, The Online Learning Consortium, and FineTune Learning.

Stephen holds a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his wife Debi and their two children.

Jack Pinette

Ben Campbell

Craig Fearon

Cristi Ford

Erika Finchen

Kathleen Murphy

Lindsay Shipman

Surekha Rao