Speakers

Hockey legend Brian Burke is a dynamic figure in both the worlds of business and sport. He has
held leadership positions in several NHL organizations including the Pittsburgh Penguins,
Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vancouver Canucks, as well as the
United States Olympic national hockey team. Having led teams to both a Stanley Cup and
Olympic silver medal, Burke is a sought-after speaker on leadership, business management and
growth, and, of course, his prolific career in professional sports.
Burke’s hockey career began in 1987 with the Vancouver Canucks as their NHL player agent and
director of hockey operations. He was credited with reviving the franchise as the team won a
playoff series and captured a division title during his tenure. From 2005-2007, Burke was the
general manager for the Anaheim Ducks, who, under his leadership won the 2007 Stanley Cup
championship. Following this, Burke became the president and general manager of the Toronto
Maple Leafs before later serving as the president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames
and Pittsburgh Penguins.
In 2010, Burke joined the United States Olympic national team as general manager for the
Vancouver Games. He returned for the 2014 Games in Sochi as the director of player
development. In recognition of his prolific career, Burke was inducted into the US Hockey Hall
of Fame in 2023. Today, Burke is the inaugural Executive Director of the newly formed
Professional Women’s Hockey League Association.
Away from the rink, Burke is well known for his work within the community. He is a vocal
activist against homophobia in sports, a strong supporter of first response personnel and
military service members, an environmentalist, and a humanitarian. Since his son Patrick
founded the “You Can Play” project in support of his brother Brendan, Burke has been very
vocal about the importance of LGBTQ2+ inclusion in the NHL. He was honoured with a Spirit of
Courage Award in 2012 from the Courage Campaign Institute for his work.
Burke is also an avid supporter of many philanthropic organizations, including Ducks Unlimited
Canada, The Canadian Safe School Network (CSSN), Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, Special
Olympics Cops, and Computers Merry-Go-Round Children’s Foundation. In May 2011, he was
presented with the Easter Seals Toronto’s Tribute award for lending support to kids with
physical disabilities and for excellence in business and community service.

Sharon Gai is an expert in AI and innovation. She helps organizations become agile disruptors in their industries so they can increase revenue and retain users. In her tenure at Alibaba, she advised brands and heads of state in crafting their digital strategy with programmatic marketing and AI. She has worked with TEDx, Singularity University, UBS, Deloitte, Walmart, LVMH, Nestle, Tetra Pak, Twilio and many others. She is in the AAE list of Top Keynote Speakers in 2023. She is a RETHINK Retail’s Top Retail Expert and a LinkedIn Community Top Voice in 2024. She has appeared on Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC, CBC, CCTV, TechCrunch, Retail Asia, Wired, and The Next Web. She is the author of the book, Ecommerce Reimagined. Sharon has an Honors Bachelor’s degree in International Development from McGill and a Masters in Information Management from Columbia University. When she is not globetrotting (thank you, speaking gigs!), she is jamming on the keyboards or chatting up cool entrepreneurs for Alibaba’s podcast, B2B Breakthrough. 

Dr. Ira Kalish is the Chief Global Economist of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. He is a specialist in global economic issues as well as the effects of economic, demographic, and social trends on the global business environment. He has written about the economies of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Mexico and South America, and has also written extensively on global consumer markets. He is the principal author and editor of Deloitte’s Weekly Global Economic Update. ​

Dr. Kalish provides thought leadership and perspectives on economic issues, including their expected impact on business operations and trends, to Deloitte clients as well as Deloitte leadership. He has given numerous presentations to corporations and trade organizations on topics related to the global economy. Dr. Kalish also serves on the Business at OECD Economic Policy Committee which advises the OECD on macroeconomic policy issues. In addition, he serves on the World Economic Forum’s Community of Chief Economists. He is widely traveled and has given presentations in 47 countries on six continents. ​

Dr. Kalish has been widely quoted in the news media; his remarks have been published by the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post. He has appeared on CNN, CBS News, CNBC, PBS and BBC World Service.​

Prior to his work at Deloitte, Dr. Kalish was chief economist at Retail Forward, a director at PwC, vice president at Bankers Trust, corporate economist at the Eastman Kodak Company, and researcher at the Institute for International Economics.​

​Dr. Kalish holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Vassar College and a PhD in international economics from Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and has two adult children.

Alain Sawaya is a Partner and the National Leader for KPMG in Canada’s Supply Chain and Procurement services. Alain has cumulated more than 25 years of experience in Executive roles in Commercial Supply Chain and Operations Management covering Demand, Inventory, and Supply Planning. His broad international experience in industry and consulting in the Retail industry, Life Sciences, Food and Beverage, Spirits and Wine, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Industrial has allowed him to head strategic business transformation initiatives at more than one hundred major companies worldwide. Before joining KPMG, Alain held senior positions at a major Home Improvement Retailer, where he was Vice-President, Merchandising and Supply Chain Services.

Alain helps KPMG clients increase profitability, reduce costs, and increase efficiency within strategic and operational end-to-end merchandising, commercial supply chain, and consumer analytics initiatives. More specifically, Alain has led major initiatives providing added value across to the organization, process, and technology projects.

Diane J. Brisebois, CAE, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Retail Council of Canada (RCC). She oversees the largest retail association in Canada serving over 45,000 retail establishments including independent merchants, chain stores, mass merchants, big box and online retailers. RCC’s membership covers all segments of the retail market including general merchandise, grocery and pharmacy.

Diane joined RCC as its President and CEO in January 1995. Diane has held CEO positions in the not-for-profit sector representing various industries for the past 35 years.

Diane has and continues to serve on a variety of Boards across North America.

Ms. Brisebois is Immediate Past Chair of the Fair Factory Clearinghouse (FFC), an organization established to enable collaboration between vendors and retailers in assessing and improving workplace conditions globally.

Ms. Brisebois is also the Immediate Past Chair and a member of the Executive Committee of the Forum of International Retail Association Executives (FIRAE) which represents retail associations from more than 30 countries brought together to collaborate on issues affecting the retail sector globally.

Ms. Brisebois also served for many years on the Board of Covenant House Toronto, on the Board and as Chairman of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation and on the Board and as Chairman of the Canadian Society of Association Executives.

She currently serves on:

• The Ted Rogers School of Retail Management Advisory Council
• The Advisory Board of the University of Alberta’s School of Retailing
• The Board of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, and
• The Board of Stewardship Ontario (Ontario Blue Box Program)

Ms. Brisebois is a native of Montreal, Quebec and now resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Santo Ligotti is the VP of Member Services and Marketing at Retail Council of Canada and brings over 20 years of experience of marketing leadership. Santo began his career in data sciences and progressed to lead B2B/B2C marketing teams across financial, technology and payments industries including companies such as TD Canada Trust, Rogers Communications, CIBC, Moneris and JPMorgan Chase.

In addition, Santo is the President Elect for the  American Marketing Association, Toronto Chapter and teaches part time at George Brown College and York University. Santo holds an undergraduate degree in statistics from McMaster University, a Master’s in Information Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from York University.