Nancy Reid is a University Professor in the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto, whose work has had major impact in the development of statistical theory. She has made fundamental contributions to a wide range of statistical problems with a focus on problems in statistical theory that have the potential for great practical impact. Her work has led to new approximation techniques and to a deeper understanding of the foundations of statistical inference. The author of numerous books and papers, she maintains an active research program on the mathematical foundations of statistics and their relevance for scientific advances. The clarity of her writing and her attention to detail have also enhanced her lifetime interest in bringing statistical thinking to non-specialists.

Professor Reid studied at the University of Waterloo, the University of British Columbia, Stanford University, and Imperial College, London. She taught at the University of British Columbia before joining the University of Toronto in 1986. She has held several leadership roles in academia, including President of the Statistical Society of Canada, and Director of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute.

Professor Reid was the first woman and first resident Canadian to receive the Presidents’ Award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies, the first recipient of the Canadian Mathematical Society’s Krieger–Nelson Prize, and the 2009 Gold Medalist of the Statistical Society of Canada.

In 2022 she became the first woman to win the Guy Medal in Gold from the Royal Statistical Society. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal Society of London, and Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. In 2014 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for her leadership in the field of statistical science.

Professor Richard H. McLaren joined the Faculty of Law at Western as an Assistant Professor in 1972 and was granted a full professorship in 1979. Richard initially taught most of the business law courses from bankruptcy to secured transactions, banking, real property and mortgage law. His published books in each of these subject areas are well known in the legal profession in Canada. The commercial law background led him at an early stage in his career to work in the arbitration field initially in labour law and subsequently in commercial and sports.

His career moved into the sports arbitration field and he attended as an arbitrator on site for the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. That position was the inaugural step in becoming a globally respected expert in sports law. He is known for taking on some of the toughest challenges in international sport. From baseball, basketball, and tennis to boxing and weightlifting, his work has helped expose systemic corruption and cheating at every level of competitive sports. He is best known for uncovering Russia’s state-sponsored doping program during the Sochi Olympics, an investigation that became the foundation of the Academy Award-winning best documentary “Icarus” in 2018.

Richard’s unfulfilled dream while growing up in Hamilton was to play for the Hamilton Tiger Cats football team. Instead, his career in sports law opened much greater opportunities for him on the international playing field of global sports.

In 2016, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada with his investiture conducted by His Excellency the Governor General of Canada, the Honourable David Johnston, a former Dean of Western Law. Richard also holds Honorary Degrees from Huron University College and the United States Sports University.

Richard enjoys a busy family life with his three sons, their wives and six grandchildren, enjoying much time with all of them at one of their favourite places, Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs, California.

Dr. Daniel Haas is a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry. He was Dean from 2012 to 2022, and prior to that was Associate Dean from 2001 to 2012, as well as head of its graduate specialty program in dental anaesthesia (1998 – 2013). He has a cross-appointment with the Department of Pharmacology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

In 2024, the Governor General of Canada appointed him as a Member of the Order of Canada.

He has been active in both teaching and research, with his scholarship recognized internationally. He has received a number of major awards including the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Pharmacology/Therapeutics/Toxicology research in 2004, the Heidbrink Award from the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology in 2007, the Leonard Monheim Award from the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists in 2010, and the Horace Wells Award from the International Federation of Dental Anesthesia Societies in 2018. He has been the only Canadian to win all four of these prestigious awards.

In 2022 he received the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry Distinguished Service Award and in 2025 he received the Ethics and Professionalism Award from the American College of Dentists, only the second Canadian to receive this honour.

Professor Haas is also the recipient of a number of teaching awards from the University of Toronto, including: 17 Dental Students’ Society Teaching Awards; the A. Bruce Hord Master Teacher Award (1991 and 2000); and the W.W. Wood Award for Excellence in Dental Education (2005).

He has also played an active role with a number of dental organizations, including the National Dental Examining Board of Canada, the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry, the Royal College of Dentists of Canada, the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, and the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists

Richard Rooney is a clergyman’s son from small town Ontario. He received an MBA from the Ivey School at Western University in 1981. He earned his CPA with Price Waterhouse in 1984, following which he entered the investment management business with Sun Life. In 1995, after five years with AMI Partners, an investment Counsellor, he joined Burgundy Asset Management, then an embryonic money manager.

Alongside his longtime partner Tony Arrell and a large group of talented associates, he built Burgundy into a global investment firm with over $25 billion in assets under management. The firm became Canada’s leading practitioner of the kind of quality value investing inspired by the great investor Warren Buffett. Rooney’s occasional writings on investment subjects have been widely read by Burgundy clients and industry insiders for many years. He served as Burgundy’s Chief Investment Officer for 25 years, until July of 2020.

Burgundy was sold to Bank of Montreal in 2025 and Richard currently serves as Vice Chair of Burgundy within the BMO group. Rooney was a member of the second class to receive the ICD.D designation. He served as Director and sometime Chair of the HR Committee for Dominion of Canada General Insurance from 2002 to 2009, and of Empire Life from 2002 to 2016.

Philanthropy has been a major factor in Richard’s career. He has been both Board Member and Chair of the Stratford Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario Foundation, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. He currently serves on the Board of the University Health Network, Canada’s largest and leading healthcare provider, the Literary Review of Canada, and Kids Help Phone Foundation.

Through their family charitable vehicle, the LRDR Foundation, the Rooney family has given generous financial support to these and many other organizations in the arts, healthcare and education.

In early 2026, Richard Rooney was admitted to the Order of Ontario.

Kevin Sullivan is an outstanding Canadian business leader whose deep commitment to Western University has supported the growth of entrepreneurship on campus and across Canada.

Kevin is the co-founder of GMP Securities, an independent investment firm founded on the principle of entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs. GMP has helped launch hundreds of Canadian companies, including Research In Motion. Kevin served as Chief Executive Officer of GMP from 1995 to 2019, transforming the firm into a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $1.6 billion and more than 1,000 employees. He also oversaw the creation and growth of Richardson GMP, a leading wealth management firm overseeing $35 billion in assets on behalf of Canadian clients.

Kevin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1983, both from Western. He began his career as a lawyer in Calgary, Alberta, and as a trader in European capital markets. He later worked at another major independent Canadian investment dealer before co-founding GMP in 1995.

Kevin was recently appointed by Chair of Waterfront Toronto, overseeing the economic revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront. He has been involved in numerous entrepreneurial initiatives and charitable organizations, including Next 36 Canada, The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Film Centre, Golf Canada, and Right To Play. He was also instrumental in the launch of the Ride to Conquer Cancer, serving as its inaugural Chair.

Kevin is a past Board Member of Western as well as the Toronto Stock Exchange and he chaired the campaign for the Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship at Western, home of the Sullivan Family Foundation Collaborators Space. In recognition of his outstanding philanthropic contributions, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

Kevin and his wife, Sandra, are the proud parents of four accomplished children: Thomas, Jack, Zoe, and Ty.

Throughout his career, Kevin has remained committed to helping entrepreneurs launch and finance their businesses. He currently leads KMS Capital Inc., where he assists CEOs in navigating challenges related to governance, board relations, and capital markets strategy in today’s competitive environment.

Elizabeth Nistangekwe Akiwenzie, (“Understanding Woman”), Day ya^yut Do LA Doe (“She Who Sees Both Sides”) is an Indigenous knowledge keeper and cultural educator who has spent nearly four decades advancing healing, cultural revitalization, and education.

Raised at Chippewa of Nawash First Nation, her mother was Oneida and her father was Ojibway. She is now a mother of three daughters and three sons, as well as a grandmother and great grandmother.

Elizabeth grew up through cultural genocide and in poor conditions on a First Nations reserve and was abused in the educational system run by the federal government and the Catholic Church.

Elizabeth is proud to note she “was raised by a mother who loved me with her whole being – I had a spiritual mother who raised me to believe in our higher power Creator.”

Taught cultural education by professors of both Ojibway and Oneida Nations, for more than 45 years she has worked in Indigenous health centres, hospitals, correctional services, the Canadian justice system, and educational systems.

She has also led the development of mental health and addictions programs, including Indigenous drug and alcohol treatment centres, and created Indigenous programs of empowerment through land-based learning. These include an Indigenous Family Healing Lodge and a sexual abuse centre for Indigenous men.

Elizabeth is a well-known cultural educator and knowledge keeper in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous education systems and provides cultural knowledge assistance to Indigenous Chiefs and Councils within Southwestern Ontario. She is also a researcher for teaching pedagogy at Western University.

She credits the Ojibway and the Oneida Nations for her cultural work with the original peoples of Turtle Island /Canada and she “lives in gratitude of past, present and the future of relatives on Turtle Island.”

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is a CEO, board leader, and tech entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience scaling global pioneers in fintech, e-commerce, and software-as-a-service cloud computing (SaaS). As the current CEO of Xero, a global leader in small- and medium-business software, she leads a multi-billion-dollar organization serving 4.9 million users in more than 180 countries, driving AI innovation, and the company’s expansion into the US, including its $2.5 billion acquisition of Melio. Her executive experience includes scaling Google’s international operations and leading StubHub through its $4-billion sale in 2020. A three-time founder, she has successfully built pioneering brands including Yodlee, Joyus and theBoardlist.

With 15+ years of governance experience, Cassidy has served on the boards of global category leaders such as Urban Outfitters, Ericsson, TripAdvisor, and Upstart. She is an authority on digital transformation and global expansion, and the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller, Choose Possibility. Her work has been profiled by Fortune, Forbes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Information, and numerous leadership books and podcasts.

Dave Wessinger is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PointClickCare. For more than 20 years, Dave has worked to transform the senior care technology industry and tackle complex challenges  across  the  health-care continuum.

In 2000, Dave co-founded PointClickCare with his brother Mike, pioneering health care’s digital transformation and driving improved outcomes for seniors and care teams through technology. Today, PointClickCare boasts one of Canada’s most admired corporate cultures and employs more than 2,000 employees who serve over 30,000 care providers, establishing PointClickCare as the largest cloud-based health-care platform in North America.

Dave has earned recognition for his foresight and innovation in helping reimagine the way technology can be used to communicate, collaborate, and improve care across the health-care system. He has been instrumental in garnering recognition for PointClickCare as one of Deloitte’s best-managed companies for eight consecutive years. Dave also aided in earning PointClickCare a spot on Forbes Top Cloud 100 List for two consecutive years. Dave holds a BSc from Western in computer science (1994).

Mike Wessinger is PointClickCare’s Co-Founder and Executive Chair of the board. Prior to taking on the role of Executive Chair, Mike served as PointClickCare’s Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2021.

Mike’s vision and leadership established PointClickCare as the first cloud-based health information system for the senior care industry. Relentless in his pursuit to disrupt the health care status quo, Mike’s forward-thinking vision drove the organization to level silos across the health-care ecosystem, creating North America’s largest care collaboration network.

In his role as Executive Chair, Mike continues to champion corporate culture, enhance governance, recruit diverse talent, and partner with internal and external boards and teams to solve critical health-care challenges and propel PointClickCare forward as a world-class organization.

Mike is also Co-Chair of the C100 board of directors, where he actively leverages his years of experience to coach and mentor leaders at the helm of rapidly scaling technology companies. He holds a BA from Western in commerce and economics (1993).

Professor Laura Misener is Director of Western University’s School of Kinesiology, and the Frank Hayden Endowed Research Chair in Sport and Social Impact. The first woman to hold the director position, she has led the school for the past eight years during a transformative period of growth and change, championing both academic excellence and student success.

Throughout her tenure as Director, Professor Misener has remained deeply committed to fostering an environment where students thrive academically and professionally. She has mentored numerous graduate students while maintaining a world-class research program that has positioned the School of Kinesiology as a leader in sport management scholarship. Her research focuses on how sport and events can be used as instruments of social change, with particular emphasis on how sport for persons with disabilities can positively impact community accessibility and social inclusion. Her interdisciplinary work emphasizes safe sport practices through good governance, strategic policy making, and a commitment to human rights and social justice.

She serves as Senior Advisor on Safe Sport at Western University, where she advises on improving safe sport practices and governance, as well as educational and support initiatives for coaches and student-athletes. A former coach and athlete herself, Professor Misener has been a vocal advocate for cultural change in sport to ensure athlete safety, contributing expert commentary on safe sport issues in Canada through publications in The Conversation and other media outlets.

She has served as a research and policy advisor to numerous disability sport organizations including the Canadian Paralympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, Commonwealth Games Federation, Ontario Parasport Collective, and Special Olympics. Professor Misener is frequently contacted by media for her expertise, with commentary appearing on CBC and The Conversation on topics ranging from Olympic postponements to athlete safety and accessibility in sport. As a passionate advocate for access and inclusion, she continues to push for systemic change that ensures sport is safe, welcoming, and accessible for all participants.