Peter Dawe joined McCain Foods Limited in August 2019 as Chief Strategy Officer and effective September 2020, he added responsibility for Global marketing & sales, research & development and external affairs & sustainability. Currently, as Chief Growth and Strategy officer he retains that remit, as well as oversight of global supply chain.

Originally an engineer, Peter spent over 18 years with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and held successive positions from Associate (post-undergrad) through Managing Director and Senior Partner. While at BCG, Peter’s practice was focused in the Food sector; working with global food producers and grocers on topics across the value chain. During his time at BCG, Peter worked with McCain on a consulting basis from 2011 engaging deeply in the corporate strategy efforts in 2013/14 (which yielded SCA disciplines) and 2018/19 (the Sustainable Share Growth plan which has seen a reversal of ~20 years of frozen potato share declines).

Peter represents McCain on the Board of Directors of Good Leaf Farms and Strong Roots, two of the investments in our equity portfolio. He is also involved as a Board member in the JaysCare Foundation (the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays) and The Beer Store (a Canadian retail and distribution business owned by brewers).

Peter holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Chemical Engineering) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Samantha, and two boys, Henry and Freddie.

9 a.m. | Golf: Algonquin Golf Course (tee times available until 10:50 a.m.)

3 p.m. | Check-in: Algonquin Resort

4:30 p.m. | Networking Reception: Passamaquoddy Room

5:30 p.m. | Dinner: Shaughnessy Room (Sponsors: OpportunitiesNB and WorkingNB)

6:45 p.m. | Keynote Presentation: Peter Dawe

7:30 p.m. | Fireside Chat: Peter Dawe and Heather Tulk

8 p.m. | Networking: Passamaquoddy Room; Carleton Rotunda

8 a.m. | Breakfast

9 a.m. | Panel Discussion: AI in Action

10:45 a.m. | Closing Remarks by Frank McKenna

As President, Commercial and Public Sector, Heather leads a national team driving transformational business growth with Canada’s largest organizations including medium, large, enterprise and government entities.

As part of her mandate, Heather’s team partners with companies and industries to reimagine how TELUS’ connectivity and intelligent technology solutions can drive growth and differentiation for their business.

Heather joined TELUS in 2023 and has more than two decades of P&L leadership, revenue growth and customer experience strategy. She’s worked across a variety of sectors in every region of the country and is highly regarded for taking on complex, transformational challenges and driving industry leading results.

Currently based in Toronto, Ontario, Heather grew up and started her career in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Memorial University of Newfoundland, an MBA from Queen's University, an ICD.D designation, and is a Chartered Marketer.

She has also received a number of industry awards, including being named to the Diversity 50 by the Canadian Board Diversity Council, Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 through the Women’s Executive Network, and Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

Heather passionately believes in helping make communities better than we found them and is involved in several causes for mental health, youth, diversity and inclusion. She also sits on the Board of Canadian Hearing Services and is past Chair of the Toronto Chapter of the International Women’s Forum.

Cathy Simpson is an Atlantic Canadian IT leader who has dedicated her career to building the region's tech capacity. Most recently, she was the Vice President, People and Culture with T4G Limited, one of the largest privately held IT firms in the region with clients throughout North America.

Cathy is a leader in the movement to use technology and innovation to drive economic growth, create thriving communities and engage citizens. She champions this evolution as Chair of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit corporation that invests in new growth-oriented companies and applied research activities.

Her current work is an extension of her role as one of the co-founders of PropelICT, Atlantic Canada’s original tech accelerator, and she continues to mentor and advise start-up entrepreneurs in the region.

In 2015, Cathy founded UP+GO, a social enterprise building and delivering leadership programs to high school girls, teaching job ready skills, strengthening their leadership mindset, and exposing them to incredible women in STEM, entrepreneurship and leadership.

She began her career at NBTel and Innovatia where she helped launch Canada’s first IPTV service and other innovative consumer products. Cathy is a graduate of F.C. Manning School of Business at Acadia University and lives with her family in Rothesay, NB.

Steven Burns was born on August 1st, 1970 in Fredericton, NB. Steven went to school locally in Fredericton while being an active sports enthusiast for local teams.

Mr. Burns over the course of his 25-year career has owned, operated and sold 8 businesses ranging from real estate to construction to IT. He has a degree in Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick and has an in depth knowledge of all aspects of business.

During his entrepreneurial career Mr. Burns has been chosen as one of Atlantic Canada’s top 50 CEO’s for five consecutive years and was inducted into the Top 50 CEO Hall of Fame in 2008. Most recently Mr. Burns was inducted into the NB Business Hall of Fame in 2020.

Mr. Burns has always had a drive for philanthropy within his community helping raise over 2 million dollars for local charities. These fundraisers have included running with the Bulls in Pamplona Spain for Autism, living on top of a transport truck for the local foodbanks, walking from Edmundston NB to Fredericton NB raising money for a local women’s shelter and most recently breaking a Guiness Book of World Record for youth mental health.

Mr. Burns is the founding member of his passion, Bulletproof, an IT Security and Managed IT Services firm. Since its inception in 2001, the company has grown steadily and is now over 270 people with offices in 22 different countries. Bulletproof was acquired in 2016 by Gaming Laboratories International.

A native of New Brunswick, Rhiannon’s business leadership spans Europe, Asia, South and North America. She was CEO of the $2B revenue GVSC, a company she built to become a subsidiary of GrandVision BV.. She was also on the Board of Directors that took the parent company, a $5.5 Billion revenue retailer with businesses in 45 countries, through a successful IPO on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Rhiannon believes in the need to support entrepreneurship and innovation to deliver meaningful change in business, community, and social development. Rhiannon is the Founding and Managing Partner of Sandpiper Ventures, a seed-stage VC fund that invests in women-led technology companies.

James is an e-commerce specialist who’s the brains behind a number of high profile tech platforms for clients such as the UK Labour Party, Citroen and Hermes, among others.

Following his CTO role at Tangent plc, James & the other founders thought up Kraken, a technology platform that would rival all others in the energy market. James has been instrumental in the creation of Octopus Energy’s proprietary technology, digital-first offerings and its global expansion.

Charles Gervais, a dynamic entrepreneur and NBCC alumnus, leads two pioneering ventures—MLT, a telecom agency started in 2001, and iTransform, a firm dedicated to modernizing SMBs.

An active member of the Wallace McCain Institute since 2016, Charles is also a devoted mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs. Outside the office, he cherishes outdoor adventures with his wife and two daughters.

Ryan as the President & CEO of Saint John Energy is passionate about energy innovation, sustainability and economic development in New Brunswick. Ryan is a graduate of NBCC, UNB and is an alumni of the Wallace McCain Institute Strategic Executive program.

Ryan is a registered engineer in New Brunswick and has an MBA. Ryan has over 20 years of engineering experience in diverse and progressive management positions with most of his experience coming from the telecommunications sector. Ryan was also recently named to Canada’s Clean50 list as one of Canada’s top sustainability leaders in 2021.

Ryan supports the local United Way as part of the Campaign Cabinet, is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick (APEGNB), serves on the executive committee for the Atlantic Hydrogen Alliance, is a board member of the Atlantica Centre for Energy, Electricity Canada and the Smart Grid Innovation Network.

Ryan also represents Saint John Energy on Electricity Canada’s National Emerging Issues Committee and in the past has served as a board member of Economic Development of Greater Saint John as well as the Canadian Electricity Association’s Distribution council and has enjoyed volunteering as a competitive youth sports coach.

Deval is the Vice President of AI Engineering at Vector Institute and is passionate about the role of digital technologies in accelerating energy transition and Energy equity, as well as about building machine learning teams and products for societal good.

He holds a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Aerospace engineering. Before joining Vector Institute, Deval was leading Data Science and Machine learning teams at Shell. While in that role, his work spanned across various domains, including predictive maintenance, GHG accounting, power value chain, nature-based solutions, biofuels, and hydrogen.

He is passionate about the role of digitalization in energy transition and was the co-founder of the Future Energy Lions network at Shell. Deval also serves as a Director on the technical steering committee of Moja Global, a not-for-profit, collaborative project that brings together a community of experts to develop open-source software under Linux Foundation used for country-level greenhouse gas accounting from the AFOLU sector.

Deval is on the task force for Digitalization in Energy at the United Nations Economic Commission of Europe (UNECE). He enjoys traveling and cooking in his free time.

Frank McKenna is a politician, ambassador, lawyer and businessman whose relentless pursuit of New Brunswick’s best interests has been a constant across the remarkable trajectory of his life and career. As premier of New Brunswick from 1987 to 1997, he advanced a contemporary vision for New Brunswick predicated on state-of-the-art technology, progressive programs and pride. New Brunswick became a global leader in e-government and achieved national acclaim for its technology prowess.

Frank was the first premier in Canada to have an email address and a computer in his office. An early adopter, he has long understood the power of technology to make us more connected, successful and contemporary. During his three terms in office, he advanced a revolutionary vision of moving New Brunswick to a knowledge-based economy based on “bandwidth and brain-width.”

Following three whirlwind terms, Frank kept his promise to step down after ten years. He went on to influential roles outside of his home province, first as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. in 2005. The following year, TD Bank named him deputy chairman, a position created for Frank that he still holds.

Frank is the Chair of Brookfield Asset Management, a global asset manager with $750 billion in assets. Additionally, he is a Director of Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL), Canada’s largest oil and gas producer.

Frank McKenna holds 15 honorary degrees, an Order of Canada, an Order of New Brunswick, a King’s Counsel, Member of the King’s Privy Counsel, a Vanier Award recipient and a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors. He is a former Chancellor of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.

He holds degrees from St. Francis Xavier University and University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law, where he earned a prestigious Lord Beaverbrook scholarship and graduated second in his class.

Through it all, Frank has never lost his abiding connection and commitment to his home province, where he lives in Cap Pele with his wife, Julie. The McKennas have three children and seven grandchildren.

Dr. Paul Mazerolle is the 19th president and vice-chancellor of the University of New Brunswick. Prior to his appointment in July 2019, Dr. Mazerolle was previously the pro vice chancellor (arts, education and law, 2009-2019), campus provost for Mount Gravatt campus (2009-2019), director of the Violence Research and Prevention program (2006-2019), and director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance (2007-2009) at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. He was also director of Research and Prevention at the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (2002-2005) and head of the criminology program at the University of Queensland (2000-2006).

Dr. Mazerolle received his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from the University of New Brunswick (1989), his master of science in criminal justice from Northeastern University (1990), and his PhD in criminology from the University of Maryland at College Park (1995).

Dr. Mazerolle has led and participated in several major initiatives. While at Griffith, he chaired the university-wide Safe Campus Taskforce and chaired the sub-committee on Changing Attitudes and Behaviour regarding Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault. Since 2014, Dr. Mazerolle led and chaired the Griffith Integrity 20 program. Dr. Mazerolle was a member of the Premier’s Youth Violence Taskforce and the Seniors Taskforce in Queensland, Australia. He was also Board Chair and Director at Open Minds, a leading non-government organization addressing mental illness and disability. Dr. Mazerolle is a past editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology and is the founding co-editor (with Tara McGee) of the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.

An active scholar in criminology, Dr. Mazerolle has led several funded research projects. His research examines processes that shape offending behaviour across the life-course. His primary focus is in building knowledge on violence to inform theories, advance understanding, and improve policy and practices to reduce or prevent violence.

Paul is a proud native of New Brunswick, having grown up in Fredericton. He returns with his wife Amanda, and their two border collies, Maya and Gaby, to enjoy the four seasons.

Adrienne Oldford brings deep leadership experience and a passion for economic and social development in New Brunswick to her role at the helm of the McKenna Institute. Over more than 25 years in senior management positions in the public and private sectors, she has served as president and CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council and COO of Atlantic Lottery Corp., among other roles.

Adrienne serves on the Board of Assumption Life and is the Chair of the UNB Faculty of Management Advisory Board. She regularly volunteers to facilitate strategic planning engagements with local community organizations.

Adrienne holds an MBA from the University of New Brunswick and a BSc from Dalhousie University. She has also completed several programs through the Institute of Corporate Directors and Queen’s University’s Executive Education Program.

In 2018, Adrienne was recognized by the Ottawa-based Public Policy Forum with the Frank McKenna Award for Public Policy, presented to distinguished Atlantic Canadians who have built bridges between sectors, contributed to public policy, and shown exceptional leadership. UNB’s Faculty of Business Administration has awarded her the Certificate of Achievement.