A results-driven C-level executive and business leader with extensive experience across manufacturing, consumer goods, food, automotive, transportation and insurance industries, Martin Davis delivers value globally in large Fortune 100 corporations and privately-owned companies. He focuses on high quality business outcomes which result in customer satisfaction and return on investment.
Martin has driven Industry 4.0/Operational Intelligence Strategy, as well as being CIO for 10+ diverse companies, and has delivered multi-million dollar value across frozen/fresh food, paper mills, tissue converting and diaper manufacturing. He has presented at various manufacturing industry events including PI World and Smart Industry, and has been quoted in a number of IoT World Today articles on Industry 4.0.
Martin works with his clients to help them deliver return on investment through a strategic Industry 4.0 approach.
An advisor to federal and provincial policymakers, Dr. Herb Emery focuses his research on the development of the Canadian economy and the persistence of long-standing regional disparities. Aside from understanding the economic fundamentals of growth in a small open economy, Dr. Emery’s work incorporates political, historical, cultural and other institutional factors that have shaped Canadian development processes.
Dr. Emery holds the Vaughan Chair in Regional Economics at UNB. His impact, since coming to UNB in July 2016, has been substantial. He has become an acknowledged and widely consulted opinion leader in industry, media and government circles. He holds an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of British Columbia. His academic career began at the University of Calgary where, from 1993 to 2016, he established a track record of excellence in research, teaching and leadership.
At the University of Calgary, Dr. Emery served as professor of economics and as research director of the School of Public Policy. He also held the position of Svare Professor in Health Economics, a joint position in the department of community health science in the faculty of medicine at the department of economics. From 2010 to 2015, he served as managing editor of Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques, Canada’s foremost journal examining economic and social policy.
Robert Falconer is a Research Associate in Immigration and Refugee Policy at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Calgary, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. His recent work has focused on long-term changes in the Canadian agricultural and food production sectors, the increasing role of foreign labour in food production, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Falconer’s work in this area has included appearances before the parliamentary committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development, and the Alberta Anti-Racism Advisory Council under the provincial Ministry of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women. He was recently married in July has been spending the pandemic working from home, learning farm management and cut-flower growing with his wife Julie, herself an aspiring farmer.
Dr. Sarah McRae is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New Brunswick and holds a PhD in English from the University of Alberta. She is a researcher and writer for the JDI Roundtable on Manufacturing Competitiveness and the Atlantic Institute of Policy Research.
Before joining UNB, she worked in market intelligence research at LAC Group in Moncton. Currently, she is working on a project that examines the different approaches to economic growth taken by New Brunswick governments over the past century.
Adrienne O’Pray is a seasoned organizational leader, with more than 25 years’ experience in senior management positions in the public and private sectors.
Adrienne is currently President & CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council. She is responsible for leading the Council in its work to champion entrepreneurship and promote robust economic policy debate and development in New Brunswick.
Adrienne has earned an MBA from the University of New Brunswick and a BSc from Dalhousie University. She is also a certified fierce conversation leader, and has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors’ Not-For-Profit Governance program, as well as Queen’s University’s Executive Education Program.
Last May, Adrienne was recognized by the Public Policy Forum based in Ottawa being awarded 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.
In 2008, she was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 by Caldwell Partners, as announced in the Globe and Mail. She has also been awarded the certificate of achievement by the faculty of business administration at the University of New Brunswick.
She serves on the board of Assumption Life, the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute, the UNB Faculty of Administration Advisory Board and the Learning Disabilities Association of New Brunswick and regularly volunteers to facilitate strategy planning engagements with local community organizations. Adrienne practices yoga, simple living and mindfulness. She lives in Riverview with her husband and two children.
Andrew Sharpe is founder and Executive Director of the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS). Established in 1995, CSLS is a national, independent, non-profit research organization whose main objective is to study trends and determinants of productivity, living standards and economic well-being.
Dr. Sharpe has held a variety of earlier positions, including Head of Research at the Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre and Chief, Business Sector Analysis at Finance Canada.
Dr. Sharpe holds a M.A. and Ph.D in economics from McGill University, a maitrise in urban geography from the Université de Paris-Sorbonne, and a B.A. from the University of Toronto.
He is also founder and Editor of the International Productivity Monitor, co-developer (with Lars Osberg) of the composite Index of Economic Well-being, a consultant to the World Bank on labor market issues, and Executive Director of the International Association for Research on Income and Wealth (IARIW), an international research association dedicated to the advancement of knowledge relating to income and wealth.
Cathy Simpson is an Atlantic Canadian IT leader who has dedicated her career to building the region's tech capacity. She is currently the CEO of TechImpact and Founder of UP+GO. Prior to joining TechImpact, a private sector led industry group focused on growing the tech sector in Atlantic Canada, 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 Board 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 and students in the region.
In 2015, she decided to follow her own advice and created her own company focused on delivering leadership and self-discovery programs for high school girls and introducing them to STEM, entrepreneurship, and leadership. The focus is building employability skills and ensuring girls see new educational and career possibilities through experiential learning.
She began her career at NBTel and Innovatia where she helped launch Canada’s first IPTV service and other innovative consumer products. She is a graduate of F.C. Manning School of Business at Acadia University and lives with her family in Rothesay, NB.
Sheri Somerville is CEO of Atlantic Chamber of Commerce (ACC), the largest accredited business association in Atlantic Canada representing more than 16,000 businesses through its network of 94 chambers and 29 corporate partners. She is a globally certified communications professional with more than 23-years of multi-sector business experience, and partners with her members to influence an environment in Atlantic Canada where business succeeds.
A successful entrepreneur, leader and award-winning PR consultant to some of the nation’s leading companies, Sheri took the helm as CEO in 2017. Since then, she has worked to create a chamber vision to serve the next generation of Atlantic Canadian businesses, cultivated new sources of revenue for the chamber and its members, spearheaded new programming, enhanced governance and operational productivity, levered strategic partnerships, and elevated the Chamber’s corporate reputation and membership as she and her team work to shape and support a strong, resilient chamber network for the future.
Prior to ACC, Sheri founded Pure Symmetry PR Inc. serving clients from across Eastern Canada; held leadership roles at the Association of Consulting Engineers (NB), the New Brunswick Petroleum Alliance/CAPP, MT&L Public Relations, Michelin North America (Canada), and the Ontario Centres of Excellence; as well as gaining her professional foundations working for leading PR firms in Toronto and the private sector in Montreal.
A proud Atlantic Canadian, Sheri is passionate about influencing growth and prosperity for business and people in the region.
