Engineer, home brewer, Father, community steward and Co-Founder of one of Ontario’s largest and most innovative breweries, Nickel Brook Brewing Co. Since 2005, John Romano and his, equally dynamic brother, Peter Romano has passionately lead Nickel Brook Brewing. John and Craft Beer, grew up together; he needed Craft Beer and it needed John. Some call John a trailblazer… and he’ll take it! John’s dream continues to be rooted in community and passing on his wisdom and tasty dreams to friends, the Craft Brewing community, and those who are still getting to know Nickel Brook.

In 1967, the doors to the Chudleigh family apple farm in Milton, Ontario opened, offering visitors both a taste of country life and of delicious Chudleigh baking.

As a young man Dean grew up farming alongside his family growing their farm entertainment business

After graduating from University of Guelph, Dean focused on selling the farm products, off the farm.

The operation expanded from 5 employees and local deliveries to a full scale operation in a 110,000 sq’ state of the art food production facility with 250 full time employees that produce 300,000 servings of dessert every day. Currently the cover 6 countries around the world.

Dean’s activities go well beyond business. He is also a dedicated husband and father, as well as a strong supporter of his local community and various local charities. His passions are skiing, collector cars and flying helicopters.

Joanne joined Innomar Strategies in September 2017 to lead Nursing operations.

Joanne has an extensive background in Community Health Care, building business relationships and partnership expertise.

Joanne is accountable for the overall operations of the nursing department, ensuring that education and training of all of our nurses is done with a consistent approach, and that it meets the levels expected at Innomar. She is also responsible for Client Management for Nursing Services and runs the Clinical Nursing Team, to ensure they deliver the highest quality, standard of care to patients needing specialty care.

Joanne has a dynamic personality and is an excellent communicator with a focus on providing client focused safe care. Joanne, fosters exceptional relationships with clients and families. She is an open and supportive team leader, acknowledged for her professionalism, integrity and fairness. She empowers staff through trust and offers outstanding coaching to success. She is a quick thinker, problem- solver and is energized by new challenges.

Kim Martin is the Executive Director of the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton.Kim has held several leadership positions in the non-profit behavioural health sector in Ontario and internationally. Her areas of expertise include: business development, and healthcare marketing. Kim holds undergraduate degrees in social work and political science from McMaster University and an MBA from Leicester University.

Profession summary
• Innovative and profit oriented professional with demonstrated success in
• increasing revenues and productivity,
• Business process re-engineering / development,
• achieving cost optimization levels in business operations and
• improving client satisfaction in large and diverse organizations
• 21+ years of strong experience in Strategy and Operations Management, Accounting and Finance in large/medium organizations
• Experienced on a variety of Enterprise Resource Planning software like Business Central, Navision, SAP, JDE, Great Plains, and financial reporting tools
such as HFM/Hyperion 5, Essbase, FRX and Prophix.
• Led the implementation projects for the above applications
• Excellent track record of meeting tight deadlines and successful project management
• Expert in change management and fostering excellent working relationships
• Underwent 6 Sigma (Green Belt) training
• Clear written, oral communication and interpersonal skills including public speaking skills
• Demonstrated ability for problem solving, resourcefulness and critical thinking to push past a problem and on to a well thought out solution
• A self-starter with positive attitude

Kimberly Calderbank is a strategic and experienced leader in the communications and marketing sector. As Co-founder and Director of Marketing and Communications at Yellow Robot, a digital agency with a hands-on, focused approach, she has a demonstrated history of working with clients to identify and achieve their goals and to communicate their voice.

With more than 15 years of experience creating award-winning marketing content, Kimberly is a true believer in the power of community, leading the communication strategies and fundraising campaigns for many notable foundations and not-for-profit organizations. A passionate advocate for elevating women in leadership, Kimberly ran for Burlington City Council in 2018, believing it’s critical to see more women at decision-making tables. A sought-after public speaker, she has also been nominated for numerous awards, including finalist for young entrepreneur of the year through the Burlington Chamber of Commerce.

M. Daniel Roukema is an award-winning community economic development and communications leader who has dedicated his career to social impact.

A recognized facilitator, speaker, and instructor, he is the CEO of MDR Public Affairs, a communications and organizational design agency that exclusively supports clients around the world that are committed to building safer, healthier, and greener communities.

A current member of the Board of Directors of the United Way Halton & Hamilton and the Board of Governors of King’s-Edgehill School in Nova Scotia, Daniel’s governance experience includes former positions on the Boards of Community Development Halton in Burlington and HMC Connections in Oakville. Before that, he served on the Boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa, the Social Planning Council of Ottawa, and Child Find Nova Scotia where he presided over the creation of the province’s Amber Alert program.

Manny Figueiredo became Director of Education at Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on August 1, 2015.

Manny has more than 25 years of teaching experience. He began his career as an Educational Assistant in a secondary school and then taught grades 4, 5, 7 and 8 in the Waterloo region.

He spent his time as a school administrator in Hamilton, where he became focused on building learning communities that used data to improve instruction, assessment and culture. He led work to enhance blended learning while an Executive Superintendent at HWDSB.

As Director of Education, he proudly implements a set of strategic priorities that include Positive Culture and Well-being, Student Learning and Achievement, Effective Communication, School Renewal and Partnerships.

He is honoured to have led HWDSB as it built on these priorities to launch an Equity Action Plan, which envisions a culture shift built on recognizing and critically challenging historically built-in inequalities and injustices that contribute to inequitable outcomes in education.

Troy Hare is President & CEO of Milton Hydro. He was previously the President & CEO of Hamilton Utilities Corp and has held many roles in both the energy and telecommunications sectors throughout his career. Troy served as VP of Enterprise Sales and VP of Operations at Rogers Business Solutions. Prior to that, he was the President of Blink Communications, where he grew the company from inception to ultimately leading its sale for $130 million. Troy has worked in the municipal utility sector since 1994, starting at Oakville Hydro. He is a professional engineer with a Master’s Degree in telecommunications as well as post-graduate certificates in business and strategy
from Queens School of Business and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)