Neil Fassina

President, Okanagan College

Dr. Neil Fassina became Okanagan College's President in April 2021, drawn to the institution for its reputation for transforming lives and communities.

Fassina holds a PhD in Management from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, a BSc in Psychology from the University of Calgary and is a chartered professional in human resources (CPHR), and a chartered director through the Institute of Chartered Directors (ICD.D). As an active researcher, he has authored or co-authored a number of refereed articles, a Canadian Human Resource Management text, and pursues research interests in negotiations, applied decision making, and the role of education in shaping societies.

Prior to joining OC, Fassina was the President of Athabasca University (2016-21). He served previously as Provost and Vice President Academic at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and the Dean of the JR Shaw School of Business and School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. He has taught as part of his academic career at the University of Toronto, the University of Calgary, the University of Manitoba, and in executive environments.

Alex Usher

President of Higher Education Strategy Associates

Alex Usher is the President of Higher Education Strategy Associates. He is an internationally recognized expert on a range of fields within higher education, including student financial aid, quality measurement, rankings and public financing. He also has wide experience in strategic planning at both the institutional and system level.

Alex is the lead author of the annual higher education almanac The State of Post-Secondary Education in Canada and the co-author of the premier statistical handbook on global tertiary education: World Higher Education: Institutions, Students and Funding. His internationally read (and free) daily intelligence e-mail, One Thought to Start Your Day, has over 15,000 subscribers. 

Prior to founding Higher Education Strategy Associates in 2009, Mr. Usher served as the Director of Educational Policy Institute Canada and prior to that he was the Director of Research and Program Development at the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. He holds degrees from McGill University and Carleton University.

When Alex is not thinking about post-secondary systems and outcomes, he can be found raiding used bookstores for their most eccentric titles, cheering for Toronto FC, or obsessing about sumo.

Mark Daley

Chief AI Officer, Western University

Mark is the Chief AI Officer at Western University and a Professor in the Department of Computer Science with cross-appointments in five other departments, The Rotman Institute of Philosophy, and The Western Institute for Neuroscience. He is also a faculty affiliate of Toronto's Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Mark was named in the Maclean's magazine "Power List 2024" of the top 100 Canadians shaping the country.

Mark has previously served as the Vice-President (Research) at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), and Chief Digital Information Officer, Special Advisor to the President, and Associate Vice-President (Research) at Western. 

Mark is the past chair of Compute Ontario and serves on a number of other boards.

Tina Varughese

Diversity and Inclusion Speaker

Globally recognized speaker and author, Tina Varughese, B. Comm; B.A, inspires audiences with humour, humility, and humanity. She transforms workplaces to foster environments where employees feel empowered to share ideas, ask questions, take risks, and communicate openly without fear of judgment or retribution. Through her proven tools and techniques, Tina helps organizations build cultures of collaboration, curiosity, and compassion—remaining adaptive, agile, and authentic to pave the way for impactful change.

Tina is the author of the bestseller, 50 Shades of Beige: Building Bridges While Breaking Bias. Her work has been featured in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, CBC Eyeopener, and HR Reporter. Recognized by Ignite Magazine as a Top Ten Notable Speaker, her clients include Pfizer, Carnival Cruises, Hockey Canada, Kraft-Heinz, 3M, and the Million Dollar Roundtable. She has also served on McMaster University’s Future of Canada Council and as the Past-President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (Alberta).

Her uniquely interactive, energetic, and entertaining keynotes draw on her extensive experience managing Alberta’s immigration office and running her own successful relocation and settlement firm. Tina’s practical, tactical, hilarious, and thought-provoking keynotes inspire attendees to think, behave, act, and communicate with intention.

A mother of two, partner to one, and friend to many, Tina encourages all to strive for a better tomorrow, today.