2012 Toronto Summit

October 2, 2012 First Canadian Place, Toronto
Our 2012 Summit was SOLD OUT!

Since its debut in Toronto in 2004, The Corporate State Canada has come to be referred to as “Davos for Women Only.”

The Corporate State Summit is the “must attend” conference for women senior executives influencing business growth and leadership across the country and continent. The summit attracts a prestigious and accomplished group of women who engage in private debate about the trends shaking the corporate landscape and creating unprecedented business opportunity.

2012 SUMMIT PROGRAM:

ROUNDTABLE TOPICS:
Auction Economy
The Mystery of Motivation
Venting Renaissance
Sensitivity Training: Protocols for the Future

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Dr. Sherry Cooper, EVP & Chief Economist, BMO Financial Group
Betty K. DeVita, President, MasterCard Canada

MODERATORS:
Evelyn Bailey-Semeniuk, Vice President, General Business, IBM Canada Ltd. Elizabeth (Liz) Hamilton, Principal, elizabethhPR, Former AVP, Communications , Canadian Tire Corporation Mary Prefontaine, President & CEO, ICAN – Institute for Career Advancement Needs Beth Wilson, Toronto Managing Partner & Canadian Managing Partner, Community Leadership, KPMG LLP PANELISTS: Dr. Sherry Cooper, EVP & Chief Economist, BMO Financial Group Danielle Ferron, Partner & Co-Chair, Litigation Group, Langlois Kronström Desjardins Donna Fish, M.S., L.C.S.W, Author & Clinical Social Worker, Former Adjunct Faculty Member, Columbia University School of Social Work Jane Francisco, Editor-In-Chief, Chatelaine Magazine Heather Fraser, Director, DesignWorks & Rotman Design Initiative, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto Michelle Jordan, Principal, Jordan LLC, Strategic Communications Jan Kestle, Founder & President, Environics Analytics Lynne Kilpatrick, SVP Enterprise Customer Experience, BMO Financial Group Lisa Kramer, Associate Professor of Finance, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Department of Management, UT Mississauga Dee-Ann Lama, Vice President and General Manager, Eastern Sales Operations, Xerox Canada Limited Sidneyeve Matrix, Assistant Professor, Media Studies & Queen’s National Scholar, Queen’s University Karen A. Morris, Innovation Consultant Lynn Roger, SVP Talent Strategies & Executive Resourcing, BMO Financial Group Allison Sekuler, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour (PNB), Associate Vice-President and Dean (Graduate Studies), McMaster University Shirlee Sharkey, President & CEO, Saint Elizabeth Health Care Gerri Sinclair, Principal, The Gerri Sinclair Group Donna Sturgess, Founding Partner & President , Buyology Inc. Joanna Track, Founder & CEO, eLuxe Neville Wilson, Principal & Vice President, Business Development, Knightsbridge

Panel 1: The Auction Economy
Discussion: Pricing, as an institution, is being overthrown! Instead, auction-based websites, stopwatch buying, “street bazaar” negotiations and online access-fees are creating business-model revolutions, and the Auction Economy is having enormous implications on producers, marketer and sellers. We will examine that impact, from companies that are shifting business models like IBM, to those moving to value-based compensation like Coca-Cola, to virtual-world spending like Gaia, to intellectual property protection at Newsweek.
See More Panel Photos

Panel 2: The Mystery of Motivation
Discussion: Human behavior, although infinitely complex, is finding more of its explanations and determinants in genes and hormones. Some scientists hold that in the future, we will manipulate behavior via genes and hormones, and others claim that technology and environment will out. We will discuss how these discoveries will impact business, hiring decisions, personal attraction, consumer spending, risk-taking and the stock market.

Panel 3: Venting Renaissance
Discussion: Venting is having a renaissance, perhaps as a result of technology, art & culture, tides of geopolitical change and removal of barriers to free expression. Venting takes on a wide range of forms, from consumer feedback, product reviews and employee performance ratings to freedom of political expression, online vigilante justice, and combat simulation. We will explore the creation of new businesses spurred by venting, new reputation management challenges and proactive strategies to leverage professional and personal expression.

Panel 4:
Sensitivity Training (Protocols for the Future)
Discussion: Gender-based collaboration, Twitter/texting/, experiential CVs, Google+, fictionalized personalities: They are all having a profound impact on the way we communicate, interact and establish a new set of competencies for the future. Etiquette, traditional skills, social interaction and decision-making no longer look the same. We will discuss how and why employers must harness new competencies, educators re-think approaches to learning, and individuals develop a new protocol toolkit.

2012 Summit photography by Janine Therese Martins

Sponsors (in alphabetical order):
BMO Financial Group
HUB International HKMB Limited
Knightsbridge
Korn/Ferry International
KPMG LLP
MasterCard Worldwide
Saint Elizabeth Health Care
Vale
Xerox Canada
Media Sponsor:
The Globe and Mail