Barbara Jaworski, CEO and Founder of the Workplace Institute
Barbara Jaworski is CEO and Chief KAA-Boomer of the Workplace Institute, a leading think tank on baby boomers in the workplace, and author of two books on older workers: KAA-Boom: How to Engage the 50-Plus Worker and Beat the Workforce Crisis; and Rebel Retirement: A KAA-Boomer’s Guide to Living and Creating an Explosive Second Act.
Barbara is also Executive Director of the NFP Centre for High Experience Talent(CHET).
Barbara is the founder of the Best Employers Award for 50-Plus Canadians that rewards trailblazing organizations that use innovative practices to attract, engage and retain their mature workers, and judge on the US-based World at Work Work-Life Innovation Excellence Award.
In addition to her keynote addresses, Barbara regularly appears in the media speaking on behalf of boomers and the organizations that hire boomers, and is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on baby boomers in the workplace.
In her spare time she volunteers with NFP organizations helping them with strategic planning and marketing and has recently assisted the Pride Network, Vietnamese Women’s Association, Islamic Women Association, Ontario Association of Senior Citizen Organizations, Durham Elder Abuse Network and Humber Community Services. She sits on the Board of the Ontario Gerontology Association.
She can be reached at bjaworski@workplaceinstitute.org
Marc Freedman, CEO and Founder of Civic Ventures, Author of ‘The Big Shift’
A think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. He spearheaded creation of Experience Corps, now one of America’s largest nonprofit national service programs engaging people over 55, and The Purpose Prize, which annually provides five $100,000 prizes to social innovators in the second half of life.
Freedman was described by The New York Times as “the voice of aging baby boomers who are eschewing retirement for … meaningful and sustaining work later in life,” while The Wall Street Journal stated, “In the past decade, Mr. Freedman has emerged as a leading voice in discussions nationwide about the changing face of retirement.”
He is author of The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife, published in April 2011, which The New York Times called “an imaginative work with the potential to affect our individual lives and our collective future.“
His earlier books include Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America, and The Kindness of Strangers: Adult Mentors, Urban Youth, and the New Voluntarism.
Recognized by Fast Company magazine in 2007, 2008 and 2009 as one of the nation’s leading social entrepreneurs, Freedman is widely published and quoted in the national media and has been honored with numerous awards and fellowships, including an Ashoka Senior Fellowship, the Maxwell A. Pollack Award of the Gerontological Society of America and membership in the Innovators Network of The Japan Society. The NonProfit Times named him one of the 50 most powerful and influential individuals in the nonprofit sector in 2010. Civic Ventures and Freedman received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University in April 2010.
A high honors graduate of Swarthmore College, Freedman has an M.B.A. from Yale University and was a Visiting Research Fellow of Kings College, University of London. He lives with his wife and children in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jimmy Carbonneau, Senior Account Manager, Group Retirement Savings Wealth Management and Life and Health Insurance, Desjardins Financial Security
Jimmy is the primary point of contact for all services offered by Desjardins Financial Security. As the dedicated account manager, Jimmy develops a solid working relationship and becomes quickly familiar with the intricacies of the plan and the culture of the organization. His goal is to provide personalized and timely solutions for the plan sponsor.
Jimmy’s expertise lies primarily in capital accumulation plans, including defined contribution plans, group RRSPs, DPSPs, non-registered plans and other group savings plans. During the course of his career, he has participated in all aspects of group savings plans, such as plan design, selection and monitoring of fund managers, investment options, administration services, participant communication, and pension committees.
Jimmy has completed the Investment Fund Institute of Canada (IFIC) Course, the Canadian Securities Course, levels I and II of the Pension Plan Administration Certification (PPAC), the Retirement Plans Associate under the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) Program, and holds a professional designation of Group Insurance and Group Annuity Plans Advisor from the Autorité des marchés financiers, the regulatory body responsible for overseeing the Québec financial services industry. Jimmy holds an Honours degree is psychology from York University.
Jimmy began his career in 2000 with one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plan. Prior to joining Desjardins Financial Security in 2011, Jimmy held the position as a senior account manager for a major Canadian insurance company and more recently, as a pension consultant at a well-known actuarial consulting firm.
Chris Brown, Law Partner, Spectrum HR Law Pension Practice
Christopher Brown is a founder and the Managing Partner of Spectrum HR Law LLP. Pensions, Employment Benefits and Executive Compensation are Chris’ areas of focus. He counsels clients on the impact of legal and regulatory requirements for pensions, employment benefits and executive and other deferred compensation plans. Chris helps clients by providing practical, strategic guidance on governance, funding and structuring of these plans. He also advises clients on the impacts of mergers and acquisitions or other transactions on their plans, and he works with his colleagues on litigation matters relating to such plans. Chris advises sponsors of both single and multi-employer plans, be they provincially or federally regulated. He also has extensive experience regarding legal issues impacting a wide variety of business trust structures.
Between October 2007 and November 2008, Chris served as Co-Chair of the Alberta-British Columbia Joint Expert Panel on Pension Standards, along with his current partner at Spectrum HR Law, Scott Sweatman. As part of this government-appointed industry panel, Chris worked with five of Alberta and B.C.’s leading experts in pensions and benefits to review pension legislation in the two provinces and make recommendations to both governments for fundamental reforms to the pension system. The impact of the recommendations and those of other pension law reform initiatives across the country will be profoundly felt by plan sponsors and members alike in the coming months and years.
Chris believes it is important to be involved in both professional and community organizations and to give back to the community in which we live. He is the current President and a member of the National Board of Directors of the Association of Canadian Pension Management, and a past member of its Alberta Council. Chris also sat on the Stakeholder Task Force on Common Pension Standards for the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities. He is a frequent speaker on topics related to pensions, benefits and executive compensation matters and for several years was a volunteer lecturer at the Alberta Bar Admission Course. In addition, Chris is involved as a youth basketball coach in Calgary.
Before Spectrum HR Law was created, Chris was a partner at a leading national law firm, heading the Pensions and Benefits practice in Calgary and Western Canada. Chris has been practicing law for 17 years. For 2012, Chris was honoured to be recognized again by Best Lawyers International in the practice area of Employee Benefits Law and as the Lawyer of the Year for Employee Benefits Law in Calgary.
Michael Grogan, VP Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations
Mike Grogan is the Vice President of Operations and Programs with CCVO and has worked with nonprofit organizations for over 20 years in areas such as program development and evaluation, adult education and organizational effectiveness. Mike is the Secretariat for the Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Council working to ensure that nonprofit and charitable organizations across Alberta are able to recruit and retain the high quality professional staff they require to carry out their missions. His enthusiasm and passion for the sector are evident in his numerous volunteer activities in community services, youth and sports organizations.
Marianne Rogerson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health and Community Studies
Coordinator, Studies in Aging Program, Mount Royal University
Marianne Rogerson is a gerontologist who specializes in the delivery of on-line courses in healthy aging. Research interests include environmental gerontology, aging-in-place, and social inclusion.
Judi Spear, Founder of RV Rhodes, Inc.
Judi Spear’s career includes more than two decades in medium and large corporate environments, where she gathered the experience to pave the way for the creation of her management consulting firm, RV Rhodes, Inc. Since 1996, she has worked with more than 30,000 executives, managers and administrators. In 2008, Judi founded Invisionit, LLC to help teens discover their personal path to success.
Judi consults with both not-for-profit and for-profit organizations as an executive coach and facilitator. Working with CEOs, administrators, executive directors and their management teams, Judi utilizes her training and certification in many key personality and behavioral inventories, along with her practical experience in continuous improvement and organizational renewal. She provides mentoring and equips each business with the essential tools and knowledge to strengthen their leadership, teamwork, and results.
In addition to her numerous corporate clients, Judi has worked with multiple client groups at University at Buffalo, SUNY, including the Office of the President, School of Social Work and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. She created a two-semester program, Developing Your Capacity for Personal Mastery for post-graduate students in Education at Buffalo State College. She has served as a facilitator and adjunct faculty for Daemen and Canisius Colleges. At Canisius, she co-founded the Personal Leadership course and taught Leadership & Motivation. She travels the country as a presenter on the topic of Emotional Intelligence for Vistage International.
Judi holds a B.A. in Business Administration and English Literature from Brock University in Southern Ontario and an M.S. degree in Communication and Organization Development from Canisius College. She is a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership as well as Leadership Buffalo. She is certified as a Management Consultant (CMC) by the worldwide Institute of Management Consultants, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Contact Judi at jspear@rvrhodes.com
Amy Pearl, President of RV Rhodes, Inc.
Amy Pearl is President of RV Rhodes, a talent management firm based in Upstate New York. For almost twenty years, the firm has provided strategic and simple solutions to help employers achieve their workforce goals. Amy increases her clients’ competitive advantage by developing talent through individual and 360° feedback assessments, leadership competency design and development programs, executive coaching, and team building.
Prior to her consulting experience, Amy enjoyed a twelve year career with M&T Bank, one of the country’s largest and most successful regional banks. As the manager of the bank’s flagship office, Amy was responsible for the retail bank’s largest client portfolio and numerous internal operations. Beginning in 1992, Amy led the design, development and implementation of a multi-million dollar effort to automate the sales and transaction processing of the retail bank. And, in 1996, Amy added responsibility for the oversight of large-scale projects in mergers and acquisitions, organizational development and operations for the Bank. In this role, Amy also designed and managed the bank’s market segmentation, business development and sales management processes, including training and compensation. Her creativity and project management expertise led to the successful implementation of some of the most ambitious initiatives of the organization. As a consultant, she translates her big-business experience into simple, results-oriented solutions for even the smallest employer.
Amy is a strategic thinker with a well-rounded knowledge of business and a true talent for facilitation. Determined to remain on the cutting-edge, Amy thrives in roles that focus on idea generation and problem solving. She is trained or certified to use a wide variety of assessment tools including the Workplace Big Five Assessment, DiSC Personal Profile System, Hogan Assessments, Emotional Intelligence and a host of other tools to develop accountability, change management, decision-making, and other leadership skills. Amy has also participated in research studies and has numerous publications based on her expertise in her field.
Amy received her BA in Economics from SUNY College at Buffalo and her MBA from the University at Buffalo. She teaches Organizational Change and Development as an adjunct professor at Canisius College and has lectured and led workshops on Assessments, Leadership, Team Building, and Strategic Thinking at a variety of conferences and universities.
Her dedication to the economic health of Western New York is evidenced by the time and energy she contributes to organizations, including her work on the United Way Board of Directors Human Resources Committee and with the Boy Scouts of America. In the past, she has also served as the Training Chairperson for the Niagara County Workforce Investment Board and the SUNY College at Buffalo Alumni Board. Her accomplishments have been recognized by the YWCA and at a national level by the National Association of Women Business Owners. She also received a Young Alumni Award from SUNY College at Buffalo.
Contact Amy at 716-845-5548 or apearl@rvrhodes.com
Julie Ball, Executive Director of the Talent Pool Development Society
Julie Ball is the Executive Director of the Talent Pool Development Society, a Calgary organization working with business to provide it with information, education and strategies to access pools of talent it typically overlooks. While some Companies are having difficulty finding skilled workers, there are many skilled and educated people in Calgary who are either under-employed or unemployed. Most often they are young people, older workers, immigrants, Aboriginal people or people with disabilities. The Talent Pool was formed to bridge the gap between business seeking people and people seeking full employment.
Julie’s business background includes human resource leadership positions in the oil industry in staffing, compensation, planning, and diversity. Julie is the past Chair of the Board of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, Calgary’s largest immigrant serving organization. She is a longtime member of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce’s Human Resources Committee and a former President of the Human Resources Association of Calgary.
