CABHI

Jeffrey Blidner is the Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., responsible for Strategic Planning as well as Transaction Execution.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2000, Mr. Blidner was a senior partner at a Canadian law firm. Jeff's practice focused on merchant banking transactions, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, restructurings and private equity transactions.

Mr. Blidner was called to the Bar in Ontario as a Gold Medalist in 1974.

Mr. Blidner was Chair of the Baycrest Centre Board from 2013 to 2015.

John is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Relay Ventures as well as Co-Founder and Board Member of Alate Partners and Playmaker Capital. John has over 20 years of experience helping entrepreneurs shape their vision and capital plans for long-term, sustainable growth. John’s tenure in finance spans both venture capital and private equity, where he has assisted entrepreneurs through all stages of the startup lifecycle, from seed financing to IPO and M&A. His ability to work alongside company management teams and offer guidance around hiring, governance, and scaling has been vital to the success of Relay’s investments.

John is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business. John is also on the Board of TouchBistro and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, and serves as an advisory board member to the Ryerson – DMZ.

Dr. Sara Diamond is President Emerita of OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". While sustaining OCAD U’s strengths in studio-based learning, Diamond guided OCAD University to become a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, new research in Inclusive Design, health and design, as well as in sustainable technologies and design; built two additional campus locations and almost doubled the student population . Diamond implemented Indigenous and racialized diversity inclusion efforts, recruiting Canada’s first Indigenous chancellor and a Tier One Canada Research Chair; undertaking Indigenous and Black cluster hires, and ongoing priority hires and student recruitment. Diamond created a strong network of partnerships for OCAD University in the cultural sector, design industries, ICT industries, financial sector, health sector and government – in essence wherever design, strategic foresight and creativity are needed.

Diamond holds an ICD.D (Directors Designation) Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a PhD in Computing, IT and Engineering from the University of East London, a Masters in New Media Arts from the University of Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, History and Communication, Simon Fraser University. In 2020 Simon Fraser University awarded her a Doctor of Science, honoris causa and she received the Exceptional Women of Excellence Award from the global Women’s Economic Forum. She is appointed to the Order of Canada C.M. and the Order of Ontario and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Service to Canada. She has received two digital media “pioneer” awards, an Inspiring 50 award for the Advancement of Diversity in STEM fields (Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada); and was designated a Canada 150 leader, champion and luminary and one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most influential in 2014.

Diamond leads and co-leads funded research projects and networks in urban data analytics (iCity), wearable and mobile technologies and applied data analytics, AI and visualization (.e.g. Centre for Information Visualization and Data Driven Design and BRAIN) and cultural analytics (supporting cultural industries, audiences and funding agencies) and was co-principal investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design). Diamond was founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, founded OCAD University’s Imagination Catalyst Incubator and OCADU CO, its commercialization agent. Diamond continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history and practice, visual analytics, strategic foresight; mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals. Her artwork (1982 – 1995) is held by prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Diamond currently serves as co-Chair of Toronto’s Year of Public Art with Counsellor Crawford and is Chair of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Advisory Committee. Diamond has served the larger university community as Vice-Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and through her membership on committees of Universities Canada. Diamond was a member of the 2011-2012 Council of the Canadian Academies' expert panel on the State of Science & Technology in Canada. She is a member of Toronto Regional Board of Trade and City of Toronto’s Smart City Working Group, and on the Government of Canada Service Advisory Council.

Diamond was the Artistic Director of Media and Visual Art and Director of Research at the Banff Centre, where she created the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until 2005. In this role she assisted with the development, incubation and support of many of Canada's leading new media companies, as well as international think tanks and collaborations in ICT, digital media and science research with artists, designers and scientists from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central and Western Europe and the U.S.A., as well as Canada.

Ken Dryden was a Member of Parliament and was Minister of Social Development in the Martin government. He played goal for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1970s, during which time the team won six Stanley Cups, and was a member of Team Canada 1972. Mr. Dryden is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and is the author of six books, including The Game and, most recently, Becoming Canada. He teaches at McGill, Calgary, Ryerson, Saskatchewan and Memorial universities. He and his wife, Lynda, live in Toronto and have two children.

Mr. Dryden is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors.

Mr. Freedman is a Corporate Director and private investor. Mr. Freedman is co-founder or Chairman of a number of technology companies including WeBookCare, Total Containment Inc, Rad AI and Band of Coders. Mr Freedman was formerly an executive at Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s foremost alternative asset management organizations with more than $625 billion in assets under management. During his 17 year tenure at Brookfield between 2002 and 2019, Mr. Freedman held a number of positions including Co-Head of Private Equity, General Counsel, head of merger and acquisition transaction execution and Co-Head of fund formation and fund operations. Mr. Freedman is also a director of the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and Bridgmarq Inc..

Over his 30 year career Chris has been an engineer, entrepreneur, executive, and advisor. He has worked across a number of industries, but he has specific knowledge of software solutions related to eCommerce, Retail, Data, Loyalty, Martech, and Fintech. Chris has been on the founding team of two UK tech startups - the first, uSwitch, was acquired for over £200m, and the second, KidStart, is profitable and now has over 1m members. Chris also spent six years on the leadership team at Google Canada, where he helped to grow the business from 50 people to over 300 and was responsible for all relationships with Retailers, Telcos and Tech clients in Canada. Chris also led a two-year turnaround of Computacenter France, a €400m IT company - transitioning the business from products to services and into profitability. Most recently, Chris was also part of the executive team at RBC which built RBC Ventures - an internal corporate incubator. While at RBC, Chris was an active member of RBC's Venture Board, RBC's Innovation Committee and RBC's Diversity & Inclusion Council.

Chris is a Venture Partner at The Group Ventures and an Advisor at Next Canada and Loyal Ventures. He is also a Non-Executive Board Director at KidStart, BEAN Partners, and the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). He is Chair of the Advisory Committee at Juniper. Chris has an MBA from INSEAD, in France, and an Engineering degree from Queen's University, in Canada.

Julia retired from her professional career in 2017 from RBC Phillips, Hager & North Investment Counsel after 21 years. At the time of her retirement, she held the position of Vice President & Investment Counsellor. In this role, she provided investment counselling and individualized investment management services to diverse clientele, including private individuals, foundations and non-profit organizations. She also held senior management roles in the company and served on the Women Advisory Board.
 
Julia is 2019 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) Fellow. The goal of the program is to assist experienced leaders find a pathway to solve important social problems in the next stage of their professional lives. A key part of the ALI program is to spend one year in an intensive structured program at Harvard.
 
Julia has a long history of volunteering in the community. Her current community volunteer work includes serving as Board Chair of the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Vice Chair of Mothers Matter Centre. She the Chair Emerita for SFU Board of Governors, past chair of the Minerva Foundation for BC Women and International Women’s Forum BC. She also served on the board for the Vancouver Opera, Family Services of Greater Vancouver.
 
Julia graduated from University of Calgary with a degree in commerce and obtained the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation in 1997. 

Shirlee Sharkey is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost experts on home care and healthy aging. As a registered nurse and the long-time CEO of SE Health, a unique not-for-profit social enterprise, she has dedicated her career to empowering people, championing compassion and advancing social innovation to forever impact how people live and age at home. In May 2022, Shirlee stepped down from SE Health following 30 years of breakthrough leadership.

Shirlee shares her passion and expertise as a thought leader, speaker, author and mentor. In 2020, she collaborated with a range of experts to co-author The Future of Aging, a book that has been described as “a brilliant and powerful challenge to locked-in ageist mindsets, policies and service models.” Naturally curious and committed to lifelong learning, Shirlee regularly engages with students, entrepreneurs and business leaders from other industries. Academically, she is cross-appointed to the University of Toronto’s Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation as an adjunct professor.

Shirlee’s commitment to public service is evident in her leadership and involvement on many boards, including University Health Network, the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, and BAYADA Home Health Care. She also serves as a senior fellow of Canada’s top think tank, the CD Howe Institute. Internationally, Shirlee is a Healthcare DENMARK ambassador. Committed to global influence, she has gained and shared health system insights through her experiences in the Middle East, Australia and northern Europe.

Shirlee has received many accolades and awards throughout her distinguished career, including the IHPME Graduate Leadership Award, the Innovation Award for Health Care Leadership, and being named one of the top 10 Canadian Women Leaders in Digital Health. In 2017, she was presented with an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Katie Smith Sloan is president and CEO of LeadingAge, a national association of over 5,000 mission-driven providers primarily for older adults. Sloan advances the organization’s strategic priorities to support members and improve our current system of housing, services and supports, guided by the organization’s mission to be the trusted voice for aging.

Sloan also serves as the executive director of the Global Ageing Network, an organization with a presence in over 50 countries committed to improving the quality of life for people as they age through shared learning, exploration and innovation.

Sloan serves on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) based in Toronto, HelpAge USA, the Long Term Quality Alliance (LTQA), ValueFirst, and the Alliance for Home Care Quality and Innovation. She is national co-chair of Dementia Friendly America, a multi-sector national collaborative with a mission to foster dementia friendly communities.

Andrew Szende was the Founding President and CEO of the Electronic Child Health Network (eCHN), Canada's first province-wide integrated electronic health record system. Previously, Mr. Szende worked for the Ontario government in various roles, including Associate Secretary of the Cabinet, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health, and Ontario’s Senior Agent in Hong Kong. Mr. Szende has been actively involved in the not-for-profit sector. He is a former member of the University of Toronto’s Governing Council and a Director of Family Service Toronto. He is the current Chair of the Board of Health Claims for Auto Insurance Processing, Director of OECM, and Director of the Canadian Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation.

Mr. Szende received a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto and an MSocSci from the National University of Singapore.

Dr. Allison Sekuler is the Vice-President, Research, and the Sandra A. Rotman Chair at Baycrest Health Sciences. Dr. Sekuler joins Baycrest after a long and distinguished career as a Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University, where she was the first Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience (2001-2011). She is also the Chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada‘s (NSERC) Scholarships & Fellowships group along with being a member of NSERC’s Committee for Discovery Research.

The recipient of numerous awards for research, teaching and leadership, Dr. Sekuler has a notable record of scientific achievements in aging and vision science, cognitive neuroscience, learning and neural plasticity, and neuroimaging and neurotechnology, as well as vast experience in senior academic and research leadership roles.