
2023 EFC Industry Conference
Conference Keynote Speakers

Dr. Amir Georges Sabongui
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Dr. Amir Georges Sabongui works closely with Canada’s largest corporations to develop and implement organizational leadership solutions, crisis response and mental health training programs. His passion is developing long term relationships to help his organizational clients improve cohesion and engagement in order to bring teams to their optimal functioning and inspire employees achieve their full potential. He currently directs the Alpha Medical Clinic and SOS – Sabongui Organizational Solutions.
He holds a doctorate in psychology and is specialized in resilience and organizational leadership solutions.
He is also retired lieutenant-commander of the Canadian Navy where he was recognized for his outstanding leadership during close to 14 years of military service where he directed and commanded operational crews and led a crisis response team during international NATO operations. His doctoral research was conducted with the Canadian Armed Forces and focused on developing high impact teams that could perform under extreme operational conditions.
Today, he is a sought after public speaker who is highly regarded for his dynamic style and his humour, and he is prominently featured in national television and print media. Recipient of numerous professional awards and distinctions – including prestigious Federal (SSHRC) and Provincial (FCAR) government fellowships – he is also laureate of the Award of Excellence from the Canadian Psychological Association for his work on resilience and public awareness campaigns on mental health.
Company’s who have used his services:
- Bell
- Telus
- Air Canada
- IBM
- Merck-Frosst
- Nestle
- Banque de Développement du Canada – BDC
- Banque TD
- Norton Rose – Ogilvy Renault
- Fujitsu
- Barreau du Québec
- Ordre des Ingénieurs – Association des Ingénieurs Conseil du Québec
- Parliament Canadien: Chambre des communes
- MUHC – Centre Universitaire de Santé McGill
- les YMCA
- NavCanada
- FedNav
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Day 2 – THURSDAY, JUNE 1st | 11:00 am PT
Positive psychology is the scientific study of the forces, the optimal operation, and the determinants of well-being.This field of psychology aim at defining what makes life worth living. The most frequently explored themes in this field are: Optimism, Commitment, Hope, Senses, Happiness, Full consciousness,Resilience, Strength of character «signature» (values in action), Positive emotions, Motivation, to determination, Self-efficacy, Life satisfaction, creativity. Positive psychology has paved the way to numerous scientific studies dedicated to the understanding of human nature and the determinants of human growth at its full potential.To be interested by positive psychology does not consist at perceiving one or others with an idealized vision, like through pink glasses. It also doesn’t consist in getting rid of the knowledge acquired on mental suffering and the means to remedy it. Perhaps, we consider that besides multiple problems, individual and collective dysfunctions, it expresses and develops into a life rich in meaning and potential.As much as it is important to rigorously study the pathologies, we have to also identify the determinants of the human growth and help fostering it.

Amber Mac Innovation Speaker, Co-Host, The Feed on SiriusXM, President, AmberMac Media, Inc.
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Considered by many to be the go-to expert on anything to do with technology, Amber Mac helps companies and audiences stay ahead of the curve. She is an industry veteran, renowned as a journalist, moderator, entrepreneur, consultant, and bestselling author. Whatever the setting, Mac offers clarity and a passion for digital innovation in all forms.
In 2021, Mac was named one of Bay Street Bull’s “Women of the Year” for her leadership in the technology sector. She has also been named one of “30 inspirational women making a difference in tech” by DMZ. Mac began her career in San Francisco and Boston during the dot-com boom. As a strategist for Razorfish and director of marketing for an e-procurement software company, she spent four years in the technology start-up trenches.
Today, Mac is the president of AmberMac Media, Inc., an award-winning content development agency. She has also keynoted more than 500 events around the world and moderated sessions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former FBI Director James Comey, business coach Tony Robbins, author Malcolm Gladwell, astronaut Chris Hadfield, and many other notable leaders.
Mac has also hosted and co-hosted a variety of television and radio shows and several podcast series. These have included The Feed on SiriusXM, The AI Effect, Marketing Disrupted, This is Mining, and The AmberMac Show, which has led to more than five recent national podcast awards.
Mac is the co-author of the Amazon bestseller, Outsmarting Your Kids Online, and the author of the national bestselling business book, Power Friending. She is also a regular business host and expert for Fast Company, CNN, Bloomberg, CBS, BNN, CBC, Global News, CTV, The Marilyn Denis Show, and SiriusXM.
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, May 31| 11:00 am EST
The 2023 (Mostly) Business Survival Guide: The P.A.T.H.
In this brand-new keynote, Amber Mac will share her blueprint for success in 2023 and beyond. It’s called The P.A.T.H. and it’s what every professional needs to know to design, grow, learn, and communicate in today’s fast future, all while leading with values and making an impact.
This practical and inspirational talk will help audiences learn:
- How to grow a sustainable business with an impact
- How to harness the power of digital technologies with ease
- How to build trust with online and offline communities with passion
- How to take care of wellness along the way with tech tracking and simplicity
Learn more about The P.A.T.H. with Amber Mac here.

Carol McGlogan, President & CEO, EFC
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TBD
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, May 31st | 10:00 am PT
EFC-Sponsored Research
For Canada to achieve its 2030 and 2050 climate targets, building owners and operators will need to upgrade, retrofit and ultimately decarbonize hundreds of millions of square metres of space. The Canada Green Building Council will share highlights from this study, profiling new pathways to accelerate GHG emission reduction targets through low-carbon, large building retrofits. This presentation will equip industry leaders with insights into supply chain and workforce needs across Canada’s Part 3 retrofit economy by sharing provincial/regional supply and demand requirements for green technologies, material and products, as well as emerging occupations, skills and workforce needs.

Virtual Speaker - Details coming soon!
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Whether it’s economics, geopolitics, or international security and terrorism, few people have a better understanding of global issues than Professor Janice Gross Stein. She provides a unique perspective into what’s really happening around the world, and what it means to her audiences.
Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also the co-author, with Eugene Lang, of the prize-winning work, The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar, and her most recent book is Diplomacy in the Digital Age. In the media, she has provided commentary for networks such as CBC, CTV, TVO and CNN, and columns and comment for The Globe and Mail and The National Post.
Professor Stein was the Massey Lecturer in 2001, and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate, and has received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Alberta, the University of Cape Breton, McMaster University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, May 31st | 9:00 am EST

Tom Mason, VP Marketing and Channel Development, Panel Moderator
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Insert bio
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Day 2 – THURSDAY, June 1st | 9:00 am EST
Talent panel discussion ….
This presentation is ideal for any organization that is looking to improve their measurement of IDEA and understand the impact of their efforts.

Shawn Kanungo, Innovation Strategist and Bestselling Author
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As a globally recognized innovation and disruption strategist, Shawn Kanungo works at the intersection of creativity, business, and technology. He spent 12 years at Deloitte working closely with leaders to help them better plan for the opportunities associated with disruptive innovation. In his high energy keynotes, Kanungo draws on his extensive experience to provide audiences with an optimistic roadmap for the future; one that embraces unexpected approaches to innovation to remain competitive and relevant.
Since leaving Deloitte, Kanungo has worked with hundreds of organizations on their journey to digital transformation. He’s led complex projects incorporating artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, behavioural economics, Web3, and more. Today, Kanungo is a Partner with Queen & Rook, where he advises leading organizations and executives on disruptive trends and invests in early-stage ventures.
Kanungo’s work has been featured in the Globe and Mail, The Guardian, CBC, and CTV. He’s been recognized by Edify Magazine as one of their “Top 40 Under 40” and by Inc. magazine as one of the “100 Most Innovative Leaders”. In 2021, Forbes called Kanungo the “best virtual keynote speaker I’ve ever seen”.
A prolific content creator, Kanungo’s content on innovation has garnered millions of views across LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. His bestselling debut book, The Bold Ones offers a playbook for individuals to become bolder and push their careers and companies forward.
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, May 31st | 10:30 am EST
Strategy in a World of Disruption
The business world has fundamentally changed forever. The growth and adoption of new technologies is at a dizzying pace. Customer and employee expectations have been pushed forward 10 years due to the pandemic. We are now looking for organizations to be fearless in a changing world.
These drivers are forcing everyone to reimagine their entire organizations. How do we survive? How do we disrupt ourselves before someone else does? How do we deliver better experiences to our clients, customers, and teams? Today, we need to be bold, brave and experimental.
In this awe-inspiring talk, Shawn Kanungo provides an optimistic roadmap for the future. He explores how we can take unexpected approaches to innovation to remain competitive and relevant.

Conference Industry Panel

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Catherine McKeown, Chief People Officer – Hammond Power Solutions
Cory Morris, Regional VP, Atlantic Canada – Graybar
Tim King, President – Southwire Canada
Vanessa Ricard, Business Development – Agence RicardModerated by Swati Vora-Patel, VP, Marketing & Channel Development – Electro-Federation Canada
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Day 2 – THURSDAY, JUNE 2nd | 9:30 am
Following the keynote address by Michael Back from the Canadian Centre for Diversity & Inclusion, industry members will convene onstage to examine how we can establish industry baselines and cadences to track progress for DEI efforts. Learn about EFC’s new DEI stats initiative and the role each member plays in supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in our channel.
Conference Concurrent Track Speakers
Steven Taylor : President and CEO of Ignite Technology | Doug Thubron : President of Ignite Solutions
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Steven Taylor is the President and CEO of Ignite Technology, and in this role, Steven is responsible for the overall vision and leadership of the company and its disciplines – Ignite Collaboration, Ignite Security and Ignite Solutions. A big believer in the team, Steven credits the alignment of personal, wellness, and corporate goals to Ignite’s culture. Achieving great work life balance for his team ultimately defines his success. Steven deeply cares about the people he works with and lives the ‘People First’ mentality to the fullest.
Based in Calgary, Steven is married with two kids, loves to golf and while he’s no longer playing the role of football Coach, he continues to transfer that energy into encouraging people who might doubt their abilities, understand their strengths and find success. Whether in business or in his day-to-day life, Steven demonstrates what can be achieved by working together toward shared goals and vision.
Prior to starting Ignite, Steven spent 15+ years working in Unified Communications building and managing teams focused on Sales and Sales operations.
Doug Thubron is the President of Ignite Solutions, and has served as a trusted partner for businesses – first as NBi Solutions, and now under the Ignite Technology umbrella ¬– as a managed IT services provider for the past 20 years. He is passionate about providing solutions that allow smaller organizations to harness big-business capabilities through simplified IT practices, support and expertise.
Doug got his start building computers for his family-owned and operated IT company in Calgary. He was quickly swept up in the wave of rapidly advancing systems and ideas, setting the stage for his own innovations as a managed service provider.
Helping people remove complexity from their day to focus on what matters is essential to Doug, and so is building trusted relationships. As a leader, he is quick to surround himself with like-minded people who share a passion for service, and uncovering customer needs.
Doug is an avid golfer, is married, and has three boys who keep him super busy with competitive hockey. Coach, volunteer, and now a board of directors member, he’s been committed to supporting the Symons Valley Hockey Association for over 14 years.
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st | 1:00 pm
How to pre-qualify service providers to protect the secure your systems and data.
Choosing an IT service provider can often be onerous for businesses, especially given the high data security concerns that organizations face. A study by the Ponemon Institute suggested that 58% of small businesses do not know if their IT vendor’s security policies are sufficient to prevent a data breach. While outsourcing any part of your business comes with risks, entrusting your IT services to outside vendors can be unnerving. Unlike accounting or legal services that have an established set of certifications and regulations, IT services don’t have the same level of standards for compliance, making it difficult to pre-qualify IT vendors.
Outsourcing IT services can be risky business if security policies and agreements aren’t discussed and put into place. This session will explore the following:
- The rules of engagement when searching for an IT provider to protect your data and systems
- What questions every business should ask to pre-qualify vendors
- How to build and/or transfer service agreements while maintaining control of your domains, databases and other systems to ensure continued access and protection of confidential data
Daniel Breton : President and CEO with Electric Mobility Canada
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Daniel Breton is President and CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, one of the oldest associations dedicated to the electrification of transportation in the world. This organization has members from every sector related to electric mobility in Canada, including electricity suppliers, vehicle manufacturers, cities, universities, unions, technology companies, mining companies, research centers, government departments, environmental NGOs, electric vehicle owners’ associations, dealers’ associations, fleet managers, etc.
A former Quebec Minister of the Environment, Sustainable Development, Wildlife and Parks, he was the first elected official in charge of a government strategy for the electrification of transportation in Canada in 2012. He graduated in sustainable carbon management and has written several books on the subject of transportation electrification, climate change, air pollution and energy transition since 2009.
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st | 1:00 pm
A few weeks ago, the federal government announced that it would mandate the sale of EVs with targets of 20% sales by 2026, 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. What this announcement brings for your industry is market predictability… and many opportunities. This session will explain the following:- The level of investment that this announcement represents
- The different types of EV infrastructure that will be needed
- The challenges and opportunities for your industry.
Warren Collier, Director of Talent Strategy, Self-Management Group
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 | 2:00 pm
A recent study confirmed that 56% of the workforce holds a job that is compatible (at least partially) with remote work. Leaders are now evaluating how best to manage a workforce in a post-covid world that is unique to their organization and adapt their culture strategy to reimagine their work and workplaces.
Warren will share the results of a recent study of over 10,000 people where we assessed a variety of critical skills necessary for success in a remote work environment tied to performance and retention. These findings can help organizations assess their existing talent pool and support managers leading a remote team into the future. He will also discuss why the future office will need to cater to all types of workers and discuss some practical ideas for leaders to implement an operating model that leverages the best of both in-person and remote work.
Conference CEMRA & CMG Meeting Speakers
CEMRA Meeting
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st | 1:00 pm PT
CEMRA Chair, Brent Norrey, Roney Marketing, will lead the CEMRA meeting on June 1st.
Learn more about CEMRA.
CMG Feature Presentation
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st | 2:00 pm PT
New this year, the CMG (CEMRA manufactures group) will be featuring a presentation on Manufacturers and Reps… Moving Forward: Defining Roles and Expectations.
This session is open to all members.
Questions? Contact Nathalie Lajoie at nlajoie@electrofed.com.
Learn more about CMG.
CEMRA Ice Cream Station
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Day 1 – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st | 3:15 pm PT
As a popular tradition, CEMRA will be featuring their ice cream station for all members to enjoy and have a great opportunity to meet & greet with national CEMRA agents.
Thank you to our Lead Conference Sponsor:
Chairman’s Gala Reception & Awards Dinner
Chair’s Reception | ‘Luxury Railroad’ Awards Dinner
Step back in time, as we re-imagine the roaring 20’s and the railroads that served Canadians as a mode of luxury transportation. This evening will feature special comedic entertainment by Steve Patterson, host of the debaters, as well as a dinner and award presentations in honour of those who have made remarkable contributions to our industry. All conference delegates and companions are welcome to attend this awards banquet. Gala table reservations will begin in April. *Semi-formal Attire
Call for Award Nominations, click here
Electro Lounge Meetings
EFC is pleased to offer increased and extended B2B meeting space. These meetings are available for smaller manufacturers, distributors and reps to meet in a casual informal setting. These meeting areas are complimentary and are suited for approx. 2-4 people only. These meeting areas are in an open ballroom with several seating areas for you to conduct informal meetings.
Open-concept spaces are available for smaller meetings up to 4 people in the designated Electro-Lounge room. Register for your complimentary meeting space, click here
Head Office Meetings
EFC’s Head Office Program provides members with an opportunity to host private meetings with suppliers and customers during the conference. EFC manufacturer, distributor and rep members are all eligible to reserve a meeting room, based on availability.
To register your company for a meeting space, please click on this link to book
Audio visual requirements, food and beverages can be ordered for your meeting room, based on your request and billing. Note: It is the responsibility of the manufacturer and distributor to arrange for convenient meeting times. EFC staff will not schedule or confirm appointments.
Tours & Activities – Available soon!
Exciting tours and activities are being confirmed for you to explore and experience the majestic wonders of Banff. Please stay tuned for full details.
Please note: EFC is closely monitoring developments with COVID-19 and is strengthening its protective measures accordingly. To minimize any risks to employees, members and other event attendees, please follow precautionary measures by using hand sanitizer and avoiding handshakes. If you have visited any of the following COVID-19 affected areas within the past 14 days, we kindly ask that you refrain from attending EFC events: China, Iran, Northern Italy, Japan, South Korea. Thank you for your cooperation.