Marek Laskowski, Ph.D., co-founded the Blockchain Lab at the Schulich School of Business where he teaches Data Science

at the graduate level as well as Blockchain application development. He is a leading researcher in the Blockchain space, is listed as Faculty on the Blockchain Research Insti- tute website, and is a pioneer of “on-chain” analytics.

He is a consultant for Blockchain startups using Hyperledger and Ethereum, and has begun working with NIST on a blockchain standard for digital assets, as well as other e orts including cross-border business process standards with the United Nations CEFACT bureau. Marek’s research involves blockchain, decision support systems for healthcare delivery, and population model- ling of public health interventions including vaccine e ectiveness.

As a lead data scientist in the Strategic Analytics and Modeling team at Deloitte, Alik’s focus is to leverage machine learning combined with business context to drive better decision making for clients.

Alik’s industry focus is in helping  nancial institutions apply machine learning to drive measurable business value, and he has used analytics to solve a wide range of business problems, including customer acquisition and retention, segmentation, fraud, pricing, productivity optimization, and risk in vari- ous business domains.

Before coming to Deloitte, Alik has spent four years in an operations management role in UPS in conjunction with receiv- ing his degree in Financial Mathematics from the University of Toronto. Alik also completed a Master’s Degree in Mathemat- ics from the University of Toronto, and has completed his CFA designation.

Alik is also currently teaching a Machine Learning course at the Master’s of Mathe- matical Finance program at the University of Toronto.

Ofer recently joined Deloitte’s Strategic Analytics and Modeling practice as Director of AI. Ofer has 15 years of experience in natural language processing, predictive

and advanced analytics, recommendation systems, information retrieval, and com- putational biology. Ofer holds a Ph.D from the world-renowned University of Toronto Machine Learning Group, and has held leadership positions at Kobo, Upsight, Meta, and Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative.

Dubie Cunningham is the Vice President, Innovation, Digital Banking at Scotiabank. With over twenty years of experience in the  nancial services and technology sectors, Dubie has held several leadership roles

in Scotiabank. In IT&S, she managed the Bank’s relationships with its strategic tech- nology partners, and most recently, led the Innovation Team at the Digital Factory.

In her current capacity, Dubie has an en- terprise mandate for thought leadership to support our digital transformation strategy, which includes  ntech collaboration, trans- formational technologies, and university research partnerships.

Dubie enjoys being active with her four kids, and holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Hailing from Quebec countryside, Virgile Rostand took his passion for helping Cana- dians access  nancial markets and founded Coinsquare. He holds a Ph.D in Mathemat- ics from Laval University and a Master of Mathematical Finance from the University of Toronto. Blockchain and digital curren- cies came onto his radar a er graduation, during his work as a  nancial engineer and so ware developer, on top of being a subject matter expert for a bank’s risk pro ling applications.

Learning about this new technology led him to see the potential to revolutionize the  - nancial system using blockchain and digital currencies. He noticed the opportunity for Coinsquare within the weak fundamentals of the digital currency movement in Cana- da. Opportunities to invest in digital curren- cy at the time were rife with unfriendly user experiences, large delays from international players, and subpar security infrastructure.

Richard Kang has the experience of over 25 New York Stock Exchange listed ETF launches since May 2009. Richard was one of three founders and Chief Investment O cer at Emerging Global Advisors LLC based out of New York City which issued and managed ETFs with underlying expo- sures in emerging and frontier markets.

Over his 20 years of buy-side experience, Richard has had senior roles at a hedge fund, fund-of-hedge fund, investment counseling  rm, index provider and ETF issuer/manager.

Mr. Kang has earned the Financial Risk Manager designation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals and has recently taught the “Fundamentals of Port- folio Management” course at NYU’s School of Professional Studies. He sits on FTSE’s Country Classi cation Indexing Committee as well as the editorial board of Institutional Investors’  e Journal of Index Investing, the only academic journal for the indexing and ETF industry.

Michael Rudd is the Senior Director

of Investments for Sigma Analysis & Management. A veteran of the global Fixed Income markets, Michael started his career with an Asset Management internship at CITIC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. He joined UBS London in 2006, quickly rising to become Head of iTraxx credit index trading through the 2008 Financial Crisis.

Michael moved with UBS to New York to trade European bank debt and diver- si ed single name CDS and, in 2011, took a senior role at RBC New York to head Covered Bond trading. Michael received his MSc in Finance from the London School of Economics, and is an Advising Rep registered in Ontario.