Kwasi Adu-Poku is a small business owner, former varsity athlete, Wilson Leader, McMaster Honours Kinesiology graduate and masters policy graduate at Toronto Metropolitan University. He currently works as an Account Coordinator for the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on some of the largest housing/homelessness programs in the province.

He launched The Reach Series in 2020 based on his varsity basketball, mental health challenges, and equity-related challenges and uses this platform to provide workshops, speaking services, and custom apparel around personal development. He is passionate about leadership, community engagement, and academics, which is reflected in his 20+ awards and $70,000 in scholarship funding. His awards include McMaster’s President’s Award of Excellence, and the Wilson Leadership Scholar Award, two of the university’s highest honours for student leadership.

Kwasi aims to apply interdisciplinary approaches to his learning and approaches to life, which he often touches on when he speaks.

Lena Balata is a Researcher at the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, working on a variety of research projects relating to access, transferable skills and work-integrated learning. With almost ten years of experience in Ontario’s higher education system, she has worked on grant and project management, policy development and analysis, and written and contributed to several HEQCO publications. Prior to joining HEQCO, Lena worked as a data specialist and project lead at the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT). Lena has worked closely with colleges and universities to develop policies and procedures that support student transfer pathways and success. She has a strong understanding of postsecondary research, program evaluation and knowledge mobilization and is passionate about supporting equity of access and success in postsecondary education for underrepresented groups. She holds a MA in higher education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto where she studied Canadian and Mexican Indigenous educational policies aimed at improving access to and success in postsecondary education for Indigenous groups. 

Her case study explores how the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) and the Newcomer Students’ Association (NSA) gained insights into the experiences of refugee students in Ontario. Specifically: it will highlight an information gap that prohibits refugees from accessing appropriate postsecondary opportunities. It will also highlight the lack of supports available to refugees who do access postsecondary. The presentation will summarize the recommendations HEQCO and NSA offer to colleges, universities and the provincial government and invite participants to share their own ideas.  

Chris Chopik is a sought-after expert in real estate, sustainability, and how climate change impacts the way we work, earn, and live around the world. 
 
As an advisor to government, NGOs, policymakers, community stakeholders, and homeowners, Chopik has navigated many challenging issues facing communities as they strive to grow their economies and become climate-resilient in the face of rapid change. He also regularly consults private industry, investors, and organizations on strategy and direction for constituent and consumer engagement related to infrastructure renewal, natural hazard, resiliency investment, renewable energy, building labeling, energy efficiency, local living economies, complete streets, and biophilic design. 
 
Chopik holds a Masters degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University. He conducted essential research on how climate change impacts property values and developed the original Climate Change Risk Index, a ubiquitous part of real estate valuation and climate risk mitigation and transparency models. 

Currently serving as Interim CEO of Supply Ontario, Martha Greenberg has held the role of Deputy Minister of Policy and Delivery and Associate Secretary of the Cabinet in Cabinet Office since February 2019. From December 2021 to June 2022, she also held the position of Deputy Minister of Legislative Affairs. As the Deputy for Policy and Delivery, Martha works with all ministries and the Premier’s Office to develop and deliver the government’s policy and legislative agenda. 

Martha previously had carriage over the economic, environmental, resource, transportation, justice and intergovernmental aspects of the government’s policy agenda, as an Assistant Deputy Minister within Cabinet Office. 

Prior to joining Cabinet Office, Martha worked at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in various roles, including in Health Promotion working on policies and programs that promote healthier choices and supportive environments. She also worked in the Transformation Secretariat, providing leadership for health-system transformation and initiating the ministry’s strategy around patient empowerment. Martha began her OPS career working in various roles in infrastructure and energy. 

An award-winning social entrepreneur, Jenn Harper is the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC.  Cheekbone Beauty is a digitally native direct to consumer brand that is helping Indigenous youth see themselves in a beauty brand while using the concept of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) in the brands ethos and in developing products.  Creating a new segment in the beauty industry – Sustainable Socially Conscious Beauty.   

Jennifer Harper has been making a name for herself in the beauty industry for a number of years but has been gaining popularity quickly after being on the hit CBC show, Dragons Den in 2019. Cheekbone Beauty’s mission is to help every Indigenous youth see and feel their enormous value in the world while creating sustainable cosmetics. 

In addition to Cheekbone’s mission, she strives to educate as many people as possible about the Residential School System and the effects it has had on my family and friends through decades of generational trauma. She speaks regularly to university, college and high school students about social entrepreneurship, empathy, and the history of her First Nations family. She has also been invited to speak to various entrepreneur groups including women in business associations, Apple Canada, and First Nations organizations. 

Alyssia Jovellanos is a McMaster grad, former Wilson Leader, founder of McMaster’s DeltaHacks (still possibly the largest social hackathon) and recipient of Y-Combinator funding.