CDO Magazine’s highly anticipated third annual Toronto Leadership Summit gathered some of the most influential data, analytics, AI, and cybersecurity leaders from across Canada at The Omni King Edward Hotel on May 29. Drawing 230+ participants from banking, healthcare, energy, transportation, manufacturing, and more, the event offered a powerful platform to exchange insights, explore emerging trends, and dive into what it takes to lead in a rapidly shifting digital and regulatory environment.

Anchored in the theme “The Resilience Revolution: Leading Through Disruption, Empowering Transformation with Data, Analytics, AI, and Cybersecurity,” the Summit featured expert-led sessions by 50+ speakers focused on real-world innovations and governance frameworks driving resilience, trust, and competitive advantage.

The three keynote sessions stood out:

• AI Unfiltered: Navigating Transformation from Insight to Impact — Lori Bieda, BMO Chief Data Analytics & AI Officer, North American Retail & Business Bank & Head, Enterprise CRM
• Beyond the Algorithm: Leading the Human Side of AI Transformation — Sol Rashidi, Cyera Chief Strategy Officer for Data & AI
• Diving Deep: Resilience Unleashed — Vivek Khindria, former Loblaw SVP, Cyber Security, Network, & Technology Risk

Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Global Event Manager, reflects: “The CDO Magazine leadership event was more than a summit — it was a signal that the Toronto community is ready to drive real change. The attendees didn’t just talk transformation — they owned it. I’m truly honored to be part of this community because when you get this many data rockstars in one room, a spark ignites. Toronto just set the bar for what’s next in data and leadership.”

CDO Magazine thanks the host city Co-Chairs of the Toronto Leadership Summit for their leadership:

• Jide Adeoye, goeasy Director, Business Intelligence
• Carter Cousineau, Hydro One VP, Data, Analytics & AI
• Rex Davis, RBC Chief Data Officer
• Alena Godin, Multi-Industry Chief Data & Analytics Officer, including Best Buy Canada
• Jean-François Ross, Canadian Rail Director, CN Data Services
• Palash Thakur, Interac VP, Head of Data Analytics & Fraud

Sharing his take on the event, Co-Chair and speaker Ross says, “The CDO Magazine Toronto Summit 2025 was a resounding success, inspiring Canadian data leaders to connect, collaborate, and rally around the transformative future of AI. Such events are essential for visionary leadership to benchmark, exchange actionable insights, and collectively strengthen impactful data and AI strategies. This is how, together, we are shaping a more resilient, productive, and high-performing Canadian economy for tomorrow.”

Reflecting on the growth of the community, speaker and founding Toronto Executive Board member Aida Tahiri, Mattamy Homes VP, Finance, Planning, Data & Analytics, says, “Looking back to where we started with the community and fast forward to today, it’s so inspiring to see this grow and bring together so many data, analytics and AI leaders. This is the place to be to meet new professionals, forge relationships, and build connections with a community that has been supporting my and my team’s professional growth.”

Co-Chair and moderator Godin shares her overall takeaways from the summit:

• It was the most spectacular convergence of data/AI/Analytics/Cybersecurity leaders in what felt like being at our version of summer camp but without all the scraped knees or poison ivy. It felt like we were all part of a truly strong and united community, supporting each other and soaking in as many nuggets of wisdom and lessons learned that our excited minds would allow us to.
• We repeatedly discussed the AI Mindset Shift that is our mandate to distill throughout our enterprises as data/AI leaders. There was a recurring theme we heard throughout the day surrounding the critical importance and gap that still starkly remains around data governance, AI governance, and security that we must persistently rise and challenge the status quo around.
• Many of our panels and keynotes from the day tackled the imperative of embedding change management, or as keynote Sol Rashidi coined it, “Workforce Preparation,” being the reason why adoption fails, fears and uncertainties rise, misunderstood expectations are built, or why processes can fall apart in AI deployments, particularly when it is not championed as an upfront priority by data leaders.
• As our theme “the Resilience Revolution” cascaded throughout the day, the electric buzz in the room made it clearly apparent that we all understand the assignment in front of us – we hold some of the most critical roles as our industry reaches a pivotal moment with the rapid adoption and explosive growth of AI. We must be relentless in amplifying and strengthening our people in how we approach the future of AI. We require urgency, acting as leaders of change, but being constantly thoughtful of workforce preparation throughout.

Godin’s main takeaway from the panel she moderated on “Why Talent is the Strongest Currency in Data” is: “There was resounding agreement in activating now to not only grow AI literacy throughout our respective corporations but also take responsibility to become engaged with post-secondary institutions. The panel spoke to the important skills for today’s teams, such as critical thinking, business comprehension, and real-world understanding, as well as storytelling and change management.”

Describing the summit as “one of the best curated and intimate experiences of the year,” speaker Anna Hannem, TD Bank VP, Data & AI Risk, says: “Kudos to the CDO Magazine Summit team for an exceptionally well-organized event that brought together data leaders from across industries to exchange valuable insights and perspectives. The thoughtful planning and seamless execution created a dynamic environment for meaningful dialogue and collaboration in the data space.”

Offering a personal reflection on the evolution of the CDO role and the CDO Magazine platform, keynote speaker Rashidi says: “I was involved with CDO Magazine when my career started taking off – when the role and identity of a Data Executive, a CDO, or a ‘data’ subject matter expert was still unknown, still unclear, and still underappreciated (even though the demand was high). CDO Magazine was the first organization to shine a light on these brilliant data practitioners who needed a community. As such, I’ll be forever grateful to this organization for giving us data folks a voice and a space to engage and shine. Thank you, CDO Magazine team. Keep hosting amazing events and bringing this community together!”

Sharing a key insight from her presentation “AI Unfiltered: Navigating Transformation from Insight to Impact,” keynote speaker Bieda says, “AI is one part tech and three parts people and change management in order to monetize AI at scale.

“To all my women in STEM, be unabashedly bold and punch through glass ceilings because STEM needs you,” Bieda adds.

Co-Chair and speaker Cousineau mentions the summit as an “inspiring showcase” of data leadership, innovation, and collaboration. “It brought together brilliant minds driving the future of AI and getting your data ready in Canada and beyond. It was great to feel the energy in the room, with fresh insights and valuable connections that will shape the road ahead.”

Special thanks to Cyera, Tiger Analytics, Datavid, Flexor, Qohash, Profisee, Fortanix, Starburst, TigerGraph, BigID, Collibra, Alation, The Data Lodge, and Data Society for making this event a success.

*Rex Davis, Alena Godin, Sol Rashidi, Aida Tahiri, and Palash Thakur are members of the CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board.

Executives speaking at the CDO Magazine Toronto Leadership Summit included:

Jide Adeoye, goeasy Director, Business Intelligence; Raphael Adeyemo, ISC2 Toronto Chapter President; Ferris Adi, Trans Americas Fiber System CISO; Sumeet Bhatia, Sun Life Sr. Director, Data Strategy & Enablement; Lori Bieda, BMO Chief Data Analytics & AI Officer, North American Retail & Business Bank & Head, Enterprise CRM; Dinesh Chandrasekaran, CN Rail Data Leader; Stephanie Corvese, Doane Grant Thornton Sr. Manager, Digital Forensics & Incident Response; Carter Cousineau, Hydro One VP,  Data, Analytics & AI; Glenda Crisp, Vector Institute President & CEO; Lina Dabit, Optiv Canada (RCMP ret’d) Executive Director, Office of the CISO; Achille Ettorre, Ettorre & Associates Managing Partner; Alena Godin, Multi-Industry Chief Data & Analytics Officer, including Best Buy Canada; Yan Gu, BMO Director, Generative AI; Rahul Gupta; Data & Analytics Leader; Anna Hannem, TD Bank VP, Data & AI Risk; Allie Harris, CHEO Director, Data Governance & Analytics; Sara Jetta, former Purolator VP, AI & Automation, Data, Strategic Transformation; Lawrence Jordan, Aviso VP, Data & Analytics; Pranav Kapoor, Sun Life AVP, Audit Analytics; Jan Kestle; Environics Analytics President; Vivek Khindria, former Loblaw SVP, Cyber Security, Network, & Technology Risk; Sylvia Kingsmill, Trusteva Consulting Principal Advisor; Robert Knoblauch, Element Fleet Management Global CISO; Naveen Kumar, Digital Coalesce Managing Partner; Nabarun Lahiri, TD Securities AVP & MD, Data Management; Parisa Lak, Manulife Sr. Data Scientist; Daniel Liu, Toronto Stock Exchange Managing Director, Enterprise Risk Management; Shone Mousseiri, Manulife Director, Global AI Validation, Governance & Compliance; Nim Nadarajah, CriticalMatrix CISO; Sahar Nezami, Meridian Credit Union VP, Enterprise Data & Analytics; Anu Oladele, Questrade Managing Director, Data Engineering & Enablement; Vinay Puri, Conestoga College Sr. Executive Advisor & Adjunct Professor, Cyber Operations; Andres Rojas, Vector Institute Director, Applied AI Projects; Jean-François Ross, Canadian Rail Director, CN Data Services; Evelyne Roy, Element Fleet Chief Data & Analytics Officer; Andrea Ruotolo, Rockwell Automation Global Head, Sustainability, Digital, Responsible AI; Shweta Shah, Sun Life Chief Data Architect; Fahad Shaikh, Interac AVP; Farid Sheikhi, RBCx Sr. Manager, Analytics Innovation & Data Enablement; Karl Smolka, TD Securities Managing Director; Simon Sulyma, Manulife AVP, Information Risk; Aida Tahiri, Mattamy Homes VP, Finance, Planning, Data & Analytics; Katharine Tomko, First Ascent Ventures Partner; Jim Valkanas, Dream Unlimited CIO; Adam Bombicino, Qohash Revenue Strategy & Client Solutions; Scott Davies, Collibra Sr. Account Executive; Stephen Gatchell, BigID VP, AI & Data Strategy; Malcolm Hawker, Profisee Chief Data Officer; Jean Le Bouthillier, Qohash CEO & Founder; Victor Lee, TigerGraph Director; Paige Leidig, TigerGraph Chief Marketing Officer; Ron Longo, Fortanix Chief Revenue Officer; Tim Padilla, Datavid VP, Sales & Consulting, North America; Sam Ramachandran, Tiger Analytics Chief Sales Officer; Sol Rashidi, Cyera Chief Strategy Officer for Data & AI; Or Zabludowski, Flexor CEO; Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Global Event Manager.