CDO Magazine’s Toronto Leadership Dinner, held on November 12 at GEORGE Restaurant, welcomed senior leaders in data, analytics, AI, and security for an evening of insight-sharing on the theme “From Insight to Impact: Insiders Edition.” 

The gathering sparked meaningful connections and idea exchanges centered on reimagining workflows through intelligent assistants, cutting through AI noise, accelerating high-value customer moments, modernizing legacy processes, simplifying industry complexities, and elevating the intelligence and data stack to unlock enterprise-wide impact.

Reflecting on the evening, Jide Adeoye, Toronto Co-chair and goeasy Director, Business Intelligence, says, “The CDO Magazine Toronto Dinner was incredible! Great opportunity to connect with colleagues, dive into the latest trends in data and AI, and explore emerging challenges and opportunities along with strategies to navigate them. Looking forward to more insightful and engaging events like this in the future.”

Similarly, Qahir Rajwani, CIBC Mellon VP, Client Experience & Analytics, describes, “What an incredible experience at the CDO Magazine Toronto event! I loved connecting with peers, learning from their AI journeys, and hearing how they’re tackling real-world challenges. It was equally rewarding to celebrate the success stories that continue to inspire our data and AI community.”

Joining for the first time, Avalon D’Souza, American Tire Distributors Director, Analytics, says he was blown away by the vibrant community that the CDO Magazine team has cultivated. “The depth of AI insights shared, the diversity of perspectives, and the authentic camaraderie among Toronto’s data professionals made the event unforgettable,” he adds.

Sharing her personal view, Jessica Jolly, Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease Global Data Office Head, says, “The CDO Magazine Toronto Leadership Dinner was invigorating, showcasing Toronto’s data and AI talent. It provided valuable insights across various industries regarding data and AI maturity. 

“Participants collectively emphasized a commitment to ethical practices while driving organizational innovation. The atmosphere was charged with enthusiasm and collaboration, reflecting a shared ambition for progress in our fields,” Jolly adds. 

Sharing his key takeaway, Pranav Kapoor, Sun Life Financial AVP & Global Head, AI & Advanced Analytics, Internal Audit, says, “The Leadership Dinner underscored how AI is a journey; we are all on a similar path, just at different places. Data and AI leaders are shifting from experimentation to enterprise-scale impact — the future belongs to those who weave governance, culture and technology into one to achieve tangible transformation.”

Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Global Events Manager, highlights, “The Toronto Leadership Summit wasn’t just an event, it was a vibe. The room was packed wall-to-wall with Toronto’s brightest innovators from finance to pharma, from retail to risk, all firing on every tech cylinder. The conversations were bold, the energy was wild, and the insights were incredible. The Toronto Tech Ecosystem is ALIVE!”

Summing up the evening, Ibrahim Ashqar, Lumi AI CEO, says, “It was awesome to see how CDO Magazine brought together Toronto’s data community for great food, drinks, and engaging discussions on how AI is reshaping data and analytics. A recurring theme was the challenge of data quality and the universal recognition of the importance of capturing context so that agentic systems can deliver reliable insights from large structured datasets – something we think about deeply at Lumi.”

Special thanks goes to Lumi AI, Qualiware, and Fortanix for their partnership in making the event a success.

*Jessica Jolly is a member of the CDO Magazine Global Board.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine Toronto Leadership Dinner included: 

Ebenezer Adejumo, BMO Data Management & Analytics; Jide Adeoye, goeasy Director, Business Intelligence; Zeinab Alliji, BMO Director, AI (Wealth); Miki Alanam, State Street Head, Analytics, CRPM; Henry Awere, Canada Manager, Responsible AI Tech Risk; Vaibhav Singh Bhadauria, Total Credit Recovery Chief Information & Security Officer; Lori Bieda, AI & Digital Transformation Executive; Jean-Yann Bucaille, Lactalis Chief Information Officer; Alex Chan, RBCx Sr. Director & Head, RBCx Analytics; Dinesh Chandrasekaran, CN Railway Data Management; Saria Chowdhury, Alimentiv IT Project Manager; Avalon D’Souza, American Tire Distributors Director, Analytics; Lina Dabit, Optiv Canada Executive Director; Joyce Drohan, former Ontario Government Chief AI & Technology Officer; Kristina Eichenberg, RCMP Intel Supervisor; Kyler Evans, Element Fleet Director, Security Operations; Hoora Fakhrmoosavy, Hydro One Director, Data & AI; Yan Gu, BMO Director, GenAI; Taufiq Hakim, CAPREIT Director, Data Strategy & Governance; Anna Hannem, TD Bank VP, Data Risk Management; Sara Jetta, Jetta AI Consulting Executive Advisor; Jessica Jolly, Alexion-Astra Zeneca Rare Disease Global Data Office Head; Lawrence Jordan, Aviso VP, Data & Analytics; Pranav Kapoor, Sun Life Financial AVP & Global Head, AI & Advanced Analytics, Internal Audit; Naveen Kumar, Digital Coalesce Managing Partner; Nabarun Lahiri, TD Securities Managing Director, Data Management; Parisa Lak, Manulife Sr. Data Scientist; Mary Ann Mendes, BMO Director; Mina Movahedi Shakib, Bell Canada Cyber Threat Investigator; Dashmira Musa, Scotiabank Sr. Manager, Enterprise Data Governance; Anu Oladele, Questrade Managing Director; Silvana Ortega, Scotiabank Sr. Manager, Compliance & AML Data; Ted Pana, Director, Cyber Security; Isabelle Poirier, Kilmer Van Nostrand SVP, Innovation & Communications; Vinay Puri, Laurentian Bank Sr. Security Advisor; Faisal Rajan, Sanofi Product Owner, Commercial Digital Data & AI; Qahir Rajwani, CIBC Mellon VP, Client Experience & Analytics; Rafael Ramirez, Manulife Sr. Manager, Audit Infrastructure; Andre Rekhtine, Alpha Auto Group Head, IT; Farid Sheikhi, RBCx Sr. Manager, Analytics Innovation & Data Enablement; Tezbir Singh, BMO Managing Director, Data & Analytics Capabilities; Yasmin Somani, EDC Director; Ana Stepanova, CITI AVP, Markets Ops & Tech; Swetha Subramanian, Loblaw VP, Data Strategy & Measurement Science; Alex Tait, RBC Head, Data & AI Governance; Omid Tak, BMW Financial Services Business Intelligence Manager; Jason Wang, Scotiabank VP, Retail Risk; Michelle Yeap, BMO Data Analytics; Ibrahim Ashqar, Lumi AI CEO; Bobby Blake, Fortanix Country Manager, Canada; Tudor Boiangiu, Lumi AI Co-Founder & CTO; Patrick Conte, Fortanix Chief Revenue Officer; Brenda Cowie, QualiWare Senior Vice President; Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Global Events Manager; and Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine SVP, Sales.