Conference Agenda

Opening Remarks

Conference Co-Chairs:

Alena Thouin, Deputy Director, Legal Services, Ministry of the Attorney General

Hilda Wong, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, First National Financial LP

Workshop: Building Resilience Skills for Leadership Excellence

Change, stress and uncertainty are ever-present factors in today’s in-house legal environment, and being an effective leader in such an environment requires resilience. Resilient lawyers lead in very specific ways that are different from their less resilient counterparts. Paula’s work with the University of Pennsylvania, the United States Army, and her work with thousands of lawyers and other professionals reveals that those with higher levels of resilience were promoted more quickly, had higher levels of engagement, lower levels of catastrophizing and used healthier coping strategies when under stress and pressure. During this workshop, you’ll learn what resilient lawyers do differently along with the opportunity to practice some of these strategies.

Introduction:

Cheryl Satin, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Speaker:

Paula Davis-Laack, Burn-Out Prevention and Resilience Expert

Resilience in Action: GC's Developing, Demonstrating and Calibrating Individual Resilience

Our panel of women in senior leadership roles will discuss individual resilience and will share what resilience means to them. They will also discuss strategies to develop resilience, when and how to demonstrate resilience and whether being resilient can sometimes be misinterpreted as lacking in empathy or emotional intelligence.

Cathy Singer, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP

Panelists:

Kikelomo Lawal, Interac

Trish Callon, Sun Life Financial

Deborah Greenberg, CMHC

Cecile Chung, Samuel Group of Companies

Facilitator:

Colleen Moorehead, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

WGCC Annual General Meeting

WGCC Executive Committee

 Keynote Address

Deirdre Stanley, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Thomson Reuters, will share her perspective on resilience and leadership and what it means to go from swimming to soaring.

Introduction:

Terra Rebick, Thomson Reuters Canada

Keynote Speaker:

Deirdre Stanley, EVP and General Counsel, Thomson Reuters

Afternoon Break

Addressing Diversity Headwinds to Build Team Resilience

While everyone faces challenges that test resilience, talent from under-represented groups (e.g. women and minorities in leadership) can face additional obstacles, such as unconscious bias and micro-inequities, that can chip away at the cornerstones of resilience: confidence, energy and optimism. These invisible “headwinds” are not caused by lack of skills and potential, but simply because one is different from the dominant or “in” group. This interactive session will explore diversity-related headwinds and how we as leaders can identify and proactively remove or reduce them – for ourselves and for our teams – in order to unleash the full potential of all our talent and to build resilient teams and organizations.

Introduction:

Julie Parla, McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Speaker:

Peggy Hazard, Korn Ferry

Closing Remarks

Conference Co-Chairs:

Alena Thouin, Deputy Director, Legal Services, Ministry of the Attorney General

Hilda Wong, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, First National Financial LP

"Mindfulness-Creativity-Positivity" Wellness Session

As a calming way to end our Conference, Indira Wellness will present a session where attendees will learn how self-care practices and meditation can increase resiliency and reduce stress. As part of this session, participants will learn about the role your mind(fullness) plays in developing resilience, the benefits of creating a mantra and how the practice of gratitude can support resilience.

Sari Nisker-Fox, Indira Wellness