Our past speakers

FWD50 conference features the world’s leading public servants, tech innovators and academics to share their knowledge and chart the course of digital government. Since 2017 we've welcomed hundreds of speakers from around the world that are paving the way in civic innovation. Learn more about all our speakers that have graced the FWD50 stage over the years!

2022 Speakers

The Honourable Mona Fortier

President, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

Mike Bracken

Partner, Public Digital

Marina Nitze

New Practice Lab Fellow, New America

Gulsanna Mamediieva

Director General of the Directorate for European Integration, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

David McRaney

Science Journalist
Author, You Are Not So Smart

Catherine Luelo

Chief Information Officer, Canada
Deputy Minister, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

David Lopez Almirol Jr.

Undersecretary for E-Government of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, Philippines

Julie Inman Grant

eSafety Commissioner, Australia

Maria Patterson

EIR & Director of New Ventures, LG Nova
Former Fellow, White House Presidential Innovation Fellows

Amanda Renteria

CEO, Code for America

Sony Perron

President, Shared Services Canada (SSC)

Navdeep Martin

Product Management Leader, Machine Learning Strategist, Blackbird.AI

Ryan Hum

CIO & VP Data & Information Management, Canada Energy Regulator (CER)

Irene Solaiman

Policy Director, Hugging Face

Piret Hirv

Manager, Estonian Connected Health Cluster

Katherine Benjamin

Chief Digital Officer, Head of Enterprise Digital Credentials, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

Honey Dacanay

Digital Policy and Governance Leader, Governments of Ontario and Canada

Felicity (Flick) March

Global Vice President of Growth: Cyber Resilience, Kyndryl Canada

Katy Lalonde

Director of Product, Ontario Digital Service (ODS)

Dave McCann

President, IBM Canada

Dorothy Eng

Executive Director, Code for Canada

Siim Sikkut

Former CIO, Government of Estonia
Author, Digital Government Excellence: Lessons from Effective Digital Leaders

Vass Bednar

Executive Director, MPP in Digital Society Program and Adjunct Professor, Political Science, McMaster University

Jessica Trybus

Firestarter, X, The Moonshot Factory

Jacky Tweedie

Digital Transformation Leader

Roy Nader

Manager, Engagement and Digital Culture, Digital Workplace Taskforce, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Michael Awe

Senior Program Lead, Office of the Corporate Chief Information Officer, Government Information Technology Ontario, Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery

Pia Andrews

Serial Public Sector Transformer

Franco Amalfi

Head of Sustainability Strategy, Global Public Sector, Google Cloud

Jaimie Park

Service Designer, Button Inc.

Emma Gawen

Partner, Public Digital

Ryan Androsoff

CEO & Founder, Think Digital

Aneeta Bains

Managing Partner, Government of Canada, IBM Canada

Gary Patsey

Manager, Office of Indigenous Initiatives, Innovation, Information and Technology, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Winter Fedyk

Associate, Think Digital

Nikhil Deshpande

Chief Digital Officer, State of Georgia

Erin O’Halloran

Healthcare Lead - Western Canada, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Melanie Gilbert

Partner, Public Sector Canada, IBM

Shawn McGuire

Chief Technology Officer for Resiliency, Kyndryl Canada

Vince Robert

Partner, Hybrid Cloud Services, Public Sector Canada, IBM

Ashley Evans

Senior Analyst, Digital Community Management Office, Office of the Information Officer, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

Brent Fox

Senior Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Daphnée Nostrome

Head, Digital Talent Strategy, Benefits Delivery Modernization, Service Canada

Jenn Spykerman

Tanzu Executive Advisor, VMware

Blair Neufeld

Executive Director, Product, Digital Delivery and Innovation, Service Alberta

Dea De Jarisco

Director, Digital Talent Attraction & Development, The Exchange Lab, Government of British Columbia

Caleb White

Chief Operating Officer, Climate Engine

Maryam Haghighi

Director, Data Science, Bank of Canada

Natasha Clarke

Associate Deputy Minister, Chief Digital Officer, Service Nova Scotia & Internal Services

Dr. Sindhu Pandit

Global Clinical Lead, Digital Strategy and Innovation, Salesforce

Tracy-Lynn Reid

Practice Lead, People & Leadership Research & Advisory Services, Info-Tech Research Group

Gianluca Cairo

Vice President, Operations and Strategy, Public Sector, Ceridian

Elise Nelson Leary

Director of Federal Partnerships and Agency Success, White House Presidential Innovation Fellows

Shahrouz Shahnavaz

Managing Director & Federal Advisory Lead, Accenture Microsoft Business Group (AMBG) Canada

Lisa Carroll

Canadian Public Sector Leader, Microsoft

Lewis S. Eisen

Speaker, Consultant, Author

Erika Piirmets

Digital Transformation Adviser, e-Estonia Briefing Centre

Tsering Zongdho

Senior Communications Consultant, Communications, Ontario Digital Service (ODS)

Dr. Wafa Snaineh

President, Gov. Design Academy

Chris Kuang

Co-Lead, U.S. Digital Corps

Meghan Hellstern

Facilitator & Trainer, Think Digital
Senior Policy Advisor, CDS, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

James Duncan

Co-founder and Principal, Stance Global

Shelby Switzer

Faculty Fellow, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation

Gigi Chang

Senior Analyst, Digital Talent Strategy, Service Canada

Paul Girard

Executive Director and Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

Mohammad Qureshi

Corporate Chief Information Officer & Associate Deputy Minister, Government Information Technology Ontario (GovTechON)

Xiaopu Fung

Director, Product and Service Delivery, Benefit Delivery Modernization, Service Canada

Allyna Sagun

Manager, Office of the Corporate Chief Information Officer, Government Information Technology Ontario (GovTechON)

Aaron Jaffery

Director General for Digital Experience and Client Data, Service Canada

Jordan Storozuk

Chief of Staff, Digital Experience and Client Data Workstream, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Kirsten Wyatt

Fellow, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation

Ronald Garcia

Architecture Lead, Digital Delivery and Innovation, Justice Digital, Government of Alberta

Pierre-Luc Pilon

Manager, Data Management - Service and Data Modernization Directorate, Digital Services and Transformation Office, Transport Canada

Lindsay Chan

Strategy & Policy Lead, Benefit Delivery Modernization, Service Canada

Aaron Snow

Acting Executive Director, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation

Jane Lu

Research and Policy Analyst, Benefits Delivery Modernization, Service Canada

Luke Simcoe

Director of Outreach, Code for Canada

Dugald Topshee

Director General of the Enterprise Solutions Directorate, Transport Canada

Chrysandre Courchêne

Manager for Strategic Innovation, Chief Data Office, Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA)

Evan Prodromou

Director of Open Technology, Open Earth Foundation

Leanne Labelle

Executive Director of Platform, Canadian Digital Service (CDS)

Sidra Mahmood

Open Data Lead, Data Intelligence, Chief Data Office, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Jeff Ball

Director of Open Government and Data Governance, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

Jean Scott

Director, National Capital Region, Microsoft

Neil Gabriel

Digital Services Regional Lead, Kainos

Sanjit Bakshi

UX Lead, Code for Canada

Ioana Contu

Team Lead, GC Forms & GC Articles, Canadian Digital Service (CDS)

Beth Collins

Director of Data Policy and Legislation, BC Data Service

Jose Jimenez

Technical Marketer, Platform Growth, Canadian Digital Service (CDS)

Angela Murphy

Deputy Director, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom

Jumana Bahrainwala

Senior Software Developer, CDS Platform, Canadian Digital Service (CDS)

Dean Clark

National Director – Cloud, Bell

Sanjeevan Srikrishnan

Head, Global Solutions Architecture, Equinix Canada

Karen Hay

Global Public Sector Digital Transformation Lead, Health Industry, Go-to-market Strategist, Salesforce

Hillary Hartley

Chief Digital & Data Officer, Government of Ontario
Deputy Minister, Digital Strategy, Government of Ontario

James Scott

Field CTO, Dell Technologies

Amanda Clarke

Associate Professor & Public Affairs Research Excellence Chair, Carleton University’s School of Public Policy & Administration

Jaimie Boyd

Partner & National Digital Government Leader, Deloitte Canada

Jen Schellinck

CEO, Sysabee

Charles-Antoine Drouin

Business Intelligence Analyst, Health Canada

Ima Okonny

Assistant Deputy Minister & Chief Data Officer, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Phillipe Caron

Interaction designer, CDS Platform, Canadian Digital Service (CDS)

Barry Kong

Executive Director, Open Government and Portals, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada

Līva Zemitis

Senior Engagement Advisor, Ontario Digital Service (ODS)

Tamara Srzentić

Former Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and media, Montenegro

Jesaiah Mills

National Practice Lead, People Experience, BDO Canada

Monika Schmidt

Senior Vice President, Implementation, Ceridian

Jeff Annable

Chief, GIS, Business Intake, and Special Projects, Data Analytics Platforms & Operations, Transport Canada

Luis Felipe Monteiro

Former Digital Government Secretary, Brazil
CEO, Cateno

Brian Whittaker (Host, RDGS)

Founder, Humans of Public Service

Skaidra Puodziunas (Host, RDGS)

Team Lead, Government Information Technology Ontario (GovTechON)

Rob Butler (Host, Workshop Stage)

Senior Program Advisor / Outreach and Engagement, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Amanda Bernardo (Host, Industry Innovations)

Manager, Organizational Change Management, Enterprise Transformation, Strategy and Engagement Branch, Shared Services Canada (SSC)

Alistair Croll (Host)

Co-founder & Chair, FWD50

2021 Speakers

2020 Speakers

2019 Speakers

2018 Speakers

2017 Speakers

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