Walied Soliman, Taskforce Chair, Canadian Chair, Norton Rose Fulbright

Walied Soliman is the Canadian chair of Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF). He is also co-chair of NRF’s Canadian special situations team, which encompasses Canada’s leading hostile M&A, shareholder activism and complex reorganizations team. In addition, his practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, financings, corporate governance and structured products. Mr. Soliman was honoured as the 2019 Global Citizen Laureate by the United Nations Association in Canada. Key achievements include: in 2017, Mr. Soliman was the only lawyer recognized in the Globe and Mail's Report on Business Magazine Power 50 list; he is ranked as a leading Canadian corporate lawyer by both Chambers Canada and Lexpert Canada since 2016; and he was named one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer magazine in 2014. Among other philanthropic endeavours, Mr. Soliman is a board member of the Toronto SickKids Hospital Foundation.

Rupert Duchesne, former CEO and Director of Aimia

Rupert Duchesne retired in 2017 from Aimia Inc., where he was the founding CEO and a Director. Mr. Duchesne previously held officer positions at Air Canada, and in consulting. He is a board member of Mattamy Homes Inc., the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Luminato Festival, and the International Festival of Authors, and previously Alliance Atlantis and the Brain Canada Foundation. He is on the National Council of the C.D. Howe Institute. He is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Wes Hall, Founder and Executive Chair, Kingsdale Advisors

Wes Hall is an established innovator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. As Executive Chairman & Founder of Kingsdale Advisors, he has been named one of Canada’s most powerful business people. He is also the owner of QM Environmental, Titan Supply, and Harbor Club hotel. In 2009, he was recognized with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Ontario, Canada. Mr. Hall is currently a director of SickKids Foundation and a board member of Pathways to Education and Toronto International Film Festival. In 2015, he was the recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Award and in 2017 he received an honorary doctorate, both from the University of the West Indies.

Melissa Kennedy, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Sun Life

Melissa Kennedy leads Sun Life’s legal, compliance, and government relations functions, is a member of the company’s most senior Executive Team, and the Executive Sponsor of Sustainability. Ms. Kennedy also chairs the boards of Sun Life’s Canadian and US asset management companies. Before joining Sun Life, she was previously SVP General Counsel for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan; VP Associate GC at CIBC and head of the litigation team at the OSC. In 1996, she was appointed by the Ontario government to the TVO board of directors and in 2014 to the province’s Technical Advisory Group on Retirement Security. She currently serves on the boards of the Asia Pacific Foundation; the Association of Corporate Counsel; and in 2020 was appointed as an expert advisor to the Task Force for a Resilient Recovery.

Cindy Tripp, Founding Partner, former Managing Director, Co-Head Institutional Trading of GMP Securities L.P.

Ms. Tripp is an experienced financial services executive and one of the founding partners of GMP Securities L.P., where she was previously Managing Director, Co-Head Institutional Trading. She has overseen institutional trading, retail trading, securities lending, foreign exchange and risk management. Ms. Tripp is a former member of the board of Avante Logixx, former Chair of the Board of the Bishop Strachan School, a Director of the Georgian Bay Land Trust, and a former board member of Toronto Financial Services Alliance.