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 endeavors, Mr. Soliman is a board member of the Toronto SickKids Hospital Foundation, Ryerson University and the BlackNorth Initiative.

Rupert Duchesne, CEO of Mattamy Ventures

Rupert Duchesne is currently the CEO of Mattamy Ventures. He was previously the founding CEO and a Director of Aimia Inc., Mr. Duchesne previously held officer positions at Air Canada, and in strategy consulting. He is currently also a board member of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Luminato Festival, and the International Festival of Authors, and previously Mattamy Group Corp, Dorel Industries, Alliance Atlantis and was the Chair of the Brain Canada Foundation. He is on the National Council of the C.D. Howe Institute. He is also 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 and Founder of Kingsdale Advisors, he has been named one of Canada’s most powerful business people and one of the 50 most influential Torontonians. Additionally, Wes is the owner of QM Environmental, a leading environmental and industrial services provider; Titan Supply, a top manufacturer and distributor of rigging and wear products serving industries in the oil and gas, construction and transportation sectors; and Harbor Club hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton, one of St. Lucia’s premier resorts. He is also the Founder and Chairman of The Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism and the BlackNorth Initiative, committed to the removal of anti-Black systemic barriers negatively affecting the lives of Black Canadians. Wes is currently a director of SickKids Foundation and a board member of Pathways to Education and Toronto International Film Festival.

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

Melissa Kennedy is a member of the International Leadership team, Executive Sponsor of Sustainability and leads Sun Life’s legal, compliance, and government relations global teams. Before joining Sun Life, she was SVP General Counsel at 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 Ontario’s Technical Advisory Group on Retirement Security. She previously co-chaired U of T’s Faculty of Law’s fundraising campaign, is a founder member of Canada’s Legal Leaders for Diversity and has served on the boards of Sun Life’s joint venture with a Chinese state-owned bank based in Beijing, and Toronto Financial Services Alliance. Melissa currently serves on the boards of the Asia Pacific Foundation; Soulpepper Theatre; Association of Corporate Counsel; MFS Investment Management; Sun Life Capital Management (chair); and BentallGreenOak. In 2020, she served as an expert advisor to the Canadian 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.