Nos conférencier.ère.s 2026

Amar Ahluwalia

Cofondateur et chef de la direction, OneVest

Amar Ahluwalia est le chef de la direction et co-fondateur d'OneVest. Il possède une longue expérience à des postes de direction dans les secteurs des services financiers, des technologies financières, de la gestion d'actifs et des marchés des capitaux. Avant de fonder OneVest, Amar a occupé des postes de direction chez Coast Capital, OnDeck et IHS Markit, et a débuté sa carrière chez BMO Marchés des capitaux. Il est titulaire d'un baccalauréat en économie de l'Université York. Amar a également siégé au conseil d'administration de l'Association canadienne des prêteurs et a agi à titre de conseiller en politiques de technologies financières auprès de la Commission des valeurs mobilières de la Colombie-Britannique. 

Tess Bloch

Cofondatrice et cheffe des opérations, Spade

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Tess Bloch is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Spade, the only transaction enrichment and merchant intelligence platform powering use cases across the payments value chain, from decisioning to loyalty to user experience. Before co-founding Spade, Tess led operations at Pinwheel and consulted at McKinsey & Company in London across payments and private equity. She got her start in fintech as a Venmo intern at Stanford, an internship that turned into a full-time role and gave her firsthand conviction that merchant intelligence would become critical infrastructure for the future of finance. Today, Spade's data and AI platform serves leading banks and fintechs like Citizens, Stripe, Cash App, and Bilt across authorization, rewards attribution, and analytics. 

Michael Denham

Vice-président exécutif et vice-président du conseil d'administration, Banque Nationale du Canada

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Michael Denham is Executive Vice-President and Vice Chair of National Bank of Canada. He is responsible for developing strategic orientations, leading key client relationships and priority projects. His current focus is integrating the Bank’s recent acquisition of Canadian Western Bank which brings him to Alberta very regularly. Mr. Denham sits on National Bankʼs Senior Leadership Team. 

Michael joined the Bank in 2021. Prior, he was President and CEO of BDC Business Development Bank of Canada), where he was instrumental in doubling the commercial franchise across Canada, advocating for small and medium-size business owners, and supporting the growth of entrepreneurs at every stage and across various industries. He had a particular focus on technology-based startups and venture capital. Under his leadership, BDC set up its partnership with NACCA (National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Associations) and worked closely with communities across the country. 

Prior to that, Michael held senior executive roles, including at Accenture, where he was President and CEO for Canada, CGI, Bombardier, and McKinsey. In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Denham serves on the Boards of the McGill University Health Centre Foundation 
and Endeavor Canada. Mr. Denham also serves as a mentor to entrepreneurs. He holds a Masterʼs degree in Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science LSE) and a Bachelorʼs degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University. 

Holger Kormann

Président et chef de la direction, Symcor

En sa qualité de président et chef de la direction, Holger Kormann est responsable de la gestion stratégique, de la direction et de la croissance des activités de Symcor partout au Canada. Agent de changement innovateur et pragmatique, M. Kormann est un visionnaire dont l'expérience en matière d'élaboration de stratégies commerciales fructueuses et de stimulation de la croissance se révèle exceptionnelle.  

Avant de se joindre à Symcor, M. Kormann a occupé le poste de président d'ADP Canada pendant huit ans, où il était chargé de positionner l'entreprise en tant que partenaire de choix sur les marchés de la technologie et de l'impartition des ressources humaines. Fort de plus de vingt ans d'expérience dans les domaines de la technologie, des opérations et des ventes, M. Kormann a occupé des postes de plus en plus importants au sein d'entreprises telles que Atos International et Siemens. 

M. Kormann est titulaire d'une licence en sciences appliquées de l'Université des sciences appliquées de Hambourg et d'une maîtrise en administration des affaires de l'Université de Hambourg, en Allemagne. M. Kormann est un voyageur curieux, un passionné de voitures et un promoteur immobilier amateur. Il aime faire du vélo, courir, jouer au tennis et passer du temps avec sa famille à Oakville, en Ontario. 

Parna Sabet-Stephenson

Associée, Cheffe du groupe Services financiers et technologie, Gowling WLG

À titre de cheffe du groupe Services financiers et technologie (FSxT) de Gowling WLG, Parna Sabet-Stephenson est une conseillère juridique de confiance auprès d’organisations des secteurs des services financiers et de la technologie. Elle est largement reconnue, tant au Canada qu’à l’international, pour son expertise approfondie en droit des technologies et en fintech. Bilingue et très engagée, Parna contribue régulièrement à des forums juridiques et sectoriels, où elle partage ses perspectives et son leadership éclairé.

Guy Shahar

Fondateur et chef de la direction, Blee

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Guy Shahar is the CEO and founder of Blee, a category-defining platform built to streamline marketing content compliance in highly regulated industries—especially financial services. With deep domain expertise across marketing operations, legal compliance, and financial services strategy, Guy founded Blee to address a critical but overlooked pain point: how marketing content is reviewed, approved, and archived in line with regulatory standards. 

Before launching Blee in 2022, Guy led Strategy, Planning, and Operations for Adobe's B2B products, and previously headed digital strategy engagements for Adobe's Fortune 500 clients—most notably banks, insurance companies, and asset managers. Earlier in his career, he held senior marketing roles at various startups, served as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, and practiced corporate law and regulatory compliance after graduating law school. 

Abraham A. Tachjian

Chef des affaires réglementaires, Brim Financials

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Abraham is a leader in financial services with globally recognized expertise in open banking. Over the span of his career, he has worked with financial institutions and regulators with respect to cutting-edge technological changes in banking, new business models and disruption from innovation. 

In March 2022, the Government of Canada named him the country’s Open Banking Lead. He was tasked with the mandate to empower Canadians and businesses with greater control over their financial data and to be better equipped to manage their finances. He established the foundation for Canada’s open banking system with a framework that is being implemented through legislation. 

He was previously a Director at PwC where he heads the firm’s Canadian open banking practice. Before joining PwC, he was one of the founders of Mox, a digital bank in Hong Kong built from scratch which has since gained prominence in the market. Prior to that, he was a director in digital banking in Singapore where he was responsible for the implementation of emerging technologies as well as making banking simpler and more intuitive. 

Abraham is a frequent speaker at conferences as well as to board of directors and regulators on emerging topics in financial services.  As a common law and civil law qualified lawyer, he brings a multidisciplinary approach that bridges the gap between banking, technology and law.

Peter Zaffino

Président et chef de la direction, AIG

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Peter Zaffino is Executive Chairman of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a leading global insurance company that provides a broad range of products and services for businesses and individuals around the world.  

Mr. Zaffino served as Chief Executive Officer of AIG from 2021 to June 1, 2026 and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2022. He joined the company in 2017 as Global Chief Operating Officer.

During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Zaffino led AIG through a remarkable turnaround against the backdrop of significant macroeconomic headwinds. Through disciplined underwriting, AIG reversed years of substantial underwriting losses and delivered five consecutive years of underwriting profitability through his entire tenure as CEO, returning the company to market leadership and significantly improved financial strength. Under Mr. Zaffino’s leadership, AIG built a strong culture of underwriting excellence, divested non-core businesses, invested in future-focused enterprise initiatives, modernized its end-to-end operations and technology infrastructure and solidified the balance sheet for strategic flexibility, sustainable and profitable earnings growth. He has been recognized as a commercial leader in the understanding and implementation of AI. 

With more than 35 years of experience, Mr. Zaffino previously held executive leadership roles at Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), where he was Chairman of MMC’s Risk and Insurance businesses, which included Marsh and Guy Carpenter. Mr. Zaffino also served as Chief Executive Officer of Marsh and, prior to Marsh, as President & Chief Executive Officer of Guy Carpenter. Prior to MMC, he held senior roles within GE Capital, where he specialized in alternative risk reinsurance. 

Mr. Zaffino earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College and holds an MBA in Finance from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and is a Trustee of the Hospital for Special Surgery.