CANCELLED Enabling Diversity - What Really Works?
We've all heard ideas about how to encourage diverse candidates to apply for roles in technology, how to create environments where women feel welcome and encouraged to develop, and ways to ensure that we get more diversity in our senior and executive leadership roles.
But what really works? What sounds like a good idea but is hard to do in practice? Or worse still, actually has a negative impact on the very people we're trying to help?
Join an exclusive group of Vancouver's technology leaders at the amazing Parker Room as WiCyS Western Canada President Penny Longman sits down with a panel of senior IT, Cybersecurity and Software Engineering professionals and tackles the complicated subject of encouraging, retaining, and promoting women and diversity all in tech fields and industries. Then we'll open the floor for you to ask your own questions and offer thoughts or suggestions for discussion with the larger group.
You'll leave this session with tangible insights and concrete actions you can take to achieve your organisation's goals.
Agenda:
5:00 - 6:00 Networking
6:00 - 7:15 Panel and Discussion
7:15 - 7:45 Informal Discussions and networking
Details:
Tuesday April 15
The Parker Hotel, "the Lounge"
5pm-8pm
Cost: $50
Drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres
Our sponsors:
Our Panelists and moderator:
Heather Black - Regional Vice-President, Canadian Public Sector Leader
Heather is a cyber security executive, leveraging 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors to advance innovative technology solutions that benefit both governments and citizens.
She is never one to run away from a challenge, including the work needed to strengthen Canada’s cyber security posture across the public sector. Having worked for companies such as Bell, Cisco and Zscaler advancing cyber security strategies at all levels of government, Heather now leads Palo Alto Networks Canadian Public Sector practice where she helps governments transform securely with the power and scale of cloud through modern workplace enablement, infrastructure modernization and Zero Trust Security.
By helping governments embrace the cloud, Heather is helping public sector leaders at all levels of government strengthen cybersecurity.
Andrea Basco - Former CIO Canadian Financial Services
Andrea Basco is a senior technology executive with nearly 30 years of experience in banking and technology, known for her transformational leadership and strategic vision. She served as Canada CIO and Wholesale Banking CIO for HSBC Canada, overseeing a team of 1,000 professionals across various functional areas. Andrea is committed to delivering impactful, technology-enabled business solutions and fostering an inclusive and empowering environment. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, she has held numerous roles across banking and is a passionate advocate for continuous learning, frequently mentoring and coaching colleagues. Andrea also speaks on diversity panels to support women and underrepresented groups in technology.
Kevin Loken - Head of Technology EA
Kevin is currently Head of Tools & Technology at Electronic Arts, leading a 100 person team supporting content creators with advanced tools. He has been in the games industry for over 20 years, working on titles such as EA Sports NHL, NBA Live, March Madness, Grand Slam Tennis, and FIFA. Kevin has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Biomedical (Electronics) Engineering (SFU), and a Master of Science in Computer Science (UBC). He has been a speaker at GDC, SIGGRAPH, and other conferences.
Denis Villeneuve - Security and Resiliency Practice Lead -Kyndryl Canada
Denis brings 18 years of experience in delivering complex security solutions and managed services for Canada’s largest clients in finance, government, healthcare, and transportation. A CISSP and C|CISO, Denis holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from the University of Ottawa. Before Kyndryl, he led sales and solution design teams at leading Managed Security Services providers. As a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, Denis advocates for Indigenous Reconciliation, Economic Development, and cybersecurity skill-building in First Nation communities, fostering opportunities for Indigenous talent in IT and security.
Moderator: Penny Longman - President WiCyS Western Canada and Director, Security Assurance Kyndryl Canada
Penny Longman is an award-winning security leader with experience in mining, manufacturing, environmental science, data analytics, healthcare, and consulting. Penny is currently a senior consultant at Kyndryl specialising in risk, compliance, data governance and ethical AI. Previously, she led the Information Security group at Fraser Health Authority during a period of rapid investment and growth of the team. She led and grew the IT function at a mining engineering and equipment supply company for 10 years prior to that. Penny has been very active for many years in increasing diversity in STEM in general and cybersecurity in particular, and currently serves as the President of Women in Cyber Security (WiCyS) Western Canada Affiliate. Penny is passionate about generating real organizational change around cyber security and safety, and focuses on moving people forward into new ways of interacting security with technology.