Are you a student or emerging professional? On May 2, join PAAC for its semi-annual speed mentoring event! This is a unique opportunity to meet with successful senior professionals working across the public affairs industry. Those currently working in public affairs are also welcome to attend and network amongst peers.

Don’t miss dynamic discussions covering a variety of topics, including career path recommendations and moves, work-life balance, and experiential requirements to name but a few.

Mentors

Judy Dobbs
Director of Government Policy Stakeholder Relations
RBC

As Director of Government Policy and Stakeholder Relations for RBC, Judy Dobbs is a member of the Regulatory and Government Affairs team that ensures RBC has maximum flexibility to pursue enterprise and businesses’ strategic objectives within the governmental and regulatory environments in which RBC operates.  Prior to joining RBC Royal Bank, she worked in the Ontario government as Legislative Assistant to Charles Harnick, MPP Willowdale, and Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Native Affairs.  Responsibilities included issues management, legislative policy development, crisis management and community relations.

Kelly Harris
Vice-President, Corporate and Public Affairs
FirstOntario Credit Union

Kelly Harris is Vice-President, Corporate and Public Affairs at FirstOntario Credit Union.  Kelly engages government, regulators and stakeholders in developing a modern framework for credit union oversight. He has served as a Director on the Board of the Canadian Credit Union Association and as Regional Director, Government Relations at Central 1 Credit Union. Prior, Kelly held senior staff positions in the British Columbia Government and in Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in Ontario.

Tamar Heisler
Director, Government and Industry Relations
Alectra Utilities

Tamar Heisler has over ten years of progressive experience working in energy and economic policy issues. She is currently the Director of Government and Industry Relations at the newly created Alectra Utilities. Tamar began her career in the Ontario Public Service working on economic development policy files at the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in 2006. She transitioned to increasingly senior political roles serving as a policy advisor to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and later, to the Minister of Energy.

Laura Hewitt
Assistant Vice-President
Government and Regulatory Affairs, Sun Life Financial

Laura Hewitt is the Assistant Vice-President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Sun Life Financial. Laura is a seasoned public affairs professional with over ten years of experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining Sun Life, Laura lead the government relations, corporate outreach and communications team at Export Development Canada, a federal crown corporation responsible for supporting Canada’s exporters. She has also held positions of increasing seniority with the Government of Ontario, the Government of Canada and in the non-profit sector, in a variety of subject matter areas.

Jane Hilderman
Executive Director
Samara Canada

Jane Hilderman is the Executive Director of Samara Canada, a nonpartisan charity that works to strengthen Canada’s democracy to better serve Canadians. Jane joined Samara after working on Parliament Hill. Jane is also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, which seeks “to make Canada better known to Canadians and the world.”

Rob McEwan
Senior VP
Argyle PR

Rob leads the Health & Wellness Team at Argyle Public Relationships. With almost 20 years of agency-based healthcare communications experience, Rob believes effective communications are contagious and based on personal relationships. He interacts with health reporters and both patient and physician associations on a daily basis. He provides a variety of communications skill sets to his healthy roster of clients including; strategic planning, issues management, advocacy counsel, media relations, stakeholder relations and both patient and health care professional engagement recommendations.

Elizabeth Wagdin
Vice President and General Manager
Global Public Affairs Toronto

Elizabeth has been working with clients over the past 10 years in a variety of sectors to advise and execute public affairs strategies, meeting programs and lobby days at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill.  Elizabeth also executes stakeholder engagement programs. Prior to joining Global, Elizabeth worked with the Toronto District School Board as Constituency Assistant for the Trustee of Etobicoke-Lakeshore where she planned community events and fundraisers in the ward.

Agenda
Agenda

5:00pm – 5:15pm Registration
5:15pm – 5:30pm Opening comments and introductions
5:30pm – 7:00pm Short discussions will be conducted on a rotational basis
7:00pm – 7:15pm Closing comments
7:15pm – 8:00pm Networking

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Corporate Engagement Partners
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