
Toronto CIO Community
Executive Summit
June 24, 2025 | Marriott Downtown at CF Toronto Eaton Centre
June 24, 2025
Marriott Downtown at CF Toronto Eaton Centre
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Toronto's top CIOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:
Harnessing Data and Analytics to Drive Strategic Business Outcomes
Leveraging Emerging Technology for Competitive Advantage and Growth
Collaboration across the C-Suite to Enable Technology Innovation and Efficiency
Toronto CIO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CIOs, For CIOs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Dave Aeri
Confidential
Chief Technology Officer & CIO

Mike Baxter
Kijiji
Chief Technology Officer

Cecilia Carbonelli
Haventree Bank
CIO

Roman Coba
Federated Co-op Limited (FCL)
CIO & VP Technology

Melody Wallis
Procter & Gamble
Vice President - Analytics & Insights and Technology - P&G Canada
What to Expect
Agenda
8:00am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
AI in Action — Driving Strategic Innovation

Doris Simcich
Head of IT, Canada
AstraZeneca
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries by accelerating innovation and deeply integrating into business operations. Organizations prioritizing education, governance, and strategic adoption of AI are achieving meaningful outcomes and setting industry benchmarks.
Join this keynote to explore:
Explore how embedding AI across business functions accelerates adoption, drives efficiency, and fuels innovation
Gain insights into essential considerations for advancing AI priorities, emphasizing effective governance and strategic alignment
Learn practical approaches to enhancing AI literacy and empowering employees to confidently leverage AI everyday
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Ahead of the Game — Trends for IT Decision Makers
Hosted by Blair

Alain Cormier
President
Novipro
IT is evolving at a rapid pace and impacting every aspect of businesses. It is important for CIOs to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to key trends to adequately identify risks and opportunities to build a strong and forward-thinking IT strategy.
This session delves into an exclusive IT Trends report to uncover:
- A greater understanding of the top priorities of Canadian organizations (cybersecurity, AI, cloud, modernization and beyond)
- Where and how organizations are allocating their budgets
- Attracting, training, and retaining talent in a shifting ecosystem
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Connecting the Dots to Generate Business Value with GenAI
Hosted by Nutanix

Nicholas Holian
Worldwide Field CTO
Nutanix

Mauricio Hidalgo
VP & Head of Technology
IAMGOLD

Judy Lyster
Digital/IT Leader
Eli Lilly and Company

Melody Wallis
Vice President - Analytics & Insights and Technology - P&G Canada
Procter & Gamble
In today's rapidly evolving IT landscape, businesses are grappling with complex infrastructure challenges while seeking to harness the power of generative AI to drive innovation and operational efficiency. CIOs must spearhead strategy at the critical intersection of infrastructure and GenAI.
Join this boardroom to discuss:
- Integrating GenAI into your existing infrastructure
- Addressing business challenges such as optimizing resource allocation, enhancing security and improving scalability
- Using GenAI to streamline operations and accelerate digital transformation
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
The Five-Year Outlook — Building AI that Delivers ROI
Hosted by HCLTech

Anita Luthra
Global Technology Director, AI and Cloud Native Labs
HCLTech

Dave Chopra
EVP and Canada Country Head
HCLTech

Danny Torchia
VP, Technology Platforms & Operations
Walmart

Christopher O’Sullivan
Chief Information Officer
BFL Canada
As enterprises transition from proof-of-concept pilots to large-scale AI adoption, the emphasis is on realizing sustainable value. As CIOs define the next phase of enterprise transformation, the challenge is ensuring AI that delivers ROI while maintaining ethics, accountability, and long-term resilience. This peer-to-peer discussion will cover designing a five-year AI strategy that is transformative and ROI-focused.
Join this session to discuss:
- Crafting a transformative AI strategy that ensures measurable ROI
- Balancing AI innovation with human in the center, ethical considerations and accountability
- Building resilient AI systems for sustainable enterprise transformation
10:25am - 11:10am Networking Break
10:35am - 11:00am Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Evanta’s Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session
Modern Infrastructure Foundation — Unlocking Value in AI
Hosted by Google Cloud

David Porter
Head of Customer Value & Transformation Advisory
Google Cloud
Delivering AI and GenAI value at scale is top of mind with many CIOs while juggling the needs to maintain a secure scalable technology foundation, but how can CIOs accomplish this? Prioritizing a high-quality data, security and infrastructure foundation provides all the necessary ingredients that will unlock the greatest value in AI.
Join this session to discuss:
- Building a value driven AI strategy
- Delivering high-quality, well-structured data to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of AI-driven initiatives
- Driving a modern secure AI ready infrastructure roadmap for scale, efficiency and ease of use
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Chaos of Connectivity ― Strategies for Agility, Productivity, and Compliance
Hosted by IBM

Ernie Denninger
webMethods and StreamSets Brand Sales Director, North America
IBM

Ranjika Manamperi
CIO
Ontario Power Generation

Steve Mohammed
CIO
Canadian Tire Bank

Kim George
CIO, Toyota Canada
Toyota Canada Inc.
In today's digital landscape, enterprises manage an ever-growing array of technologies across multiple clouds, with the average organization using 1,000 applications and thousands of physical assets. Generative AI is set to boost developer productivity by nearly 40%, leading to a surge in AI-embedded applications. This complexity can cause inefficiencies and vulnerabilities.
Join this session to learn how to:
- Create visibility across disparate systems for informed decision-making
- Streamlining integrations to increase productivity and accelerate delivery
- Maintain compliance by managing integrations centrally to prevent shadow IT
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
The Security Imperative — Managing AI Risks While Driving Innovation
Hosted by Lenovo

Patricia Wilkey
SVP & GM SSG International
Lenovo

Sarah Willock
VP of Technology, Canada
The Coca-Cola Company
As AI adoption accelerates, it is critical for organizations to prioritize security, compliance, and governance in order to mitigate risk. From protecting sensitive data, to ensuring AI models operate ethically and transparently, developing a security-focused AI strategy is essential to long-term success. Let’s talk industry-leading AI infrastructure, security frameworks, and responsible AI practices, and learn how to confidently scale AI while maintaining trust and compliance.
Join this session to explore:
- Security, privacy, and regulatory risks in AI deployments
- Best practices for managing AI data lifecycles and compliance
- Building a resilient AI infrastructure that balances innovation with risk management
11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Toronto CIO Community Executive Summit.
Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.
Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.
Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
Marriott Downtown at CF Toronto Eaton CentreSelf-Parking and Valet is available for $55 at the hotel.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Marriott Downtown at CF Toronto Eaton Centre at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 416-597-9200. Please mention Gartner Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $403 CAD (plus tax) is June 2, 2025.
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.