WENDY CUKIER
PROFESSOR, TORONTO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (Formerly Ryerson University)
Dr. Wendy Cukier is the Founder & Academic Director of the Diversity Institute, Academic Director of the Women Entrepreneurship Hub, and Research Lead of the Future Skills Centre. She is the co-author of the bestseller, Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Java to Jurassic Park and former VP of Research and Innovation. The Diversity Institute has 100 research staff, 100 research associates from around the world, 200 industry partners and focuses on dimensions of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, future skills, and entrepreneurship and innovation. Harnessing the power of innovation, it promotes the advancement of underrepresented groups. The Diversity Institute is also a research lead for the $300 million Future Skills Centre and the $8.6 million Women Entrepreneurship Hub. Wendy has been recognized with the Harry Jerome Diversity Award, the Bob Marley Award, the Canada-Pakistan Business Council’s Female Professional of the Year, the Metropolis Research Award, the CATA Alliance, Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN. She has been named a YWCA Woman of Distinction and one of the International Women’s Forum 2020 Women Who Make a Difference, a Woman of Influence and one of the "100 Alumni who shaped the Century" by the University of Toronto. Wendy holds a PhD, an MBA, an MA, and honorary doctorates from Laval and Concordia.

LUCIANO BARIN CRUZ

PROFESSOR, HEC MONTREAL

Luciano Barin Cruz is Full Professor of Management and Sustainability at HEC Montréal, Canada. He is the Director of Pôle Ideos (Social Impact Hub) at HEC Montreal, the Director of the ‘Sustainability Challenge’ module of the EMBA McGill-HEC Montreal. He is also responsible for the creation of an ecosystem on Impact at HEC Montréal. He holds a research professorship on organizational models and social impact. Professor Barin Cruz has worked in multiple projects in the fields of social impact, entrepreneurship, international development and sustainable development. His projects were developed in collaboration and with the support of Global Affairs Canada, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Government of Quebec, the City of Montreal and Développement international Desjardins, among several others. He currently leads the SEED Network, an initiative to reinforce capabilities of local promoters of microfinance and entrepreneurship in developing countries. He also serves as a board member of HEC Montréal and of the Maison de l’innovation social – MIS, an organization that aims at reinforcing the managerial capabilities of social enterprises in Quebec. His research projects focus on sustainability, social responsibility and social impact and they have been published in journals such as Journal of Management Studies, Organization, World Development, Business & Society, Journal of Business Ethics, Management Decision, Journal of Cleaner Production, among others.

PASCAL DEY

PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ST. GALLENS

Pascal Dey is Professor of Value-based Management at Bern University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland) and Associate Research Fellow at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). Pascal’s current research interest are in the area of social entrepreneurial disability inclusion. He further takes a keen interest in how entrepreneruial narratives are employed to secure support for new ideas and ventures. In addition, Pascal its probing the extent to which business organizations are capable of creating truly post-capitalist realities.

DIANA SUAREZ 

PROFESSOR, GENERAL SARMIENTO NATIONAL UNIVERSITY 

PhD. Aalborg University, Denmark; subject: Economics of innovation.

PhD. in Social Sciences, Quilmes National University, Argentina. Mg. in Management of Science, Technology and Innovation and BA Industrial Economics, General Sarmiento National University, Argentina.

​

Dr. Suarez is a professor at National University General Sarmiento (UNGS) at the Knowledge Economy Area and researcher at CIECTI. She is Vice-president of the Council of Scientific Research of Buenos Aires Province. Her main topics or research are in the field of science and technology policy, gender and development. She integrates the scientific board of the Latin American Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (LALICS). As a consultant, she has worked for IDB, UNCTAD, ECLAC, RICYT and national ministries in Argentina (MINCYT, MECON).