Expert Panel

Derrek Lennox

Derrek Lennox is the Managing Partner of Kewin Consulting, Acting Vice President of Corporate Development for Dougall Media, and a Sessional Lecturer at the Schulich School of Business. He has worked with large and small clients - from corporations to First Nations - on Strategic Planning, Restructuring & Turnaround Management, Organizational Excellence, and Economic Development.

Rani K. Dhaliwal

Rani K. Dhaliwal is the Senior Vice-President, Transformation and Strategic Partnerships at Humber College supporting the advancement of the college’s strategic priorities focusing on expanding student choice and seamless mobility through system collaboration, the creation of value-add strategic partnerships, and revenue growth and diversification through new initiatives in fundraising, corporate education and entrepreneurial activity.

Alex Usher

Alex Usher is the President of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a role he has held for over a decade. He is an internationally recognized consultant and expert in post-secondary strategic planning and counselling. He is regularly engaged by Canadian and international clients for projects on student financial aid and access to post-secondary education; rankings, benchmarking and quality measurement in higher education, and development of strategic plans in higher education at the national, provincial, and institutional levels.

Lakshmi Iyer

Lakshmi Iyer is the Executive Director and Head of the Education Division at Sannam S4 since 2011. Iyer has been working in the education industry for over 18 years. She is an avid observer and commentator of the higher education space and runs one of the most respected personal LinkedIn and Twitter channels for news aggregation on higher education.

Stephanie Kelly

Stephanie Kelly is Executive Director for Community Colleges for International Development (CCID) where she helps member colleges develop globally engaged learning environments. She received her Ph.D. in US-Latin America Relations from the University of Houston, where she was a College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences CORE Fellow.

Chenny Xia

Chenny Xia is a healthcare executive working to transform how home health is delivered nationally. With a background in service and systems design, she is a passionate believer in the power of collaboration and inclusion to catalyze transformation. She has worked with teams around the world including Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, Beijing, Mumbai, and Copenhagen. Organizations include the Canadian Armed Forces, Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, and Reliance Communications.

Sherry Phillips

Sherry Phillips has been employed with the City of Toronto as a Community Development Officer since 2006. Prior to March 2020, her work entailed collaborating with local stakeholders in northwest Toronto, to strengthen and sustain a number of local and regional Planning Tables and networks aligned with the City's Strong Neighbourhood Strategy 2020. Since the emergency measures went into effect in March 2020, Sherry has been instrumental in administering the City of Toronto/United Way of Greater Toronto's Community Coordination Plan as it pertains to the North Etobicoke Cluster of agencies that are continuing to provide essential services to vulnerable residents.

Althea Martin-Risden

Althea Martin-Risden is the Director, Health Promotion at Rexdale Community Health Centre. In this capacity she oversees 30 plus programs and services. She is responsible for ensuring that the philosophy and mission of the organization are met in the development and implementation of all programs, services and community development activities. Althea has over 30 years’ experience working in the in the not for profit sector.

Clark Hortsing

Clark Hortsing began his career in international education with York University in Toronto. Over 18 years his many responsibilities included Student Government Liaison, Residence Life Manager, International Student Advisor, Study Abroad Coordinator and Associate Director of York International. After leaving the University to pursue a career in the private sector, Clark has helped guard.me International Insurance become the premier health insurance provider in the international education space.