What will the GTA of the future look like and what skills and qualities must the leaders of tomorrow possess in order to succeed? On September 21st, we’ll open our season with two fresh faces in GTA leadership: The Honourable Mitzie Hunter (Ontario’s Associate Minister of Finance) and Bernadette Wightman (President & CEO of Cisco Canada). These three new leaders will engage with each other in a panel discussion moderated by Sevaun Palvetzian (CEO, CivicAction) to share their visions for the GTA and what it will take to get us there.
Mitzie Hunter Biography
Mitzie Hunter is the Associate Minister of Finance, responsible for the implementation of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP). She was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in a by-election in August 2013. Following her re-election in June 2014, she was appointed to Cabinet by Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Hunter is a skilled collaborator with a passion for building partnerships and tackling tough issues. Prior to entering public life, she held a number of senior executive positions in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors. She served as the CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, Chief Administrative Officer at Toronto Community Housing, Vice President at Goodwill Industries, and a Regional Director at Bell Canada.
Hunter and her family immigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1975. She grew up in Scarborough and graduated from the University of Toronto (Scarborough Campus). Hunter also holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management and has received numerous awards for her dedication to volunteerism.
Bernadette Wightman Biography
Bernadette Wightman is President of Cisco Canada, responsible for overseeing all aspects of local operations, including sales, marketing, finance, distribution, and services. Cisco in Canada employs more than 2,000 people and consistently ranks among the top five countries in terms of sales bookings revenue for the global company. In addition, Cisco has received numerous awards and accolades, including being named Canada’s top employer for three years in a row by human resource consultants Aon Hewitt. The Canadian operation is also a proving ground for some of the company’s most advanced and innovative technologies.
Ms. Wightman is a 15-year Cisco veteran and has worked in the IT industry for more than 25 years. Her demonstrated sales leadership successes include managing organizations in developed and emerging markets. Most recently, Ms. Wightman served as the general manager for Cisco in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the other Commonwealth of Independent State countries, where she led the team in a challenging geo-political landscape and built a trusted business platform for the future.
Prior to that, Ms. Wightman led Channel and Commercial sales for Cisco’s Emerging Theatre, the largest Cisco Commercial business organization outside of the Americas, spanning 84 countries and including more than 10,000 partners. She has also held leadership roles for Cisco in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including the partner organization and working with British Telecom.
Ms. Wightman has a passion for talent development and diversity, and has been a member of several organizations, which advocate leadership roles for women in business. In the past, she has been a member of the Women in Sales UKI executive board, Strategic Partner Alliance Group in UK&I and the Women in technology UK&I community.
Ms. Wightman was named Business Leader of the Year by Women into Science, Engineering & Construction (WISE); honoured as one of the UK’s most influential women in IT in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and named among the 500 most influential people in the UK in 2014 by specialist publishers Debretts.
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