Panel Discussion: The Power to OvercomeRegister Now
We will be having a panel discussion on the theme of the Forum is "The Power to Overcome." Why? People enjoy hearing from those who have succeeded and that is of course inspirational. At the same time ELO events are known for being authentic. No one is sugarcoating the challenges in the marketplace. We want to provide content and stories that resonate with individuals and that address issues that people may be wrestling with and to provide some practical means of encouragement and inspiration.
We will have a panel of three business leaders (listed below) on the platform at one time. This panel discussion will be chaired by Peter Legge. Each panelist will have 5 minutes to introduce a particular challenge in their business journey and how they overcame it. After each of the panelists finish their remarks we would then take questions from the audience.
Panelists:
Brad Pedersen - Developing into a world class entrepreneur who makes impact, has always been part of the ethos of Brad Pedersen. Brad had an early start with his entrepreneurial endeavours creating a wood cutting business at 14 years of age. Brad had several other business pursuits before being inspired to get into the kids business by reading a story about a young entrepreneur who invented a toy and through it built a successful company. With this example Brad was compelled to develop his first toy company; "bootstrapping" it from a basement condo in Red Deer, Alberta and growing it to become one of the largest Canadian toy companies. Along the way the company received several awards and accolades including the: CYBF Growth Award; Profit 100 Ranked 4 consecutive years (2001 - 2005); and Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year nominee. Tech 4 Kids was launched in 2008 and in a few short years has grown into an 8 figure enterprise that employees 50 staff on 3 continents and does business in over 60 countries around the world.
Mike Reinders is President and a member of the Board of Directors of Maple Reinders Group (www.maple.ca), a family and employee owned construction company focusing on buildings and environmental facilities. Mike leads the senior management team responsible for projects from coast to coast in Canada with contract volumes of over $400 million and more than 400 employees. The company has been named as one the Best Employers in Canada and Canada's Best Managed Companies and has won numerous awards of Excellence for Buildings and Environmental projects. Mike has a degree in
Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the University of Toronto. He has been chair and board member of the Ontario General Contractors Association and is currently on the Canadian Construction Association Board of Directors. Mike and his family are longtime residents of Oakville. Mike has served on the board of ClearView Church where he attends, has been a board member at John Knox Christian School and Kings Christian Collegiate. He is also a past board member of Health Partners International of Canada, a registered health charity.
Rob Wildeboer is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Martinrea International Inc., a global auto parts supplier, specializing in automotive fluid systems and metal forming products. Martinrea has over 15,000 employees at 38 divisions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe and China and generates almost $4 billion in revenue. Previously, Mr. Wildeboer was a partner of Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, a law firm that practises corporate, securities and tax law that he co-founded in 1993, and he remains Counsel to the firm. Prior to that, he was a lawyer with Stikeman, Elliott; an associate professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he taught corporate law and corporate finance; and a regulator with the Ontario Securities Commission. Mr. Wildeboer is Vice-Chairman of the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA); a director of the Canadian Automotive Partnership Counsel (CAPC); a member of the Ontario Manufacturing Council; a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Minister of Finance of Canada; Chair of the CEO Manufacturing Advisory Council; Chair of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute; and a director or adviser of numerous charitable organizations. In 2012, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contributions to Canada. Mr. Wildeboer holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Guelph, a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, an MBA from York University, and an LLM from Harvard University.