Plenary Session 1

Charles Finlay is Executive Director, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Ryerson University. Charles founded the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst in 2018 with a vision to build Canada’s leading hub for cybersecurity innovation and collaboration.

Prior to founding the Catalyst, Charles served as chief of staff and director of policy for the Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Growth, where he worked closely with private sector and government leaders to develop and implement the province’s strategy to make Ontario a global leader in technology innovation and commercialization. Before joining government, Charles was senior legal counsel at BMO Capital Markets, practiced law at Torys LLP, worked as a technology researcher at Forrester Research, and was a freelance business journalist for The Globe and Mail and Canadian Business Magazine.

Charles has served on the boards of The Gerstein Centre, Social Planning Toronto, and Houselink Community Homes.

Dr. Tony Abou-Assaleh is a business leader and security professional with over 18 years of experience. His published articles cover network security, Web application security, and applying artificial intelligence to detecting viruses and malware. He regularly speaks at conferences and events about the impact of privacy and security on professional organizations.

Tony is currently the President and CEO of TitanFile Inc., the first zero-trust file sharing and collaboration platform for the legal market. Tony's interest focuses on increasing productivity and collaboration in highly regulated industries, such as legal, financial, healthcare, and government.

April Brousseau is an experienced lawyer who has spent the last decade working on transforming global law firms through roles in innovation and business change, technology, risk and knowledge. April’s keen interest in disruption, technology and legal operations has been instrumental in delivering a range of practical solutions to improve legal processes, drive best practice and deliver client driven products.

April is an active member of the legal tech ecosystem in London (UK), consistently offering valuable advice to early-stage legal tech start-ups through her involvement in the Barclays LawTech Eagle Lab. Her involvement with the SEO London annual student workshop, where she delivered a talk on legal technology and innovation, illustrates her commitment to educating the next generation of lawyers on the world of legal tech.  At Clifford Chance she is leading the Create pillar of the firm’s Innovation & Best Delivery Programme, focusing on preparing us for the future of legal services through the exploration of potential disruptors and new ways of working.

Carole Piovesan is a partner and co-founder of INQ Law where her practice concentrates on privacy, cyber readiness, data governance and artificial intelligence (AI). She regularly counsels clients on a wide range of matters related to privacy, data protection, data governance, ethical AI and risk management for AI operationalization. Prior to founding INQ Law, Carole was co-lead of the national Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Management group at McCarthy Tétrault. She has represented clients before all levels of court in Ontario as well as at the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Carole plays an active role in shaping data law, policy and standards. She is the co-chair of the Exposure Notification application on behalf of the federal government. She is also the co-chair of the data governance working group for the Data Governance Standardization Collaborative at the Standards Council of Canada. She is a member of the Data Governance Working Group for the Global Partnership on AI. She is also an advisor to the Law Commission of Ontario’s working group on AI in administrative decisions, the AI Impact Alliance,  various start-ups, and a member of the Taskforce on AI for Health at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.