HRPA Meeting Details

With over 20 years in the insurance industry, Kimberly Ferris, Organizational Health Consultant at Canada Life specializes in disability management and organizational health and wellness. As an Organizational Health Consultant, Kimberly focuses on understanding the unique health needs and absence risk areas of an organization and delivering services tailored to control rising health costs and absenteeism trends. The Organizational Health Consultant plays an integral role within the Canada Life team to support the financial, physical and mental well-being of millions of Canadians. Kimberly has a Bachelor of Arts, Honors, in Kinesiology and Health Science, Group Benefit Administration Certification through International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans and recently completed certification for Mindful Leadership offered through Mindful Employer Canada.

Patrick is an Associate Vice President in the Benefits & Health practice at Gallagher Benefit Services. He provides critical advice and support for a wide range of plan design, financial management, and administrative services, such as communications support, employee meetings, disability management and wellness plans for all sized organizations. Patrick has been working in the benefits industry for over 17 years on both the insurance carrier and the consulting side of business. Before joining Gallagher Benefit Services, he was a Senior Group Underwriter at one of Canada’s major insurance providers.

Emilie is responsible for the management of firm-wide benefits and wellbeing which includes making recommendations to leadership on the design and evolution of these programs to ensure they remain relevant to KPMG staff. She joined the firm in 2007 and in that time has held several roles with responsibilities varying from one on one member support to leading strategic initiatives across benefits, retirement and savings and wellbeing.

She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts and holds the CHRL and CEBS designations.

Chris Lee is Vice President, Employee Experience and Internal Communication Practice at Gallagher Communication. In this role he helps employers build immersive and experiential internal brands for their employees.

Chris is the Executive Vice President on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Business Communicators Toronto Chapter, and has also served on numerous other boards.

Chris hosts a podcast called Why Does It Feel So Wrong to be Human at Work? He has also published articles in numerous publications, and is often featured as a speaker on communications, brand, and employee experience.

As the National Practice Leader, Drug Solutions in Canada Life’s Toronto Office, Barbara A. Martinez supports sales offices across Canada on prescription drug management initiatives. She plays a key role in supporting advisors and their clients, including designing and managing drug benefit plans with Canada Life Drug Solutions programs.

Barbara joined Canada Life in 2012 after 10 years at Mercer, where she led the Canadian drug benefits consulting team. She’s a regular speaker at industry forums and a frequent commentator on employer drug programs. Her past experience also includes 13 years in the pharmaceutical industry, where she worked in sales and marketing as well as government and professional affairs.

Guillaume joined AGA Benefit Solutions in 2023. At AGA, Guillaume is part of the management team overseeing the delivery of our group benefit and group retirement services and the development of solutions.

Prior to joining AGA, Guillaume worked with two national consulting firms, providing consulting services to corporate clients and other types of organizations, with a focus on both group retirement and group benefit programs. He has significant experience with plan design strategies, risk management, funding and accounting matters in the context of employee benefit programs.

Guillaume is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and the Society of Actuaries (SOA). He holds a Bachelor Degree in Actuarial Science from Laval University. Guillaume sits on the Ontario council of the Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute (CPBI) and is a licensed insurance agent in Ontario. Guillaume is located in Toronto.

Lisa Stam is the founder of Springlaw​, a virtual law firm advising exclusively on workplace legal issues for employers and executives. She practices all aspects of employment, labour, privacy, and human rights law, with a particular interest in legal issues arising from technology in the workplace. Lisa’s practice includes a wide range of entrepreneurs in the tech space, as well as global companies with smaller operations in Canada. In addition to the day to day workplace issues from hiring to firing, Lisa frequently blogs and speaks on both the impact, risks and opportunities of social media and technology issues in (and out of) the workplace, as well as the novel ways in which changing expectations of privacy continues to evolve employment law. Lisa spent 3 years in union-side boutiques, 7 years at the global law firm Baker McKenzie advising global employers, was a co-founding partner of an employment law boutique in 2014, and launched Spring Law in 2017. She continues to represent both employers and executives. Lisa graduated from Dalhousie Law School, after completing an undergraduate degree in medieval history at the University of Toronto.

Simon Tanguay oversees the Claim Watch fraud prevention and management program at Green Shield Canada (GSC) for the Quebec region. He has over 15 years of experience in the group insurance industry. Early in his career, he specialized in fraud prevention and detection as Assistant Director of Healthcare Insurance Management, and Advisor in Litigation and Investigations. He took part in numerous investigations, ranging from simple abuse to major cases involving thousands of dollars in group insurance fraud.

In 2021, Simon joined GSC and took leadership of the Claim Watch program. He and his team are responsible for all program operations.

Simon holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in Information and Systems Management, from the Université de Sherbrooke, as well as a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) designation. Simon also sits on various committees related to fraud prevention and detection.