HRPA Meeting Details

Mike Lipkin is president of Environics/Lipkin, a global research and motivation company based in Toronto. He is also an international strategic coach, facilitator and catalyst for high performance.

Mike combines his learning from talking to a million people in forty-three countries with the insights from the Environics Social Values research to offer clients the best of all worlds: a powerful blend of ideas and principles that help them achieve remarkable results.

Mike was raised in South Africa and graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a Bachelor of Commerce.

He began his career with Colgate Palmolive as a brand manager. Mike then migrated to the advertising industry where he held senior account management positions at both Grey Advertising and Ogilvy & Mather. He founded Environics/Lipkin in 2001. He has written nine bestselling books on personal leadership and effectiveness. He is renowned for his ability to blend humor with content that inspires people into action.

Rich Appiah is the principal of Appiah Law | Employment + Labour Counsel. He provides expert strategic counsel and legal representation in the area of human resources law to small and enterprise-scale businesses, as well as to managers and senior executives. Called to the Bar of Ontario in 2006, Rich has appeared as counsel before the Ontario and Superior Courts of Justice and the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and has represented clients in proceedings before boards of arbitration, the provincial and federal Human Rights Tribunals, the Ontario Ministry of Labour (Employment Standards Branch), and the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. In 2016, Rich was recognized as a "Lawyer to Watch" by Lexpert Magazine, and in 2017 he was elected to the executive of the Ontario Bar Association's Employment and Labour Section.
Rich has published extensively in the area of employment law and has frequently been asked to speak at conferences for human resources and legal professionals, including those hosted by the Human Resources Professional Association, the Ontario Bar Association, and the Law Society of Ontario. Recent papers and presentations have addressed ethical issues in employment law; successful advocacy before the Human Rights Tribunal; workplace privacy; workplace violence and harassment; and steps to mitigate organizational liability.
Rich is the former president of Delisle Youth Services (now Skylark Children, Youth and Families), and is chair of the Board of Directors of The STEPS Initiative, an award-winning public arts organization. In 2017, Rich was appointed to the Board of Governors of the University of Guelph for a three-year term. As a governor, Rich serves on the University's Human Resources and Governance Committee and Audit and Risk Committee.

Malcolm has practiced exclusively employment law for over 25 years. He now practices at Shields O’Donnell MacKillop LLP, an employment and labour law boutique. Malcolm represents employers and senior executives in all aspects of employment law including issues involving just cause, fiduciary obligations and human rights. Malcolm was awarded the Queen Elizabeth medal in 2013 for philanthropy abroad by the Governor General of Canada.

Toronto Employment Lawyer Christine Thomlinson is a trusted advisor to senior human resource professionals who recognize employees as an integral part of their business. Her clients understand the need to manage their workplaces effectively, and they look to Christine for counsel on maintaining the employee relationships that support their organization’s business objectives.

She is known for her high capability to think strategically, and her ability to find practical, often innovative, legal solutions to her clients’ challenging workplace issues.

Christine develops and delivers training programs that educate human resource professionals and managers on a variety of employment law and human rights issues. More and more, employer clients are finding that these training programs enable their employees to manage many workplace problems so effectively that there is less need for legal intervention.

She is a frequent and popular seminar leader at many human resources and legal programs, and is currently co-chair of the Human Resource Professionals Association’s "HR Law Conference"

Sheryl is a partner in the Employment and Labour Law Practice Area. In her employment practice Sheryl provides strategic advice and perspective on all aspects of the employment relationship, including recommending and assisting in implementing effective measures to expediently manage and proactively address workplace issues and disputes so as to reduce expose and limit liabilities. This includes such matters as negotiating employment contracts, confidentiality and intellectual property agreements, restrictive covenants, severance packages and wrongful dismissal settlements; drafting and providing seminars on human resources policies and best practices; drafting employee handbooks; advising clients on statutory matters such as human rights, occupational health and safety and employment standards entitlements and obligations; conducting workplace assessments; and conducting wrongful dismissal actions. In her labour practice Sheryl advises management in all facets of labour relations. This includes such matters as union certification drives and employer free speech campaigns, unfair labour practice applications, related and successor employer applications, collective bargaining, conciliation and representation before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Canada Industrial Relations, grievance arbitrators and grievance arbitration boards.

Sarah Jenner, Mindful Employer Canada Sarah has been with Mary Ann Baynton & Associates since 2012. She is a published author and speaks about emotional intelligence, accommodation strategies and workplace mental health. Sarah is one of the founding CMHA Certified Psychological Health and Safety Advisors and can help organizations and teams address and improve workplace issues. Sarah also acts as the National Manager of Mindful Employer where her responsibilities include supporting those who support positive workplace mental health. Sarah can lead sessions from the Mindful Employer In-House program, including those on performance management, conflict resolution, mental health awareness and more. It is a regular occurrence for Mary Ann to receive praise for the helpful and positive approach that Sarah takes in all of her interactions. Visit Sarah’s website at www.mindfulemployer.ca.

As Founder and President of The Clic Effect Inc., and as Director of Change Management and Organizational Design for North America with Manulife Financial, Linda Morgan combines over 20 years of hands-on leadership, coaching, consulting and teaching experience with: • A Masters of Human Systems Intervention from Concordia University • Accreditation as a Human Systems Dynamics Professional from the HSD Institute • Accreditation as a General Neural Linguistic Practitioner from the Georgian Bay NLP Centre • Certification in Emotional Intelligence (Team and Individual) from MHS, • Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching training • Certificate courses in Adult Education from Sheridan College and • Academic teaching experience through the DeGroote School of Business Executive Education and MBA programs, Ryerson University, and Royal Roads University. Linda has a rare ability to make the complex simple. Her facilitation approach allows participants to identify behavioural and cultural patterns on personal, team and organizational levels that translate into simple options for action. Linda’s passion for learning guarantees the most progressive and thought-provoking workshops. She uses a combination of logic, collaboration and adaptive facilitation techniques to take you from being stuck in the past - or lost in the present - to enthusiastically storming the gates of the future.

Dr. Denise O’Brien, Mediator/Coach/Facilitator/Consultant Areas of professional practice include Organizational Assessment, Diagnosis, Consulting, Intervention Design, Facilitation, Mediation & Conflict Resolution, Coaching, Workplace Wellness, and Vocational & Career Counselling. She has investigated, assessed, diagnosed, designed and facilitated workplace interventions for 1000’s of teams, individuals and management teams. Certified in the administration many psychometric instruments including the Career Interest Profiler, Career Values Scale, Firo-B, MBTI (form M), MBTI (form Q), Stress Profile, Strong Interest Inventory, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Work Engagement, Work Personality Index, EQ-i (2.0),16pf, and Personal Characteristics Inventory, she will customize a seminar based on individual and group needs. An expert mediator, Dr. O’Brien is highly skilled at helping those in conflict achieve ‘win-win’ outcomes. Her practice is built on a strong educational foundation holding post graduate degrees in Adult Education, M.A. (Ed), and Industrial-Organizational Psychology, PhD (with distinction). She holds the designation of Qualified Mediator (Q.Med), is a certified professional coach(ACC) and was honoured to be recognized as one of the first in Canada to attain the Certified Senior Organization Development Professional (CSODP) designation. memberships include; the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), American Psychological Association (APA), Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (ADRIO) and the Canadian Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology (CSIOP).

Kim has been in the Consulting field for over 25 years. She holds an Honors Bachelor Degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters of Business Administration in International Business from European University in Belgium. Prior to joining Korn Ferry Hay Group, Kim worked as a design consultant with an organization specializing in performance technology and training and development. She is bilingual in English and French.

Jon Howard is the Chief Executive Officer at Apex Occupational Health and Wellness. Jon has completed both a Kinesiology degree and Masters of Science degree at Brock University. He has been a Registered Kinesiologist in the corporate wellness and ergonomics field for 8 years, working with amazing forward-thinking companies like Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, and the Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan. Jon has experienced firsthand, the impact of comprehensive wellness programs on both employee health and morale, and how it naturally leads to better overall organization health. Encouraging employee health by helping companies implement effective wellness and ergonomics programs is a passion for Jon, one that continues to grow.

Jessica is an accomplished lawyer in the area of public sector labour relations. Prior to joining Sherrard Kuzz LLP Jessica was legal counsel to a large public hospital, responsible for several areas of employment and labour law including grievance arbitration, interest arbitration, collective bargaining, mediation and conflict resolution, and human rights and accommodation. Jessica has also held the position of labour relations counsel for Canada's largest municipal police union.

Jessica has been an adjunct faculty at Osgoode Hall Law since since 2013, teaching labour arbitration, and is frequently asked to speak on a variety of topics for the employment and labour bar. She has been a moot coach for Osgoode Hall Law School since 2010 and is dedicated to coaching and mentoring advocacy skills in young lawyers.

A Certified Management and Executive Coach, Stephen applies in-depth business acumen and seasoned Human Resources expertise to career and life-enriching consulting. Over the course of his 35+-year career, Stephen has held several senior HR generalist and specialist positions in both the public and private sectors. He has honed strong leadership and coaching skills characterized by a collaborative management style, personal initiative and a strong results orientation.

We all have more potential, more extraordinary possibilities than we ever imagined. By asking tough questions and sharing powerful truths, Sarah McVanel helps individuals and organizations discover their greatness and then use that greatness to improve themselves, their workplace and their bottom line. Sarah knows a little something about asking tough questions. After earning degrees in Psychology, Family Relations and Organizational Development...and then climbing the corporate ladder in a multi-million dollar organization...at age 38 she quit her job, sold her house, moved her family and reinvented herself. Now, her boutique consulting firm ‘Greatness Magnified’ helps clients across North America discover their potential, their purpose and their passion and to implement clear and effective growth strategies.