Speakers

BRENT BUTT

CANADIAN COMEDIAN, ACTOR

& AUTHOR

  • While you may know him best from his hugely successful, award winning sitcom Corner Gas, Brent Butt has long been considered one of the funniest people in Canada, with a career in stand-up comedy that stretches into five decades, including numerous appearances at major festivals in multiple countries. Brent was voted Best Male Stand-Up in Canada by his peers in the profession and most recently, his first novel HUGE debuted to great fanfare, immediately becoming the #1 Fiction Bestseller in Canada.

STEPHANIE FORD

Vice President of Sales,

CALIX (CANADA)

  • Stephanie serves as Vice President of Sales at Calix, overseeing operations in Canada, CALA, and Major Accounts. With a pronounced emphasis on modernization and digital transformation, Stephanie has led initiatives involving the adoption and implementation of cloud-based solutions and advanced communications technologies. Her expertise in navigating complex markets and achieving impactful outcomes amid change has established her as a trusted leader, driving growth and transformation across varied business environments. Calix provides a comprehensive broadband platform and managed services, enabling broadband experience providers (BXPs) to drive community transformation.

MICHAEL HAWKES

GENERAL MANAGER,

 Mitchell Seaforth Cable T.V.

  • Michael is the General Manager of Mitchell Seaforth Cable T.V. Ltd. (MSCTV), a forward-thinking telecommunications provider serving communities across Ontario. With over a decade of experience in the telecom and broadcasting industries, Michael has played a pivotal role in transforming MSCTV into a modern IPTV and broadband provider, leveraging innovative technologies to deliver scalable, future-ready services. Michael's expertise spans IPTV deployment, fiber optic infrastructure, regulatory compliance, and content distribution strategy. He is actively involved in national discussions on CRTC policy, competitive access, and TRDU restrictions, advocating for fairer frameworks that support smaller BDUs and independent ISPs. He is currently leading MSCTV’s next-generation TV rollout, integrating TiVo middleware, managed Android set-top boxes, and deep OTT metadata to unify live TV, on-demand, and streaming discovery.

COLIN HOWLETT

Chief Technology Officer,

Vecima

  • Colin joined Vecima in 1997. He is responsible for defining the overall technology strategy at Vecima and leads a group of product architects who work directly with customers to define the next generation of Vecima products. Colin has been an active participant in industry standards development at CableLabs and SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) in the areas of DOCSIS and Distributed Access Architectures. In May 2025, Colin was appointed to the SCTE Board of Directors and he holds multiple patents in cable broadband access.

CRAIG JUNNER

SVP, Programming

Blue Ant Media

  • Craig Junner is the Senior Vice President of Programming & Content Strategy at Blue Ant Media, where he oversees global content and programming strategy across the company’s FAST, AVOD, SVOD, and linear channels. His portfolio spans acquisitions, original programming, research, and programming.

E. J. (Bud) Keys

President & CEO, Westman Communications

  • Bud is the President and CEO of Westman Communications Group. He received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Simon Fraser University and has advanced internally at WCG from the position of Senior Director of Commercial Market Development, where he was responsible for business sales and the formerly WCG-owned radio stations – Q Country and Star FM. Before joining WCG in 2012, Bud held senior sales leader and technology roles as part of a telecommunications career that spans 37 years. Bud is a member of the Business Council of Manitoba and serves on the boards of the Manitoba Cooperative Association Inc. and the Canadian Communications Systems Alliance (CCSA).

Tarun Kripalani

Senior Director, Product Management, TiVo

  • Tarun is Head of Product for TiVo’s Managed IPTV Service, a fully managed, cloud-based end-to-end IPTV solution for broadband and cable providers to deliver next-gen video services quickly and cost-effectively across a variety of streaming devices and connected TVs. Tarun has dedicated his career to building and delivering leading-edge video products and services. He has over 20 years of experience across various product, engineering and support roles in leading video, cloud and systems technology companies including TiVo, Amazon, Roku, Ericsson, ActiveVideo, Comcast, Magnum Semiconductor, Kasenna and Silicon Graphics.

  • As Chief Executive Officer, Joseph provides leadership in business strategy, finance and sales & marketing. He was formerly Vice President, Worldwide Marketing for the Broadband Networks division of the $40+ billion electronics giant, Philips Electronics. After helping divest this business unit to C-COR (now Arris) in 2002, Joseph was retained by the Philips board to help develop a game-changing go-to-market strategy in the broadband connected home space by leveraging Philips’ consumer electronics and healthcare domain expertise.

    Prior to his 5 years with Philips in Manlius, NY and Atlanta, Joseph ran Augat Canada Inc. in Toronto as General Manager where he drove annual revenue from $7 million to $45 million and EBIT from 18% to 32% of sales through successful strategies that resulted in dominant market share positions in telecom, cable TV and electronic components markets. Subsequent to the acquisition of Augat Inc. by Thomas & Betts in 1996, Joseph earned global marketing responsibility for T&B’s $200 million Cable Communications Division based in Memphis, TN.

JOSEPH  Nucara

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ADARA

RAMONA PRINGLE

Innovation Expert & Technology Journalist

  • Ramona is Director of the Creative School Innovation Studio at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Director of the Transmedia Zone, an incubator for innovation in media and storytelling. She is also a technology analyst and columnist for CBC. Ramona provides organizations the knowledge and tools to understand the new media age while showing them how best to create and maintain meaningful engagement online. Ramona’s work has been featured at festivals and conferences including SXSW, TFI Tribeca Interactive, NXNE, Social Media Week, TEDx, i-docs, Power to the Pixel, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Hot Docs, and in publications including the New York Times, The Globe & Mail, Mashable and the Huffington Post.

DAVID PURDY

Chief REVENUE Officer, STINGRAY

  • David came to Stingray from VICE Media where, as Chief International Growth Officer he expanded VICE’s multiplatform partnership with Rogers in Canada, and helped VICE grow its global distribution network to deliver programming to all screens. Previously, David has held various senior roles over a 15-year career at Rogers Communications Inc. – most recently as Senior Vice President of Content and Video Product Management, where he oversaw content strategy for Rogers cable, broadband and wireless services, focusing on how content can drive differentiation for the company.

    David has an extensive background in the TV industry and has helped launch several Canadian specialty channels throughout his career, including Sportsnet, OLN, Discovery Channel Canada, and The Comedy Network. In addition to his extensive content knowledge, David has been instrumental in launching a number of new products at Rogers, including VOD, HD, Rogers Anyplace TV, PVR, and Shomi. David combines a passion for content with a grasp of technology to forge a keen understanding of how the media business will be impacted by current and future technological innovations.

Leslie Shannon

Head of Trend & Innovation, Scouting , Nokia

  • A Silicon Valley-based futurist, Leslie focuses on identifying connectivity-related tech disruptions and opportunities, including developments in robotics, drones, visual analytics, cloud gaming, generative AI, and especially augmented and virtual reality.  She is the author of the books Interconnected Realities and Virtual Natives.

Ian Stevens

PRESIDENT & CEO,

Execulink Telecom

  • Ian has been leading Execulink Telecom, an Ontario based Internet, Phone and Cable Television service provider since 2005.  Under his leadership Execulink has evolved to an IP first service provider with IP only voice and video.  Fiber to the home has expanded Execulink’s geographic reach and been the foundation behind its growth to more than 200 employees.  Ian is an active participant in the industry as a board member of CNOC, CCSA and ITPA.

DUNCAN STEWART

Director of TMT Research,

Deloitte Canada

  • Duncan is the Director of TMT Research for Deloitte Canada, a member of Deloitte's US Center for Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT Center) and has 35 years of experience in the TMT industry. He is a globally recognized expert at predicting the future of consumer and enterprise technology, media and entertainment & telecommunications. He has been co-author of Deloitte Global’s annual Predictions Report on trends in TMT since 2008, meeting with hundreds of tech, media, and telecom companies globally each year, and incorporates their insights into his work.

Warren Trochimchuk

PRODUCT MANAGER, TV

TBAYTEL

  • Warren has been with Tbaytel for 15 years and is currently the Product Manager for TV. Warren was responsible for the planning and launch of Tbaytel’s new TV service in 2023, while also managing its legacy TV service. He is responsible for developing product, pricing and packaging strategies for Tbaytel’s TV offerings.  Warren's extensive experience at Tbaytel spans seven prior roles across Internet, TV, Telephone, Security, and Mobility services.

Leila Wright

Vice President of

Telecommunications, CRTC

  • Leila began her career practising competition law and commercial litigation at a national law firm. She joined the Competition Bureau in 2013, where she served in several senior executive roles, including as Deputy Commissioner for Digital Enforcement and Intelligence, leading on data analytics, intelligence, and behavioural economics. Leila was also the Associate Deputy Commissioner for the Policy, Planning and Advocacy Directorate, where she led major initiatives aimed at promoting competition, including in-depth studies on how to foster competition and innovation in Canada’s financial services and telecommunications industry.