Speakers
Click on your sector hub or workshop of interest to view the panelists:
Sector hubs
Insurance & Finance
Carmen Jacques
Chris Santos
Alex Hardy
Healthcare & Life Sciences
Richard Weng
Richard Yung-Che Weng is an International Medical Graduate (IMG) trained from China. He is currently employed as an Unregulated Care Provider at a local retirement home. At the start of his journey to become a Canadian physician, Richard visited the K-W Multicultural Centre (KWMC) to have his medical degree and transcript translated. Having passed the first of four board exams for Medical Doctors, Richard continues to facilitate the KW IMG/International Medical Doctors (IMD) Group (more commonly known as the Doctors Group) for almost 2 years now.
The Doctors Group is sponsored by the KWMC and Health Force Ontario. Group members attend weekly group study sessions and share medical knowledge and skills with each other while connecting with group members and their connections. In endeavour to have IMGs work together to have its members become more competitive candidates for the Canadians residency program match. By doing well on board exams as well as staying connected within the healthcare field, Richard envisions success and is on way to find it!
Jane Pare-Richards
Lisa Wright
Information & Communication Technology
Karen Gallant
Karen is the Director of Talent Networks at Communitech, where she leads workforce talent initiatives. She joins Communitech after 16 years at the University of Waterloo, most recently with the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship & Technology. Karen was highly involved in the start-up of the Centre. She believes strongly in the power of building strong relationships within the community. Karen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University and has completed her Certificate in Human Resources Management.
Randall Kozak
Randall Kozak has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering – the subject of his Master's thesis was robotics. He has worked as a Mechanical Engineer for Ontario Hydro, and as an Automation Systems Engineer for Honeywell Canada. He has taught at the post secondary level, at several post-secondary institutions, since 1988, and has been with Conestoga College, teaching computer studies in the School of Engineering and IT, since 2001. Of particular interest to him are the major "capstone" projects that Conestoga IT students are required to prepare in their last semester prior to graduation. Also of interest is the rather new field of mobile application design which figures to play a significant role in two of Conestoga's programs in computer application design and development.
Leon Miao
Leon Laisheng Miao, Data Network Architect with Research in Motion (RIM). He has a Bachelor of Engineer, Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University and a Master of Engineering in Applied Computer Science from the University of Science & Technology of China. He gained IT experience in China and maximized on this knowledge when searching for employment opportunities. Leon, a recent IEP to Canada himself brings his personal experiences to share with newcomer professionals to Canada.
Marco Campana
Engineering & Technical Professions
Ahmed Zaghlol, P. Eng
Dr. Ahmed Zaghlol is the Vice President of Engineering and Business Development with Mersen Canada Toronto Inc. located in Mississauga; a global company specializing in Electric and Thermal protection for Electric and Electronic circuits. Dr. Zaghlol received his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alexandria, Egypt where he also obtained his Master degree. After immigrating to Canada in 1990, he received his Ph.D. in Engineering Science from the University of Western Ontario and later joined the Microelectronic Heat Transfer Laboratory (MHTL) at the University of Waterloo as postdoctoral Fellow.
At Mersen (Formerly Ferraz Shawmut), Dr. Zaghlol is leading R&D efforts for new products, development and implementation of R-Tools, on-Line thermal modeling of heatsinks software. He has published and presented technical papers on new product development at technical professional conferences. He has authored and coauthored several articles in technical trade show magazines.
Dr. Zaghlol, a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario (PEO) and also a member of ASME and IEEE. Dr. Zaghlol recognizes the barriers Internationally Educated and Trained Professional face; to help overcome some of these challenges, he teaches professional engineering courses at the EPIC Institute in Mississauga. EPIC has an Internationally Educated Engineers (IEE) program to help immigrant, newcomer and foreign-trained engineers write and pass their professional engineering exams and earn their professional engineering license (P.Eng.) within Canada.
Mihaela Simion
Mihaela Simion immigrated to Canada in 2000 from Romania. Mihaela is the Program Manager at Conestoga College's newly established Institute of Food Processing Technology, part of the School of Engineering and Information Technology. Her experience has exposed her to many facets of food and beverage processing industry.
She has a Bachelor Degree in Food Science and Engineering from Romania with a Major in Dairy Processing. She had the opportunity to spend her final year of University at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences working on a dairy project.
With her extensive experience in Quality Assurance and Quality Control in Food and Beverage processing, she has held positions at companies such as: QC Manager at Coca Cola Bottling; Sanitation Supervisor at Pinty's Delicious Foods; Quality Control Supervisor at Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd.; Quality Assurance Manager at Minute Maid Canada and prior to her work with Conestoga College, she was the Director, QA/QC at Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd.
Terry Kingsmill, P.Ag.
Terry brings a strategic approach and process orientation to the Ontario Institute of Agrologists (OIA). His over 15 years of experience in municipal and provincial government and in private consulting positioned him to assume the management responsibilities of the OIA. Complementing his experience is a solid background in policy and procedure development, compliance, an effective communication skill set and proven ability to provide valuable process insights. Terry has an Honours Undergraduate degree from Trent University in Environmental and Resource Studies and a Master of Arts in Public Administration and Policy from the University of Guelph.
Gabe Tse
Human Services
Mary Chivers-Harkins
Mary Chivers-Harkins has been an Internationally Trained Immigrant (ITI) Advisor at Conestoga College since August 2008, working at the Guelph, Doon and Waterloo Campuses. While part of the Colleges Integrating Immigrants to Employment (CIITE), she was an ITI Advisor and a member of the Advising Working Group. With over nine years of experience working with Internationally Trained Immigrants and over 15 years of experience in career advising, she also worked with at-risk youth and people who have been downsized and in career transition.
Mary's current role at Conestoga is as an ITI Advisor and a part-time CIIP Focal Point Partner Advisor. She also teaches the "New Canadians in the World of Work" course in the post-graduate Career Development Practitioner Program. She is the Case Manager for the Enhanced Language Training for Engineering Professionals marketing and conducts the intake process and works with participants on their resumes. She delivers "Newcomer to Canada" workshops to this and other Occupation Specific Language Programs within Conestoga College and at Immigrant Agencies and is a member of the Immigrant Coordinating Committee at Conestoga College.
Eranga Peduruarachchi
Poornima Laxminarayana
