CSPS Digital Academy Events/Tackling Data Bias in Artificial Intelligence - Speaker Biographies

Date and time: August 17, 2021 | 11:00 am to 2:00 pm (ET)

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Speaker Biographies

	Nick Scott Director, Experiential Learning and Innovation Services, Digital Academy, Canada School of Public Service Nicholas and his team provide hands-on learning experiences through experiments and team-based workshops to test ideas and approaches in technology and Internet-era ways of working. This team supports the Digital Academy and partners with technical skills to modernize the public service, as well as connect digital learners and practitioners through meet-ups and events.
	Christopher Allison Chief Data Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada As a driven, passionate and creative leader and change agent, my career, skills and experiences span across public service, private interests and personal goals. My goal is to reimagine and revitalize the public service - transforming it into an organization that can meet and exceed the needs and expectations of Canadians. Over the past 17 years I've worked on immigration enforcement, investigated war crimes, patrolled Toronto with the Toronto Police Service, conducted surveillance and counter smuggling activities with as an RCMP officer, participated in public relations duties in Japan, managed national security activities with the Canada Border Services Agency, developed legislation, regulations and policy on import, export and cross-border law enforcement operations, contributed to the re-writing of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, created and lead a community of passionate managers in Public Safety Canada, worked to improve the traveler experience with the CBSA and currently lead the Government of Canada's enterprise social network and wiki - working to build a single, collaborative and high performing public service to better serve Canadians. Driven and imaginative, I've reverse mentored three Deputy Ministers, reimagined and built new ways to improve the traveler experience and acted as a catalyst for change - driving innovation in policy thinking, service delivery, information management and collaboration. An avid Python and Go developer, I've built web apps, event simulations, conducted social network analysis, graphed and analyzed social media, analyzed big data with Spark, built machine learning classifiers and used natural language analysis to directly improve my organizations. I'm a top level communicator and writer, a powerful presenter and, above all a storyteller - bringing data, business experience, curiosity and play together into a single narrative. Starting a new adventure as Chief Data Officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
	Ima Okonny Chief Data Officer, Employment and Social Development Canada Ima, the Chief Data Officer at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), has over 21 years of experience in the field of data. She has extensive experience with building the evidence base through the development of analytical databases and tools, implementing departmental data reporting and release strategies, data management, data privacy protocols and with forward-looking policy development and research. Ima has an educational background in Mathematics, Computer Programming and Public Management and during her time with the Government of Canada, she has received several nominations and awards for her leadership and results. She is passionate about helping organizations develop the capabilities required to ethically and intentionally unleash concrete business value from data.
	Shingai Manjengwa CEO and Founder, Fireside Analytics, Director, Technical Education, Vector Institute Shingai Manjengwa is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fireside Analytics Inc., a data science education solutions company that develops customized programs that teach digital and AI literacy, data science, data privacy, and computer programming to a variety of audiences, including policy makers, practitioners, high school learners and working professionals. Courses by Fireside Analytics have over 500,000 registered learners on platforms like IBM’s CognitiveClass.ai and Coursera. A data scientist by profession, Shingai is also the Director of Professional Development/ Technical Education at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Toronto, where she translates advanced AI research into educational programming to drive responsible AI adoption and innovation in industry. Shingai serves on the advisory council for, "Accelerating the adoption of AI in healthcare,” a program to empower front-line healthcare workers with AI skills by the Michener Institute of Education at UHN and the Vector Institute. She also serves on the board of the Canada Institute on Governance (IOG). Shingai’s book, ‘The Computer and the Cancelled Music Lessons’ teaches data science to kids from ages 5 to 12 and she holds a Master's degree in Business Analytics from New York University's Stern School of Business. Shingai is the 2020 recipient of the Public Policy Forum, 'Emerging Leader' award. You can find Shingai on LinkedIn and Twitter: @Tjido.
	Brent Barron Director, CIFAR Brent Barron is Director, Strategic Projects, Knowledge Mobilization at CIFAR where he is responsible for engaging the policy community around cutting-edge science. He played an important role in the development of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and oversaw its AI & Society program, examining the social, ethical, legal, and economic effects of AI. In addition, he was seconded to the University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society to support the Institute’s launch. Previously, Brent held a variety of positions in the Ontario Public Service, including in the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science. Brent holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Toronto, as well as a Bachelor’s in Media Studies from Western University.