Making it in corporate Canada is no easy feat but it can be even more challenging when the body you’re in doesn’t look like everyone else.
Join Canadian Club Toronto on Tuesday April 30 for an open and honest dialogue about what it’s like to be ethnically diverse in corporate Canada. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from a panel of individuals about their lived experience.
Our moderator Ginella Massa (City TV) will challenge our panelists –Akif Siddiqui (PwC), Peter Sloly (Deloitte), Faithe Holder (Gowling WLG), and Saima Malik (TD) – to share their personal stories and journeys about what it’s really like to try and make it in corporate Canada as ethnic minorities.
Faithe Holder
Partner, Toronto Real Estate, Environmental and Urban Development Department, Gowling WLG
Faithe Holder is a partner in the Real Estate and Financial Services Department in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office.
Faithe focuses her practice primarily on infrastructure/public-private partnerships (P3), commercial real estate and construction law. She holds expertise in the acquisition, financing and disposition of commercial properties and drafting, negotiating and reviewing a variety of agreements, including P3 agreements, agreements of purchase and sale, service agreements, standard construction contracts, consultant contracts, tenders and requests for proposals.
Faithe acts for a wide range of companies in the infrastructure, real property and construction sectors, including owners, contractors, developers, borrowers, lenders, property managers, facility managers, and governmental entities.
In addition to her practice at Gowling WLG, Faithe also enjoyed a tenure as legal counsel with the crown corporation which managed one of Canada’s largest real estate portfolios on behalf of the Ontario government. As a key member of the corporation’s legal services department, Faithe advised on corporate, commercial, real estate, construction, public procurement, public policy and litigation matters.
As a result of her work in the area of Infrastructure Law, Faithe has been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in Canada for Project Finance Law. In addition, she is a featured leading lawyer in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and has been included as a Lexpert-ranked leading lawyer in the Lexpert Special Editions on Canada’s Leading Energy Lawyers and Canada’s Leading Infrastructure Lawyers.
Faithe has a passion for diversity and inclusion and is very actively involved in the diversity and inclusion initiatives at Gowling WLG. In addition to her role as an advisor to the National D&I Council, Faithe also leads unconscious bias training for members of the Firm’s Toronto office, is trained in, and administers, Mental Health First Aid and assisted with the conceptualization, drafting and implementation of the Firm’s first Mental Health Strategy.
Saima Malik
Associate Vice President, Omni Capabilities and Delivery, Digital Channel, TD
Saima is an executive at TD with the Digital and Payments group and is currently AVP of Omni Capabilities focused on building connected experiences for TD customers and employees. She has over 20 years of experience in Digital and Transformation, previously worked at Microsoft and Ernst and Young Consulting, helping companies navigate strategy, customer experience and innovation through to delivery to create value for customers and shareholders. Saima is also a strong advocate and leads TD’s Women and Leadership pillar for Digital and Tech and TD’s partnership with #movethedial, a global organization for women in tech, as a Global Ambassador. In addition, she is actively involved in the community currently as a board member at IDRF, a global charity focused on humanitarian support, and also supports MaxWomen focused on cultivating leadership for Muslim Women. She is also a busy mom of three children supporting their dreams and passions from tech, writing to basketball. She is also a fitness enthusiast trying to get a workout in whenever she can.
Peter Sloly
Partner, National Security & Justice Leader, Deloitte
Peter Sloly leads Deloitte Canada’s “Security & Justice” practice to modernize and optimize Canada’s police, courts, corrections, national security agencies. Peter also built Deloitte Canada’s Security Convergence practice which employs a multi-disciplinary methodology that enables organizations to identify, assess and address dynamic enterprise wide security risks across both physical and cyber domains. Peter is a trusted c-suite advisor and a global thought leader on security and justice issues. Peter led many security and justice projects including; public safety campaigns, counter terrorism strategies, incident command operations, criminal investigations, risk management audits, threat risk assessments, security strategy roadmaps, etc. Peter was a Deputy Chief in the Toronto Police Service, a graduate of the FBI National Academy and he participated in two tours of duty in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo.
Akif Siddiqui
National Insurance Assurance Leader, PwC
As a Chartered Professional Accountant and a change agent, Akif have has a keen interest in the future of audits and remains involved with transformations and developments. Akif is a member of CPA Canada and Pakistan and leads our Insurance Audit Practice. Akif brings diversified experience from 21 years working in assurance and advisory services in Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Canada.
Akif immigrated to Canada and joined PwC’s insurance assurance practice in 2002 and has extensive experience in serving property and casualty insurance companies as well as clients in the banking, investment management, life insurance, and reinsurance industries. Akif is actively involved in community and charitable causes through being: the executive sponsor for PwC’s employee resource group South Asian Business Network; President of the Pakistani Professional Forum, Canada, new immigrant and community networking form; Director of Altruvest Charitable Services, Canada (BoardMatch); and the Treasurer of The Citizen’s Foundation. He frequently collaborates with Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) to facilitate collaboration among different communities.
Ginella Massa
Anchor, CityNews Toronto
Ginella Massa became Canada’s first hijab-wearing television news reporter in January 2015. She made history again in 2016 when she filled in as the late anchor on CityNews Toronto, making her the first woman in hijab to ever anchor a major newscast in Canada.Ginella graduated with an Honours B.A. in Communication Studies at York University, and has a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from Seneca College. She has worked both behind-the-scenes and on-air for local and national Canadian News outlets since 2010, including CTV, NewsTalk 1010, and Rogers TV. She is currently the 11pm weeknight anchor for CityNews in Toronto.
