John Alho is a senior executive leader with over 25 years of experience across the post-secondary sector and government. Among the longest-serving external relations professionals in Canada’ post-secondary landscape, he is a passionate champion for the role higher education plays in driving socio-economic development and growth. He believes that our universities, polytechnics and colleges are foundational institutions that equip individuals with the skills to succeed in their chosen fields and foster the innovation necessary to meet the challenges and opportunities of society.

John serves as the Executive Director of the Alberta Post-Secondary Network (APSN) where he leads all aspects of this vibrant organization that represents and advocates for Alberta’s 27 publicly funded post-secondary institutions. In this role, he supports collaboration among institutional leaders and advances collective responses to shared opportunities and challenges. He brings significant expertise in governance, advocacy, public relations, public policy formulation, strategic communications, marketing, and community engagement to this role.

Prior to joining APSN, John held executive roles in external relations functions at the University of Calgary and at the University of Manitoba. Over the course of his post-secondary career, he has led government relations, community engagement, marketing and communications portfolios, and has extensive experience in advancement and alumni relations. Earlier in his career, John worked in senior policy and communications advisory roles with several federal Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament in Ottawa.

He holds an MBA (Manitoba) and a BA Honors (Winnipeg) and has also obtained the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D certification, as well as the CHERD Certificate in University and College Administration. He is fluent in English, Portuguese, and has an intermediate proficiency in French.

As an engaged community leader, John currently serves on the boards of The Hangar Flight Museum (Chair) and The Stem Cell Network. In recognition of his community contributions, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He is also a recipient of the Gillian Wood Award of Excellence in University Government Relations for his leadership in university government advocacy.

Wayne Critchley is Senior Associate with Global Public Affairs’ Health & Life Sciences practice, providing counsel to leading biopharmaceutical and medical device corporations and associations along with other health policy stakeholders. Wayne has a long track record of success as a senior executive with over twenty years of experience in government departments, boards and agencies dealing primarily with issues that impact the pharmaceutical sector.

Prior to joining Global Public Affairs in 2010, he served as a Vice President of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (now Canada’s Drug Agency) in 2009. From 2007-2009, he was a partner in the life sciences practice of one of Canada’s leading law firms, Gowling WLG. Among positions in the federal public service, he served as Executive Director of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board from 1990 to 2005. Wayne is widely recognized as an expert in pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement and market access and is regularly called upon to write and present on Canadian pharmaceutical issues.

In volunteer roles, Wayne joined the Board of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders in 2013 and served as Chair from 2015-2019. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute since 2019. In the past, he was also active with the Canadian Club of Ottawa and served as President from 2011-2012.

In January 2025, Declan Hamill joined Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), the national policy, advocacy and promotional organization representing Canadian dairy producers. DFC strives to create stable conditions for the dairy sector in Canada. It also seeks to maintain policies that promote the sustainability of Canadian dairy production and promote dairy products and their health benefits.

In the capacity of Executive Vice President, Mr. Hamill leads a Division overseeing Government Relations, Legal, Trade, Corporate Governance, Finance, and Strategic Initiatives.

Prior to joining DFC, Mr. Hamill held senior leadership positions with a Canadian national pharmaceutical trade association. Mr. Hamill is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Stem Cell Network, a national not-for-profit organization that supports stem cell and regenerative medicine research, training, knowledge mobilization and commercialization readiness.

Mr. Hamill is a graduate of National Program of the McGill University Faculty of Law, and also holds degrees from York University and from Trinity College, University of Toronto. Mr. Hamill was called to the Ontario Bar in 1998, and is also a 2022 graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors-Rotman Directors Education Program.

Susan Marlin is a trusted leader in Canada’s research ethics and clinical trials community. As the President and CEO of Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO), she collaborates to strengthen the clinical trials environment while maintaining the highest ethical and quality standards.

Susan was foundational in establishing CTO’s streamlined research ethics review system to enable a single review for multi-site clinical trials and health research studies in Ontario which now has more than 11,000 users, 160 participating sites, 300 pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and 20 qualified research ethics boards.

Building on her record of uniting partners to streamline clinical trials, Susan is advancing key projects across Canada. She is the nominated principal investigator for the Canada-wide CHEER project, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to streamline ethics reviews for child health research. She is also the nominated principal applicant for the CanReview collaboration to establish a pan-Canadian single research ethics review system, supported by the CIHR-funded Accelerating Clinical Trials (ACT) Consortium.

Prior to CTO, Susan served as the Associate Vice-Principal at Queen’s University, and worked with Canadian Cancer Trials Group to coordinate clinical trials and lead the development and implementation of the Ethics and Regulatory Office. Susan has served as President of the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards, and as a member of the CIHR Research Integrity Committee, the Ontario Cancer Research Ethics Board, and the Tri-Agency Panel on the Responsible Conduct of Research. Susan sits on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Life Sciences Ontario. She serves on the Operations Committee for the ACT Consortium and is on the Management Team for the Ontario Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research Support Unit.

Susan is an Adjunct Lecturer at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and in 2012 received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions to Military and Veterans Health Research. 

The Honourable Dr. Reza Moridi served as Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, and Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. He also held the roles of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy and Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Education, Skills and Economy. Dr. Moridi was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011 and 2014.

Dr. Moridi is currently a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto, and serves on several volunteer boards, including the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada.

During his tenure with the Government of Ontario, Dr. Moridi played a pivotal role in strengthening and transforming the province’s innovation ecosystem. He secured significant funding for MaRS Discovery District, enabling completion of its West Tower, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Dr. Moridi holds BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Tehran, Iran, and an MTech and PhD degrees from Brunel University London, UK. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Odlar Yurdu University in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In recognition of his original contributions to physics and engineering, Dr. Moridi was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK and was designated a Fellow of the Health Physics Society (USA). He is a recipient of the Education and Communication Award from the Canadian Nuclear Society.

For his distinguished service to Canada, Dr. Moridi has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, and the King Charles III Coronation Medal.

The City of Richmond Hill honoured Dr. Moridi by naming “Urmia Avenue” after his birthplace in Iran. He has also been recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International and named an Honorary Ambassador for the City of Toronto by the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Tourism Toronto. In addition, the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada has recognized his leadership, courage, and dedication to social justice, human rights, and democracy.

Molly Shoichet is an expert in the study of polymers for drug delivery and tissue regeneration. She is the Pamela & Paul Austin Chair in Precision and Regenerative Medicine and held the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering (2001-2020). Professor Shoichet was recruited to the faculty at the University of Toronto in 1995 with a NSERC University Faculty Award, after completing her S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Chemistry, 1987), her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Polymer Science & Engineering, 1992), and three years at CytoTherapeutics Inc.

Professor Shoichet is the recipient of 63 prestigious national and international awards. She was promoted to Full Professor in 2004, after being named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 (2002), and receiving CIFAR’s Young Explorer’s Award (to the top 20 scientists under 40 in Canada, 2002) and NSERC’s Steacie Research Fellowship (2003-2005). She is the first person to be inducted into all three of Canada’s National Academies: the Canadian Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2011, Professor Shoichet was awarded the Order of Ontario, Ontario’s highest civilian honour. In 2013, her contributions to Canada’s innovation agenda and the advancement of knowledge were recognized with the QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2014, Professor Shoichet was appointed University Professor in recognition of her dedication to the advancement of knowledge and her excellence as a teacher, mentor and researcher. This is the University of Toronto’s highest distinction, and is held by less than 2% of the faculty. In 2015, Professor Shoichet was the North American Laureate for the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science and in 2016, she was named international member of the US National Academy of Engineering. In 2017, Professor Shoichet won the Killam Prize in Engineering, the most important engineering prize in Canada. In 2018, Professor Shoichet served as Ontario’s first Chief Scientist and was also inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada – one of the highest distinctions for a Canadian. Professor Shoichet was elected to the Royal Society (UK) in 2019. In 2020, Professor Shoichet was awarded the NSERC Herzberg Gold Medal – the top prize in science and engineering in Canada – and won the Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize. Shoichet is a Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (USA, since 2023) and won the top biomaterials prize in North America, the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal (2026)

Professor Shoichet aims to advance the basic science and enabling technologies of tissue engineering and drug delivery. She is a world leader in the areas of polymer synthesis, biomaterials design and drug delivery in the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, retina) and 3D hydrogel culture systems to model cancer. Her research program is unique in its breadth, focusing on strategies to promote tissue repair after traumatic spinal cord injury, stroke and blindness and enhance both tumour targeting through innovative strategies and drug screening via 3D cell culture with new hydrogel design strategies. The impact of her brain research was recognized with the prestigious Margolese Brain Disorders Prize in 2020.

Professor Shoichet has published over 800 papers, patents and abstracts, has given over 600 lectures worldwide and has trained over 300 scientists in the past 30 years. Her students are pursuing careers in academia, industry and government. She founded four spin-off companies and is actively engaged in translational research and science outreach. In 2015, Professor Shoichet launched a national social media initiative, Research2Reality, which shines a spotlight on Canadian research, thereby engaging the public in the importance of research. Professor Shoichet served as an inaugural member on the Science, Technology & Innovation Council, providing strategic guidance to the Prime Minister of Canada (for 6 years), the Ontario Research & Innovation Council (for 2 years), the Board of the Ontario Centres of Excellence (for 6 years) and the Board of the Ontario Science Centre (for 3 years). She was Senior Advisor on Science & Engineering Engagement at U of T (for 4 years). Professor Shoichet now serves on the Boards of Martinrea Inc. – a  $5 billion autoparts manufacturer, MaRS – one of the largest tech incubators in North America, AmacaThera Inc, Synakis Corp. and of course, the Stem Cell Network.

Ms. Williams has nearly 20 years of experience in biotech, working with publicly listed entities in both Canada and the United States. She is currently the CFO at Satellos Bioscience Inc. (TSX: MSCL) where she is responsible for all financial, legal, and investor relations functions. Prior to joining Satellos, Ms. Williams was CFO of Medicenna (Nasdaq: MDNA) where she led a listing on the Nasdaq. Previous to Medicenna, she was Vice President of Finance and Administration at Aptose Biosciences Inc. (Nasdaq: APTO), previously Lorus Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company listed on both the TSX and Nasdaq capital markets. While at Aptose, Ms. Williams held several positions, including Acting CFO, and was responsible for a broad range of activities including financings, financial reporting, and regulatory compliance. She serves as Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Triumvira Immunologics Inc. Ms. Williams is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Accountant (CA).