David Atkin

Chief Executive Officer, UN PRI

David Atkin is the CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI is a UN-supported organisation, with more than 5,000 signatories who collectively represent over US $121 trillion in AUM. He is responsible for the PRI’s global operations. David previously served as the Deputy CEO for AMP Capital and prior to that spent almost 13 years as the CEO for Cbus Superannuation Fund, where he saw membership grow from 500,000 to over 750,000 and AUM rise to AUD $55 billion. David has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from La Trobe University for his work in the sustainable finance field, was awarded the Fund Executives Association Ltd (FEAL) Fund Executive of the Year in 2017 and was presented with an Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) Life Membership in 2020.   

Lorraine Audsley

Senior Vice-President and Chief Risk and Sustainability Officer, Export Development Canada (EDC)

Lorraine Audsley was appointed Chief Sustainability Officer in January 2023. In this capacity, Ms. Audsley oversees the integration of environmental, social and governance into EDC’s strategy and culture, as well as in EDC’s support for Canadian companies.  

Prior to her current role, Ms. Audsley was the Chief Risk Officer, Global Risk Management, where she oversaw the financial, operational and strategic risks of the Corporation, including the Compliance & Ethics, Risk Quantification, Enterprise Risk Management, Credit Adjudication and Portfolio Oversight functions. Ms. Audsley also provided oversight of EDC’s climate scenario analysis. Beginning in April 2015, she served as Vice-President and Chief Credit Officer where she was responsible for Credit Adjudication, Special Loans, Risk Transfer, and Risk Quantification.   

Previously, Ms. Audsley was Vice-President, International Financing, where she led a group which underwrote financing solutions for small and mid-market Canadian exporters and investors, and Vice-President, Business Intelligence & Innovation, where she led the corporate centres of expertise on Operational Excellence, Business Architecture and Enterprise Information Management. Ms. Audsley has held other roles throughout her career at EDC, primarily in the financing underwriting and risk management fields.  

Ms. Audsley has a Master of Finance from the Henley Business School of the University of Reading in England. In 2022, she completed the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD Business School in France.  

Grégoire Baillargeon

President, BMO Quebec and Vice Chair, BMO Capital Markets

Appointed President of BMO, Quebec and Vice Chair, BMO Capital Markets, in November 2022, Mr. Baillargeon has been with the Bank of Montreal since 2004. A trained lawyer working as a business banker for nearly 20 years, Grégoire has been actively involved in our community, including as past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Club of Montreal and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal and Finance Montréal’s Board of Governors. Grégoire also supports many organizations working to reduce social and economic inequality, including as a Board member for Centraide of Greater Montreal and Chair of the Board of academic perseverance organization Youth Fusion.

Passionate about the energy transition and the fight against climate change, Mr. Baillargeon recently joined the advisory board of Volt-age: Electrifying Society, a research program at Concordia University, and also serves on Carbon Removal Canada’s advisory board. Under his leadership, BMO became the first bank to join the Montréal Climate Partnership, as well as the launch of conVERTgence, two movements aimed at accelerating decarbonization and integrating sustainable business practices in the city.

Jean-François Chalifoux

President and CEO, Beneva

Jean-François Chalifoux is President and CEO of Beneva, the company born of La Capitale and SSQ Insurance in July 2020, that is now the largest insurance mutual in Canada. Beneva has over 3.5 million members and clients, and more than 5,500 dedicated employees. The company's assets stand at over $25 billion with a volume of insurance business at nearly $7 billion.

Jean-François has a bachelor's degree in actuarial sciences from Université Laval. He is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society, as well as a graduate of the Queen’s Executive Development Program. Prior to joining SSQ Insurance as Chief Executive Officer in 2015, Jean-François held a number of executive positions with major Canadian insurance companies in the general insurance and life and health insurance sectors.

Jean-François sits on several boards and committees in the insurance and financial services industries. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) and the Board of Governors of Finance Montréal. He is also known for his social contributions and his desire to make a difference in the community, a testament to Beneva’s values of commitment and solidarity. In fact, he is a board member of the Fondation Jeunes en Tête. He has also been named the honorary president of various events and fund-raising campaigns, specifically as co-chair of the 2024 campaign of Centraide Québec Chaudière-Appalaches and the Québec Capitale Climat project.

In 2021, Jean-François was named 2020 Financial Personality of the Year by Finance et Investissement, an honour he shares with Jean St-Gelais, Chair of the Board of Beneva. 
As the father of three sons, family life is very important to Jean-François.

Emmanuel Faber

Chair, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)

Emmanuel Faber was appointed as the inaugural Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board in December 2021, effective 1 January 2022. He is well-known for his passion for sustainability and his leadership positions at multi-national food products company Danone for the past 20 years. He joined the company in 1997 as Chief Financial Officer, Strategy, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from 2014, as well as Chair of the Board from 2017 until 2021. He became a partner at Astanor Ventures in October 2021.

Faber has lived and held senior leadership positions in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. He has founded and chaired several international organisations and initiatives, including the One Planet Business for Biodiversity coalition and the G7 Business for Inclusive Growth coalition―co-chaired with the OECD Secretary General. He initiated Danone Communities, a social business initiative providing funding to bring nutrition and water access for vulnerable communities, as well as the Livelihoods Venture, which provides funding for ecosystem restoration and the development of sustainable farming in emerging economies.

Prior to joining Danone, he held roles as Chief Financial Officer and later Managing Director at Legris Industries. He also has experience from investment banking at Baring Brothers and as a consultant at Bain & Company.

He holds a Master’s degree in business administration from HEC Paris, France.

Steven Guilbeault

Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Canada

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Laurier—Sainte-Marie in 2019. He has previously served as Minister of Canadian Heritage. 

Minister Guilbeault is a prominent advocate in the fight against the climate crisis, and has been leading the charge from Laurier—Sainte-Marie for years. 

Minister Guilbeault’s commitment to environmental issues started at the age of five, when he climbed a tree to protect it from real estate developers who were about to cut down the woods behind his home in La Tuque. Twenty-five years later, he scaled the CN Tower in Toronto to call for Canada to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. 

In 1993, Minister Guilbeault co-founded Équiterre, the largest environmental organization in Quebec, and served as its Senior Director from 2008 to 2018. He also worked as a Director and Campaign Manager for Greenpeace, and was a Strategic Advisor for more than 10 years at Cycle Capital Management, a Canadian fund dedicated to the development of clean technologies. Minister Guilbeault also worked for Deloitte & Touche as well as Copticom, a consulting firm specializing in the green and social economy, and transportation. 

As an activist and strategic advisor for dozens of governments and businesses in Canada and abroad, Minister Guilbeault is a pragmatist who works to make a difference by building bridges and relationships. An avid cyclist and sportsman, he has been riding his bike 12 months a year for the last 30 years. 

Minister Guilbeault is a father of four and stepfather of two. 

Valérie Plante

Mayor, Ville de Montréal

After studies in anthropology, museology, multi-ethnic intervention and extensive field experience with several community organizations, including Fondation Filles d’action, Valérie Plante stepped into the political arena in 2013 as city councillor for the Saint-Marie district. She was chosen by Projet Montréal members to lead the party in 2016. Her contagious passion and energy have helped her rally people around her progressive vision.  

Deeply committed to participatory democracy, Valérie Plante has a bold plan for Montréal centered on increased access to public transit, improved urban planning and public services, the economy and the environment. Her commitment is to bridge the gap on these issues for all 19 city boroughs.  

She was first elected mayor of Montréal in the November 2017 municipal election. The people of Montréal gave her a second term in November 2021. As mayor of Montréal, Valérie Plante is a member of various advisory committees and governing boards.  

• Chair of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM);  

• President of the Big Cities Caucus of the Union des Municipalités du Québec (UMQ);  

• Governing board member of Montréal international;  

• Governing board member of Fondation Montréal inc.;  

• Member of the Big City Mayors’ Caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities  

• Co-president of Metropolis 

• ICLEI’s Global Ambassador for Local Biodiversity 

• C40 Vice-President for North America 

Fate Saghir

Senior Vice President, Head of Sustainability, Marketing and Client Experience, Mackenzie Investments

Fate Saghir leads Sustainability at Mackenzie Investments. Fate is also the Chair of the Sustainability Steering Committee and the Head of Mackenzie’s Sustainability Centre of Excellence, dedicated to developing capabilities and enriching technical expertise of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in support of corporate strategy, investment management practices and sustainable product offerings. Fate brings thought leadership, education and tools aligned to creating sustainable investments to institutional clients, advisors and investors. Since joining Mackenzie in 2017, Fate led the development and launch of Precision, an intuitive investment analytics technology that assists financial advisors in the research and analysis of Canadian investments. She then established a new function, Market Strategy and Innovation, focused on research, insights and innovation enabling fact based and client centric decision making at IG Wealth Management and Mackenzie Investments. Fate has more than 15 years’ experience in financial services building new sustainable business models through strategic research and insights, a strong client orientation and a focus on generating long-term value for all stakeholders. She sits on the Advisory Boards for Timea’s Cause, an organization dedicated to building awareness in human trafficking and the Women’s Collection, an organization focused on enabling financial literacy for women. In 2021, she joined the Responsible Investment Association’s Leadership Council and joined the board of the Mackenzie Investments’ Charitable Foundation Board. She was also named a Clean50 2022 Honouree in recognition of her efforts to advance the cause of sustainability and clean capitalism in Canada.

Fate has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Windsor and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA).