What a difference a year makes! The second annual Odette Leadership Symposium built on the success of year one and took the symposium to a new level.   Four hundred aspiring leaders, including students, alumni and business professionals, came together at the Caboto Club in Windsor, Ontario on January 31 for a spirited discussion and debate on what it will take to lead in an increasingly complex and uncertain business environment.

Attracting Sponsors

Year two marked a number of changes including a name change to the Georgie – Odette Leadership Symposium in recognition of a new naming sponsor for the event. Dr. Vincent Georgie and Trevor Georgie lent their names to the event as a way to give back to the business school where both completed their MBA degrees. “Bud and Ed Odette built Eastern Construction as a team,” said Dr. Georgie. “They shared their considerable success in so many valuable ways with the community at large, and with those generations of students at the Odette School of business who will benefit from their generous spirit for years to come. By supporting the Georgie-Odette Leadership Symposium, my brother and I are recognizing the importance of giving back to our University and our community and we encourage others to do the same.” The symposium attracted other sponsors as well including Pepsico Canada, Corus Entertainment, Crestcom and Private Financial Group.

Outstanding Speakers

Keynote speakers included:

• Gary Kovacs, CEO, AVG Technologies and former CEO of Mozilla
• Cynthia Trudell, Executive Vice-President, Chief Human Resources Officer, Pepsico Canada
• Eddie Francis, Mayor, City of Windsor

Seminar speakers included:

• Paul Alofs, President and CEO, Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation
• Ron Bremner, President, Gold Medal Consulting
• Emilie Cushman, CEO, Kira Talent.
• Lauren Friese, Founder, TalentEgg.ca
• Patrick Lor, CEO, Co-founder, Dissolve
• Richard Peddie, retired CEO, MLSE
• Susan Schaefer, Vice-President and Head of Networks & Marketing, Corus Entertainment
• Debra Watkinson, Manager, Organizational Development & Learning, Sofina Foods
• Chantal Vallee, Coach of the UWindsor Lancer Women’s basketball team
• Anton Wimmer, Director, Ticket Sales & Service, MLSE

Each speaker shared his or her leadership journey and the lessons learned along the way. Topics were wide-ranging including: the importance of embracing change and thinking big, how to become an entrepreneur, finding your dream job, putting your passion to work, collaborating for success and achieving a work-life balance.

The symposium was targeted to students, recent graduates and business professionals and received media coverage in major daily newspapers and on broadcast media.

For additional information about last year’s event, please visit the GOLS 2014 website.