Leader Character Conference

Mary Crossan
Professor, General Management & Strategy
Paul MacPherson Chair in Strategic Leadership

Mary Crossan is a Distinguished University Professor – Western's highest honour recognizing excellence in teaching, research and service over a substantial career at Western. Her research on organizational learning, strategy, leadership character and improvisation has been widely published in such journals as the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, the Journal of Management Studies, Leadership Quarterly and Organization Dynamics. She has extended her research to management practice through a collection of over 50 cases, many of which have been published in a book she co–authored entitled Strategic Management: A Casebook. She is also an author of the Strategic Analysis and Action textbook and the Developing Leadership Character book. In a joint venture between the Ivey Business School and the Second City Improvisation Company, she developed a management video entitled "Improvise to Innovate" which extends traditional concepts of strategic management to development tools and techniques for more innovative, flexible and responsive strategic action. Her research, case–writing and consulting have provided broad exposure to companies around the world.

Gerard Seijts
Professor, Organizational Behaviour
Executive Director, Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership
Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership

Gerard Seijts is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario.  He holds the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership.  He received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.  His areas of research include leadership, teams, performance management, and organizational change.  He is the author or co-author of four recent books: Leadership on Trial: A Manifesto for Leadership Development (2010); Good Leaders Learn: Lessons from Lifetimes of Leadership (2013); Developing Leadership Character (2016); and Leadership in Practice: Theory and Cases in Leadership Character (2017). Gerard is the recipient of awards for research, innovation in teaching and outreach activities / service. 

Stephen Virgin
Director, Character Leadership, Human Resources Branch, Canada Revenue Agency

Mr. Steve Virgin joined the Canada Revenue Agency in July 2018 as the new Director for Character Based Leadership. He is a former senior naval officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and he joined the Public Service in 2015. During his military career he was fortunate to have a variety of leadership experiences including submarine captain, frigate command, and a variety of strategic leadership appointments in National Headquarters in plans, policy and strategic resource management. His final appointment in the Forces was as the Deputy Commander of Canada’s Special Forces Command. As an Executive employee in the Department of Defence, he was the Director of Business Management and Director of Analytics for the Defence CIO.

Mr. Virgin holds a Bachelor of Military Arts and Science from the Royal Military College of Canada, he is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Command College, he is a fellow of the National Defence University of the PLA Beijing, and he recently completed a Certificate in Regulatory Leadership at the University of Ottawa. Mr. Virgin is a volunteer citizenship presiding official with IRCC where he very much enjoys the opportunity to welcome new Canadians. He was invested into the Order of Military Merit in 2015 and he was awarded two meritorious service medals during his career.

Kate Ashby has taught in many academic, corporate, creative and therapeutic environments across Canada, the U.S and Europe. During her 15-year tenure at Second City, Kate developed one of the Training Centre’s most successful programs; it still runs today. During her 13 years teaching at Ryerson University, she honed her program for executives and is a Guest Director at the Theatre School. For the last 3 years Kate has taught Improv to students in the Ivey MBA Transformational Leadership course. This year Kate was thrilled to be invited to teach Improv at Canadian Film Center founded by Norman Jewison. And for over 22 years at Workman Arts (CAMH), her program has been transformational for individuals suffering from mental illness. 

Kate is a double Gemini nominated actor. She has numerous film, theatre, radio and television credits. However, for 20+ years, her passion has been teaching Improv to diverse groups of students of all ages and occupations. The Kate Ashby Academy, successfully launched in 2010 in Toronto, has full enrollment with five unique classes where all are welcome.   

Corey Crossan is a Kinesiology PhD candidate at Western University and a Research Assistant at the Ivey Business School with a passion for leadership development. Her research interests include exercising and developing leader character, sustained excellence and elite sport performance. Her current doctoral research is focused on exercising and developing leader character and embedding leadership character into organizations. Corey is also developing technical notes for each of the eleven character dimensions. Corey has competed in elite athletics for most of her life, highlighted by competing as a NCAA Division 1 athlete and continues to compete in sport and grow her experience with coaching elite athletes. Corey is passionate about helping individuals and organizations perform at their best.

Dr. Cassie Ellis is an Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Associate with Ivey Business School at Western University. She studies leader character with specific focus on exercising and developing character through different methods, such as music and improvisation. She teaches the Developing Leader Character course to graduate students at Western. Cassie received her PhD in Kinesiology from Western University in which her dissertation focused on how to make participating in physical activity pleasurable and how to use music to enhance the participant’s performance and experience. In addition, Cassie teaches group fitness classes as well as coaches the local competitive swim team’s strength and conditioning program.

Bill Furlong is a senior financial services Executive / Regulator with 25+ year track record of Character, Innovation and Success in Canadian and International Capital Markets. He recently retired as a Commissioner at the Ontario Securities Commission where he held responsibilities related to Board Oversight, Policy and Adjudication, and was Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee. He previously held Global, senior leadership roles in Front Office (Asset Backed Securitization, Trading Business Management, Toronto) and Middle Office (London, England). Bill is currently an Executive-in-Residence at Ivey Business School, writing, presenting and lecturing on Character Based Leadership to students and business leaders in Canada, U.S. and the U.K.  

Dr. Marsha Rothstein is a psychologist with over 30 years in private practice where she provided Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with a particular interest in anxiety disorders. She has been on the faculty for several years at OISE/U of Toronto where she taught courses in the Counselling Psychology Program. She has provided workshops and intensive training programs for mental health providers in hospitals and community agencies. She has been a director on the Board of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and President of the Employee Assistance Program Association of Toronto.  She is a mentor for MBA students in the Transformational Leadership course at Ivey.

Times & Dates:
Thursday May 2 at 1:00 pm to Friday May 3 at 4:30 pm

Cost:
$575.00 + HST

Venue:
Vantage Venues
150 King Street West, 27th Floor
Toronto, Ontario 

Click HERE for a printable schedule.

Detailed Schedule:

Thursday May 2, 2019

Friday May 3, 2019

Since 1922, Ivey has been at the forefront of shaping the way leaders develop through both rigorous research and teaching. Today, our commitment to developing the type of leaders who will help their organizations to succeed has not changed. What has changed is the knowledge we have about the components of good leadership: competencies, character and commitment. The Institute focuses on the element of leadership that has largely been neglected in the empirical and practitioner literature – character - with our research, teaching and outreach on the development of leader character becoming our distinct differentiator in the vast leadership space.

Click HERE to learn more about our mission and vision.