Kathy Lusk is the A/Director General for the Strategic Services Branch at Service Canada, Atlantic Region.

A proponent of diversity and inclusion, Kathy is a leader in the advancement of equity and diversity initiatives. Through her roles as a co-champion of Employment Equity and Diversity in the Atlantic Region and as program lead for the Building Black Leaders program – an initiative sponsored by the Atlantic Federal Council to mobilize highly skilled Black federal public servants into leadership roles – she encourages safe spaces for discussion, learning and personal growth.

Kathy is an advocate for positive change and professional development. Her natural inclination to putting people first has been beneficial for her 20 years in the federal government. Before her current role, Kathy applied her natural people skills in the field of Human Resources, in operations and as a Director.  She has held positions with other federal organizations such as the Public Service Commission, Canada Border Services Agency, and the Department of National Defense.

Through her work, Kathy inspires creative thinking, innovative ideas, and bold actions toward a dynamic, confident, and inclusive organization.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathylusk/

Wendat First Nation; Karine Picard is senior manager of the program and operations for the IT Apprenticeship Program for Indigenous peoples at the office of Indigenous initiatives from Employment and Social Development Canada.

Karine, started her career in the public service, in the first cohort of the Indigenous student employment opportunity. Driven by giving back to Indigenous communities, Karine takes pride in supporting Indigenous recruitment, development and retention in the public service as subject matter expert. During her tenure as manager of the Indigenous centre of expertise at the Public Service Commission, she launched the Indigenous career pathways and the Indigenous recruitment toolbox. Karine thrives to advance reconciliation by addressing barriers faced by Indigenous peoples and use creative and innovative way forward to change the status quo.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karine-picard-5ba171200/

Tammy Kardoes is currently the Senior Director of HR-to-Pay, Operations and Transformation at Veterans Affairs Canada. Tammy has worked in the field of Human Resources for over twenty years in the various positions within the federal public service and has been consistently drawn to roles and projects that involve innovation, creativity, inclusivity and collaboration. She is currently in pursuit of her Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology through the University of East London in the United Kingdom. Through her studies she has discovered the importance that organizations need to place on moving from a state of functioning to flourishing which includes setting up employees and new entrants to the public service with the tools needed to be their best selves and thrive in their roles. 

When Pierre-Luc Pilon started his Government of Canada career, we still had to justify why we should have access to the Internet from our computer…

Since 2005, he worked on a variety of files, from developing the first prototype of GCconnex to organizing a sci-fi podcast to talk about the future of science and of Canada’s energy sector.

He holds diplomas in commerce and environmental management and is finishing an MBA in management of digital business at the Université Laval.

For the past 4 years, he has had the pleasure and privilege of managing people. In 2021, he was awarded a Deputy Minister Award for Leadership at Employment Services and Development Canada’s Labour Program, and his team’s work is being recognised with a second award in 2022.

Based in Ottawa, he currently works at Transport Canada as manager of Data Management and Stewardship.

@plpilo  (Twitter)

Caroline Roy is the Regional Director of the Finance and Administration Branch, Quebec Region, at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) since June 14th, 2021.

She joined the federal public service in November 2009 and has held several positions within various organizations. From 2017 to 2020, she worked at Canada Economic Development (CED) for Quebec Regions as Chief of Staff and then as Quebec Federal Council Manager.

In 2020, she joined Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) as Regional Director – Customer Service Team.

Ms. Roy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

http://linkedin.com/in/caroline-roy-81b54b192

Julien Théophile, M.Ps., works as a psychologist with the Executive Counselling Services at the Public Service Commission. As an assessment specialist and counsellor, he aims to support leaders at all levels in the development of their competencies and the actualization of their potential, in the service of others as well as their mandate.

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/theojulien

Paola Rossell is the Director of Programs and Innovations at the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) in the Public Service. CDI’s mandate is to examine and address the barriers and challenges to achieving a diverse and inclusive workplace. This work is critical to making sure our policies, programs and services are sensitive to the needs of all people of Canada.

Paola has extensive experience in a range of federal departments across various functions. Before joining CDI, Paola provided national leadership to the Government of Canada’s workplace charitable campaign as Director of the Government of Canada’ Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC) chair’s office. She is former head of policy of Gender Inclusive Services at the Treasury Board Secretariat where she focused on promoting diversity, inclusion and gender equality in government programs and services.

Paola has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Carleton University. She lives in Ottawa with her husband, her 10 year-old-son, and her pet rabbit.

Valerie Plourde, has been working in the field of training and careers since 2003. Having always been very interested in professional development, she has improved over the years on talent development. A member of the Order of Guidance Counselors of Quebec, she has worked, among other things, with a professional adult clientele and managers. In addition, through her various work experiences in various ministries and public organizations, she has developed expertise in the field of career development, corporate training and counselling.

Jason Fox has 20 years of experience as a public servant in various Human Resources disciplines.  He began as a Learning Advisor at the Department of National Defence and has worked as Senior Advisor at the Privy Council Office (Public Service Renewal Secretariat) and Director of Human Capital Strategies at the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. He is currently Director, Research and Strategy at the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer in the Research, Planning and Renewal Sector. Jason is also a professional Coach.

Uttara Chauhan is Director General of the Future of Work Secretariat at Employment and Social Development Canada. Her work in the federal public service has focused on socio-economic policy and program development in the areas of labour market and social development, immigration, Indigenous affairs, and civic engagement. Prior to joining the public service, Uttara worked as an independent consultant in international development. She is a published novelist and movie lover.

@Uttara_Chauhan

Caroline Desrochers has been with Canada’s public service for nearly twenty years. She is currently leading a task force on the future of work, to implement a framework for a hybrid work model within Global Affairs Canada, an organization with nearly 13,000 employees.

Caroline was, until recently, Director of Political and Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of Canada in New York. She worked for 8 years on developing relations between Canada and the United States, including on economic issues and trade policies. She has also worked closely with the financial community to advance women’s equality in business. During her tenure in New York, she worked to restore the promotion of Canadian cultural industries in this important market. Earlier in her career, she worked on inter-American issues, such as the Summit of the Americas in Quebec in 2001 and at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti from 2004 to 2006.

A graduate in economics from Concordia University, Caroline also holds a master’s degree in media studies from The New School University in New York.

@desrocherscd

Courtney Amo is an executive faculty member at the Canada School of Public Service. She has held a variety of executive-level positions over her 20 year career in the public service.

Alicia Seifert started her public service career as a student while in university. She first worked as a Student Customs Inspector. The following summer, She worked as a Receptionist at what was then known as Human Resources Development Canada. HRDC hired her right out of University in 2000 as a casual and in time, she succeeded on her first competition and became a term employee. She has been blessed to have worked in several roles throughout the PS at HRDC, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Immigration & Refugee Board, Canada Border Services Agency, and the Labour Program. In 2008, she returned to the IRB as a Member of the Immigration Division, adjudicating cases dealing with immigration detention and admissibility. In 2016, she became a manager and has held several leadership positions within the IRB. In addition to her managerial role, she is the Coordinator of the IRB Managers’ Community, Regional Lead of the Mental Health Promoters in Central Region, and the Employer Co-Champion on Mental Health.

She is also an active participant of the National Managers’ Community as the IRB rep on the NMC Managers’ Advisory Board, a member of the NMC Ontario region Steering Committee and a lead for the NMC Managers’ Peer Coaching Circle. In her spare time, she is a Facilitator for the Canada School of Public Service.

Eve Nadeau is the ISED’s Associate Ombud for Mental Health and Employee Well-Being who has held the position since November 2018 and she is now also the Director of the Informal Conflict Management and Professional Coaching Services. Eve has held the positions of Manager of Values and Ethics and Harassment Prevention Programs at the Treasury Board Secretariat, and Manager of Respect in the Workplace at Justice Canada. For eight years prior to this, in addition to being the Manager, Eve was also a Senior Conflict Management Advisor at Public Services and Procurement Canada. In her role as a mediator, she developed a departmental harassment prevention initiative, she designed various organization-specific trainings, created group intervention processes and harassment and sexual harassment prevention tools. In her role today, Eve continues to focus on raising awareness about mental health, harassment prevention, conflict resolution and workplace well-being. Eve joined the federal public service in 2006 and worked in the field of labour relations as a Senior Advisor at Public Services and Procurement Canada, Correctional Services Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. Prior to this, she worked for ten years as a social worker and as a probation officer with the Government of Quebec. In addition to being trained as a professional coach and a specialized coach in conflict management, certified as a group facilitator and a mediator by the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution, the Institut de Meditation et d’Arbitrage du Quebec, Sherbrooke University and holding an Ombud Certification from the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, Eve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Quebec at Hull, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from L’École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP).

Marie-Andrée Hould graduated in 2019 at the University of Ottawa as MSW. She is a bilingual Registered Social Worker. She worked in various organization such as community centers, schoolboards, women shelters and governmental departments.

Marie-Andrée is also qualified as a Mental Health First Aid Facilitator with the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

She has a passion for social research on various topics such as perinatal health, climate justice, violence against women, motherhood, and social media. On a personal note, Marie-Andrée is an outdoorsy person who enjoys hiking with her dogs, chasing sunsets, and relaxing by the water.

Over the last four years, Camille Dundas has become one of Canada’s most requested racial equity educators, having worked with global companies such as Google and KPMG Financial, helping to implement anti-racism and allyship education programs. 

Social media:

Instagram: cam_dundas

Twitter: @camilledundas

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camilledundas/

In September 2021, Ms. Laviades Jodouin was appointed as Vice-President, Public Sector Operations and Inclusion Branch at the Canada School of Public Service, where she oversees the design, content development and curation of learning to support Public Sector Skills, Indigenous Reconciliation and Diversity and Inclusion. She is also responsible for Executive Learning, where she oversees leadership development programs for executives at all levels.

Prior to this, Ms. Laviades Jodouin was the Director General responsible for learning to support the creation of Respectful and Inclusive workplaces. The directorate led the design and development of learning on topics such as unconscious bias, positive space, accessibility, anti-racism, mental health, harassment and violence prevention, gender based analysis plus and more. 

From November 2017 to December 2018, Ms. Laviades Jodouin was the Director General of Foundational and Specialized Learning at the Canada School of Public Service, where she was responsible for leading the design and development of learning foundations for all public servants as well as learning for specific functional communities.

In 2017, Ms. Laviades Jodouin was the Director responsible for Leadership Development at the Office of Senior Personnel, Privy Council Office, where she was responsible for supporting succession planning, talent management and learning for the Deputy Minister community. 

Ms. Laviades Jodouin was appointed to the Executive cadre in 2010, holding various positions of increasing scope and responsibility, supporting learning for public servants and/or executives, in a variety of topics and domains.