Cool Tech Start-up vs. Big Enterprise: Finding and Keeping Top Talent in Tech

Who wins the battle for Toronto's top tech talent?

In our upcoming #NextGenTA meetup we will hear from a panel of experts, each at various stages of growth, but all passionate about acquiring and retaining the right people. They will share insights, experiences, successes and challenges on finding and keeping top talent in tech.

Join us at our meetup on Wednesday, November 30th at 6pm!

Our panel will feature CEO's from some of Toronto's fastest growing tech companies and Talent Leaders in mid to enterprise organizations.

More speakers to be announced shortly. Register early to make sure you reserve a seat!

We can't wait to see you!

This event is, in part, sponsored by Xref and TalentMinded Inc.

Speakers:

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As an entrepreneur from a young age, Chris Wiegand has dedicated his career to discovering and creating business opportunities that address real-world needs.
Chris co-founded Jibestream to address the complexities of navigating and managing spatial data for large complex indoor spaces. The Jibestream wayfinding platform connects the people places and things that matter to organizations enabling them to unlock the full potential of the Internet of Things.

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Karen Blakey, Senior Manager, Talent Management Services at Questrade, is passionate about the entire employee lifecycle from recruitment to retention. She leads talent acquisition and employer branding strategies across the business as well as supports HR and employee relations functions companywide. Karen strives to create a culture where work doesn’t need to suck and deliver a winning experience to both candidates and employees alike. Questrade has more than doubled in size since Karen joined in 2010 and is the largest and fastest growing Canadian fintech company.

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Rob Catalano is passionate about helping companies succeed – by leveraging technology to make employees successful. As a founding employee, Rob spent 10-years at Achievers, leading Marketing and the company’s global expansion. With his unique experience in HR Technology, Rob recently co-founded WorkTango (https://worktango.io/) – a platform that offers real-time employee insights and agile performance management that positively impacts alignment, accountability and engagement of employees.

Rob has had the privilege to speak in over 25 cities the past three years, and loves the opportunity to connect with passionate HR leaders off-stage just as much as speaking. He is an avid hockey and volleyball player, and in his own terms a ‘pointaholic’ – he collects loyalty points for everything and anything!

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Steve joined GE in 2007 as the head of Talent Acquisition for GE Canada and within 1 year built GE’s first ever country CoE model. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a B.A. in history, he is also a Certified Human Resources Professional through the Canadian Human Resources Professional Association. Steve has been dedicated to the recruitment function for the last 20 years. Prior to GE, he was the Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition for the professional services firm, Deloitte & Touche and began his career working for Kimberly-Clark Inc. and Fedex as an HR Manager

In 2011 Steve took on a new role as Global Talent Acquisition Leader for the emerging markets. In this role he helped define the overall recruitment strategy and spearhead efforts to build Talent Acquisition Centre’s of Excellence (CoE) for all of GE’s growth and emerging markets spanning 50+ countries. In 2014 he took on a global strategy & operations role with overall responsibility for GE’s recruitment technology, global processes, tools and programs, recruitment analytics & metrics, talent sourcing strategy, recruiter competency model and curriculum, and recruitment marketing and branding.

In his spare time, Steve sits on the Board of Directors for Our Place, Community of Hope which is an organization focused on supporting and aiding individuals suffering from mental health issues. Steve’s true passion is his family, which includes his wife and two young sons. In his spare time he enjoys travelling to new destinations and experiencing their local wines and cuisine. Favorite destinations have been Istanbul, Moscow, Shanghai and Tokyo.