MLTO Executive Panel: Balancing AI Innovation with Safety

Registration Instructions

NOTE: Meetup RSVPs are closed - to attend, you must register on the Luma event page: https://luma.com/28p9jsss

Agenda
5:30 – 5:50 PM - Arrivals & Networking
5:50 – 6:05 PM – Opening Reflections from Panelists (3–4 minutes each)
6:05 – 6:35 PM – Moderated Discussion
6:35 – 7:00 PM – Audience Q&A and Closing Remarks
7:00 – 8:10 PM - Networking & Refreshments
8:10 Wrap-up
​
Speakers

• Ben Davies, Chief Information Officer, Vector Institute
  Ben is the current CIO and CISO at the Vector Institute and is responsible for overseeing Vector’s scientific and business computing environments. He leads Vector’s participation in building a national AI research compute environment as part of the national Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and sits on the OECD.AI Expert Group on Compute and Climate. Ben has a broad background in technology management with prior experience including a CIO role at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and over twenty-five years of experience in strategic planning, IT operations management, cybersecurity, and technology consulting with organizations in North America, Europe and Asia. He has held progressive IT management positions in multiple sectors including pharmaceutical, software manufacturing, transportation, travel, and consulting. He was co-founder and president of a managed services company, has been involved in several start-ups, and has been a member of several non-profit boards.
• Tony Savor, VP Platform Engineering, Index Exchange
  Tony Savor is VP, engineering platform at Index Exchange, bringing over 30 years of experience in building and leading mission-critical, planet-scale infrastructure. Most recently, Tony led Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) engineering, defining the future of distributed computing infrastructure. Before that, he oversaw the engineering for Facebook’s online data storage and serving infrastructure—the largest system of its kind globally. Earlier in his career, he spearheaded engineering for a foreign-exchange retail and institutional trading platform at [OANDA.com](http://oanda.com/), which trades tens of billions of dollars per day.Tony holds a Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo and is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two daughters.
• ​**Carla Sherman**, Senior Manager, Compliance Oversight of Models Office (COMO). Carla has a mixed political science/international relations and legal background. Over the past decade, she has built a diverse career within the financial sector from the beginnings in branch operations, gaining experiences in securities law, then transitioning into sustainable finance and ESG-related initiatives, before ultimately focusing her expertise on the evolving space of AI oversight. She has a keen interest in the development and use Responsible AI from a social science and legal perspective, focusing on ethical implications, societal impact, and importance of transparent governance.
• Swanand Gupte, Director of Artificial Intelligence at TELUS
  Swanand is a Director of AI at Telus and leads a amazing team of Data Scientists, Machine Learning and Cloud Engineers with a mission to supercharge business decisions at TELUS with AI-driven insights. He has a passion for solving complex business problems and his previous work as a strategy professional for 11+ years spans across multiple industries, geographies and functional areas including organizations such as Tiger Analytics and Samsung, and working in Korea and the US.​

Many thanks to our supporters and sponsors!
We'd also like to acknowledge our venue partners Index Exchange for generously providing their amazing space for the event, and Trajectory Labs and PRAKTIKAI for making the event happen.

​​Speak or Support MLTO!
We are constantly looking for new speakers and sponsors to share their knowledge and help build the AI community in the GTA! If you are interested please get in touch directly or apply via one of the links below:

• ​Speaker Application Form: mlto.ca/speak
• ​Sponsor Inquiry Form: mlto.ca/sponsor
• ​Volunteer Application Form: mlto.ca/volunteer