Fellow | Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies

Tasha Freidus is a social entrepreneur and educator with over two decades of experience designing and leading ventures at the intersection of business and social impact. She is responsible for the strategy and launch of the Shorefast Institute with a focus on consulting, training, and network building. Previously, Tasha was the co-founder of NeedsList (acquired, 2024), a technology company that modernized humanitarian response by connecting local suppliers to crisis-affected communities. Tasha currently teaches social entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs where she serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence.

Founder & CEO | Animikii Indigenous Technology

Jeff Ward is the founder and CEO of Animikii Indigenous Technology, a values-driven B Corp building ethical technology for a more equitable world. Since 2003, Jeff has grown Animikii into the company behind Niiwin, one of the world's first data platforms built with Indigenous-first design. Niiwin empowers organizations to control and use their data to benefit their communities, grounded in Indigenous data sovereignty principles like OCAP® and CARE.

Jeff is Ojibwe and Métis, originally from Manitoba, now living and working in Victoria, BC on Lekwungen territory. He's a software developer, product designer, author, and speaker. He has served on the board of Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and its subsidiaries since 2018 and is a founding board member of the Indigenous Tech Circle. He also serves on the OECD Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) Experts Working Group on Responsible AI and is a Fellowship Leadership Judge for MIT Solve. Jeff speaks and presents regularly at national and international conferences and is quoted widely in the media.

Senior Director for Policy and Learning | Grand Challenges Canada

Kristen A. Cordell serves as Grand Challenges Canada’s inaugural Senior Director for Policy and Learning, bringing over 14 years of executive-level experience and policy-making expertise from public institutions, including the White House. Kristen is proud to have previously represented the U.S. government on delegations to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Ms. Cordell believes that AI Safety and Governance is the issue of our time. She is a Successif Fellow for AI Safety and is currently leading the inaugural Canada AI economic preparedness working group on behalf of Windfall Trust. She previously held the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship (IAF) in 2020 and the CSIS Strategy and Statecraft Fellowship in 2021 and became a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 2022.

Director of Partnerships | The Dais

Jake Hirsch-Allen is the head of Partnerships at The Dais, Canada’s leading think tank. Current foci include “Kids and Tech”, “Renewing Democracy” and “AI and the Innovation Economy.” Jake previously built public-private partnerships in workforce development and higher education for LinkedIn. Jake advises impact investors, public sector leaders and start-ups, including on edTech, responsible tech, ethical data and Public AI. He co-founded Lighthouse Labs and has acted as a director on many boards. A former intellectual property and international criminal lawyer, Jake was also chair of the Technology Committee of the Global Education Platform, taught Global Health at McMaster University and clerked at the Supreme Court of Israel.