We are back!

Join us on October 27, 2022 at Steam Whistle Brewery for Food and Beverage Ontario’s Annual Conference. We have been eagerly awaiting this opportunity to meet once again with our members, colleagues and industry partners to enjoy time together and learn from informative speakers.

Benjamin Tal

Deputy Chief Economist CIBC World Markets Inc.

Mr. Tal is responsible for analyzing economic developments and their implications for North American fixed income, equity, foreign exchange and commodities markets. He also acts in an advisory capacity to bank officers on issues related to wealth management, household/corporate credit and risk.

Well-known for his ground-breaking published research on topics such as labour market dynamics, real estate, credit markets, international trade and business economic conditions, Mr. Tal not only contributes to the conversation, but frequently sets the agenda.

He has close to 20 years’ experience in the private sector advising clients, industry leaders, corporate boards, trade associations, and governments on economic and financial issues.

National and global media regularly seek him out for his insight and analysis on economic issues that impact financial markets, consumers, corporations and public policy. He is also a frequent lecturer in the economic programs of various Canadian universities.

Mr. Tal is a member of the Economic Committee of The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, The Economic Development Committee of the Toronto Board of Trade. He is also a member of the board of Governors of Junior Achievement of Central Ontario, and a board member of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois

Professor, Faculty of Agriculture Senior Director, Agri-food Analytics Lab Dalhousie University

Overview of the food and beverages landscape after an uneventful few years (Not…)

The pandemic has challenged the food supply chain, creating new challenges and opportunities. Join Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab from Dalhousie University for a presentation and discussion on the Canadian food and beverages market. His overview will include all the current elements affecting the industry, including food price inflation, supply and labour shortages, innovation, potential crisis and more.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. He is as well the former Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. While at the University of Guelph, he was also the Associate Dean of Research for the College of Business and Economics. He is a former director of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy in Regina where he was also Associate Dean at the Faculty of Business Administration of the Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business. He is a recipient of multiple federal government research grants.

Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.

Doug Stephens

Retail and Consumer Futurist

Doug Stephens is the Founder and CEO of Retail Prophet, and widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists. His creative and intellectual work have influenced the strategies of global brands including IKEA, Nike, Coca Cola, LVMH and L’Oréal.

He is the bestselling author of three books on the future of retail, including his latest book, Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World.

Doug is also a nationally syndicated retail columnist for CBC Radio and sits on multiple advisory boards, including the David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retail at St. Mary’s University.

His unique perspectives on retail and consumer behavior have been featured in many of the world’s leading publications and media outlets including The New York Times, The BBC, The Business of Fashion, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company.

For more details or enquiries on sponsorship, please contact Jason Crawford at jcrawford@foodandbeverageontario.ca.