Farhana Alarakhiya

Farhana Alarakhiya is currently Global Program Director, Analytic Applications where she oversees the strategic direction and execution of the IBM Analytic Applications product line. Her current responsibilities include driving all aspects of the business ranging from product management and market development, to customer success, and partner solutions.

Before joining Cognos, Ms. Alarakhiya served as an executive at SAS Institute and was the driving force behind the company’s evolution to business applications vendor. Prior to this, she contributed in an engineering and consulting capacity to several companies, including Canadian Pacific and Ontario Hydro. Ms. Alarakhiya holds a Bachelor of Engineering and Management from McMaster University as well as MS degree in Technology and Policy.

Ms. Alarakhiya is an active member of various community organisations. Currently she sits on the executive of the World Partnership Walk, is a board member for the Ottawa Montessori school, and a long standing judge and advisor for Queens University’s International Business Competition.

John Koopman

John Koopman is a Partner with Spencer Stuart’s industrial practice based in its Toronto office.  He has extensive recruiting experience for senior financial leaders across a broad spectrum companies.  In recent years he has completed over 75 CFO and other senior level financial officer searches for companies such as AECL, Aeroplan, Centerra Gold, CHUM, Corel, Gennum, Harry Winston Diamonds, ING Direct, IMAX, IntraWest, RIM, Timminco, Tundra and Wescast Industries, among others.

John’s initial professional experience was as a corporate and commercial lawyer in Calgary, Alberta with Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer, one of western Canada’s leading law firms.  He is a member of the Law Societies of Alberta and Upper Canada.

Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, John spent eight years as a international strategy consultant first for McKinsey & Company out of their Amsterdam office, and later for Mercer Management Consulting in Toronto.  Throughout his consulting career, he was a strategy generalist and led strategy projects in industries as diverse as airlines, railways, fashion, professional sports, chemicals, textiles, banking, and property and casualty insurance.  Among his other duties with Mercer Management Consulting, he was the partner in charge of Canadian recruiting.

For six years John served with Mexx, an international textile manufacturer and wholesaler, in positions ranging from International Marketing Manager stationed in The Hague, to VP Sales and Marketing, and later VP Finance for Mexx in Paris, France.

John is an active commentator and student of business and public policy issues and has had his articles printed in publications as diverse as the Globe & Mail, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, MacLeans Magazine, Journal of Commerce, and Canadian Manager.   He was also on the faculty of Webster University, where he taught a course on corporate strategy in the MBA program.  He is a Past President of the Empire Club of Canada and a Queen’s Jubilee medal recipient.

Michael Robins

Michael Robins was appointed Senior Vice-President, Restructuring in October 2009, assuming lead responsibility for co-ordinating AECL activities in support of the proposed restructuring of AECL by its shareholder, the Government of Canada.

In this role, Mr. Robins leads a cross-functional team of AECL staff and liaises with Natural Resources Canada in assessing the restructuring options for AECL.

Prior to this, Mr. Robins held the position of AECL Chief Financial Officer for eight years, responsible for all company financial operations including treasury, planning and analysis, results reporting and enterprise risk management. He was also accountable for information technology management and development, the corporate procurement process, policy development and enforcement. 

During the past several years, Mr. Robins has helped forward shareholder discussions about business restructuring, capital optimization and resource management. He has also provided leadership on new business initiatives and business environmental risk assessment.

Before joining AECL, Mr. Robins was Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice-President of Corporate Development for Indigo Books, where he led the company through its acquisition of Chapters in 2001.

Prior to Indigo Books, Mr. Robins enjoyed a 14-year career with AT&T where he served as the undersea cable business’ Chief Financial Officer and spearheaded that company’s sale to Tyco International. He also held several senior positions within AT&T’s internet, computer and network switching divisions and returned to Canada in 1998 to become AT&T Canada’s Chief Financial Officer, where he helped lead the company’s restructuring and merger with Metronet Communications.

Alison Simpson

Alison’s career combines multinational with entrepreneurial expertise, and covers the spectrum from advertising and marketing agencies to a brand consultancy and now Rogers Communications.  The unifying thread across her experience is Alison’s ability to develop innovative marketing communications solutions that deliver dramatic business growth.  Her initiatives have been recognized with national and global marketing awards.

Alison joined Rogers Communications in February and heads up the Consumer Marketing Communications portfolio.  Prior to joining Rogers, Alison was the President & COO of GWP Brand Engineering - the branding firm responsible for creating the ING DIRECT and expedia.ca brands.

Alison has also held the role of President at Toronto-based Enterprise Creative Selling (a WPP Group affiliate), where she was responsible for developing successful brands for a wide cross section of clients, including: Tim Hortons (in Canada and the U.S), Toronto Star and McCormick Canada.  During Alison’s presidency, the firm grew 40%.  More importantly, her clients’ businesses enjoyed similar growth, and Tim Hortons graduated from a successful quick service restaurant to a recognized Canadian icon. 

Alison has held senior positions with MacLaren McCann, BBDO Canada (Vancouver and Toronto) and Venture Communications.  Her career client roster spans numerous categories and leading companies, including: Apple Computers, TELETOON, Molson Breweries, Canadian Cancer Society, Mars, Nestle Canada, Unilever and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to name a few.

Peter VanSickle

Mr. VanSickle has extensive experience with the development of retail environments and was responsible for the development of a number of regional shopping centers in Canada while with Ivanhoe Cambridge

He joined BMO Financial Group in the Corporate Real Estate Department managing the domestic retail branch portfolio and move in to Corporate Marketing. As Director Merchandising  he was responsible for, innovation of merchandising elements, merchandising design standards and governance on an enterprise wide basis. The bank has in excess of 1,300 retail locations in Canada and the United States.

Peter is also responsible for the sponsorship BMO Financial Group has with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. BMO is the official bank of both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors.

Currently he is the Vice President of Strategy for Envision, a Retail Design firm centered around Thought Leadership and Customer Experience Development. Recent clients include: Rogers Communications, Citi Bank Financial, CIBC and Marks Work Wearhouse. Envision is engaged with industry leading Building Information Modeling systems supporting the Retail, Financial and Infrastructure projects.