Press release

True North 2019 to explore the ‘new age of work and learning’ with Thomas L. Friedman, Roy Gori and more

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Communitech will examine the changing nature of work, education and
hiring at the True North conference, happening June 19-20, 2019.

The ‘Age of Re-Learning’ theme at True North will examine our current
era when we see simultaneous skills shortages and mass underemployment,
when entire job categories are eliminated and new ones are created, and
situations when colleges, universities, employers and HR managers all
must adapt to the labour market of the future.

Age of Re-Learning speakers include:

  • Thomas L. Friedman, bestselling author and New York Times
    foreign affairs columnist. Based on his most recent book,
    Friedman will break down three macro-trends driving the increasing
    pace of change in our world: climate change, globalization and
    technology.
  • Roy Gori, President and CEO of Manulife. Insurance companies
    are evolving into tech companies that provide insurance. Gori will
    explore the forces shaping how and where we work and how we can work
    together to keep pace with the change that new technology brings with
    it.
  • Lisa de Wilde, CEO of TVO. De Wilde will explore how tech
    enables us to engage media from a variety of sources, learning and
    building skills in new ways.
  • Hamoon Ekhtiari, founder and CEO of Audacious Futures. Ekhtiari
    explores the expanded use of artificial intelligence, and how to use
    it to preserve millions of jobs, rather than replace them.
  • Krystyn Harrison, founder and CEO of Prosper. Harrison gets to
    the heart of the matter: How will you find a job AI can’t do, avoid
    burnout and stay competitive in the labour market of the future?
  • Sarah Prevette, founder and CEO of Future Design School. Old
    school is about content delivery. The school of the future is about
    competency development. Prevette will take you on a high-octane drive
    into the future of education and its impact on the world.
  • Caitlin MacGregor, founder and CEO of Plum. As a “Future of
    Work” thought leader, MacGregor says the work of talent leaders is
    poised to get more interesting. Just as the general workforce will
    need to shift to a continuous learning approach in their careers, HR
    and talent leaders will have to be nimble and take a learn, un-learn,
    and re-learn approach to hiring and deploying talent in this new world
    of work.
  • William Zhou, CEO of Chalk. To understand where you’re going,
    you need to know where you’ve been. Zhou will revisit the history of
    K-12 education to see what we should stop, start and continue doing in
    the Age of Re-Learning.
  • Liu Yang and Meghan Wahab, Product Leaders at Bonfire. With
    machine learning and AI solutions being implemented across the
    economy, now is the time to prepare for an automated future. To Yang
    and Wahab, that means building solutions that elevate people within
    their organizations, instead of displacing them.

The True North conference takes place June 19 and 20 at LOT42 in
Kitchener. More than 2,500 attendees will come together to hear from
leading thinkers on topics including quantum computing, AI, data privacy
and digital addiction. For more about the Age of Re-Learning and True
North, please visit www.truenorthwaterloo.com.

About Communitech
Communitech was founded in 1997 by a group
of entrepreneurs committed to making Waterloo Region a global innovation
leader. At the time it was crazy talk, but somehow this community
managed to pull it off. Today, Communitech is a public-private
innovation hub that supports a community of more than 1,400 companies –
from startups to scale-ups to large global players.

Communitech is a member of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs and
helps tech companies start, grow and succeed in three distinct ways.

  • Communitech is a place – the centre of gravity for entrepreneurs and
    innovators. A clubhouse for building cool tech and great companies.
  • Communitech delivers programs – helping companies at all stages with
    access to capital, customers and talent. We are here to help them grow
    and innovate.
  • Communitech partners in building a world-leading ecosystem – making
    sure we have all the ingredients (and the brand) to go from a small
    startup to a global giant.