Valérie Pisano is a visionary leader at the intersection of artificial intelligence, innovation, and organizational transformation. As the President and CEO of Mila – Quebec AI Institute, she oversees one of the world’s most renowned AI research centers, founded by Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio. Under her leadership, Mila has strengthened its global impact in deep learning, ethical AI, and industry collaboration, ensuring that AI advancements drive meaningful, responsible progress. 

With over 20 years of experience in leadership and strategic transformation, Valérie has held key roles across multiple industries. Prior to Mila, she served as Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil, where she led global workforce engagement strategies for 3,500+ employees and artists. She also co-founded The Mobius Bias Project, an initiative dedicated to promoting diversity and advancing women in leadership by addressing unconscious bias in organizations. 

A former consultant at McKinsey & Company, Valérie brings a strong background in strategic thinking, change management, and talent development. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from HEC Montréal and serves on the boards of Montréal International and Chartwell Retirement Residences. 

With a deep passion for harnessing AI for the greater good, Valérie continues to drive Mila’s mission of advancing AI research while ensuring its responsible and ethical deployment in society. 

Justin Kingsley’s vocation is to invent the best way of telling the right stories—as an author, strategist, creative director, and photographer. 

Named one of North America’s most creative people by Marketing Magazine, Justin has served as Creative Director for NHL superbrand the Montreal Canadiens, turned Star Wars and Indiana Jones into global museum exhibitions, put a McDonald’s Restaurant into the side of a mountain at a snowboarding competition, and branded the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with the very first bilingual Games slogan: With Glowing Hearts / Des plus brillants exploits. He also developed the award-winning branding and communications strategies for UFC World Champion Georges St-Pierre, world champion sommelier François Chartier, and comedian Sugar Sammy. The strategy and campaign idea he developed for Adidas at the 2012 London Olympics, titled Take the Stage, won international acclaim and was named best global campaign of the Games. 

He has written two bestselling books: The Way of the Fight, a New York Times bestselling look at Georges St-Pierre’s life philosophy, and Weology: How Everybody Wins When We Comes Before Me, a book of ideas on leadership in the new millennium.