Meet David Chalk, the Maverick Mind in AI and all things Technology!

David isn’t just your run-of-the-mill expert; he’s a trailblazing visionary in AI and technology, whose insights electrify Fortune 500 boardrooms. As a Change Management Business Coach, David possesses a rare gift: he demystifies the labyrinth of tech speak, making AI’s revolutionary impact on business crystal clear.

Imagine a question so complex, so intricate that it baffles the best minds. Now meet David, who’s never encountered a tech query he couldn’t untangle with ease. This unparalleled expertise has placed him at the summit of Artificial Intelligence mastery.

For 12 spellbinding years, David was the charismatic host of “Chalk Media,” a TV phenomenon that guided millions through the tech jungle, introducing the latest gadgets and innovations with unmatched flair. His strategic genius caught the eye of none other than Bill Gates in the 90s, leading to a groundbreaking collaboration on Microsoft’s future directions.

But David’s brilliance doesn’t stop at punditry. He’s the entrepreneurial spirit behind over 15 groundbreaking ventures, from Doppler Computer Superstores to Chalk Media, and from the pioneering Decision-Zone Cyber Defence Technology to the eco-conscious Trees Matter. His latest ventures, including CalmWear™ Compression Clothing for Autism, highlight his commitment to making a tangible difference in people’s lives.

His trophy shelf is overflowing with accolades for retail innovation, marketing genius, and leadership, recognized as Canada’s Top Marketer by the Retail Council of Canada. With over 150 articles celebrating his visionary work and the landmark acquisition of Chalk Media by RIM in 2008, David’s impact is undeniable.

Yet, beneath the laurels and achievements beats the heart of a relentless fighter. Diagnosed with Dyslexia in his 40s, David faced an education system that seemed designed for his defeat. His journey from struggling student to tech titan is nothing short of inspiring, a story he shares in the moving documentary “The Truth About Reading,” spotlighting the vital link between literacy and reaching our fullest potential.

David Chalk isn’t just a master of technology; he’s a beacon of hope, demonstrating that with resilience, understanding, and the right mentorship, the sky’s the limit. Join him on a journey to the future, where technology and human potential meet and where every challenge is an opportunity for innovation.

A regular blogger, speaker, author, and all round PeopleTools guru, Jim brings more than 20 years of PeopleSoft experience. Jim has background both inside and outside of Oracle. In a word, Jim has been “there.” He knows what it is like to be a customer.

Lee Ann has more than 20 years of experience working with higher education institutions, implementing Campus Solutions, advising on business process redesign and providing general customer education and support. She is excited to now also be previewing Oracle’s new cloud student information system, Oracle Student Management.

As VP of Product Strategy for PeopleSoft, Rebekah is an Executive with broad cross-functional expertise, including business strategy, product management, development, program management, marketing and communication, quality assurance, performance and benchmarking, alliances, and consulting.

* Award Winning Program Manager of high-visibility, high-impact global projects. Champion for driving strategic change.

* Operations-focused business manager, skilled in data analysis and reporting to drive decision-making and efficient action.

Scott Howe, Enterprise Cloud Architect, provides engineering and architectural guidance for the Higher Education community. Prior to his employment with Oracle, Scott spent 10 years at a large University as a DBA and Systems Admin responsible for Ellucian Banner, Degreeworks, Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Transact and other core services. Scott holds certifications including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect, AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate, AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty, 11g Oracle Certified Professional, RedHat Certified Systems Admin, Comptia A+, Network+, Security+ as well as a Bachelors in Computer Science.

Darren Hall is a Human Capital Management Professional, it is his role to provide strategic direction for organizations in Canada for all Human Capital Management Software. These types of systems include full HRIS solutions (Core HR, Benefits, Payroll, Time and Labour), as well as applications such as Recruiting, Performance Management, Succession Planning, Workforce Planning, Pay for Performance, Onboarding/Offboarding, and all associated Business Intelligence and Analytics.

Steve Brawn is Director, Product Strategy for Oracle Higher Education Applications Development. In this role, Steve directly supports the direction and development of Oracle's student information system enterprise software applications, including PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and Oracle Fusion Cloud Student. Prior joining Oracle, Steve spent nearly 15 years as an enterprise applications developer, integrator, and technologist in multiple industries, working with multiple enterprise applications. Close to a decade of this time was spent in higher education, supporting, extending, and integrating PeopleSoft Campus Solutions at a large research institution in the United States. Steve’s intimate knowledge of the product roadmaps, strategies, and development of Oracle’s student information system applications, coupled with his experience in higher education - as a developer, integrator, and technologist - make him a sought after resource to help institutions prepare for their journey to Oracle Fusion Cloud Student.

Robert is responsible for engaging with customers during the implementation cycles to develop strategies around GRC / Risk Management solutions and demonstrate how Oracle’s GRC / Risk Management solutions can assist organizations solve complex business challenges.

Over 20 years of experience supporting Oracle ERP solutions, including as an Oracle Customer as part of an implementation project and as a support specialist post-implementation, helping business users get the most value from their Oracle investment.

Founder, President, and CEO of Gideon Taylor, Paul has more than 25 years of PeopleSoft industry experience and a passionate focus on maximizing business value through innovative automation strategies and PeopleSoft-based technologies.

Scott has been involved with PeopleSoft for more than 20 years. He is a passionate advocate for intelligent business process automation and helping organizations conceive and create solutions that fundamentally transform how they operate.

Andrew founded IntraSee, Inc. in 2005 after spending much of his career in the enterprise software industry and realizing user experience was the largest unaddressed gap in the industry. Prior to IntraSee, Andrew spent time with IBM and PeopleSoft where his responsibilities included product development, product strategy, consulting services and business development. His sessions at leading industry conferences are extremely popular. Especially those focused on artificial intelligence and User Experience, which Andrew is particularly well known for, and a leading expert on. IntraSee is now a part of Gideon Taylor, a leading firm helping enterprises get the most out of Cloud, AI and Automation. Andrew has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Andrew Drinkwater is the President & Co-Founder at Plaid Analytics, and has over 20 years experience in higher education enrolment and financial planning, analytics, and reporting. Andrew holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University, and is a past board member of the Canadian Institutional Research & Planning Association.

Patrick Lougheed is the Chief Solutions Officer & Co-Founder at Plaid Analytics, and has over 20 years of experience in higher education leadership in information technology and student services. Pat holds an MEd from Simon Fraser University, and is past-president of Simon Fraser University’s Alumni Association.

As part of Workday’s Higher Education product strategy team, Kate is focused on strategic growth initiatives and investments in the industry. She also leads cross-product efforts to deliver the greatest value in Workday’s portfolio offerings across faculty, staff, and student populations. Previously, she managed initiatives to design the Workday Student implementation methodology. Before joining Workday, Kate was a higher education consultant at Huron Consulting Group, and later at the Education Advisory Board (EAB). She has also worked in an academic advising office as a student success coach and has an Ed.M. with a concentration in Higher Education Administration. Kate lives in Needham, MA.

Alex Ondrus is a Senior Research Specialist with the Education Insights team at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He is responsible for the Enrolment Planning and Reporting unit, which produces enrolment projections and reports for the institute. Using statistical analysis and machine learning techniques, we translate enrolment and application data into actionable insights for the decision makers at NAIT.

Ashmita De is a Research Analyst in the Education Insights, Data and Research department at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). She is part of the Enrolment Planning and Reporting unit, specializing in enrolment projections through statistical and machine learning based methods to assist NAIT’s decision-makers.

Intkhab has over 30 years of IT experience both as a Enterprise and Solution Architect and in various IT Leadership roles in organizations both large and small, private and public sector. He specializes in emerging technologies and practices and contributing to solutions that span business, information, and application, and technology domains of knowledge. He has worked with – either as an employee or consultant – over 100 different organizations with particularly strong industry specializations in Education, Gaming, and Public Sector. His background in technology enablement includes the full cycle of selection, procurement, transformation, integration, and replacement. He is also a former educator. Most recently, Intkhab has been specializing in helping companies manage their Digital Transformations and Modernization programs – particularly in public sector and Education environments. His background in Enterprise and Solution architecture, Project Management, application lifecycle management, software testing, and Enabling technologies combine with experience in multiple clients to help transform organizations into architecturally sound, technology-enabled, strategic leaders in their sector.

Jacob James is leader in the EPM practice with 15+ years of consulting experience in financial information management and analytics. He has led finance transformation initiatives in Canadian higher education institutions, specifically focused on enabling FP&A and Financial reporting processes using EPM cloud platforms. He has presented at Oracle OUTAG on leading practices for Cloud EPM migrations.

Lukus Ratz has rich experience in EPM implementation across Canadian public sector with various industries. He has implemented Capital, Projects, and Financials business processes (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, and Cash Forecast). In such engagements, he delivered the full gamut of features available in the Oracle Planning suite (integrations, security, calculation scripts, business process flow, master data, conversion, etc.).

Josh is a Managing Director at Accenture, leading the Oracle Practice in Western Canada. With 20 years of experience in Backoffice Transformation, he specializes in Cloud ERP implementations, particularly with Oracle ERP, HCM, and EPM Cloud. Josh has worked with clients in North America and Europe across various industries, helping them improve their Finance, Human Resource and Technology functions. He excels in program delivery, business process optimization, and shared services, with a strong background in financial and supply chain Cloud applications. In addition to leading Cloud ERP implementations, Josh is skilled in developing comprehensive business cases, creating multi-year roadmaps, and leading enterprise-wide Transformation programs.

Cherise is an accomplished Delivery Leader in the Oracle ERP Cloud practice in Canada at Accenture. She is one of the few people in the world who has both Oracle ERP Cloud consulting implementation and product management experience having launched new Oracle ERP Higher Education cloud products as a former Oracle employee. With 20+ years of experience in Oracle consulting and product management, Cherise is adept at bridging the operational, technical, and functional requirements in complex business environments by understanding pain points, business issues, and strategic goals. This expertise has been integral to Cherise advising Higher Ed clients on using Oracle products to drive business transformation, improve financial sustainability, reduce financial risk and achieve institution operational excellence.

Ken has been with the University of Calgary for the past 12 years in a career that has spanned 32 years in multiple industries including Higher Education, Transportation, Telecommunications, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing and Government. His current portfolio consists of Enterprise Applications and platforms, Applications (Vendor, SaaS and Custom Developed), Business Intelligence & Analytics, Integrations, Content & Collaboration, Geospatial Services and ucalgary.ca web services. Ken's most recent initiatives all involve migrating services to the cloud including Hyperion to EPM Cloud, modernizing the Business Intelligence Platform, the migration of SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint Online, completing a Proof of Concept to migrate platforms/applications to Microsoft Azure and the planned Proof of Concept to host PeopleSoft as an IaaS solution.

Loren has been a part of IT at NAIT for the past twenty-four years, starting in a technical role in NAIT's PeopleSoft implementation. He now leads NAIT Applications and Integration portfolio in IT including Enterprise Systems, Application Development, Cloud & DevOps, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, and Enterprise Architecture. In the past several years, Loren has focused on cloud migration, application modernization, the development of NAIT's integration capabilities and what comes after PeopleSoft.

Ashton has been leading the Enterprise Business Solutions team at NorQuest College for 2 years. In partnership with business areas, the team is responsible for maintaining and configuring the ERP system (Oracle PeopleSoft), and custom application development. Prior to this role, Ashton led the Technology Infrastructure team at NorQuest College and previously worked at the University of Alberta in various IT roles.