Speakers Bureau

April Dyrda is a Registered Provisional Psychologist who brings nearly a decade of experience to her role as a Workplace Consultant. She specializes in counselling and consulting on the topic of career transition, supporting individuals, organizations, and teams with navigating change in their work and workplaces. April’s primary speaking interests include topics related to leadership and team development, improving trust and communication in the workplace, and supporting remote work success. 

Dr. Arla Day is a Full Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and former Canada Research Chair at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada. She is the Director of the CN Centre for Occupational Health & Safety. The focus of her research, teaching, and consulting activities is on assessing and improving employee and organizational well-being and effectiveness. Arla chairs the Nova Scotia Psychological Healthy Workplace Program committee, overseeing the awards and workshops. She was Associate Editor of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. She has authored many articles and book chapters pertaining to healthy workplaces, occupational stress, employee well-being, and work-life balance.

Dr. Rebecca Gewurtz is an Occupational Therapist and Associate Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Work and Health. She specializes in work disability policy, income insecurity, and employment among people living with disabilities, with a focus on mental illness and other episodic disabilities. She has been examining the experiences of various stakeholders including people with disabilities, service providers, co-workers and employers as people with disabilities are hired and accommodated in diverse workplaces, as well as the impact and coordination of income security benefits. She has been involved in large partnership projects that include diverse community collaborators, such as employers, non-profit social service organizations and government agencies. She has experience with participatory action research and co-designing solutions to complex workplace problems.

Merv Gilbert has had over thirty years’ experience providing services to children, youth and adults in hospital, community and private practice settings. He has served in leadership roles at regional, provincial, and international levels. In addition to serving as a Director of Vancouver Psych Health and Safety, he is an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and serves on the Steering Committee of the American Psychological Association’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Network.

Melissa Egan is the National Lead, Episodic Disabilities at Realize. She has worked across Canada for over 15 years as an educator, trainer, and facilitator. Melissa specializes in building the capacity of employers to support their employees with episodic disabilities, and increasing awareness of IDEAL Principles: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, Leading to belonging.

Yana van der Meulen Rodgers is a Professor in the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, and in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, at Rutgers University.  She also serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers.  Yana specializes in using quantitative methods and large data sets to conduct research on women's health, labor market status, and well-being.  Yana has worked regularly as a consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Asian Development Bank, and she was President of the International Association for Feminist Economics.  She currently serves as an Associate Editor with the journals World Development and Feminist Economics.  Yana earned her PhD in economics from Harvard University and her BA in economics from Cornell University

Nina Hornjatkevyc is a Registered Psychologist and for over a decade has provided career and personal counselling support to individuals and organizations. Nina is also the Practice Lead at the Calgary Career Counselling and Synthesis Psychology firms. Her areas of expertise include career planning and development, assisting others with career and educational decisions, and workplace mental health with emphasis in stress and transition management.

Valerie Lougheed (Val), Founder and Past President of Agilec (formerly Northern Lights Canada), established in 1985, has been working in the field of vocational rehabilitation since 1978. Val worked in partnership with Employment Ontario managing Employment Resource and Assessment Centers and delivering return-to-work services to Canadians. Having had first-hand experience with injury, trauma and rehabilitation, her areas of expertise are rooted in Vocational Rehabilitation, Trauma as well as Recovery and Resilience.

Dr. Jamie Gruman is a Professor in the Lang School of Business at the University of Guelph. He is also the founding Chair of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association. One of Canada's leading experts on workplace well-being, his work has been published in books such as The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-being, Advances in Positive Organizational Psychology, The Handbook of Employee Engagement, and he is co-author of Advanced Introduction to Employee Engagement and Boost: The Science of Recharging Yourself in an Age of Unrelenting Demands. A regular keynote speaker, he has spoken for Fortune 500, non-profit, and public organizations such as General Motors, The Children's Wish Foundation, and every level of Canadian government. Learn more about him here.

Kevin Kelloway is the Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health Psychology and a Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada. His focus is on the leaders’ role in promoting safety, well-being and mental health is the workplace and he identifies evidence-backed and practical strategies to improve workplace health and safety.

Dr. Karina Nielsen is a Full Professor of Work Psychology and Director of the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield, UK. Karina specializes in organizational interventions, i.e. how we can foster employee health and wellbeing through changing the way work is organized, designed and managed. Another area of expertise is sustainable return to work, how we can support workers with common mental disorders stay and thrive at work after long-term sickness absence.  Key to Karina’s research is the IGLOo framework, which suggests that in order to develop healthy organizations it is necessary to build resources at the individual, group, leader and organizational levels. 

Dr. Laura Hambley is the founder of Calgary Career Counselling and is a Registered Psychologist who has been providing career counselling to people of all ages since 2001. Laura believes a person’s career is one of the most important choices in their life, and that time and effort should be taken to help each person find a fulfilling career direction. Laura’s areas of expertise include workplace psychology, career plan and decision making, as well as best practices for working remotely.

Dr. Tyler Amell is an internationally recognized thought leader on the topic of workplace health and productivity. He is chief health and strategy officer at MediKeeper. He also serves on the executive board of directors of the Work Wellness Institute and the National Wellness Institute. In the past, he served on the executive board of directors of the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) and the Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health. He is past chief revenue officer, chief health officer and advisor at a well-being technology company; past partner and vice president at a global HR consulting and technology company; CEO of an HR technology company and vice president of a large independent health care, occupational rehabilitation and return-to-work company.