Ray Williams is committed to community engagement, in particular in the area of diversity and inclusion efforts. He serves on leadership boards for various organizations, including 100Strong Foundation.

He is an outspoken champion of workplace diversity and is a Past & Founding President (2000) and continuing member of The Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP) the pre-eminent professional trade organization for minorities in the financial services industry. He has been actively involved at all levels since its inception in 1997, and in that capacity acts as a mentor to a number of individuals.

From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Williams was an advisor to the federal government as part of an External Advisory Group (EAG) on Embracing Change, a program designed to reconcile the evident disparities of visible minorities within the federal public service and federally-regulated industries, advising specifically though not exclusively, the President of the Public Service Commission (PSC), the President of the Publics Service Human Resource Management Canada (PSHRMAC), and the Clerk of the Privy Council ( at the time Alex Himmelfarb).

Between 2005 and 2008, Mr. Williams was instrumental in engaging the National Bank’s participation in The BankSETA International Development Program, which each year brought to Canada up to 16 senior South African banking executives from previously disadvantaged groups. The six-week development program (part of the South African Financial Services Charter) combined academic learning with on-site workplace days at leading Canadian financial institutions including National Bank Financial.

A firm believer in inspiring change within his community, Mr. Williams volunteers in various capacities as a mentor and has sat on the Board of numerous organizations, including the Canadian Foundation for Aids Research (CANFAR 2007-2012). Mr. Williams was also Co-Chair of CANFAR’s Investment Committee and was an Advisory Board Member. He was also member of the Pension Investment Committee of the United Way of Greater Toronto (2008 -2013).

Mr. Williams is a Co-Founder & Chair of the Black Opportunity Fund, established in 2020 and designed to be the largest fund in Canada addressing anti-black racism through social & economic empowerment.

He is also a member of Centennial College’s Financial Services Program Advisory Committee and has been a past Guest Lecturer at both Centennial and McMaster University, De Groote School of Business. He also sat on the Pension Investment Management Committee (PIMC) of the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Canada.

He is currently an Executive-in-Residence (EiR) at Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, sits on the George Brown College Foundation (GBCF) as Board & Investment Committee Member & is a Board Member and Audit Committee member of the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), one of Canada’s top think-tanks as well as Canadian Ditchley.

He has been the recipient of various awards from Community, including the Planet Africa Award for Professional Excellence in Dec 2012. In October of 2013 Mr. Williams was nominated by the Canadian Diversity Business Council (CDBC) as part of the second cohort of 50 individuals deemed Board ready. In June 2021 He was nominated as a Champion of Change by Women in Capital markets (WCM). In 2018 Mr. Williams was awarded The Ontario Black History’s Society (OBHS) Rev Addie Aylestock Award –“Paving the way for others to follow” as the organisation celebrated its 40th year In 2019 he was presented with the President’s Award at the Annual Harry Jerome Awards.

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is the Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at WorldFish, a One CGIAR entity. She was awarded the 2021 World Food Prize for her ground-breaking research, critical insights, and landmark innovations in developing holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems. She also received the 2021 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award for research innovation. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and Vice Chair of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Action Track 4 - Advance Equitable Livelihoods, and also a Food Systems Champion.

Dr. Thilsted studied at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine in Trinidad where she earned a BSc. in Tropical Agriculture in 1971. She began both her career and her life’s theme of making strides within and for a developing society as the first and only female agricultural officer in the Tobago Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries. Two years later, she returned to Trinidad and took on her first research-centred job at The UWI’s Faculty of Natural Sciences.

She holds a PhD from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

She has taught and researched at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Sokoine University in Tanzania as an FAO Associate Expert; and then as the Associate Head.

Several of her projects have been funded by organizations such as USAID, the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Thilsted was closely involved in the organization of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, guiding the Summit's work related to building sustainable and equitable food systems. She is also involved with the Global Action Network in mobilizing activities for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025).

Camille Wardrop Alleyne (born Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, October 12, 1966) is an American aerospace engineer, space scientist, internationally acclaimed speaker, writer, educational leader, and science ambassador. In the highly technical fields of science and engineering where women are in the minority, she is one of the most-recognized women in aerospace engineering and one of the few women of color to serve in a senior technical management positions at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She is the Associate Program Scientist for the international Space Station at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre since 1 October 2020. She joined ITC from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she was Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities.

Ms. Coke-Hamilton has a breadth of experience and expertise in trade-related capacity-building and sustainable development. She served with the Jamaican Government, the Caribbean Forum in trade negotiations, and multilateral institutions, including the Organization of American States and InterAmerican Development Bank. She previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, strengthening the private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises through investment promotion.

She has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable economies such as the small island developing States and least developed countries. Ms. Coke-Hamilton has worked extensively with the private sector across African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and academia to build trade-related institutional strength within member States. She also established the Women Empowered through Export (WeXport) platform to address the disadvantages that women-owned firms experience in accessing markets.

Ms. Coke-Hamilton holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, DC, and a BSc in International Relations and Economics from the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.

Dr. Gervan Fearon is the President and Vice-Chancellor of Brock University. Brock is located in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada, and known for its excellence in student experience, experiential and co-operative education, and community engagement, as well as leading Scholars, Researchers and research institutes such as the Cold Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOCI) and the newly established Validation, Prototype and Manufacturing Initiative.
Since Dr. Fearon joined Brock in August 2017, the University has advanced its enrolment and national stature, and established broad partnership arrangements, including Canadian Caribbean Institute with the University of the West Indies.
Previously, he served at Brandon University as President and Vice-Chancellor, and prior as Provost and Vice-President Academic. Dr. Fearon also served as Dean of The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University; as Associate Dean at York University; and as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington.
He also served in the Ontario Government as a senior analyst at Treasury Board Division, Ministry of Finance, and as an executive assistant to the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. His community service includes serving as the President of Tropicana Community Services and a member of the Ontario Trillium Foundation Board, Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples Council and TELUS Community Board. He currently serves on several boards, including chairing the Budget and Audit Committee of the Council of Ontario Universities.
Dr. Fearon received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario, and other degrees at the University of Guelph. He holds a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA) designation and an Institute of Corporate Directors Designation (ICD.D). He is the recipient of several awards, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. His academic research has been published in a number of journals, including as a chapter in the 2012 book, Jamaican in the Canadian Experience: A Multiculturalized Presence.
Dr. Fearon was born in Birmingham, UK, with Jamaican parents who emphasized on university education for their four children. This motivated them to come to Canada, which was instrumental in fulfilling the family’s dreams. Dr. Fearon and his life partner, Dr. Kathy Moscou, have a blended family with five children who inspire them every day. Kathy’s leisure is art, and he plays the saxophone. As a cancer survivor, he values every day as an opportunity to contribute to the betterment of others and society.