CEST 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

EST (Montreal) 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Sustainably comes in many forms and exhibits many facets. Virtually all of them have been challenged in the last year. A global pandemic has massively disrupted the world at large, and with it organizations, economies, communities and nations. The vocal cry of populism—already visible before the pandemic—has not quietened. While there is a natural desire for life in a post-pandemic future to return to normal, that is an outcome that isn’t possible.

We will find a new normal in time. What this normal looks like is an open question. The pandemic has highlighted the need for global solutions. At the same time, it has given rise to and reinforced insularity and national self-interest. Addressing issues of sustainability broadly requires being open to new perspectives, new strategies and new solutions.

This panel discussion explores what a new and different basis for collaboration might look like in addressing the challenges of the today and the future. It asks what will be required of institutions, organizations, researchers and each other as we contemplate forging the future that we want and we need if we are to truly attain sustainability.

Iain Klugman, Strategic Advisor to Health Canada, past President of Communitech

Iain Klugman is currently a Strategic Advisor to Health Canada, and the former president of Communitech. He is a Nortel veteran, and has been the Executive Director of Communications with CBC, CEO of Ontario Tourism, had federal stints with the Privy Council Office and Industry Canada, and has been a Board Member or Chair of over 30 organizations throughout his career.

Ann Langley, Honorary Professor of Management, HEC Montreal

Ann Langley is Honorary Professor at HEC Montréal. Her research focuses on organizational change, leadership, and strategic processes and practices in pluralistic settings, with an emphasis on qualitative research approaches. She has published over 80 articles and 40 book chapters and she has co-edited ten books. She is co-editor of the journal Strategic Organization, and co-edits a book series Perspectives on Process Organization Studies (published by Oxford University Press) with Haridimos Tsoukas, based on an annual international symposium held in Greece since 2009.

Roy Suddaby, Winspear Chair of Management at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria

Roy Suddaby is the Winspear Chair of Management at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, Canada, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Carson College of Business at Washington State University, USA and Chair in Organization Theory at the University of Liverpool Management School, UK.  Roy’s work has contributed to our understanding of the critical role of symbolic resources – legitimacy, authenticity, identity and history – in processes of entrepreneurial change and innovation.

Roy is a past editor of the Academy of Management Review He has won best-paper awards from the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada as well as the Greif Research Impact Award from the Academy of Management.

Roy was recently named a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a JMI Scholar by the Western Academy of Management and a Member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. Thompson Reuters identified Roy as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers in business and economics in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Lisa White, Executive Director, Equity Office, Concordia University

Lisa White is the inaugural Executive Director of Equity at Concordia University. Lisa began her advocacy and policy work in academic spaces when she joined the Concordia Student Union Advocacy Centre in 2006. A Concordia alum, she has held key administrative roles such as Director of the Office of Rights and Responsibilities. Leading the newly established Equity Office, Lisa now oversees the strategic implementation of recommendations centered on advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion at Concordia University. Lisa’s work is informed by a decade of experience in addressing issues of discrimination and equity in higher education spaces as well as social justice and community-based approaches.