Keynote Speakers

Ben Mulroney is regarded as one of Canada’s premier television hosts. He is best known as the former co-host of CTV’s Your Morning and Etalk as well as the host of Canadian Idol. For the entirety of it six-season run, it was the most watched English-language Canadian television show on record. As a preeminent host and emcee, Mulroney infuses galas, conferences, and every event he’s involved in with his signature humour, charisma, and warm personality.

Despite being the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and earning a law degree from Laval University and a history degree from Duke University, Mulroney found his calling in show business, not politics.

Mulroney got his start as the Quebec City Correspondent for talktv's The Chatroom before joining CTV’s Canada AM as their entertainment reporter. He then joined Etalk from its inception, where he interviewed thousands of stars and reported from hundreds of red carpets, including the Oscars, Golden Globes, the Emmys, and the Juno Awards. Mulroney has also appeared as a contributor on the weekend edition of ABC News’ Good Morning America and joined Kelly Ripa as guest co-host twice on the popular daytime talk show, Live! With Kelly.

Colonel Chris Hadfield is an astronaut, business leader, hi-tech entrepreneur, five-time bestselling author, and global speaker on leadership, change, and managing life. Having commanded the International Space Station and directed companies, he has deep experience with best practices and tactics on guiding teams through extreme circumstances of complexity and change, while also recognizing the importance of sharing the marvels and wonders of science and spaceflight.

Formerly NASA’s Director of Operations in Russia, Hadfield spent more than three decades serving the military, NASA, and the Canadian Space Agency. Throughout his distinguished career, he been a fighter/test pilot, flown three space missions, built two space stations, performed two spacewalks, crewed the Shuttle and Soyuz, and commanded the International Space Station. His many awards include the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Cross (twice), and the Order of Canada.

Today, Hadfield serves as a director and advisor to multiple tech companies, including SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, chair of the Open Lunar Foundation, and is assisting King Charles III with space business practices for the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Hadfield also co-founded the Space Stream at the Creative Destruction Lab tech incubator, which has created $1.6B of new business equity value in the past five years.

Hadfield’s keynote presentations have been called “an astonishing display of visual storytelling” by Harvard Business Review, and his TED talk, “What I Learned from Going Blind in Space”, has been viewed over 20 million times. He is frequently featured on national and global media outlets, has taught a Master Class, and is the co-creator and host of the internationally acclaimed BBC series, Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes? as well as co-host of National Geographic’s One Strange Rock documentary series.