Special Features
Participants will have the rare opportunity to engage directly with industry visionaries and academic leaders who are shaping the future of education, ensuring your institution remains at the forefront of innovation and impact.
Who Should Attend?
- Deputy & Pro Vice-Chancellors
- Chief Financial Officers
- Directors of Strategy and Digital Transformation
- Deans and Academic Leaders with strategic oversight
Presenters
John founded D2L in 1999, at the age of twenty-two, while attending the University of Waterloo. He strongly believes that learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests.
He is a member of the Business Council of Canada, board member of the Business Higher Education Roundtable, member of the Industry Strategy Council in Canada, Chair of the Digital Economic Strategy Table in Canada, has served on the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, is the Past Chair of the board of Communitech, and is a board member of Canada’s National Ballet School.
John was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Ontario for Software and Technology), Young Alumni Achievement Medal from University of Waterloo, and Intrepid Entrepreneur of the Year in Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.
John graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honours B.A.Sc. in Systems Design
Engineering, with First Class Honours and an option in Management Sciences.
Margaret Korosec is an innovative strategic leader bringing creativity, intentionality, and systems perspective to her work in scaling online and digital education.
She is the Dean of Online and Digital Education at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom with strategic responsibility for the growth of the online portfolio and digital education. She leads on establishing a design ecosystem to support and scale online education and a digitally-enabled student experience.
As part of her role, she has academic oversight of the Digital Education Service. The service provides specialist learning design, development, production, media, creative and learning systems management for all students. She led the development and launch of a digital learning accelerator, HELIX; a creative space to encourage experimentation, creativity, and exploration fostering sense making of emergent technology and enabling radical internal and external collaboration.
Prior to joining Leeds, she led the growth of the credit and non-credit bearing online portfolio at the University of Derby Online Learning. She had leadership responsibilities for the design, development, and production of the portfolio with specific remit to launch over a dozen new online degrees fulfilling an ambitious strategic investment bid in less than two years.
Her early contribution at Western Governors University in the US, a fully online, competency-based educational model, significantly informed her commitment to online and flexible learning after witnessing the transformative impact education had on the professional trajectory and lives of graduates.
Dr. Cristi Ford serves as the Chief Learning Officer at D2L, bringing more than 20 years of experience in higher education, secondary education, project management, program evaluation, training, and student services. In this role, she provides strategic leadership and thought direction, ensuring that D2L remains at the forefront of innovation in learning, teaching, and academic affairs. Her work extends across institutional, corporate, and global landscapes, driving impactful change in digital learning environments.
Dr. Ford has held key roles across secondary and higher education, as well as on the international stage, where she has played a pivotal role in expanding online learning in both the U.S. and the African continent. Her expertise includes building and scaling online education programs, faculty development, instructional design, and pedagogical best practices.
Dr. Ford’s contributions to the field have been widely recognized. She was selected as a 2022 OLC Fellow by the Online Learning Consortium—the highest professional distinction awarded by the
association—in recognition of her dedication to advancing quality online education. Known for her visionary leadership, she is committed to helping institutions build capacity, scale digital learning, and enhance student success. And in In 2024, she received the Mildred and Charles Wedemeyer Award, recognizing her as an outstanding practitioner in distance education.