East of Montreal

Marc Almon is a Halifax-based, award-winning film and television producer, arts advocate, and social entrepreneur dedicated to community-driven ventures. He realized that too many investment dollars leave the Maritimes and end up in Toronto or New York. So he set out to solve that problem with Backr, a new digital investment platform that makes it easier to keep Nova Scotia investment dollars working at home. Marc’s audacious goal? Build Canada’s leading impact investment platform, starting in Nova Scotia, to diversify and accelerate local growth.

Vice-Admiral (Ret.) Ron Lloyd served as Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, Acting Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, and the first Chief Data Officer for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces. With Ottawa set to invest billions in new spending in Defence, he highlights the challenges facing Canada’s Armed Forces to spend that money wisely – data, cybersecurity, procurement and more, and argues for a policy foundation that helps achieve the bold vision set out for Canada’s military.