STRATEGIC PLANNING SKILLS

Strategic management office – Connecting strategy & execution
Kathryn Giffen

Conducting an industry analysis & evaluating the external environment
Candice C.W. Chow

Mapping intelligence to strategy
Candice C.W. Chow

Situational analysis & learning to allocate your resources
Alan W. Kennedy

Strategy implementation best practices
Chris Wormald

Strategic planning tools
Alan W. Kennedy

Setting a realistic schedule for strategic planning / Fostering a strategic vision throughout the organization
Christianne Dostie

Developing performance outcomes for measuring your strategic plan
Christianne Dostie

Avoiding pitfalls in strategic planning
Christianne Dostie

Communicating your strategic plan with employees/team
Janet Cosier

Alan is a founding member of Gibson Kennedy & Company, a management consulting firm offering strategy counsel and competitive research services. Alan's consulting practice focuses exclusively on helping senior management with project planning and strategy communication. Alan has extensive experience facilitating group discussions and preparing issues for presentation to boards and management. Alan has been teaching courses on Strategic Management for the Schulich School of Business since 1992. Over 2,500 executives have attended his very popular 3-day course, Strategic Management, offered three times a year at the Schulich Executive Education Centre and twice a year by Saint Mary's University's Professional Development Division. During his corporate career, Alan served as Senior Vice President & General Counsel for both Oxford Development Group and Campeau Corporation. Alan is a Certified Management Consultant and a member of the Honour Roll of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Ontario.

Christianne Dostie
Allstate Insurance Company of Canada

Christianne Dostie is Assistant Vice President, Strategic Planning, for Allstate Insurance Company of Canada, a national home and automobile insurer. A Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) with the Insurance Institute of Canada, she has her MBA and is currently pursuing post-graduate work in corporate strategy with the Schulich School of Business at York University. Her role as catalyst for organizational change involves assisting the company's President and Senior Executive as they build future business strategies in a multi-channel distribution environment. Her particular focus is to integrate the adoption of emerging technologies with sound business practice and planning. Christianne joined Allstate in 1998, as Regional Director for Quebec, where she led the implementation of the company's innovative customer relationship management program. With twenty-five years experience in domestic and international property and casualty markets in both commercial and personal lines, Christianne has a breadth of experience that spans underwriting, sales, claims, marketing and corporate strategic planning.

Candice C.W. Chow, CFA
Purolator Courier Ltd.

Candice Chow is the Director, Strategy and Corporate Development for Purolator Courier Ltd. She has been with Purolator for over three years, leading development of the strategic vision, annual long-range plan for the company and execution of corporate development activities. Prior to joining Purolator, Candice held a strategy position with AT&T Canada Inc. (now Allstream Inc.), where her responsibilities included corporate and strategic planning, industry and competitor analysis and acquisition activities. She also has over five years of general management experience in the Asian hospitality market. Candice is a Chartered Financial Analyst designation holder, an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London. As a member of the Ivey Business School Leader Project, a unique initiative that promotes business education in emerging countries, Candice taught a 10-week business management course with a leading post-graduate educational institution in Moscow.

Janet Cosier
Bank of Canada/ Canadian Payments Association

Janet Cosier is the Adviser on Strategic Planning and Risk Management at the Bank of Canada and the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Payments Association. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Management Accountants of Canada. Internationally, Mrs. Cosier headed a performance measurement working group of central banks sponsored by the Bank for International Settlements and has lectured at the Vienna Institute and the Singapore Monetary Authority in seminar series on financial management organized by the International Monetary Fund.

Chris Wormald is Strategic Alliance Manager for Research in Motion. He is responsible for external technology acquisition including: licensing, partnership creation, equity funding and acquisitions. Chris deals regularly with a wide variety of companies, particularly focusing on high-tech and early stage pre-revenue companies. Chris has authored a business case on his acquisition experience in addition to representing RIM at various events.

Kathryn is Head of Strategy and Planning for RBC Financial Group's Canadian Personal & Business markets including banking, investments and insurance. She is responsible for the planning process, tools, documentation, on-going review and communication of the strategic plan for the largest financial services provider in Canada with over 11 million customers and clients. She has a Masters degree in Psychology, a law degree and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. Kathryn Practiced law, primarily in the area of Civil litigation, for several years before pursuing a career path in the financial services industry. Kathryn joined RBC in 1997 in the insurance segment of the company and was President and Chief Operating Officers of RBC Life Insurance Company until she headed up the Strategy and Planning group for the integrated Canadian segment of RBC.