Brian Benn
Regional Manager, Learning and Development Branch, Ontario Ministry of Government Services

Brian Benn, B.Sc. (Kinesiology), M.Ed. (Adult Education) brings with him twenty-five years of experience in the fields of Adult Education, Health & Physical Education, Group Facilitation, and Organizational Development.

Brian is the Regional Manager for the Learning and Development (L&D) Branch, Centre For Leadership and Learning (CFLL) in Eastern Ontario. The L&D designs, and delivers a complete range of educational courses for public sector employees in the provincial, federal and municipal sector.

As a trainer and workshop facilitator, Brian brings together a blend of new concepts, practical application, related stories and constant interaction among participants and the workshop leader.  Brian believes and practices the philosophy that “learning is not a passive experience.”

In the past seven years, Brian has facilitated the following key projects:

• Lead Facilitator for the Postsecondary Review Stakeholder Consultation and Town Hall Meetings. A project recently completed under the leadership of Bob Rae.
• Lead Facilitator for the Ontario Government Budget 2004 Town Hall Meetings
• Lead Facilitator for the OPS Ideas Campaign. A province wide series of internal staff consultations for the Ontario Government.
• Facilitator for the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) “Facilitator as Planner” workshop.
• Facilitator of several multi-council consultations regarding Municipal Amalgamation.
• Frequent facilitator for Strategic Planning and Team Building workshops.

Peter Sherrif
Regional Manager, Learning and Development Branch, Ontario Ministry of Government Services

Peter Sherriff is the Regional Manager with The Centre For Leadership and Learning - West Region and is based out of London.  Peter has been with the Ontario Public Service for 27 years, and has held several Sr. Management and Leadership positions.  He has worked for five different ministries, and was with the Ministry of the Attorney General as the Supervisor of Court Operations in London for four years.

His background is in Organizational Development, Training, and Strategic Leadership.  He is also a Master Facilitator, and has been seconded to Cabinet Office to lead the Ontario Public Service Ideas Campaign, Premier’s Pre-Budget Consultation, and has recently completed the Postsecondary Education Review with former Premier Bob Rae.

Peter has a degree in Education from the University of Western Ontario, and has an Honours degree in Adult Education from Saint Frances Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

He is married to a wonderful lady – Lynn – and they have a 16 year old son – Andrew.

Peter has three hobbies…..Golf, Golf & Golf.

Susan Stewart
Stand-up Comic Turned Inspirational Speaker

Susan Stewart is both a recovering stand-up comic and a learning and development coordinator within the Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration. After touring Canada with 3 one-woman shows and performing at comedy clubs around Toronto for 5 years, Susan decided to leave stand-up comedy in 2003. The fame and paparazzi attention just got to be too much for poor Susan. Through life's uncanny ability to shock and entertain, Susan then found herself working in a Human Resources branch within the Ontario Government where she became inspired to talk about the HR issues she was learning about and experiencing herself.  Inspiration turned into action when Susan combined the HR and comedy worlds by developing motivational workshops and speeches to enhance the quality of life for humans and increase the success for people who work together.

Since 2004, Susan has been touring her presentations, Live Well, Laugh Lots; The Power of Play; Creating Team Success and Go With The Flow delivering her messages of teamwork, risk-taking, work-life balance, health and humour to all levels of government and many private sector organizations.

Susan is also a speaker/trainer with Shepell.FGI, an employee assistance provider for organizations, and tours Ontario with the Federated Press Corporate Training Conference Division.

Delivering workshops and speeches aren’t Susan’s only passions - she is also a popular event host. Susan has hosted awards ceremonies for the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, 2005 OPS Human Resources Awards and the 2006 Learning Conference for TOPS (Tomorrow’s OPS).

Lorraine Weygman
President, Weygman Consulting

Lorraine Weygman has over 25 years of international experience as an accomplished motivational speaker, consultant, writer , facilitator and radio host.  She has been featured on radio and television and in numerous magazines and newspapers in North and South America, Britain and Russia.   

Worldwide, she has published over 100 articles in Health Care, Banking, Pharmacy, Condominium, Financial, Associations, Human Resources, Business and Women's publications.  She has published  a feature column on a U.K. human resources web site at:  www.hrlook.com/articles

As an international educational advisor, Lorraine designed, taught courses and guest lectured for the Ontario Ministry of Education, York University, University of Toronto, Humber College, the Ontario Teachers' Federation and numerous school boards inside and outside of Canada. 

As a consultant, Lorraine assists people to achieve their pursuit of excellence.  Her keynote addresses and workshops, heralded as first class , receive  rave reviews and illustrate her distinct skills, knowledge and ability to inspire.  Lorraine keeps it simple and helps people to commit to the outcomes they plan.  Topics include communication skills, teambuilding, coping with change, difficult people, workplace negativity, leadership, creative time management and   stress  control.
 
Lorraine is former President of the North York Chamber of Commerce (Toronto, Canada), past vice-president of the Canadian Association of Women Business Owners and former board member of the Ontario College of Naturopathic Medicine, the Bayview Community Hospice and the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce.  She has been on the advisory council of the York University Business and Professional Alliance and AIESEC York, an international university-business exchange program.  Additionally, she is a former executive member of the Human Resources Professionals of Ontario (West Toronto Chapter) and of the advisory board of the HRProfessonal magazine.

At present, she is President of York Condominium Corporation #448.  She is a member of the North York Chamber of Commerce, the Toronto Board of Trade, the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the Human Resources Professionals Association of  Ontario.

Since 1987, she has been listed in the “Who's Who of American Women” and is writing   books about what allows personal change , and about the effects  of innovation and inspired leadership on workplace culture.

Lorraine has a B.A. in Psychology, a  B.F.A. Honours in Visual Arts and Film and an M. Ed. in Adult Education, majoring in Developing Human Resources, Organizational Development and Administration and is a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP).