Keynote Speakers and Presentations

David Baxter

David Baxter
Canada
Futurist. Demographer. Economist. All of these words could describe David Baxter. Yet none would fully capture the breadth of his insight into today's business challenges. The Executive Director of the Urban Futures Institute, Baxter is one of that rare breed of business thinkers who has the desire and the ability to conduct original research into business trends, but who also possesses the outstanding presentation skills needed to deliver the conclusions in an entertaining and meaningful way.

People from dozens of industries have walked away from Baxter's keynotes with a better understanding of the issues facing them, and with the tools to effectively meet the challenges ahead. Recently named the Worldwide ERC Workforce Mobility Expert, and one of the most-quoted business experts in the country, he has an irreverent style that has made him a favourite with audiences in Canada, the United States, and around the world.

Mike Tamaki

Mike Tamaki
New Zealand
Mike entered the tourism industry in 1985 as a tour coach driver with Road Services NZ and became permanent tour guide/driver for Intercity Travel in 1987. He started Tamaki Tours Ltd in 1989 with money made from the sale of his brother's Harley Davidson motorcycle, and has just kept on developing tourism projects since then.

Tamaki Maori Village is a family-owned business that turns over in excess of $10 million annually and employs over 120 staff at the Rotorua project. The company is regularly used and recognized throughout New Zealand as a role model for Indigenous tourism business development.

The Village has won several awards, including the prestigious Overall Supreme Tourism Award at the New Zealand Tourism Awards (1998), the NZTB Maori Tourism Award (1999) and an Award of Distinction for Contribution to New Zealand Tourism (also in 1999). A major $8 million expansion of a cultural and heritage theme park in Christchurch opened in 2003.

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
USA
The striking results of “The Esperance Experience” have prompted more than 250 communities around the world to adopt responsive, person-centred approaches to local economic development similar to the Enterprise Facilitation® model pioneered in Esperance, Australia. Enterprise Facilitation has been documented in Dr. Sirolli's book “Ripples from the Zambezi - Passion, Entrepreneurship and the Rebirth of the Local Economy". Adopted as a textbook in an increasing number of academic courses in community and economic development, the book has helped to introduce Enterprise Facilitation to a new generation of economic development practitioners and civic leaders interested in growing their communities from within, one passionate person at the time.

Italian-born, Dr. Ernesto Sirolli received a Laurea di Dottore in Political Science from Rome University in 1976, and a PhD from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia in 2004. Dr. Sirolli is the founder of the Sirolli Institute, an international nonprofit organization that teaches community leaders how to establish and maintain Enterprise Facilitation projects in their communities.

Chief Clarence Louie

Chief Clarence Louie
Canada
Since 1985, when he first became Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band in British Columbia, Canada, Clarence Louie has consistently emphasized economic development as the fundamental method for improving the standard of living of his people. Under his direction, the Band has become a multi-faceted corporation that owns and manages numerous successful businesses. In addition to the businesses, the band is enjoying socio-economic development that is vastly improving the community's social, educational and health needs. Under his leadership, there is virtually zero unemployment.

The Band continues to increase its revenue and decrease its need for social assistance each year. Chief Louie created and manages eight businesses, including a golf course, a construction company that builds commercial and residential projects both on and off reserve, a forestry company that logs 30,000 cubic metres annually, the largest privately-owned vineyard in Canada, a convenience store, and a residential and agricultural leasing company.

One of the Band's largest projects has been its eco-tourism resort campground and RV park that includes a marina and a 120-room full-service hotel and gas bar. The cashflow generated from the businesses helps fund the Medication Fund, the Adult In-Home Care Program, a recreation complex, an education fund and a patient travel fund. Ecology remains a high priority for Chief Louie, with 890 acres set aside for water quality, and fish and wildlife protection.

Chief Louie has been recognized for his work with many honours, and numerous Board appointments. He has been featured in The Economist, in Profit Magazine and in Maclean's as one of 50 Canadians to watch. Chief Louie is a man who understands that economic development is the way of the future.

Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller
USA
Wilma Mankiller was the Cherokee Nation's first elected female Deputy Chief (2 years), and served as the Nation's first female Principal Chief for 10 years. Her areas of expertise include governance, community development and the conceptualization and development of an extensive array of projects ranging from basic infrastructure and enterprises to health clinics and programs for children and youth. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Freedom Forum and the Board of Directors of the Newseum, a $400 million museum of the news in Washington, D.C. She also serves as an external diversity advisor to Merrill Lynch. 

Wilma has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the International Women’s Hall of Fame, the Minority Business Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. She has 18 honourary doctorates from universities, including Yale, Dartmouth and Smith Colleges. She was a Chubb Fellow at Yale and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth. She served as the Morse Chair Professor of Law and Politics at the University of Oregon in the fall of 2005. She has presented more than 100 lectures at universities and published more than a dozen papers in journals and newspapers. She is one of a handful of Native American recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She co-edited "A Reader’s Companion to the History of Women in the U.S.", published by Houghton-Mifflin, and co-authoured "Mankiller: A Chief and Her People" (St. Martin’s Press). Her newest book, "Every Day is a Good Day", was published by Fulcrum Press in the fall of 2004. 

Ms. Mankiller lives in the Cherokee Nation in rural Northeast Oklahoma with her husband, Charlie Soap.

Roberta Jamieson

Roberta Jamieson
Canada
As CEO of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Roberta Jamieson is opening doors for First Nations across the country. Known for her work in dispute resolution, she is a leader and role model for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal people alike.

A pioneer in many areas, Jamieson was the first Canadian aboriginal woman to earn a law degree, and the first woman appointed as Ontario's Ombudsman, a position she held for a decade. Raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River, Canada's most populous reserve, she learned to be an effective conciliator and negotiator within her large family - a skill that has defined her career. Jamieson went on to achieve another first - as the first woman to become Chief of the Six Nations.

Lauded for developing and promoting non-adversarial methods of conflict resolution, Jamieson has collaborated with legal and political experts in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America to advance democracy through institutional change. She has won international acclaim for her passion, willingness to take risks, and commitment to the field of conflict resolution.

Wilton Littlechild

Wilton Littlechild
Canada
Throughout his life, Wilton Littlechild, a Canadian Cree, University of Alberta alumnus, and pioneer of the global indigenous rights movement, has broken down barriers for the Indigenous people of the world. Mr. Littlechild is the first Treaty Indian from Alberta to graduate from law school and, in 1988, became the first in all of Canada to serve as a Member of Parliament - a role which he proudly held for five years.

Mr. Littlechild has represented Indigenous peoples at the United Nations since the 1977 World Council of Indigenous Development. He is currently one of 16 members on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and continues to work toward having the UN adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Mr. Littlechild currently serves the Assembly of First Nations as Regional Chief for Alberta.