TEDxToronto Reveals Final List of Speakers for 2018 Conference

After announcing the first six speakers last week, the additional speakers fill out the roster for an exciting, and unparalleled event

TEDxToronto is celebrating its 10-year anniversary and will be the must-attend event of the fall

TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2018 /CNW/ - Today, TEDxToronto – which will be held on Friday, October 26, 2018 – announced the second and final set of speakers for the 10^th year of the conference, exploring IDENTITY as its theme.

The new eight additions that will complete the roster (current list of speakers here) are:

Masai Ujiri, President of the Toronto Raptors

• In 2010, Masai Ujiri became the first African-raised GM in the NBA and quickly became one of the league's most proactive executives. Beyond his dedication to the Toronto Raptors franchise, he uses his platform to leverage basketball as a transformational tool for Canadian and African youth. Ujiri has served as the Director of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program since 2002 and co-founded Giants of Africa (GOA). GOA aims to use basketball as a tool to inspire youth to visualize opportunities for their future.

Mary Walsh, Canadian Actress, Comedian, Writer and Social Activist

• Mary Walsh is a Canadian actress well-known for her role in creating and starring in This Hour Has 22 Minutes. She is the recipient of the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performing Arts. Mary is an outspoken advocate for mental health and addiction awareness. Among the many charities and organizations she supports are the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Ottawa, the Canadian Institute for the Blind, St. Joseph's Hospital, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Michael Arntfield, Associate Professor, English Studies at Western University, Author, Criminologist

• Michael Arntfield is a former police officer turned criminologist, author and associate professor at Western University. Michael founded the University's Cold Case Society – an unsolved crimes think tank – in 2011. His work focuses on what he calls "literary criminology," the study of detective fiction like Sherlock Holmes in literature, film and television and how it can influence present day criminal investigations. He routinely appears on the CBC's The Fifth Estate and The National, and is the host of his own internationally distributed television series, To Catch a Killer.

Michael Bryant, Lawyer and Executive Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)

• Michael Bryant became the youngest Attorney General in Ontario, spending a decade in the Ontario Legislative Assembly, and six years as a Cabinet Minister. Michael's life changed forever after a tragic fatal accident, for which Michael was arrested with charges that were eventually withdrawn. The former politician ended up an unlikely regular at a homeless drop-in named Sanctuary, then a public defender in bail court, and now leads the CCLA's advocacy for civil liberties and democratic freedoms across Canada.

Dave Dame, Enterprise Agility Change Agent and Organizational Coach

• From being a child unable to speak to running a 5K, Dave Dame has overcome many obstacles despite his diagnosis of cerebral palsy. By developing life hacks and alternative paths to personal and professional success, Dave has become a leader in the Agile community. He dedicates his work to helping organizational teams in transition leverage and implement Agile best practices and quality management and has trained over 600 professionals in the field.

Suresh Doss, Food Writer

• Suresh Doss is changing the way we think about dining out in Toronto. Where there are tiny family-run restaurants nestled within a strip mall or convenience stores that sell the essentials and then some, there is good food to be had, says Suresh. With over a decade of food writing and hosting regular food tours in the Greater Toronto Area, Suresh is an influential contributor to Toronto Life, The Globe and Mail, and CBC Metro Morning. He is also the print editor of Foodism Toronto and Escapism Toronto magazines.

Dr. Eugenia Duodu, CEO, Visions of Science Network for Learning (VoSNL)

• Now the CEO of VoSNL, Eugenia Duodo began with the organization as a volunteer, seeing the opportunity as a perfect combination of her passions: science and community development. Born and raised in a low-income community, she maintains a strong connection to her roots as a mentor and advocate for youth engagement in STEM opportunities. Her goal is to help youth unlock their potential and to make a long-lasting positive impact in local communities and across the world.

Carol Off, Author, Journalist and Co-host of CBC Radio's As it Happens

• Since 2006, Carol Off has been the host of CBC Radio's As it Happens, after an extensive journalism career that began as an arts reporter and Ottawa correspondent in the '80s, to an international correspondent in the '90s and '00s. Carol is an award-winning documentarian and author, well-known for her work on Canadian military missions that took her around the world, across the Middle East, Balkans and Soviet Union to name a few. Her most recent book, All We Leave Behind: A Reporter's Journey into the Lives of Others, is a riveting true story told from Carol's experience with a family fleeing the death sentence of a ruthless warlord.

TEDxToronto will return on Friday, October 26, 2018 at Toronto's Evergreen Brick Works. Tickets are currently available for purchase at www.tedxtoronto.com. This is a one-day conference unlike any other, which brings together a diverse and passionate array of speakers, performers, demos and audience members (delegates). Likeminded individuals join year after year to be inspired by the talks, which will cover both current trending topics and motivational stories.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED
TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman. TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a "wish," or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted.

SOURCE TEDxToronto

For media inquiries, interview requests, and/or high-res imagery, please contact: Kristen Schaffrath, NATIONAL Public Relations, [email protected], 416.848.1704; Danielle Castellino, TEDxToronto, [email protected], 647.833.2030