Craig Thompson joined Scotiabank in 1982 and has held a number of increasingly senior positions in International Trade Finance, Risk Adjudication, Branch Management and Commercial Banking while living in three of the four Atlantic Provinces. He holds a Bachelor of Science and an MBA from Dalhousie University.

Mr. Thompson was appointed Senior Vice President for Scotiabank's Atlantic Region in April 2014. In this position, Mr. Thompson is responsible for the profitable growth of the Bank's personal and small business banking portfolio in Atlantic Canada.

In 2013, Mr. Thompson was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Community Service in recognition of his long history of community involvement across the Atlantic Region.

Leslie has worked for over 30 years in a variety of areas and roles in healthcare, both within Canada and abroad. Among her many roles, Leslie practiced in the area of hematology/oncology/bone marrow transplant, was a health care services and project manager, an adjunct professor in Dalhousie University's School of Nursing, a faculty member with the Inter-professional Psychosocial Oncology Distance Education (IPODE), a lecturer at Ryerson University and is currently a health care consultant. Leslie has a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University, Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from McMaster University and her Masters of Science in Nursing (Ethics) from Dalhousie University.

Leslie is a passionate volunteer and involved in relief projects in Africa, Central America, and India, in addition to local contributions in Ontario and Atlantic Canada with emphasis on health and social justice issues. She has been recognized with a number of professional awards in recognition of her contributions with the most recent being Women’s Wall of Honour, Mount Saint Vincent University (2015).

Kelly Gallant is the Associate Vice President of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment for Mount Saint Vincent University, where she is responsible for the overall delivery and implementation of strategic marketing, advertising, media and communications plans that advance the University’s strategic plan and leading the student recruitment function in support of the university’s enrolment management plans.

Kelly, a Mount Bachelor of Public Relations grad, joined the University in 2009. She came to the Mount from Bell Aliant, one of North America’s leading telecommunications providers, where she held the role of Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs. In addition to her studies at the Mount, she completed her Certificate in Marketing at Saint Mary’s University and a BSc from Dalhousie. She is passionate about building capacity, within teams, organizations and the broader community, and is a trusted coach, mentor and confidante.

Melisa Marsman has been practicing law in Nova Scotia since 2006. After graduating from Schulich School of Law in 2005, Melisa completed her articles in 2006 at Stewart McKelvey, where she practiced for five years in the corporate/commercial group. In 2011, Melisa joined Dalhousie University as Associate Legal Counsel. She is currently the Assistant General Counsel at Dalhousie University where she practises a wide variety of areas of law, including intellectual property, commercial contracts, information technology and privacy, as well as general advisor on a variety of strategic planning and risk management issues. In addition to an LLB, Melisa obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from York University.

Melisa is actively involved in the legal and broader community and is passionate about equity, diversity and inclusivity in our economic, political, cultural and social systems. While in law school, Melisa was the President of the Dalhousie Black Law Students Association, and is currently a member of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. Melisa proudly claims her African Nova Scotian heritage and has ancestral ties to the community of Upper Hammonds Plains, one of the 52 historical African Nova Scotian community. Melisa is equally passionate about supporting and investing in our youth. She mentors law students and junior lawyers, both formally and informally, as well as volunteers in the youth ministry at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Upper Hammonds Plains.

Mark Boudreau graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science / history from Carleton University in Ottawa.

He is currently working as Director of Corporate Affairs (Atlantic) for Loblaw Companies. Mark is responsible for the company’s public affairs initiatives in the Atlantic region.

Prior to his current position, he was a senior consultant for National Public Relations in Halifax, providing strategic planning, communications, and stakeholder relations advice to a variety of clients, including the Halifax Port Authority, The Shaw Group, Labatt, and the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs, as well as a number of federal and provincial government departments. Mr. Boudreau also worked as a political advisor to several senior cabinet ministers, both federally and provincially. He also worked as director of communications for Alliance Atlantis.

Kolade is a founding member of Hope Blooms since 2008, when his family, originally from Nigeria, moved to Halifax. Kolade is now attending his 3rd year at St Francis Xavier University. His passions are social business, creating music, and creating positive change in the world. He has created, together with a group of friends, his own record label, LDN which also has a mentorship component to pay it forward in mentoring teens from his community who are interested in making music and creating positivity. Kolade is Lead Social Innovation Coordinator, with a team of 12 junior leaders and programming for 50 children in Hope Blooms

Chika grew up in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and her family is originally from Nigeria. She holds an accounting degree from Acadia University and earned her law degree at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University.

Chika is lawyer in the Halifax office of Cox & Palmer and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 2018. Her practice areas include corporate commercial, corporate finance, securities, commercial real property and wills and estates.

Chika sits on several boards and is very involved in the community. She is a strong believer of giving back to the community and mentoring the youth.