Past Events

Join an inspirational chat with successful Tech Leaders from different industries to discuss the impact of the Fifth-Generation wireless (5G) on the Canadian technology ecosystem and how diversity is playing a key role on this disruptive market.

BUY TICKETS HERE

–> Hispanotech Members: Enter the promo code that was emailed to you to get your Exclusive discount <–

Agenda:

5:30pm – 6:00pm Registration

6:00pm – 7:30pm Guest speakers and interactive panel

7:30pm – 8:00pm Networking reception

Confirmed speakers include:

Kirsti Racine, VP Architecture TD Bank

Dr. Tibor Turi, Executive Director SOSCIP (Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform)

Jessica Kahoon, founder of Image Within – empower, educate and help women boost their professional presence

Colin Earp, Canada National Transport Leader KPMG

Eglys Vera, AVP Wealth and Insurance Delivery Transformation CoE, TD Bank, Moderator

Please join us for a night of celebration, as we recognize the vision of our Founders and the commitment of our Volunteers and Directors, all of whom have selflessly contributed their time and effort over the last 10 years to help Hispanic Professionals integrate, succeed and give back in Canada.

The evening will be long on fun and short on speeches, as we network while enjoying Latin American food, music and entertainment. Our Founders will be present to recount the story of Hispanotech’s beginnings and initial growth, and our current Board will also be at hand to express their vision of Hispanotech’s future.

We will also be honoured by the presence of our Latin American Consuls and a surprise guest.

BUY TICKETS HERE

–> Attention Hispanotech Members: Please enter the promo code that was emailed to you to get your Member discount <–

We look forward to seeing you there!

Dress code: business attire

Diamond & Venue sponsor: Ernst & Young LLP 
Gold Sponsor: Tenet Computer Group
Silver Sponsor: RBC Wealth Management
Bronze Sponsors: Impact Insurance Brokers – ICTC

This is a free event but registration is mandatory due to limited space

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Join us for an evening of insightful training, where you will learn why developing communication skills is crucial for your career and personal growth, especially when adapting to a new country like Canada

– How to have a successful adaptation to a new country like Canada?

Lucia Gallegos, Founder, Lucia Therapy

– Leadership Speaking Program, and Accent Reduction Program

Bonnie Gross, President, SpeechScience

The Smart City Vision event, in collaboration with CISCO, was held on May 16th, 2019 at the CISCO headquarters in Toronto, where our members enjoyed an evening of insights, networking and thought-provoking discussions.

During the event, Cisco’s keynote speaker showed how the concept of Smart Cities and Smart Communities work in real life, and what are the technologies and governance aspects that surround them.

In addition, a stellar panel of industry leaders discussed how this innovation is affecting people and the environment; and what changes are occurring in cities linked to the digital revolution.

After the presentation, our members shared insightful moments of networking with our Board of Directors, speakers and other members, while enjoying food and refreshments.

One key benefit of the members that attended the event is the opportunity to attend a VIP Invitation-only visit to Sidewalk Labs HQ in Toronto this July.

Hispanotech’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on February 7th, 2019 at the Metro Hall in Toronto, where our President presented:

• 2018 Accomplishments
• 2018 Financial report
• 2019 Plan of activities
• 2019 Board of Directors

During the presentation, members were delighted to know about our 2018 accomplishments, such as the joint Mentorship Program, our Leadership Award; and the increase in memberships.

In addition, the new 2019 Board of Directors was approved, and the 2019 plan was presented, including potential new alliances, events, media relationships, mentorship program updates and the upcoming 10^th Anniversary celebration.

After the presentation, there were raffles and prizes for our members and an insightful moment of networking with our Board of Directors, while enjoying food and refreshments.

Wednesday, 21 November 2018 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Join us in celebrating our participants’ achievements at the Closing Ceremony of the Joint Mentorship Program 2018, organized by Hispanotech, CCPA, Javerianos in Canada, ISACA Toronto Chapter and PwC’s Latin Connections.

Tickets include:

– Catering

– Wine bar

– Live music

– Network with highly-qualified professionals in the GTA

Limited tickets available – ONLINE SALES ONLY – Click here

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Hispanotech is proud to invite you to Applying Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning in Cybersecurity.

As threat actors innovate, so do the defenders. Security Analytics has evolved substantially and today it is difficult to find the signal in the noise of everyone’s Machine Learning claims. Despite the hype, the data science of machine learning can be useful to us in the larger analytics pipeline. You should not have to be a data scientist to join this conversation or to find the real value within a vendor’s product or service. This presentation aims to debunk the hype and offer you a way to find the real value in the use of Machine Learning within your security analytics strategy.

Join us for an evening full of insights, networking, refreshments, and thought-provoking discussions with industry leaders.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

TK Keanini

Distinguished Engineer & Product Line CTO for Analytics – Cisco Systems

TK Keanini brings more than 25 years of network and security experience to his role as Distinguished Engineer within Cisco’s Security Business Group, where he uses his expertise in analytics to build a unified security architecture that enables customers to adapt and respond to ever-evolving threats.

Prior to joining Cisco, TK served as CTO for Lancope where he and his team built the award-winning Stealthwatch™ product line. Before joining Lancope, he was CTO at nCircle, driving product innovation that defined the vulnerability management and configuration compliance market.

TK is a founding member of many security standards such as CVE and remains active in standard bodies that promote multi-vendor interoperability. As a highly regarded industry expert, his opinions and expertise have been featured in publications including Information Week, Federal Computer Week, Forbes, CNET News, and CIO. TK is a frequent speaker at industry forums such as the RSA Conference, SANS Network Security, Security B-Sides, GFIRST, and IT Security Automation Conference.

PANELISTS

Iain Paterson

Managing Director

Iain is a Cyber Security veteran with more than 15 years of experience in Information Security. He has designed and run security operations programs in large Banking, Healthcare, and Government organizations. His experience as a practitioner brings a critical understanding of the needs and challenges of organizations to Cycura’s consulting practice.

As Managing Director of Cycura’s professional services group, Iain acts as project executive on Offensive Security and Incident response initiatives. Leading a team of forensic investigators and security researchers, Iain bridges the critical gap between technologists and senior leadership in the organizations he works with.

Having worked on both sides of many major incidents, a practitioner and consultant, Iain brings a balanced and pragmatic view to organizational response to data breaches.
Iain holds information security designations from ISC2, SABSA, and ISACA and an MBA from Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada.

 

Iman Abudagga

Data & Artificial Intelligence Product Lead | Cloud & Enterprise (C+E)

Iman is currently the Data and Artificial Intelligence product lead at Microsoft Canada. She is an Artificial Intelligence enthusiast; passionate towards leveraging technology and making a positive impact on today’s society and generations to come.

Throughout the years, Iman has led several large-scale business programs aimed at building relationships and driving business with individuals and organizations in the world of Cloud, Data, and now Artificial Intelligence. Much of her success can be attributed to her understanding of Microsoft’s business solutions, unique value proposition, and her ‘customer-first’ mindset. Iman has many years of International experience in the ‘Cloud and Hosting’ business and has been recognized as a Cloud expert in the Gulf region.

As a lifelong and avid learner, Iman has completed her Masters in International Business Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering with a major in Software Development.

 

Julean Albidone

AI Product Owner

Julean is the Co-Lead for Deloitte’s Applied Innovation Practice. Julean was hired to build the Applied Innovation Practice from the ground up and ensure its success. The Practice merges numerous emerging technologies to build solutions for clients, including AI, chatbots, the blockchain, and others.

Julean currently sits on CPA Canada’s Innovation Committee and is the Owner of a Private Investment Services Firm. Julean was previously a management consultant at PwC, where he advised numerous companies and executives on a variety of topics, including AI, Capital Markets, Credit Risk Modelling, and Wealth/Asset Management.

 

Eduardo Delgado

Associate Vice President – ORM Enterprise Technology & Cybersecurity

Responsible for providing strategic direction for the execution of the ORM Cybersecurity risk 2nd line oversight program. Led a team of cybersecurity professionals to provide the effective challenge to enterprise-wide cybersecurity initiatives, risk management activities, and operational processes. Worked with the 1st line of defense to build consensus and provide senior executives with the right information to make fully informed risk-based decisions.

 

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June 20th 2018

Developing your Talents to join the Diverse Workforce of Tomorrow 

Keynote Speaker

Caitlin MacGregor
CEO and Co-founder, Plum

After building two businesses and experiencing firsthand the costs of uncertainty and bias in conventional hiring practices, Caitlin MacGregor became the CEO and co-founder of Plum (http://plum.io) out of her own necessity. Plum combines advanced Industrial/Organizational Psychology with Artificial Intelligence to help companies hire, grow, and retain top talent.

In her session, “How to get hired in the future of work: Developing your talents to join the diverse workforce of tomorrow,” Caitlin will be sharing her journey to becoming a CEO in the tech world – without knowing a single programming language. Caitlin knows from her own journey that education and experience are biased and aren’t the defining factors that will dictate success – talents, such as innovation, leadership, and adaptability, are. And in the future of work, where automation and AI will bring the rise of net new jobs (and programming languages) at a rate we’ve never seen before, having the right talents will be crucial.

Caitlin will dive deep into what talents will make you most marketable in the future of work and how to develop them. In the meantime, while we wait for talent quantification to become the way you get hired, Caitlin will provide insight into how to spot biases that unconsciously force minorities to self-select out of the hiring process, and how to keep moving forward, even when it isn’t easy.

 

Panelists

Margaret Galvin 
Senior Director of Talent Acquisition Digital & Technology, RBC

Margaret just recently joined RBC as Senior Director of Talent Acquisition Digital & Technology RBC. As an outcome-driven thinking leader with a demonstrated ability to define the strategy and acquire the talent needed to deliver business outcomes.

Margaret has over 14 years of experience building and sustaining differentiated recruiting capabilities to attract the top talent via focused campaigns, social media, and innovative activities that build brand and acquire key talent in a competitive market.

Prior to joining RBC, Margaret spent the last 14 years with Accenture leading teams across NA specializing in digital and technology talent acquisition.   She is passionate about diversity and the importance of having a diverse and inclusive environment.

 

Grace Medel

Global Director Talent Acquisition
ADIUVO Group

Grace is a very seasoned Talent Acquisition professional with experience recruiting in multiple major markets and verticals. Now concentrated on the technology front Grace manages the team at Adiuvo with high focus on coaching to promote diversity and equality within the candidates they present, focusing on talent, experience and equal opportunity across the board.

Grace is a community leader and equality advocate having also devoted her time in helping new immigrants, women and children find their footing, be empowered and direction in the city through various charities she closely works with during her time off recruiting, Passionate and equal opportunity driven best describes her personality and practice.

 

Megan Woerlein 
Head of HR for Digital Banking, Scotiabank

Megan has over 12 years of experience building, leading and enabling high performing teams within the tech sector. She kick-started her career in New York where she worked alongside hyper growth start-ups such as ZocDoc and Square helping them headhunt the best possible technical talent and organize them smartly around problem solving and innovating. She then moved home to Toronto and honed her skills in both product and professional services focused tech companies such as Architech, one of profit500’s fastest growing tech firms in Canada and Joist, a product company that’s a shining example of the Toronto start-up community with over 500,000 users and counting.

In both organizations, she’s led HR teams to great success in building scalable and human centred onboarding, training, and recruitment and engagement programs and has spoken about this work at several industry events highlighting the common pitfalls of organizations that try to scale first and focus on people second. She’s an advocate for women in technology and is proud to report that Digital Banking’s Leadership currently sits at 55% female.

 

Bindhu AT 
Vice President – Banking and Financial Services, CGI

As a technology and business focused transformational change agent Bindhu has 15+ years of extensive expertise in delivery, architecture, sales and building high performing teams. She is an innovative thinker with a proven track record in digital transformation and agile delivery.

She is a trusted advisor to her clients, Binbhu has delivered large key transformational initiatives. Her carrier has spanned across various industry sectors Banking, Retail, Health Care, Criminal Justice and the Credit Unions.

 

Janet Stickney 
Director, Business Development, Precise Testing Solutions

With experience in education as principal and private school owner, Janet transferred her skills and interests to a consulting role in the field of English language assessment. Her work focuses on university English departments and corporate HR departments that need a better overview of language performance levels of students or employees. Precise Solutions provides detailed analysis of the results for HR administrators to see an employee’s level of English as it relates to the pertinent needs of the position. With powerful software, we are able to provide meaningful results that highlight strengths and weakness of test takers in each language skill area.

HR administrators may use the assessment results to audit the level of English communication skills in multiple locations, or to measure the amount of learning that is taking place in communication training programs. Precise Solutions will deliver online tests with speaking and writing components designed specifically for the job position, at the time of recruitment, hiring, or promotion.  With Toronto being the magnet city for international business, it is imperative that language is assessed along with IT and leadership capabilities.

 

Panel Moderator

Stephanie Vaccari 
Partner, Baker McKenzie’s Intellectual Property (IP) Practice

 

Baker McKenzie’s Intellectual Property (IP) Practice in Toronto has been consistently ranked by Chambers Global and Managing IP.   She serves as co-chair of Baker McKenzie’s Toronto Consumer Goods and Retail Group and  its Baker Women’s Networking Group.  Stephanie leads the Toronto Office’s Industrial Design and Transactional IP team and co-leads its IP Portfolio Management and Trademark Enforcement teams, where she advises clients on matters relating to the creation, exploitation and protection of IP rights, particularly in the fields of consumer goods, technology, communications, and financial services.

  

 

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Today, there are three interconnected forces of change that are shaping business and our economy at an unprecedented pace: Digital disruptors (big data, mobile, IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI, machine learning, Robotics), and the Age of the Network (unprecedented connectivity and the silent battles for power).

This gathering storm of change is forcing business to spend more than $2Tr by 2020, with a 19% CAGR (compound annual growth rate), on innovation and transformation to compete and survive.

Angelique’s talk will cover practical steps every business and individual must consider to remain relevant in the Next Economy including understanding your place in global, consumer, and digital networks; the gig economy and its impact on the value and acquisition of talent; and, understanding the speed and complexity of economic change driving innovation today. Following her talk a panel will exchange prespectives and have a conversation with the audience.

SPEAKERS:

Angelique Mohring, CEO & Founder, GainX

Angelique believes the world has entered a state of digital and economic transformation the like of which we’ve never experienced before and in which we are gravely unprepared. Her combined 25 years of experience as an anthropologist and bio-archaeologist, a Fortune500 consultant, and a technology executive has given her a deep understanding on how organizations must drive sustainable growth through innovation and transformation.

Angelique is a sought-after speaker in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe, on topics that include AI and machine learning, the future of the Enterprise, collaborative innovation, global cultural and digital transformation, the Future of Work, and uncovering the unspoken dependencies across economic ecosystems.

With over 200 speaking engagements under her belt, Angelique inspires minds around the world. Engagements include The Financial Times, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Google, The Telegraph, Silicon Valley, Microsoft, RBS, Money 2020, Pandemonio, MaRS Verge, Finovate Europe, Dublin’s UpRise, Finovate NYC, Banking Disrupted, The Future of Work, as well as several academic institutions in Canada, the US and the UK, and many more.

In addition to spearheading the growth of her international company, GainX, which leverages AI and advanced network design theory to accelerate global transformation for business, Angelique is active politically helping the Individual understand why they matter in the Next Economy, why and how Corporations must navigate the tsunami of change in the next decade, and the roles Governments must play in economic stability.

PANELISTS:

Essien Udokang, Senior Intellectual Property Associate Lawyer

Baker & McKenzie’s North America Intellectual Property Practice Group

The Baker & McKenzie’s North America Intellectual Property Practice Group has been consistently ranked by Chambers Global and Managing IP. Essien advises clients on matters relating to the creation, exploitation and protection of IP rights, particularly in the fields of technology, communications, pharmaceuticals, and financial services. Among Essien’s clients are some of the world’s leading and largest technology and software companies at the forefront of digital disruption and artificial intelligence.

Essien has extensive experience counselling clients on, and drafting and negotiating agreements relating to, innovation in the (information) technology space, technology and IP licensing and collaborative R&D, intellectual property aspects of major corporate transactions, and growing and managing worldwide IP portfolios. Essien also represents clients in contentious proceedings related to all aspects of intellectual property, coordinates global intellectual property enforcement and anti-counterfeiting efforts, regularly conducts regional and global corporate branding availability and freedom to operate assessments, and participates in complex lawsuits dealing with IP infringement and validity and related Internet issues.

In addition to his practice, Essien serves as an Innovation Ambassador for the firm’s Global Innovation Program, working closely with its Whitespace Legal Collab to address changing client needs, new industry dynamics, the broader role of digitization across the economy, and complex global challenges at the intersection of business, law and technology.

Fernando Martinez, Director Consulting Services – CGI Canada

A driven change catalyst, with two and a half decades of experience, Fernando is a seasoned IT expert that has been instrumental in pioneering aspects of Performance Engineering, web services and performance testing, with major global organizations. Fernando’s career is marked by several leading global companies, spanning from the second largest bank in North America – Bank of America, to one of the top 15 oil and gas companies in the world – Petrobras, to a top 10 global car manufacture – Fiat-Chrysler.

Early in his career, Fernando’s extensive work with emerging technologies and enterprise enablement brought him international recognition, being presented with the CMG (Computer Measurement Group) J. William Mullen technical excellence award. Fernando is a frequent presenter at IT conferences in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Fernando is renowned for his ability to recognize, harness and apply the benefits of emerging technologies. His latest initiative focuses on the application of Artificial Intelligence within the application testing space. Working with a major financial services provider, Fernando is directing a Proof of Concept to exploit the full benefits of AI within the testing environments- initial models have shown efficiency gains of up to 90%.

Russell Cole, CoFounder, Vesta.AI

Vesta.AI is a company that is revolutionizing the world of chatbots and creating the solutions of the future.
A graduate from the University of Waterloo, Russell is a visionary and a leader within the Artificial Intelligence Chatbot space. Vesta.AI is currently working with another Toronto startup darling, Second Closet, on an innovative project that will change the way chatbots are built and managed, enabling businesses to get the results they want from these emerging technologies, at a lower cost and higher ROI.

Terrence George Boyland, CEO, CPQI

A leading name in capital markets technology having previously served as regional technology head for JP Morgan covering Europe and Asia as well as the global business head for JP Morgan’s cross border clearing business and depository clearing centre. Terry is a recognized specialist in capital markets technology and has taken leading positions in landmark systems for trading, risk and information including building JP Morgan’s collateral optimization engine in only 16 weeks. Prior to founding CPQi and working for JP Morgan, Terry led the Internet Protocol development for Cable and Wireless PLC one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies. Whilst there he took a leading position with CW Omnes (joint venture with Schlumberger) as well as with Hong Kong Telecom in the development of knowledge management, information delivery and corporate wisdom systems. As a result Terry and Steve Ballmer from Microsoft held a press conference on the systems developed and their value. Before serving as head of IP development for Cable and Wireless PLC, Terry led the design and implementation of some of the world’s leading internet based trading systems whilst at Cap Gemini. These systems included the largest global trading intranet (BP Hub) developed for the 900 companies within the British Petroleum family and the largest transactional Extranet for Skuld Assuranceforeningen in Norway. With a masters in Information Management Terry has spoken at conference for several prestigious organizations including The Economist, The FT and to the heads of African governments (African Computing & Telecommunications Summit) at St. John’s University in Cambridge England. He has served as an advisor on technology outsourcing for the British and Brazilian governments and has been published in The Banker along with other leading media.

Terry is currently CEO at CPQi, a leading FinTech company that specializes in platform implementation and risk support for the capital markets and operates across the Americas.

Ajinkya Kulkarni, Director of AI and Machine Learning at Scotiabank

Ajinkya (pronounced A-jink-ya) is a seasoned leader and specializes in guiding organizations to commercialize promising technology innovations. Over his career, he has helped large enterprises and startups build technologies ranging from mobile apps to big data and in latest continuation, Artificial Intelligence in the financial sector.

Starting with early iterations of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and Log analytics, Ajinkya has delivered business results by applying machine learning in all forms, namely statistical modeling, machine learning, network analytics and most recently, neural networks and deep learning. He has applied his skills across many verticals and major brands, IBM, Accenture, TELUS and Scotiabank.

An Engineer by profession, Ajinkya is a graduate of the Master of Management of Innovation program at the University of Toronto. He is an avid photographer and enjoys learning languages in his spare time.

Stevan J. Lewis, Senior VP, Digital Transformation, Sun Life Financial

In this role, Stevan shapes the vision and enterprise strategy for digital, data and analytics while continuing
to enhance Sun Life’s Client innovation agenda. He is responsible for expanding the ecosystem of Sun Life partners and top talent to continue to move the digital program forward. Since joining Sun Life in 2009, Stevan has held a number of senior leadership positions, including Chief Technology Officer for Sun Life globally.

He has been accountable for Sun Life’s technology strategy and operational support for critical infrastructure systems and security services, while playing an integral role in positioning Sun Life as a digital leader in the industry.

Prior to joining Sun Life, Stevan held various executive roles with BMO Financial Group and a number of senior roles in Business and Technology Strategy with Deloitte Consulting. Stevan holds graduate degrees in Business and Science from the University of British Columbia and Mount Allison University.

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The Advantage in Knowing You are Obsolete

Thursday, 26 April 2018 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)

Baker & McKenzie LLP – Brookfield Place
181 Bay St, Suite 2100
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2T3
Canada

Review of the Meeting –  Closing and Graduation Ceremony, Mentorship Program

During the night of November 28, 2017, the closing and graduation ceremony for the Mentorship Program took place and was led by Hispanotech, Canadian Colombian Professional Association (CCPA) and EXATEC Ontario. They all worked as a team to help Hispanic-Canadian professionals to establish and understand the Canadian culture in the workplace, providing advice, tools and effective connections.

About 100 participants attended the event in the PwC facilities located in Toronto.  It was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements. The event included catering from the well-known Mexican Restaurant Rebozos, wine bar, live music, network with highly-qualified professionals in the Greater Area of Toronto (GTA).

By virtue of his professional experience in Canada, Gabriel Sorozabal, PMP, Program Manager, provided us the statistics of the program. The original objective of the program was 100 participants. During the recruitment efforts, 126 participants were registered and 106 participants attended the kick-off meeting. It was positive to find that 11 participants achieved 100% of their goals.

Some of the mentees commitments were: attending the meeting with an idea of what they wanted to achieve, taking action on what they said they were going to do, replying to emails and messages in a timely manner to maintain a two-way communication. Also, the most noticeable challenges were: time management as well as having clear objectives and expectations.

Likewise, Gabriel Sorozabal shared with us the main keys for success as following: perseverance, positive attitude, commitment, realistic objectives, clear communication, follow up the progress, be receptive and follow an action plan. The Mentorship Program is always a great opportunity to connect with people, measure progress, learn from others experiences and build bonds of friendship and strengthen the Hispanic community.

In this last session, a mentor-mentee pair shared with us their success story in the Mentorship Program. They are: Catherine Chen, mentor and Ana Peniche, mentee. Catherine Chen said the key elements to success in this Mentorship Program, are: Talk to the mentee from the beginning to know what she wants to achieve with the program, reach a mutual agreement and understanding as well as establishing an action plan. Ana Peniche told us the keys to success in the mentoring program are: The match was excellent, there was continuous communication from both parties and clear expectations were expressed from the beginning.

Moreover, the closing and graduation ceremony for the Mentorship Program was an opportunity to continue networking. Marcela Chein, President of EXATEC Ontario, made a network challenge. Among the participants, there was a winner, she collected different business cards and answered properly all the questions asked about the final presentation. There was an opportunity to taste different wines. Andrew Carvajal, President of the Canadian Colombian Professional Association (CCPA) taught us some useful tips to analyze wines through the senses and choose our favorites.

Finally, the graduation ceremony was held and photographs taken with mentors and mentees. It was a time to celebrate all the achievements and to thank all the volunteers who support this program. In the meantime, an invitation was made to continue participating in the Mentoring Program 2018 because together we are stronger.

Andrea Prieto Pérez

Spanish Translation:

Durante la noche del 28 de noviembre de 2017, se llevó a cabo la ceremonia de graduación y cierre del Programa de Mentoría liderado por Hispanotech, Canadian Colombian Professional Association (CCPA) y EXATEC Ontario, quienes han trabajado en equipo para ayudar a los profesionales hispano-canadienses a establecerse y comprender la cultura canadiense en el ámbito laboral, proporcionando consejos, herramientas y conexiones efectivas.

Asistieron aproximadamente 100 participantes y en las instalaciones de PwC en Toronto, se realizó la celebración de los logros alcanzados. El evento incluyó el servicio de comidas del Restaurante Mexicano Rebozos, bar de vinos, música en vivo, red con profesionales altamente calificados en el área de Toronto y alrededores.

En virtud de su trayectoria profesional en Canadá, Gabriel Sorozábal, PMP, director del Programa, nos dio a conocer las estadísticas del programa. El objetivo original del programa fue de 100 participantes. Durante los esfuerzos de reclutamiento, se inscribieron 126 participantes y a la reunión inicial asistieron 106 participantes. Alegremente se encontró que 11 participantes lograron un 100% de los objetivos propuestos.

Entre los compromisos de los mentees se encontraron: Asistir a la reunión con una idea de lo que les gustaría lograr, tomar acción en aquello que se propusieron hacer, responder los correos electrónicos y comunicaciones de manera oportuna para mantener una comunicación de doble vía. Así mismo, los retos más evidentes fueron: El manejo del tiempo, el compromiso, la definición de objetivos y expectativas claras.

Gabriel Sorozábal, también nos compartió las principales claves para el éxito y estas son: Perseverancia, actitud positiva, compromiso, objetivos realistas, comunicación clara, hacer seguimiento al proceso, ser receptivo y seguir un plan de acción. Este programa de mentoría es siempre una gran oportunidad para conectar con personas, medir el progreso, aprender de las experiencias de otros profesionales, crear lazos de amistad y fortalecer la comunidad hispana.

En esta última sesión, una pareja nos compartió su historia de éxito en el Programa de Mentoría, ellas son Catherine Chen, mentora y Ana Peniche, mentee. Catherine Chen nos comenta que entre sus claves del éxito están: Hablar con la mentee desde el primer momento para conocer qué desea lograr con el programa, llegar a un mutuo acuerdo y entendimiento, y trazar un plan de acción. Ana Peniche nos compartió sus claves del éxito en el Programa de Mentoría, estas son: El emparejamiento fue excelente, hubo comunicación continua de ambas partes y se manifestaron unas expectativas claras desde un principio.

Así mismo, esta ceremonia de graduación y cierre del programa fue una oportunidad para continuar estableciendo contactos. A cargo de Marcela Chein, presidenta de EXATEC Ontario, se realizó un reto de redes donde hubo una ganadora contenta con su premio al recolectar la mayor cantidad de tarjetas de presentación y responder acertadamente a preguntas acerca de la presentación de esta noche. Se tuvo la oportunidad de degustar diferentes vinos y a cargo de Andrew Carvajal, presidente de la Canadian Colombian Professional Association (CCPA), aprendimos consejos útiles para analizar los vinos mediante los sentidos, y elegir nuestros favoritos.

Para concluir, se realizó la ceremonia de graduación y toma de fotografías con los mentores y mentees. Fue un momento para celebrar todos los logros y se agradeció a todos los voluntarios que apoyan este programa. Entre tanto, se hizo una invitación a seguir participando del Programa de Mentoría en el año 2018 ya que unidos somos más fuertes.

Andrea Prieto Pérez