21 - 23 July, 2019
The Ritz Carlton, Toronto, ON
Iain Boomer, Head of Learning & Development at AbbVie Canada

Iain Boomer


Head of Learning & Development
AbbVie Canada

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Iain.

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Day Three: Tuesday. July 23, 2019

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019


11:40 AM Supporting Inclusive Leadership Development

Every company by now has read the studies that show the myriad ways in which diversity in the workplace is beneficial. From increased profitability, to enhanced innovation, and even a better employee experience, the incentives for diversity are all there. And while companies have been focused on diversifying their workforce, an important element has slipped through the cracks. Leadership. 

Women make up slightly more than half of Canada’s total population and nearly 53% of university degrees are earned by women, yet only 25.6% of senior managers in the private sector are women. Just 7 of the 249 companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange have a female CEO. In addition, visible minorities make up less than 12% of senior leadership in the public sector and only 4.5% in the corporate center. To ensure that companies are getting the most out of their diversity efforts, L&D executives are looking for ways to improve leadership development for women and minorities and increasing the utilization of these programs by the target market. In this session, our speakers will discuss key factors such as:

  • Supporting leadership development for women by making it meet them where they are; flexibility to integrate the development into their work/life balance
  • Cultivating leadership trainings tied to diversity groups in the workplace; make leadership development a priority for these groups
  • Implementing oversight teams to review current succession plans and career pathing to ensure that unconscious biases are removed