Sub-Plenary Moderators & Panelists

Vic Rayner is Executive Director of the National Care Forum, the strongest voice for the not for profit care sector in the UK. She sits on many government and national specialist groups with a focus on the social care workforce, digital transformation, new models of care and regulation. Vic is a regular national and international speaker, and has extensive knowledge and expertise across a wide range of care, support, housing and social policy agendas.

Dr Donald Macaskill is the Chief Executive of Scottish Care. Scottish Care is the membership organisation of independent providers of care home and care at home/housing support services in Scotland. Numbering nearly 1000 services Scottish Care members employ over 100,000 staff. Prior to his current role, Dr Macaskill ran an equality and human rights consultancy for fourteen years. In that time, he focused on issues such as adult protection and safeguarding, workplace and institutional discrimination and the role of human rights in social care.

He has a particular professional and academic interest in human rights-based approaches to care and support, personalisation, bereavement and palliative care.

In August 2018 he wrote ‘TechRights: human rights, technology and social care.’ after a summer of conversations with key digital and technology stakeholders, human rights and ethicists in numerous countries. His work calls for a human-rights and ethical based approach to be developed around the co-design and implementation.

Jim followed a 25-year career path through the sales and marketing departments, completing his employment as Director, Government Affairs with Canadian Airlines/CP Air. On retirement, he established his management consulting company, Capital Business Strategies Ltd., which was officially dissolved March 2008.

Jim was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in February 2007 at the age of 58 and now volunteers his time to ‘advocate to educate’. With a focus on living as well as possible with dementia, he attempts to reduce stigma and shatter stereotypes using insight gained personally and as a care partner for his mother who also lived with dementia. He has appeared before federal and provincial Parliamentary committees and has been interviewed for radio and television. He has also spoken throughout Canada to groups large and small, from key note speeches to panels.

Jim completed a six-year term in 2015 as board member of the Alzheimer Society of Canada (ASC) and in his home province of BC he also had a six year term on their board of the provincial Alzheimer Society (ASBC) that ended in 2014. Jim remains active with ASC’s Advisory Group of People Living with Dementia, which he co-chairs.

Mary Schulz has been the Director, Information, Support Services and Education at the Alzheimer Society of Canada (ASC) since 2006.  A Social Worker by profession, she has spent her career in health care, primarily working with older adults and their families.  Mary is honoured to be working with the ASC’s Advisory Group of people with dementia, who launched Canada’s first Charter of Rights for people with dementia in 2018. Meaningfully engaging people with dementia is critical in ensuring that ASC’s work is relevant, informed by lived experience.

Dr Stephen Judd has more than 25 years’ experience in the health care and information technology industries. He has been Chief Executive of HammondCare since 1995. When he began, HammondCare served fewer than 250 clients and had an annual revenue of $8 million. Today, it provides care to almost 14,000 people, and FY17 revenue was $252 million. He has written and contributed to books on dementia care, aged care design and the role of charities. Stephen has served on numerous government and industry committees and is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency.

Michael Nicin is the Executive Director of the National Institute on Ageing, a think tank based at Ryerson University, focussing exclusively on social, health, and financial issues concerning Canada’s ageing population.  Previously, Michael was Acting Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to the Ontario Minister of Seniors Affairs. He has also served as the Director of Policy and Strategic Planning for CARP, advocacy organization for older Canadians with 300,000 members across Canada.

Armin St.George is co-founder of Crosswater Digital Media, an award winning creative production facility, founded in 1991. His strong marketing and storytelling background has overseen the company’s growth in radio and TV production, film scoring, and patient education content to VR/AR/XR production and distribution. The company has gained a solid international reputation for its focus on research based immersive therapeutic and training applications for Medical and Higher Education, Healthcare, Vocational, and Industrial sectors.

Jill Knowlton’s impeccable reputation as an experienced visionary leader and highly effective executor in Ontario’s LTC sector is built on 35 years of dedication and commitment to high quality compassionate care and service. As Chief Operating Officer for primacare™, Jill is responsible for daily operations and transformational change across the organization. A member of the OLTCA Board of Directors, Jill is frequently called upon to engage in collaborative projects with government, university and health-sector partners.

Dr. Samir Sinha is a passionate and respected advocate for the needs of older adults. Dr. Sinha is the Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto and the Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Chair in Geriatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital. He is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Sub-plenaries generously sponsored by: