2026 MEARIE Conference

Speaker Sessions & Presentations

The MEARIE Conference continues to be a premier platform for exploring the most pressing topics in our industry, with a strong emphasis on innovation, leadership, risk management, and human resources. This year’s sessions explored the power of working together to drive lasting success through collective power. Please note that while we strive to share as many presentations as possible, some may contain proprietary content and will not be available online. We appreciate your understanding—and thank you for being part of this year’s event!

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Greig Arnold & Jaimin Patel

KPMG
Thursday, June 18, 2026

Deepfakes and Fraud

Delivered by KPMG, this session explores how deepfakes and synthetic identity fraud are reshaping financial crime risk. It examines emerging attack scenarios, weaknesses in traditional financial controls, and practical detection techniques. The discussion links controls to crime insurance coverage, claims triggers, and loss prevention, helping organisations strengthen governance, response, and insurability within finance, treasury, and payments functions across regulated environments.

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Hugh Secord

Oakbridges
Thursday, June 18, 2026

AI & Labour Relations

Artificial intelligence is reshaping employment and creating new challenges for labour relations practitioners. Employees use AI tools (sometimes without management’s knowledge) and may be emboldened by online information; unions are applying AI in grievances and collective bargaining; and workers seek job security amid displacement risks. Hugh Secord (Oakbridges Labour Relations Strategists, a MEARIE partner) will outline impacts and practical steps organizations can take to keep up.

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Allan Van Damme

London Hydro
Thursday, June 18, 2026

From Bolts to Bytes: Using Telemetry to Detect, Deter, and Reduce Utility Asset Risk

 Utilities are facing rising theft, vandalism, and safety risks as offenders become more sophisticated and assets age. This session explores how London Hydro is using telemetry and sensor-based detection to identify intrusions in real time, reduce catastrophic failures, and shift loss prevention from physical barriers to technology-enabled risk management.

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Paola Accettola

True North HR Consulting
Thursday, June 18, 2026

The Conversation in the Drawer

Most senior leaders have mastered performance management — but there's a harder, more valuable conversation they keep putting off: the one about potential. Not a performance review. Not a difficult conversation about problems. The one where you look at someone and say, I see more in you than you're showing.

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Ryan Coughlin

Bell Temple LLP
Thursday, June 18, 2026

Environmental Risk

This session examines environmental liability risks for Ontario LDCs through a MEARIE insurance lens. Using recent incident experience, it highlights common loss scenarios, the importance of immediate reporting, and how early notification affects coverage, response costs, and claims outcomes. Practical insights are provided to align operational response, regulatory obligations, and MEARIE policy expectations.

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Barbara Martinez

Canada Life
Thursday, June 18, 2026

GLP-1 Drug Landscape 2026

By now, most drug plan advisors and sponsors are talking about the impact of GLP-1 drugs on plan spending. Drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound have taken over conversations in the board room and are poised to double total drug spending in the coming years. As drug plan sponsors grapple with the cost and demands for coverage, there are difficult decisions to make – balancing affordability with providing broad access to GLP-1 drugs. This presentation will discuss the positives, the negatives and the harsh realities of covering GLP-1 drugs on group drug benefit plans and share the latest developments in the GLP-1 drug space.

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Rob Moss

The MEARIE Group
Friday, June 19, 2026

AI & Liability Exposures

This session examines how artificial intelligence is impacting liability risk. It explores claims of interest, including bias, error, misinformation, and regulatory scrutiny, alongside emerging insurance responses. Discussion will include key risks for consideration, potential coverage gaps, and practical corporate policy and governance best practices to support responsible AI use, risk mitigation, and defensible decision-making.

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Anne Gallop

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Friday, June 19, 2026

Current Landscape of HR Issues Ontario Employers are Facing

There are a variety of issues shaping the workplace landscape today. This session will feature an overview of a number of recent legislative changes impacting HR policy and practices, occupational safety, and other LDC workplace/ operational topics.

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Sami Khoury

Government of Canada Senior Official for Cyber Security
Friday, June 19, 2026

Cybersecurity & Operational Technology (OT)

In this executive briefing, Sami Khoury provides a strategic overview of the cyber threat landscape facing Canada’s critical infrastructure, drawing on the National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26. The session highlights key state-sponsored and criminal threats, ransomware trends, and emerging risks amplified by geopolitics and artificial intelligence. Leaders will gain insight into what these threats mean for resilience, governance, and executive-level decision-making across essential services.

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Calum Draper

Lockton UK
Friday, June 19, 2026

Reinsurance Marketplace Update

This session includes a discussion on the importance of reinsurance—a core risk management strategy underpinning MEARIE’s insurance programs. It will introduce Lockton’s role as reinsurance broker, outline fundamental reinsurance concepts, and examine market dynamics affecting pricing and capacity. The session will also explore emerging risks, including environmental liability, AI, and wildfire, and their implications for the future (re)insurance landscape.


Thank You 2026 Sponsors!

The MEARIE Conference is supported by the generous contributions of business partners, industry members, local distribution companies, and more.