2024 Leadership Summit

Anita Neville’s leadership in the community, on the local and national level, has touched the lives of countless Canadians. She is a proud Manitoban, a distinguished community leader, and a respected public servant.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, she has had a deep and lifelong commitment to her community, dedicated to improving the lives of others.

Her enduring commitment to education began with her long service as board member and Chair of the Winnipeg School Division Board of Trustees. Her numerous board and volunteer activities included involvement with the Law Society of Manitoba, Jewish Child and Family Service, Rossbrook House, the City of Winnipeg’s Community and Race Relations Committee, the Manitoba Public Utilities Board, Equal Voice, the Institute for International Women’s Rights – Manitoba and the Arab Jewish Dialogue to name a few.  She previously served on the Steering Committee of Operation Ezra and the board of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.

From 2000 to 2011, Ms. Neville served as a Member of Parliament, representing her community of Winnipeg South Centre. During her time in the House of Commons, she championed issues that matter to Manitobans, supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, and advanced initiatives benefiting Indigenous Peoples, most notably on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In 2003, she played an important role in the establishment of Holocaust Memorial Day by Parliament. What she perhaps enjoyed most about the job was the many occasions it afforded her to talk to her constituents, learning about their lives, their families, their struggles, and the opportunity to help them resolve them.

Ms. Neville served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women, as well as on numerous committees, parliamentary associations, and parliamentary groups.

With a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in political science and history from the University of Manitoba, Anita Neville is also the mother of three grown children and grandmother to six grandchildren.

Nicole obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration from Brandon University in 2014. During her school years, Nicole got her start in management when she was able to take on the role of Assistant Branch Manager at CIBC. Following University, Nicole and her husband moved to Dauphin where she secured a position as an accountant with a local firm and proceeded to complete her Chartered Professional Accountant designation.

Nicole sought a new challenge when the RM of Dauphin advertised the CAO position, a role that she has now held for 6 years. During that time, she completed the CMMA program and had the privilege of serving as the District 7 Director for MMA.  Nicole is currently the Vice-President of the Association.

Ron Bowles is the City Manager / Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the corporation and was hired for this role in April 2021.  Ron departed his previous occupation with the City of Campbell River, BC, and began his new career at the City of Brandon effective April 26, 2021.

Armed with an education in engineering, waste management, and project management, Ron held positions in environmental and civil engineering. To round out his business acumen, Ron then embarked on a multiple-year finance career and obtained an honours commerce degree and chartered professional accounting designation with 15 years of CAO and Executive local government experience.

Joining the City of Brandon team as City Manager is his highest honour. Ron was chosen as the corporation’s 6^th City Manager / CAO in the modern era of local government. Ron is looking to carry on the legacy of what the corporation has to offer citizens of our city and is extremely proud of the fact the city has held its own when compared to other cities; some of which are larger than ours.

Michael Jack is Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Winnipeg, a role which includes oversight of all City operations. Michael has worked at the City for over 20 years, serving in the Office of the CAO for the last ten years in a variety of capacities.  Michael previously served as the City’s Director of Legal Services & City Solicitor in the City’s Legal Services Department. He sits on numerous professional and volunteer boards for a number of organizations, including the Broadway Neighborhood Centre.

Heather was born and raised in Inglis, Manitoba, a small farming community situated between Roblin and Russell, Manitoba. She graduated from Brandon University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Heather was employed with the City Clerk’s Department for the City of Brandon since 1988 and recently retired in August of 2022 as Director of Legislative Services after working with nine elected councils and six different mayors.  She continues to serve as the city’s Senior Election Official. Heather obtained her Manitoba Municipal Administrator’s Certificate in 1993 and was a member of the Manitoba Municipal Administrators since 2000, serving on the Board as District Director, Vice-President, President, and Past President.  She was honoured as a Life Member of the MMA in 2023.

Heather is a Charter Member of the Manitoba Association of Parliamentarians and received her Professional Registered Parliamentarian designation from the National Association of Parliamentarians in 2020, currently providing parliamentary consulting services for clients throughout the province. 

She is married with two grown children and twin grandsons and lives on a small acreage in Forrest, MB.

Dr. Enoch A-iyeh (Ph.D) earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Manitoba in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

He is currently a professor in the department of Applied Computer Education (ACE) in Red River College Polytechnic, with academic and teaching assignments in the Business Information Technology (BIT), Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML), Price Institute of Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics (PIAMM) and Application Development and Delivery (AD&D) programs of Red River College Polytechnic.

He is also a fellow of the ACE Project Space where he supervises, and conducts applied research work in an integrated learning-based setting. Courses he has taught, developed, and co-developed include Network Computing, Unsupervised Machine Learning, Data Structures and Algorithms, Information and Data Architecture, Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence. His research interests include computer vision, pattern recognition, machine learning, data science and signal processing.

Currently, he’s also a diversity champion and member of the diversity champions network of Red River College Polytechnic where he contributes to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in all matters of the Polytech and operationalizing the EDI commitments of RRC Polytech’s Strategic Plan.

Michael Thompson is the President of Change Innovators Inc and engages as a Leadership Coach and Consultant with clients around the world. Michael obtained his business degree from the University of Winnipeg, is a Professionally Certified Coach and a HeartMath Certified Trainer. Michael facilitates primarily in long term leadership development programs and is passionate about learning from leaders every day. Engaging with people in a compassionate way to support business growth, is what drives Michael in his leadership practice.

A lifelong learner, Michelle is a Certified Master Coach. She has earned a Bachelor’s Degree, a Business Administration Diploma, and Certificates in Human Resource Management, Organizational Development, Adult Education and Participative Management.

As the owner and President of ReframeHR, Michelle works with organizations to help them grow. She is an organizational designer and not only helps companies achieve performance through effective visioning and planning, she has a unique ability to provide much needed support throughout the process. She has significant experience in strategic planning and Board governance, risk management, leadership development and employee training, organizational design, financial and risk management, systems analysis, stakeholder communications and human resource management. She has worked in the world of finance, Credit Unions and Co-operatives for more than 25 years and has won national awards for her work both at the individual leadership and organizational levels.