Linda Nazareth

Linda Nazareth is an accomplished economist futurist specializing in demographic, workplace and economic trends, and how they will shape our future. 

In 2020, she launched her podcast: Work and the Future, and in 2021-22, she’s focused on her work on Trends Changing the Post-Pandemic Economy. 

Linda’s authored several books including her latest, Work is not a Place:  our lives & our organizations in the post-jobs economy, where she engages people in thinking about what the world might look like when we replace the idea of ‘jobs’ with that of ‘work’ – and why that might not be a bad idea at all.  

Nazareth is also the Senior Fellow for Economics and Population Change at policy think-tank the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.  

Her book Economorphics: The Trends Turning Today into Tomorrow, actually started as a presentation to companies looking for help in strategic planning.   Previous books include The EverAfter Effect ‘on waking up from the boom years’ and The Leisure Economy  examining the retirement of the baby boomers and the attitudes of ascendant generations X and Y.

Her clients have included everyone from American Express through to The Economist Magazine, and all have benefitted from her ability to take big ideals and distil them into information they can use for their own strategic plans.  

Prior to this, Nazareth was the Senior Economic Analyst for Business News Network (BNN) and Canada’s only full-time on-air economist for over a decade, as well as a Senior Economist with a top 5 bank, and with the federal government.

PANELISTS

Adam Goehner
Director, ESG Strategy and Risk
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)

Adam leads the ESG strategy and risk management team within the investment strategy & risk department at BCI. He oversees BCI’s overall total portfolio ESG risk exposure and has developed a cross-asset class risk and opportunity identification framework to track and evaluate long-term systemic ESG risks and opportunites to inform investment strategies. The framework has been develeoped to measure the financial impacts from climate change and other systemic risks across all sub-industires and integrate relevant financial impact information into all levels of investment decisions. Adam also supports private market transaction ESG due diligence. He provides recommendations on ESG risks and opportunities to multiple stakeholders, including pension trustees, senior leadership, and portfolio managers.

Adam’s background includes advising public and private venture investments in strategic start-up companies, developing corporate sustainability and climate change strategies, and supporting clean technology development accelerators. His early career involved working as an engineer developing and implementing energy efficiency projects in the energy sector.

Andrew Wood
Regional Vice-President, Western Canada, Business Development
Desjardins

Andrew Wood is the Regional Vice-President of Business Development for Desjardins Insurance’s Group and Business Insurance in Western Canada. Prior to joining Desjardins in 2015 as an Account Executive, Andrew held a series of progressive roles with a National Employee Benefits Consulting firm.

Andrew works closely with advisors and employers to support their strategic vision for their employee benefit plan. He works collaboratively with all stakeholders to deliver innovative solutions that meet the needs of employers while supporting the well-being of their employees.

Larry Guthrie
Chair, Union Staff Pension Plan
Formerly: Director Financial Services
Simon Fraser University (SFU)

Larry Guthrie is the Chair of the Pension Plan for Administrative/Union Staff of Simon Fraser University.  Larry is a CPA, CA and had a diverse career experience as a Partner in public practice and financial leadership roles in government, industry and both K to 12 and university education.  He recently retired as Director, Financial Services at Simon Fraser University.  Larry has had volunteer community service leadership roles professional, seniors housing, long term care, trusteeship, church, arts and service club organizations where he has sought to deliver practical results which impact people.