IDC is excited to announce the first keynote speaker for the sixth annual Design Symposium, taking place October 25-27, 2023, at Teknion’s showroom in Toronto.
Named “Canada’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” by Startup Canada in 2017, Nicole Verkindt is a serial entrepreneur. She has a knack for finding industry gaps and building innovative platforms and technology to fill them. Speaking to the importance of entrepreneurial and disruptive thinking, diversity in leadership, technology, and innovation, Verkindt empowers audiences to turn their ideas into success.
In 2012, Verkindt founded and launched OMX, an online supply chain data analytics business. The technology platform helps to increase and measure local spend/socio-economic impacts, including ESGs (environmental, social, governance) and other sustainability metrics. Today, Verkindt is the CEO of Buggy.ca, Canada’s rapid grocery delivery business, and an active angel investor involved in dozens of Canada’s early-stage tech businesses.
Verkindt is a frequent technology commentator on CBC and a technology columnist. She was also an investor on Gimlet Media’s The Pitch in the US and a “Dragon” on CBC’s Next Gen Den, which focused on early-stage technology. Verkindt sits on the board of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and is a Next Gen member of the Business Council of Canada (BCC), where she is also the Co-Chair of the BCC’s Task Force on Canada’s Economic Future.
In 2018, Verkindt was awarded the Peter Brojde Award for Next Generation Executive Leadership, and in 2019, she was named Startup Canada’s Ambassador for Women’s Entrepreneurship and one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40”.
Along with attending Verkindt’s presentation, Design Symposium participants can earn up to 14 IDCEC credits through design tours, panel discussions, presentations, and the IDC AGM.
Secure your early-bird Design Symposium ticket today for Verkindt’s talk and to hear other incredible speakers, and to participate in the event’s multiple-day celebration of design.
The symposium is made possible by the generous support from Teknion, Lutron, Benjamin Moore, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances Canada Inc.
For more information, contact communications@idcanada.org.
