Speakers

Like many Canadians Lauri has a complex history behind him. He was born in Canada, Saint John, NB, but grew up and studied in Finland. He worked for a Finnish company which sent him and his family as expats to Canada in 1985. H worked for large international corporations in various leadership roles for over 20 years. These roles also took him to the US. Then he started something new and joined a Swedish management consulting team. The focus of that group was leadership development. Switching away from the corporate world had its benefits for Lauri, but one thing he missed was a sense of a community and the support network of people. His fix for this is Rotary; he joined the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar in 2003. This also offered a good way to sink some roots in Oakville and be part of the community.

Lauri's topic today will be TAD a concept for a new fundraiser for RCOT.

Canadian Nurses for Africa (CNFA) is a Canadian volunteer nurse-led charity established in 2007. We provide short-term interventions as well as year-round preventive care, treatment, and healthcare education to people in rural communities in Africa who have difficulty accessing healthcare.

Margaret Vokes - Strategic Partnerships & Business Development

For thirty-five years Margaret helped Canadian companies to plan and do business successfully in international and domestic markets. Twenty of those years were spent in various capacities with the Ontario Government, mainly in hands-on international
business development, identifying and developing specific opportunities for companies and other organizations. Fifteen years were spent with her own international business and management consulting company, focused on strategic business planning and
development, both trade and investment related.

Patti Harbman - President

Trained as a primary care and acute care nurse practitioner (NP), Patti has worked in a wide range of nursing roles throughout her career, mostly in acute care and ambulatory care cardiology settings. She also
has experience in emergency and primary care clinic settings. Patti completed her PhD in Nursing (University of Toronto), and a post-doctoral fellowship with the Canada Research Chair for Health Interventions.
Patti has been the President of Canadian Nurses for Africa (CNFA) since 2021. Patti is also passionate about horses, currently training to become a competitive dressage rider.