Jill Sauter, Partner, Bench Strength Marketing
Jill Sauter is a Saskatoon-based marketing consultant with over 30 years of experience helping businesses achieve clarity, focus, and measurable growth. With thousands of consultations to her name, Jill delivers practical, results-driven strategies grounded in both data and real-world insight. Her career began in sales with multinational corporations, later transitioning into marketing – giving her a unique perspective on aligning marketing with business development.
Jill and her business partner, Carla Trobak, operate their consulting practice: Bench Strength Marketing where they planning and fractional marketing support to B2B companies building their marketing function. They aim to create processes and systems that make marketing a revenue source for the company.
Jill specializes in combining sales data and organizational knowledge to craft actionable plans that drive sustainable growth. She brings big – picture thinking and creative problem – solving skills to every engagement, helping clients uncover new opportunities and make marketing a core business function.
Known for her collaborative and straightforward style, Jill empowers teams to make confident, strategic decisions.
Alisha Esmail, Founder and CEO of Road Coffee Co.
Alisha Esmail is the founder and CEO of Road Coffee Co., a Canadian coffee company redefining how impact and business intersect. After years working on development projects in Haiti, Nepal, Jordan, and South Africa, Alisha witnessed firsthand how traditional systems fail to empower communities. Inspired to create lasting change, she turned her focus to using business as a force for good.
Her journey led her to the coffee farms where she saw the deep inequities holding farmers back. Determined to rewrite that story, she launched Road Coffee to build a better, more transparent coffee industry—one that uplifts farmers and inspires consumers to make every cup count.
Through Road Coffee’s BeyondFair sourcing model and micro-loan program, Alisha has created a system that pays farmers above cost of production and helps them break cycles of debt. Her work has positioned Road Coffee as both a purpose-driven brand and a fast-growing player in Canada’s specialty coffee market.
A bold and passionate leader, Alisha is dedicated to empowering others to pursue purpose through entrepreneurship, innovation, and ethical business.
Nancy Healey, Commissioner for Employees, Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC)
Ms. Nancy Healey has been appointed as the Commissioner for Employers at the Canada Employment Insurance Commission for a three-year term, effective July 26, 2023. Ms. Healey was first appointed to the CEIC as Commissioner for Employers in July 2021.
Ms. Healey is an award-winning chamber executive with 20 years of strategic and innovative leadership as a champion for business. From 2008 to 2020, she was the chief executive officer of the St. John’s Board of Trade, where she helped businesses succeed through advocacy work at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Prior to that, Ms. Healey served as the executive director of an industry sector association dedicated to growing the hospitality and tourism industry.
Ms. Healey has served on the Board of Directors of the Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union, was a past president of the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Canada, where she was named Executive of the Year in 2018 and past director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Healey completed the Director’s Education Program from the Rotman School of Management and has achieved the designation of ICD.D.