SPEAKERS
I got my start in Hollywood in the fashion industry, as a successful fashion stylist and as the celebrity fashion editor for Vanidad magazine. In the mid-90s, I realized that the internet was allowing us to connect to people in a way never before seen and I launched the first of three multi-media entertainment companies that delivered content via that platform.
Following the death of a family member in the early 2000s, I stopped to examine my professional success and the impact I was having on the world. I decided it was time to change course, to start using my powers for good, and I got my first job in the nonprofit sector with Project Happiness, a global organization dedicated to teaching social and emotional learning to young adults.
Over the last several years, I have had some amazing opportunities to work with and learn from some of the world’s greatest peace leaders. I went on to become the Deputy Executive Director for the Dalai Lama Foundation, where I specialized in developing and managing programs and curricula aimed at guiding young people on their own explorations of ethics and peace. Through my work with the Dalai Lama, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to South Africa where I met Archbishop Desmond Tutu. My connection with the Archbishop was instant and as the Archbishop and the Dalai Lama met to begin work on the Book of Joy, I transitioned to become the Executive Director of Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation.
While working with the Archbishop, my focus was working to inspire young people to become change makers for peace. I developed and launched youth programs that focused on reshaping conversations on peace, equality and forgiveness.
With the blessing of Desmond Tutu, I left the Archbishop’s foundation to become the founding Executive Director of the Human Thread Foundation (HTF), an international nonprofit organization inspired by the work of acclaimed humanitarian photographer, Lisa Kristine. HTF’s mission was to educate the public and build awareness about human dignity and human trafficking through exhibitions and educational programs.
As it was for so many of us, the pandemic created a shift in my priorities, and I began consulting and dedicating more time to Rotary International. I was a founding member of Rotary’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Task Force, now known as the Rotary International’s Enhancing Participant Engagement Committee, dedicated to assessing the state of DEI within the organization, and advising the Board of Directors and Trustees on how to best incorporate DEI into the Rotary Action Plan. It has been a great honor to have served as the Vice-chair of this group, and I remain its longest serving member.
I also continue my work with the Nobel peace laureates. I serve on the board of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa-USA, Leymah Gbowee’s US organization, and I am a Strategic Advisor to Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation US and Laureates & Leaders for Children, two organizations associated with Indian Nobel laureate, Kailash Satyarthi.
In 2022, I launched my own US-based nonprofit organization, Out For Equality. Out For Equality is dedicated to ensuring the human rights of LGBTQ+ citizens globally through financial and strategic support to grassroots LGBTQ+ organizations working improve lives, mobilize movements and build better futures for LGBTQ+ citizens in their communities.
My true passion is getting to share my story to inspire others. I travel the world speaking to people of all ages, sharing how we can find inspiration, and then use that to be inspiring to others. In everything I do, I try to remember the South African concept of “ubuntu” – I am because you are, my humanity is bound up in yours, and we can only be human together.
Dr. Jenny Ingram is a Geriatric Medicine Specialist who has been a trailblazer in Senior care throughout her career. She founded the Kawartha Centre, a research site to bring international Alzheimer research trials to the region, a rarity for a smaller city. Her research work over the last decade through Trent and McGill has focused on how to assist Primary Care Physicians to adapt to the boom of Seniors. She has studied and published on the key ingredients to ensure that Family Physicians are able to diagnose dementia.
However, the impact of her advocacy work to establish GAIN Geriatric teams has proven her greatest achievement. These twelve fully funded teams of professionals headed by Nurse Practitioners and supported by Geriatric Medicine Specialists such as herself has proven to be a compelling invitation for younger dementia care specialists to come to the Central East region, growing from 1 to 12 specialist in the last 15 years, a number that exceeds the count in many provinces.
For building of community programs and for her expansive advocacy efforts, Dr. Ingram has received many awards including from Trent University, Seniors Care Network, and the Ontario Medical Association. In 2023, Dr. Ingram received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Trent University. She is the current chair of the Ontario Dementia Care Alliance.
Her most recent endeavour-No More Silent Battles is Dr. Ingram’s first filmmaking experience. It gives a voice to those who are currently silenced. It urges all of us to be Silent No More.
Ramesh Ferris is a polio survivor and Rotarian who resides in Whitehorse, Yukon Canada. He has a bachelor’s degree in social work and is the Past President of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse Rendezvous.
Ramesh is a major donor and level 6 Bequest Society Member of the Rotary Foundation and is the Rotary 5370 District Governor for 2025-2026. He is a past Rotary End Polio Now Coordinator for Zone 28.
In 2008 Ramesh hand-cycled 7140kms over 6 months from Victoria, BC to Cape Spear, NL in program called Cycle to Walk to raise funds and awareness for polio eradication, education, and rehabilitation.
Over the past 18 years Ramesh has volunteered in partnership with Rotary International, The Gates Foundation, Global Citizen, United Nations Foundation, and the World Health Organization to promote our shared global goal of ending polio.
He has shared Rotary’s End Polio message with countless heads of state, many world leaders, and celebrities around the world.
He has spoken to delegates at the United Nations in New York City and to many Rotarians at various Rotary International Conventions, Zone Institutes and District Conferences around the world.
Ramesh has provided the polio vaccine to children in Karachi Pakistan, Kabul, Afghanistan, and in his birth country of India.
He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee award, the Yukon Commissioner’s award for volunteer public service, and Rotary International’s International Service award for a polio-free world.
With over 20 years of experience in the sports industry, David Shoemaker is an accomplished global sports executive and a trusted name in the worlds of sports, business and law. David joined the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in January 2019 after being named Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General.
David oversees the broad scope of operations of the Olympic Movement in Canada including national sport development programs, Team Canada preparation, Olympic bids and events, as well as the commercial and marketing arms of the organization. He works closely with the 52 national sport federations to provide the tools and support they need to develop the next generation of Olympians.
Before joining the COC, David spent seven years as CEO of NBA China. He had a highly successful tenure at the helm of the organization, leaving a legacy of record revenue growth, expanding marketing partnerships to unprecedented levels and spearheading the creation of the largest digital media partnerships in sports with Tencent. Under David’s leadership, the NBA’s popularity surged to new heights with over 640 million people watching NBA programming in China.
David worked for seven years at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), serving as President from 2009 to 2011. He was instrumental in the global expansion of women’s professional tennis and was a member of the executive team responsible for the historic achievement of equal prize money for women at both the French Open and Wimbledon.
He spent seven years in New York City, practicing law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP, where his clients included the National Hockey League, the Association of Tennis Professionals, Major League Soccer, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Florida Marlins.
David began his career in 1996 as law clerk to the Right Honorable Antonio Lamer, Chief Justice of Canada, following his graduation from the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Toronto (Trinity College).
A native of Ottawa, ON, he currently resides in Toronto with his wife Jennifer and their three children. David speaks three languages: English, French and Mandarin Chinese.