For Immediate Release
April 18, 2007
TORONTO – Global and Canadian experts from the fields of policy, law and business will be featured at the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (CCCA) 2007 National Spring Conference, April 22-24 at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto.
The theme of the conference is Leading Corporate Counsel: the Critical Path to Excellence, and it couldn’t be more timely, says conference co-Chair Kevin Derbyshire, VP General Counsel and Business Affairs for Virgin Mobile. “Colossal corporate failures like Enron and WorldCom have underscored the frailty of corporate structures, and intensified the focus on corporate accountability and the role played by each corporate stakeholder in its advancement,” said Derbyshire.
“Implementing ‘best practices’ can no longer be seen only as a corporate goal, but as a fundamental corporate necessity,” added Derbyshire.
The Opening Plenary, Guiding Your Organization in Times of Corporate Change – Winning Strategies for Corporate Counsel, features a panel discussion with Pierre D. Chenard, vice president and general counsel, operations of Alcan Inc.; Carl DeLuca, associate general counsel and assistant secretary of CVRD Inco Ltd; and Andrea Wood, executive vice president and general counsel of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. The session is moderated by Patrick LeSage, counsel, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, and former chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court.
The panel will address such issues as the role of corporate counsel during organizational change; corporate counsel’s role in finding and raising investment capital; advising the board and senior management; and specific issues related to mergers and acquisitions, takeover bids, sales and divestitures, and insolvency and restructuring.
The conference workshops will cover a broad range of topics, including privacy, pensions and benefits, crisis management, outsourcing, consumer contracts, competition law, and the latest developments in HR, executive compensation, directors' and officers' liability, and securities disclosure and compliance.
“The conference sessions present an excellent opportunity to review the latest important legal developments in these times of rapidly evolving corporate change,” said conference co-chair Georgia Sievwright, vice-president, law and government affairs of Hewlett-Packard Canada Co.
Keynote speakers include H. Sanford Riley, chairman of Richardson Partners Financial Ltd. and president and CEO of Richardson Financial Group Ltd. at the opening breakfast April 23, and Dr. Ron Dembo, CEO of Zerofootprint Inc. at the opening lunch.
On April 24, Dr. Barbara Moses, president of BBM Human Resources Consultants Inc., and John Risley, president of Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. and chairman of Clearwater Seafoods Ltd. Partnership will deliver addresses.
Most sessions are open to accredited media. Programs take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto. Accreditation may be obtained by contacting the CCCA in Toronto at 416-869-0522, ext. 223. The onsite contact is Silvie Kuppek, who can be reached at 647-203-2117 (mobile).
Established in 1988, the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association is a Conference of the Canadian Bar Association. Its mission is to provide a national forum and voice for inhouse counsel to advance the development of their practice of law and enhance their professional skills and careers. The CCCA currently has more than 8,400 members.
For more information on CCCA, please visit www.cancorpcounsel.org.
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CONTACT: Silvie Kuppek, Executive Director, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association; Tel: 416-869-0522, ext. 222. Fax: 416-869-0946; E-mail: skuppek@ccca-cba.org
