Montréal, Canada, 2017-03-07 –

From she who holds the key to unlocking talent potential at Cirque du Soleil, to the inventor who brought Star Wars’ BB-8 bot off the screen and into real life, to the professor who makes cities “speak,” C2 Montréal has been combing the four corners of the globe in search of great minds doing the kinds of great things that inspire people to rethink the way they do business. 

To that end, C2 Montréal has 10 exciting new speakers to present, all leaders in their fields, as they join the ranks of the C2 Montréal 2017 lineup.

Mindy Grossman
CEO, HSNi
A retail visionary, Mindy is the brain behind HSNi’s multi-channel shopping and entertainment experience and oversees its multi-billion-dollar retail portfolio.
 
Gary Shapiro 
President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association
The innovation mastermind at the helm of the CTA (which produces the annual CES trade show), Gary’s also one of the most influential technology lobbyists in Washington.
 
Ian Bernstein 
Founder and CTO, Sphero
A leader in connected play, Ian believes that robots can help people learn, and be their friends. In conjunction with Disney, he built and commercialized a real-world version of the Star Wars BB-8 droid.
 
Valérie Pisano 
Chief Talent Officer, Cirque du Soleil
Awash in talent at Cirque du Soleil, Valérie’s objective is to unleash the intrinsic potential of everyone by rethinking the employee experience as a whole.
 
Prof. Carlo Ratti
Partner, Carlo Ratti Associati & Director, Senseable City at MIT
An architect, engineer and educator, Carlo makes urban areas “talk” by harnessing the layers of data enveloping them. A tireless inventor, he designs technologies that make smart cities.
 
Simon de Baene 
Co-Founder and CEO, GSOFT
A young entrepreneur with a revolutionary spirit, Simon is a workplace happiness advocate. With GSOFT, he wants to put Montreal at the forefront of the global technology scene.
 
Randi Zuckerberg 
Founder and CEO, Zuckerberg Media
A multiplatform media entrepreneur and former Facebook exec, Randi is a leading author, host and producer.
 
Joel Beckerman
Composer and Founder, Man Made Music
Believing strongly that sound is a key part of the brand experience, Joel is responsible for what brands like Disney, AT&T, IMAX, HBO and more sound like.
 
Prof. Yoshua Bengio
Co-Founder, Element AI & Director, Montréal Institute for Learning Algorithms
Preeminent artificial intelligence researcher and deep learning pioneer, Yoshua wants to transform machines into entities capable of scientific reasoning and autonomous learning.
 
Jean-François Gagné
Co-Founder and CEO, Element AI 
The businessman half of the duo from Element AI, Jean-François wants to bring researchers, entrepreneurs and business people together at the intersection of artificial intelligence and commerce.
 

These ten new speakers join the ranks of C2’s 2017 lineup, which will continue to grow in the coming months.

About C2 Montréal – A business conference, only different
Each year, in a collaborative environment specifically designed to provoke collisions and spark new ideas, C2 Montréal inspires 6,000 decision makers across continents and industries to challenge their biases, shift their perspective and explore completely new ways of doing business.

Imagined by Sid Lee and founding partner Cirque du Soleil, these three days of talks, workshops, experimental brainstorming sessions, meet ups, performances and festivities have been described as “challenging conventions” by The Economist, and “a business conference unlike any other” by Harvard Business Review. C2 Montréal will be presenting its 6^th edition on May 24, 25 and 26, 2017, at Arsenal art gallery in Montréal, Canada.