CEO War Stories: Welcome to the New Abnormal

For most technology companies COVID-19 has created havoc with organizational strategy and execution, and there is no indication this will change over the short to mid-term. Don Safnuk from Corporate Recruiters will moderate a session with Barb Kinnaird from Response Biomedical and Greg Malpass from Traction on Demand.

Barb Kinnaird from Response Biomedical and Greg Malpass from Traction on Demand will share what has happened to their companies and themselves, in a challenging environment. This session is moderated by Don Safnuk from Corporate Recruiters and will discuss:

• How has COVID impacted your company, how did you address the challenges and what worked and what didn’t work?
• How has your company changed because of COVID and how are you planning for a future with so many potential variables?

BIOS

Greg Malpass

After spending nearly a decade in marketing and enterprise sales roles, Greg Malpass founded Traction on Demand in 2006. He’s the first to admit that his intentions in starting Traction on Demand were very simple: to serve a small number of clients and help them better unite their sales and marketing teams. Contrary to his early intentions, and using his unconventional leadership style, Greg has grown Traction on Demand into one of North America's largest dedicated Salesforce consulting firms 800+ Tractionites, and in 2019, Traction on Demand was named the best place to work in Canada. While Greg rarely admits to having a plan, he is the first to share his hopes for Traction on Demand, which are to build a company that plays a positive and purposeful role in the lives of its team members, customers, partners and community.

In addition, Greg has successfully incubated and launched a suite of SaaS product companies including bettr.me, Traction Guest, Traction Rec, Traction Hierarchies and Traction Complete."  

Barb Kinnaird

Dr. Barbara Kinnaird has served as CEO of Response Biomedical since May, 2015. Prior to taking on this role, she had Executive Management responsibility for Product Development, Quality, Regulatory, Manufacturing and Sales after joining the Company in 2004. Through Dr. Kinnaird’s leadership, the Company has expanded from Cardiac Point of Care testing into a global Acute Care Diagnostics leader, transforming diagnostic testing worldwide. Dr. Kinnaird demonstrates a passion for growing local businesses and building a leadership culture. Her priorities are on building elite teams that specialize in managing organizational changes to improve Company’s processes, reduce costs and accelerate business performance.

Dr. Kinnaird has over 25 years of research and business experience in the fields of Acute Care Diagnostics and Point of Care (POC) testing. She holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia.

Don Safnuk

In addition to founding Corporate Recruiters Don has been a CEO of an electronic manufacturing company, cofounded a financial advisory firm in the early eighties to help fund BC’s fledgling tech industry, was involved with helping launch  many of the associations (including Acetech) that support BC’s tech sector and spent almost a decade on BC’s Premier’s Technology Council, advising government on how they could support BC’s tech industries.