Corporate Executive: Ajai Bambawala
Group Head and Chief Risk Officer, TD Bank Group
Ajai Bambawale is Group Head and Chief Risk Officer, TD Bank Group. In his role, he is
accountable for oversight of Risk Management for TD’s Global operations.
Previously, he served as Chief Risk Officer for TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient
Bank. Prior to his U.S. appointment, Ajai was Vice Chair and Head of the Europe and
Asia-Pacific Division, where he was responsible for overseeing the capital markets and
banking activities of TD Securities in the region.
Ajai’s career with TD spans more than 25 years and has included roles in the
Commercial Bank, Risk and the Corporate and Investment Bank. He was Chief
Operating Officer for TD Securities and was also Head of Credit Risk for the Investment
Bank and the Managing Director and Country Head, India, for TD.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce with honors from Delhi University and a Master of
Business Administration from Duke University. He has also attended the Advanced Risk
Management Program at the Wharton School (2011).
Female Entrepreneur: Sukhdeep Kang
CEO – Armour Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Sukhdeep holds an Honours Degree in Telecom Engineering from Punjab Technical
University. After moving to Canada in 2001 and studied Criminal Justice & Law
Enforcement Administration at Ontario Police Academy and became the 2nd South
Asian Woman to be a Police Officer with Peel Regional Police. She was nominated by
Govt. of Ontario as a Member of Criminal Injury Compensation Board where she helped
victims of violent crimes.
She started her career as an insurance specialist at Austen & Noble Insurance Brokers,
after which she went on to create history by becoming the First South Asian Woman in
North America to own an independent insurance brokerage, Armour Insurance Brokers
Ltd. Armour is one of Canada’s leading, multi province and fastest growing brokerage
for over 10 years.
She has exponentially grown company’s portfolio from $16M to $40M in the last five
years. Armour’s client-first customer service and growth strategy is part of her vision to
become a $100M brokerage by 2025.
Sukhdeep trained youth & immigrant women for various police services. She has been
appointed as the Ambassador of Peel Crime Stoppers to educate youth on gang violence,
drug abuse and crime prevention to promote a safe and peaceful community.
She has trained numerous women to earn their livelihood. 90% of Armour’s team are
women and in line to her motto of Women Empowerment.
She is involved with the community by promoting sports and sponsored 8 sports clubs
in GTA. She strongly supports William Osler Cancer Research, International Seniors
Club and Bethell Hospice Foundation.
Male Entrepreneur: Ambrish Thakkar
President & CEO – Thakkar group of Companies
Ambrish Thakkar’s entrepreneurial journey is rooted in his utterly humble approach to
life and living. His philosophy is focused on service to customers and being a trustee of
his enterprise, which is for the benefit of others.
Hard work, dedication, chasing excellence rather than success, committing oneself to
building the lives of those around them – these are the underlying values and principles
that Ambrish Thakkar learned from his childhood and lives by to this day.
These values transformed him from a new immigrant in North America more than 20
years ago with a few hundred dollars in his pocket to a business tycoon, who laid
foundation for a network of family operated restaurants, with over 35 Tim Hortons
Franchises.
Ambrish’s first job in Canada was a frontline employee at Tim Hortons working for
minimum wage in 1999. Eventually, he worked up into management in the Tim Hortons
restaurant he worked at in Mississauga. What got him there was the loyal following of
guests that loved his service, and team members followed him as their leader.
Ambrish is involved with many social aspects of Tim Hortons. Child and youth
development are one of Ambrish’s key passions. As an ambassador of the Tim Hortons
Children’s Foundation, Ambrish provides strategic feedback to the foundation to
improve operations as well as provides guidance, mentorship and volunteering at the
children’s camps.
Female Professional: Ena Chadha
Barrister & Solicitor
Ena Chadha is a highly respected human rights lawyer, educator and mediator. She is
passionate about working with leaders in promoting equality rights and conflict
resolution.
Raised in a vibrant and hard-working Indian household, Ena’s parents taught her about
the importance of community service and helping those who face societal challenges.
The Attorney General recently appointed Ena as Chair of the Board of Directors of the
Human Rights Legal Support Centre. From 2007-2015, Ena served as a Vice-Chair with
the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario where she rendered numerous leading
judgements in the area of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. The Canadian
Bar Association has recognized Ena as Leader of Change. As a human rights litigator,
Ena argued cases before all levels of courts, including three prominent constitutional
challenges at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ena is cancer survivor having battled an aggressive form of triple negative breast cancer
in 2016. Ena has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ryerson, was called to the
Ontario Bar in 1994 and received her Masters degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in
2008, where her research was nominated for best University thesis. Ena has spoken and
written extensively on human rights issues, including in Supreme Court journals and
recently published by the Oxford University press on an international human rights
treatise about women with disabilities. Ena’s scholarship is cited all over the world.
Ena’s legal work has shaped the human rights landscape in the Canada to promote and
protect the most vulnerable in society.
Male Professional: Sudhir Anand
Founder and CEO of Voice Media Group
Sudhir Anand is the Founder and CEO of Voice Media Group. He came to Canada in
1990s. He launched ‘The Weekly Voice’ in 1997, the first full-colour English-language
South Asian newspaper in the GTA. It was the also first South Asian newspaper that was
distributed free of charge, a move which enabled Anand to spectacularly capture a niche
market. The Weekly Voice has been in a dominant position in the South Asian media
sector ever since.
The Voice Media Group launched the ‘Punjabi Awaaz’ weekly newspaper in 2002 and
followed it up with the launch of the popular FM channel Radio Voice the same year,
along with a burgeoning online presence with www.weeklyvoice.com. Anand has set up
Voice News Network -VNN Canada – with its own Television studio in Mississauga.
Anand is actively involved with several organizations such as ICCC, Panorama India and
ICHF. He runs the charitable, not-for-profit South Asian Golf Challenge which provides
scholarships to deserving students and partners with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
He also strives to make sure that the community’s voice is heard loud and clear in
Canada’s political, social, commercial and cultural spheres.
Sudhir Anand is the Recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen’s
Platinum Jubilee Medal. He has been showered with awards and recognition by many
local, social and sports bodies and clubs over the past several years. Anand lives in
Brampton’s Castlemore area with his wife Mona and three children.
Technology Achievement: Vijay Thomas
Founder and CEO of Tangentia
Vijay Thomas is founder of Tangentia (2003) which has evolved to become a leading
global Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence and B2B solutions company
with a multi-national footprint with offices in USA, Canada and India. Tangentia has
100+ customers in 30+ countries and 150+ employees worldwide.
Tangentia America was on the INC 5000 list of fastest growing companies in USA in
2018 and Tangentia has been on the Profit 500 list of fastest growing companies in
Canada for 6 years in a row. In 2019 it became multi-national by winning the IT
company of the year in the state of Goa in India.
Major Projects of the company includes: Beer and Wine in grocery stores project for
Ontario in a record time of 6 weeks. Vijay as the chief solution architect, designed and
delivered an entire supply chain to deliver the project and there was beer in grocery
stores for Christmas 2015. Implemented a sales forecasting application being used by
the world’s largest appliance manufacturer in 80 countries and delivered a Supply Chain
solution for India’s largest retailer to let their vendors process their order with zero
errors.
Vijay is a seasoned speaker on e-commerce, B2B, Automation and Artificial Intelligence.
He is also active in the Indian startup scene and has been an angel investor in many
start-ups including Ixigo which is India’s largest meta search engine.
Vijay has a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Karnatak University and a
MBA from Goa Institute of Management. Vijay lives in Toronto with his wife Parul
Verma, Daughter Diya and Son Rohan.
Humanitarian: Surinder Sharma
President – Power Saving Systems Inc.
Surinder Sharma Founded Power Saving Systems Inc. in 2002 with a vision to conserve
energy and reduce the carbon footprint to help ‘Protect the Planet’. He got the
inspiration when Canada officially ratified the Kyoto Accord in 2002, under Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien. He started Professional Energy Audits, conducting workshops
and retrofits that helped reduce the grid’s load and contributed in shutting down
Ontario’s polluting Coal-fired generating stations. He used innovative techniques with a
mission to shift from a ‘Culture of Consumption’ to a ‘Culture of Conservation’.
Surinder is an IIT Graduate in electrical engineering from Delhi and management from
Panjab University, Chandigarh. He held Senior Corporate positions in India at Sriram
Group (USHA) & Bajaj and Jumbo Electronics Co. in Dubai.
As President of IIT Alumni Canada, Surinder initiated ‘Mentoring Program’ to help new
immigrants. They care for elderly senior IIT engineers in GTA and worked to raise the
profile of Indian Engineers in Canada.
Surinder was invited by Al Gore to conduct community presentations on Climate
Change in Canada and liaison with Cities. He also served as Director at Mississauga
BOT on Policies, Government Affairs & Environmental Sustainability.
He Promoted Indian Culture as Founder and Chair of Panorama India. He is a founding
Member of Sathya Sai School of Canada that integrates Character Education in Ontario
curriculum. Under his Public Outreach leadership, Sai Organisation initiated a ‘Walk
for Values’ in Toronto and 45 Cities around the World. A keen Sports enthusiast and
2019 Ontario Table Tennis Champion (over 55 yrs).
Lifetime/Outstanding achievement: Dr V.I. Lakshmanan Ph. D., FCAE,
MIMM, FCIM
Vice Chairman and CEO, Process Research Ortech Inc.
Dr. V.I. Lakshmanan is an internationally renowned scientist, innovator, entrepreneur
and teacher. He earned Ph.D. in Chemistry from Bombay University. He moved to
Canada in 1974, after serving as Lecturer in University of Birmingham, UK. He held
prominent positions with companies such as Noranda, Eldorado Nuclear, ORTECH
Corporation and Process Research ORTECH(PRO). He co-founded PRO in Mississauga
in 1999 and has guided it to become a global leader in sustainable process technologies.
He got fellowship of Canadian Academy of Engineering, Canadian Institute of Mining,
Metallurgy and Petroleum and others. He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the
University of Toronto.
Dr. Lakshmanan has channeled his passion for India through countless Canada-India
initiatives, supporting organizations like ICCC, C-IBC, TiE Toronto, and IC-IMPACTS.
Dr. Lakshmanan was a co-founder and Past-Chair of Canada India Foundation, where
he organized sectoral Canada-India public policy forums and was instrumental in three
visits to Canada by India’s former President, Dr. Abdul Kalam. Recently he sponsored
clean drinking water systems and a Mobile Hospital in rural India.
He has provided many new immigrants with their first professional job besides
mentoring & providing financial and moral support. He has served on the United Way
board and contributed funds to the Credit Valley Hospital, William Osler Hospital and
Toronto Rehab (University Health Network). Dr. Lakshmanan’s contributions have
earned him the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and many other
honours.
Young Achiever: Ananya Chadha
AI – ML Developer
Ananya Chadha is currently the world’s youngest Geneticist, Machine Leaning, Artificial
Intelligence Developer, Blockchain Engineer.
After working in a gene-editing lab with CRISPR-cas9, she developed a platform “that
put genomic data on the blockchain,” allowing for anonymous uploading of genomic
data to research data sets, while users still got compensation and won Cryptochicks
Hackathon with this idea. It then moved into ConsenSys where she worked as a
Consultant.
She has also developed Brain controlled prosthetics, Brain controlled remote control
cars, Brain controlled music, Talking robot Pikach AI and VR games with support from
Microsoft. She has advised companies like CPPIB, Wealthsimple, and Zappos and is now
on the Investment committee at Babel Ventures.
This year, Ananya won Evoke Developer 30 under 30 award. She is also in Top 23
women in Tech in Canada. She is also the 2019 winner of the Impossible Science
Student Challenge from engineering.com.
She has got the exposure to new and innovative technology through TKS – The
Knowledge Society, which is an amazing program with an aim to develop the next-
generation of activators that will solve the world’s most important problems.
She has been on the Daily Planet Show, CBC, Global news and speaks at various
conferences around the world like Websummit, Elevate, Collision, EDCON , Singularity
and others. And she is 17 years old.
President Award: Deepak Obhrai
Member of Parliament
Honourable Deepak Obhrai is a seven-term Conservative Member of Parliament,
representing Calgary East/Forest Lawn. Deepak is the longest-serving Conservative MP
in Canada’s 42 nd Parliament. He is the Dean of the Conservative Caucus.
Deepak was born in Tanzania and attended school in Tanzania, India and United
Kingdom. He immigrated to Canada with his family in 1977. He began his political
journey in Calgary, where he involved with India – Canada Association, Monterey
Community Association and Hindu Society of Calgary.
Deepak was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Calgary East in 1997. He was
then re-elected in 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011 & 2015.
In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Deepak as Parliamentary Secretary
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has also served as Parliamentary Secretary for
International Human Rights and as Parliamentary Secretary for International
Cooperation.
In 2013, Prime Minister Harper appointed Deepak to Her Majesty’s Privy Council for
Canada, in recognition of his years of public service as a MP and representing Canada on
the world stage.
In 2009, Government of India awarded Deepak the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya
Samman Award, the highest honour given to overseas Indians, in recognition of his
work to strengthen Canada-India relations.
In 2008, Deepak was featured in the Alberta Grade 9 Social Studies textbook titled
“Issues for Canadians,” in keeping with this vision of engaging the next generation of
Canadians in politics. Deepak Obhrai and his wife, Neena, have two daughters: Priti and
Kaajal, a son: Aman, son-in-law: Robin Martin, grandson: Davin Jacob and
granddaughter Evasha.
Member of the Year: Dharma P Jain
President & CEO, D. P. Jain Professional Corporation
Dharma P Jain is an accomplished accountant, an entrepreneur and an investor with
innate business acumen, who has built an awesome reputation in the community. He is
the founder President & CEO of D. P. Jain Professional Corporation, a public accounting
and management consulting firm. His professional designations include CPA, CGA,
Canada, CPA, USA, CA & LL.B. from India.
Dharma lives by the glorious Canadian values of volunteerism and giving back to the
community. He has held leadership positions in various NFPs and Charities. Currently
he is VP & Treasurer of Indo-Canadian Harmony Forum. He held a board position in
amalgamated Canadian Helen Keller Centre and also served on various committees of
the City of Brampton and Mississauga.
Dharma’s contributions to the ICCC is exemplary, unique, and unmatched. As the
President of the ICCC (2014-15), he established fiscal accountability, cost reduction, and
transparency. He inducted the highest number of sponsors in Chamber’s history and
introduced electronic voting to ensure free & fair elections. Dharma served as a director
for four years from 2011-2015. Currently he serves as the Chair for the Governance
Committee.
He is well-known in Indo-Canadian community and highly respected for his accounting
and business skills to serve his diverse client base. He has been widely covered by media
on issues related with Indo-Canada business relations, new immigrants, education,
community and professional matters.
Dharma lives in Brampton with his wife Anu and his sons Abhishek and Raghushek.