August 24, 2021 – Virtual Event
Thank you for tuning in to the 2021 CP Women’s Leadership Summit presented by LNG Canada. If you missed it, you can view the Summit in its entirety below.
The 2022 CP Women’s Leadership Summit will be held on Tuesday August 23rd in Ottawa. Please check back for more information. We hope to see you there.
Host
Lindsay Hamilton
TSN Anchor
Lindsay Hamilton is a national anchor for SportsCentre on TSN. You can currently watch her on the weekday morning loop of SportsCentre bringing Canadians from coast to coast their daily sports news.
In addition to SportsCentre, Lindsay regularly contributes to TSN hockey coverage and TSN radio. Lindsay has hosted and contributed to a number of marquee events including The Masters, IIHF World Championship, FIFA Women’s World Cup, CP Women’s Open, TradeCentre, The Queen’s Plate, and Curling Day in Canada, among others.
Lindsay has appeared on a number of Bell Media affiliates including The Social, CP24 and CTV News Channel.
Lindsay completed a double major with honours in communications and film at McMaster University while playing varsity lacrosse and competed on Team Ontario.
Session #1: Changing the Status Quo
Nisha Sadekar
CEO & President, PGD Global
Former Professional Golfer
Nisha began playing competitive golf at the age of 12 in Toronto, Canada where she grew up. Nisha is the eldest sister to Seema Sadekar, also a professional golfer. Nisha was one of the first Indian women to play on Tour and competed on numerous Canadian National, Provincial and World Cup Teams in her junior career. She attended the IMG Sports Academies, a prestigious sports training boarding school in Bradenton, Florida and went on to be the Captain of the Women’s Golf Team on a full scholarship at the University of Missouri.
Nisha began her professional golf career on the LPGA, Futures and Canadian Tours for 5 years. Her dedicated junior, amateur, collegiate and professional career gave her an in-depth understanding that there was more to golf than what was being told. In 2006, Play Golf Designs Inc., (PGD Global) began, and for over a decade the company has made golf more beautiful, diverse and understood.
Her personal dedication to the growth of PGD Global programs and practices “Bigger Than Golf” and “Project Fairway” have creatively made golf acceptable for women and girls to use golf as a tool for life while developing relationships, business and self. “Golf will teach you who you are with every shot. It is a game that makes you face your fears in the face of self-competition, and you are the only one held accountable.”
As President & CEO of PGD Global, Nisha’s passionate personality and vision to produce golf entertainment, PGD Global has evolved into one of the most dominant golf event and entertainment businesses in the country. With over 25 years in competitive, professional and industry golf experience, Nisha is a woman who continues to revolutionize the game with her desire to see a broader and inclusive path for the game.
Seema Sadekar
VP, PGD Global
Former Professional Golfer
Seema Sadekar, the youngest of the Sadekar Sisters, is firmly dedicated to making golf more exciting and appealing to the masses through lifestyle, fashion, fitness and entertainment. With the vision to design extraordinary golf and entertainment experiences, Seema believes in not just making the difference in golf but creating it.
“Throughout my competitive years, I have developed a passion for growing the game for women and young girls in a positive and self-fulfilling way. I want to connect with them and share with them how golf can bring confidence, self-awareness and healthy competition into their lives.”
Seema began her journey in golf at the age of 9 in Toronto, Canada, and went along with Nisha to attend IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida. Seema competed and practiced on the highest Junior and Amateur levels, earning a full scholarship to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), one of the most recognized golf programs in America.
As a rookie on the Canadian & LPGA Tours, Seema won the CN Canadian Tour Money List. Seema qualified for her first LPGA event at the age of 18 and was also one of the first Indian women to play on the LPGA Tour. After five years of fierce competition and knowledge in the golf world, Seema expanded into designing apparel and accessories while styling men, women, young girls and celebrities who wish to take up the game.
Through “Bigger Than Golf” and “Project Fairway” Seema says that women need to learn the game of golf backwards, starting from the 19th hole, understanding the lifestyle to build the confidence needed to overcome the barriers that hold most women back playing. Seema’s commitment to closing industry gaps using herself as an example, allows women to take a different approach to learning the game.
Session #2: Leveling the Gender Playing Field
Alison Twiner
Digital Marketing & Strategy Advisor
Alison Twiner has spent her career working at leading technology companies like Facebook, Instagram, Google and DoubleClick during the early stages of their growth in Canada. She was Group Director of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook & Instagram and part of the Canadian Leadership team. Alison has built and led high performing sales, marketing, and client success teams responsible for partnering with Canada’s largest brands and fastest growing businesses to deliver strategic solutions that drive growth in a changing digital and mobile world.
She has worked with start up and mature businesses globally, and across Canada.
In 2019 Alison completed the Female Funders Angel Academy, whose mission is to increase diversity in the investment and tech ecosystems, and made her first angel investment. As a marketing & strategy advisor, Alison partners with high growth and scale up companies. She helps identify and advance strategic priorities, scale revenue, and manage complex work streams in order to optimize client experience, renew revenue, build high performing teams, and coach and mentor talent.
Since 2014 Alison has served on the National Board of Directors for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and is currently Chair of the Board. She has a BA with distinction from McGill University. Alison is a reader of good books, a pop culture junkie, fan of travel and healthy living. She maintains a 416 phone number, but happily calls Vancouver home.
Caryna Pinheiro
Assistant Vice-President of Application & Digital Services at Canadian Pacific
Caryna Pinheiro was named AVP of Application & Digital Services in March 2021. In this role, Caryna leads a diverse team of IT professionals responsible for delivering and supporting the applications and digital solutions used within our business units, as CP continues to pivot to growth. Over the past few years at CP, Caryna has demonstrated her thoughtful Q4 leadership skills, which have enabled her to instill positive culture changes within IS.
Caryna has over 20 years of experience delivering IT solutions, many years as a Consultant in the government, oil & gas, and banking industries before joining CP in 2013. During her Master’s Degree in Software Engineering, she published four articles in the top Agile software engineering conferences in the areas of iterative delivery and process improvements.
She is the proud mother of two kids that can play Pokémon, and give her kids a run for their money on a few board games.
“The railroad business is fascinating. That in combination with CP’s complex and diverse IS ecosystem ensures that I learn something new every day. I am often inspired by the level of commitment and drive of my technical team to keep our systems in pristine state to support daily operation, while applying ingenuity to drive innovation.”
Session #3: Representation Matters driven by Audi
Mollie Marcoux Samaan
LPGA Commissioner
Mollie Marcoux Samaan is the ninth Commissioner of the LPGA since its formation in 1950. Her journey to the LPGA started at Princeton University, where she was a two-sport varsity athlete in soccer and ice hockey before graduating in 1991. Following graduation, Marcoux Samaan served as assistant athletic director, assistant dean of admissions and coach of girls’ ice hockey and soccer at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
She then began a 19-year career with Chelsea Piers Management, the company that owns and operates two world-class amateur sports complexes, Chelsea Piers New York and Chelsea Piers Connecticut, when its first facility opened in 1995. Marcoux Samaan progressed into senior management positions throughout her time at Chelsea Piers, becoming executive vice president of Chelsea Piers’ 400,000-square-foot multi-venue sports complex in Connecticut, a facility with more than 300 employees, including professional athletes, Olympians, former collegiate coaches, former Division I athletes and sports industry leaders.
In 2014, she was recruited back to Princeton as the University’s Ford Family Director of Athletics. In her seven years as Director of Athletics, Marcoux Samaan oversaw a department known for achievement and excellence, on and off the field. During Marcoux Samaan’s tenure, Princeton teams won a league-leading 65 Ivy League Championships and finished as high as 30th in the prestigious Learfield IMG Cup standings, which measures overall athletics success of all Division I Athletics programs.
Marcoux Samaan and her husband, Andrew Samaan, are the parents of three children: Maddie (17), Catie (15) and Drew (12).
Cheyenne Woods
LPGA Professional
Cheyenne Woods is a professional golfer, a golf announcer, a podcaster, and the niece of golf legend Tiger Woods. Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Cheyenne started playing golf at the age of 5. She is only the sixth African-American to play on the LPGA Tour. She has continued her family’s storied history in the golf world by taking her place amongst the best on the LPGA Tour. Currently in her eighth year on the LPGA Tour, Cheyenne previously had three strong seasons on the Ladies European Tour, including a win at the Australian Ladies Masters in 2014 and a runner-up finish at the 2015 Hero Women’s Indian Open. A graduate of Wake Forest University, she succeeded in both the classroom and on the golf course. During her time as a broadcast journalism major, Cheyenne set records for the Demon Deacons golf program in season scoring and career scoring averages and earned a dominating 11-stroke victory at the 2011 ACC Championship. When not traveling the world competing, Cheyenne leads an active lifestyle in her hometown of Phoenix, AZ.
Cheyenne has been a trailblazer in the sport of golf, using her voice and acting as a leader to help change the face of the sport – showcasing the importance of diversity and inclusion and opening doors to all races and genders. She has put her broadcast journalism degree to good use recently, starting a successful golf podcast called Birdies Not B.S. and acting as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel during the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and Turner Sports during the last two editions of The Match.
Lydia Ko
LPGA Professional
A native of New Zealand, Lydia Ko, began playing golf at the age of 5. At 24 years of age, she has sixteen LPGA Tour victories to her name, including two majors; the 2015 Evian Championship and 2016 ANA Inspiration.
Lydia became the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour when she claimed the 2012 CP Women’s Open at the age of 15 years and four months, as an amateur. She successfully defended her title in 2013, again as an amateur and remains the only amateur champion of the CP Women’s Open. In February 2015, Lydia became the youngest female golfer in the history of the sport to be ranked number one in the world, a record she still holds today. In April 2016 Lydia won the ANA Inspiration, making her the youngest player to win two major championships in one year. Lydia also claimed top spot at the 2015 CP Women’s Open making her only one of three players to be crowned CP Women’s Open champion three times. She was the 2014 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, as well as the 2015 Rolex Player of the Year, 2015 Tour Money Winner of the Year, and 2014 and 2015 CME Globe Winner. In 2021, Ko proudly represents the LPGA Players as one of 6 Player Directors.
Lydia is also a two-time Olympic medalist, participating in golf’s return to the Olympics in Rio 2016 where she won silver and earlier this month, taking home bronze at Tokyo 2020 for New Zealand.
Session #4: Leadership Utilizing the Strength of your Diversity
Cathy Engelbert
Commissioner, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)
USGA Executive Committee Member
In July of 2019, Cathy Engelbert was named the first-ever Commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), and is charged with bolstering visibility for the sport of women’s basketball, empowering the WNBA players, and enhancing fan engagement. Cathy retired as the CEO of Deloitte in June of 2019, after 33 years with the firm. Since Cathy stepped into the role of WNBA Commissioner, she has executed a historic player-first Collective Bargaining Agreement, built and socialized a new economic framework to drive league revenue and owner success, and led the league’s twelve franchises through the COVID-19 pandemic and a successful 2020 season.
Previously, as CEO of Deloitte, Engelbert was first woman ever to lead a Big Four professional services firm in the U.S. where she oversaw one of the largest professional services organizations with more than 100,000 professionals. Over the course of her tenure, she drove a large transformation across the business by moving the firm towards emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, robotics and cloud, including securing ecosystem partnerships with large technology companies, and executing digital acquisitions. Revenues grew more than 30 percent under Engelbert, and her people-first agenda included implementing a holistic well-being culture through programs like Deloitte’s 16-week family leave policy.
As a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion, Engelbert was the first woman to serve as chair of the Catalyst Board, a global non-profit organization that promotes inclusive workplaces for women and was the first woman chair of the Center for Audit Quality Governing Board. She was a founding member of the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, is a Vice Chair of the Partnership for New York City and previously served as a member of the Business Roundtable, where she sat on the Education & Workforce and Immigration committees. Cathy currently sits on the McDonald’s Board of Directors (Audit Committee), the Royalty Pharma Board of Directors, and the USGA Executive Committee.
Engelbert was listed as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women for consecutive years. She is ranked on Glassdoor’s annual Employees’ Choice Awards honoring the 100 Highest-Rated CEOs, and among Crain’s 50 Most Powerful Women in New York. Engelbert has also been recognized as one of Working Mother magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Moms and one of Fast Company magazine’s Most Productive People.
Engelbert received a B.S. in accounting from Lehigh University and is a certified public accountant licensed in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. During her time at Lehigh, Engelbert was a member of the university’s basketball and lacrosse teams and served as a senior captain for both teams. On the court, she played for former Lehigh coach and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Muffet McGraw. Engelbert’s father, Kurt, played for Naismith Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay at Saint Joseph’s University and was drafted in 1957 by the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.
Engelbert is married and has two children, Julia and Tommy.
For additional information, please contact Mary Beth McKenna at 1-800-263-0009 x 209 or mmckenna@golfcanada.ca
Supporting Partner
Official Charity