David Smart is a climber, author, journalist, and editor. He has been climbing rock since the 1970s and remains an enthusiastic new route climber with a deep passion for the sport. Early in his career, he authored four guidebooks to rock climbing in Ontario and Quebec. A veteran journalist and editor, he is the founding editor of Gripped Magazine, Canadian Running Magazine, Cycling Magazine Canada, and Triathlon Canada. Over four decades, his work has appeared in Climbing, Alpinist, Rock and Ice, the Canadian Alpine Journal, and the American Alpine Journal, among other publications. 

His 2023 biography, Royal Robbins: The American Climber, won the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival's Award for Climbing Literature and was short-listed for the Boardman Tasker Prize. Previous works include Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites (2021), Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss (2019), and his memoir, A Youth Wasted Climbing (2015). His books have been translated into five languages. In 2022, he received the H. Adams Carter Award for Mountain Literature from the American Alpine Club in recognition of his lifelong contributions to mountain writing. In 2026, his book, Among the Pale Spires, will be published by Rocky Mountain Books. 

Fawna Bews is an Accredited Partnership Broker with a Masters in Counselling. What really fires her up is the ‘how’ of getting along. She believes that on a planet of 7 billion people we have the capacity to solve the complex problems that keep us from all enjoying a full and happy life. With experience ranging from crisis counselling to leading post-disaster recovery projects, she is known for building trust and moving collaborations forward with creativity and ease. Based in Alberta’s Foothills, she brings both professionalism and playfulness to the art of bridge-building between people. 

Jocelyne Daw is a recognized leader and change maker in building authentic multiple- sector partnerships. She has built a career spanning four decade bringing diverse stakeholders and organizations into partnerships and keeping them productive and progressive. She is committed to helping people and organization’s build capacity to make their partnerships more effective and impactful. Jocelyne is an internationally published author and speaker in innovation and collaboration and is an Accredited Partnership Broker and Trainer.

Joanna Croston grew up and went to university in Eastern Canada and moved to the Canadian Rockies permanently in 1998. She has climbed many of the classic 11,000 ft peaks in the area and is an avid backcountry skier having toured throughout North America, The Alps, Japan, Kashmir and the Indian Himalaya.    As a voracious reader of mountain literature and a die-hard film enthusiast, she is the Director for the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival and World Tour.  Her writing has appeared in Highline Magazine, Gripped, The Canadian Alpine Journal, The Canadian Rockies Annual, Mountain Life and Alpinist. She is the author of Breaking Trail: The Chic Scott Story and her work is part of the Waymaking anthology, an award-winning collection of women’s adventure writing published in Autumn 2018. She is the former North American representative for the International Alliance for Mountain Film. Her book Mountaineering Women will be released in September 2025.

Well Travelled Collective is a boutique, women-owned, production studio working with brands, agencies and nonprofits to create and tell unique visual stories. Our specialty lies in the outdoor and adventure space.

Peter Padbury is one of Canada's most experienced futurists. Over his career, he led hundreds of foresight projects that developed vision, policy and strategy with federal government departments, NGOs, business and UN agencies on a wide range of themes. Between 2008 and 2021, he played a leadership role in building a foresight centre in the Canadian federal government called Policy Horizons Canada - one of the leading government foresight centers in the world. In September 2021, he retired as Chief Futurist from Policy Horizons Canada, although he continues to have an advisory role there as a “fellow”. In addition, he runs a "boutique" foresight center to assist governments and NGOs with capacity-building, advice, mentoring, evaluation as well as foresight and vision-building for transformative change. In 2024, Peter was among the 10 international experts appointed to the OECD's Advisory Committee on Foresight. Peter has a MSc in Future Studies from the University of Houston (with a focus on participatory foresight methods). Over his career, he had extended work assignments and work-related travel in more than 50 countries. He has been on the board of directors of a number of organizations and is a founding member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

Carolyn Warren has helped shape the cultural ecosystem in Canada over three decades of senior leadership roles with CBC/Radio-Canada, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Canada Council for the Arts. At the Council, she has led major arts investment strategies, national cross-sectoral partnerships and landmark digital and innovation programs supporting transformative change in the sector. At Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, she directed multidisciplinary programs and forged global partnerships that expanded the reach of Canadian artistic practice. Earlier in her career with CBC/Radio-Canada, she developed award-winning cultural programming across radio, television, and digital platforms. Known for her strategic vision, collaborative leadership and commitment to the role of culture in society, she is a trusted voice shaping the future of the arts.

Robin Sokoloski (she/her) is a dedicated arts and culture professional based in Tkaronto/Toronto with over two decades of experience in the field. Currently serving as the Director of Research and Programming at Mass Culture, she collaborates with academics, funders, and arts practitioners to mobilize the creation, amplification, and community-informed research that supports the arts sector’s growth and sustainability. 

At Mass Culture, Robin has spent the last three years project managing Research in Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact, a national research initiative that led to the development of three qualitative arts impact frameworks. These tools help arts organizations better understand their civic impact through qualitative indicators. She also leads Mass Culture’s Evaluative Thinking Initiative, which supports a culture of reflection and continuous learning across the arts sector, and stewards the DNA: Data Narratives for the Arts program, which integrates data practices into the daily work of arts organizations through training, tools, and collaborative learning. 

Robin currently serves on the Board of the Toronto Arts Council and as a member of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Free Expression’s Steering Committee. She has recently taught a course on Art Policy, Equity, and Activism for Centennial College’s Arts Management program, and developed and taught a course on Cultural Entrepreneurship for MacEwan University’s Arts and Cultural Management program. 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinsokoloski/

Soni Dasmohapatra is a consultant who works with individuals, groups, public service institutions and community agencies to facilitate the development of tools that focus on building inclusive platforms that incorporate strategy, design, wellness and art for transformative change. She has thirty years of experience working internationally, nationally, provincially and municipally across arts, culture, heritage, health, and community sectors. She is a Doctor of Social Sciences candidate at Royal Roads University, holds a Master of Public Administration from University of Victoria, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Alberta and a certificate in Gender and Human Rights from Oxford University, UK. Soni’s expertise lies in developmental, participatory, and equity-focused evaluation, with a commitment to centering lived experience, arts based research methods and community knowledge. She has led numerous evaluations advancing social impact, equity, and cultural vitality, and currently is an assistant professor in Arts and Cultural Management at MacEwan University. She is an active member of Mass Culture,  and is Kathak dance practitioner. 

www.sonidasmohapatra.com

Composer Nick DiBerardino welds the weird machinery of music’s past to the post-genre present, crafting whimsical and thought-provoking sonic stories for our time. His inspirations span science, literature, and everyday life — from reef-saving coral research and Da Vinci’s failed flying machines to his morning coffee and favorite episodes of Star Trek. A Rhodes Scholar, he has received commissions from leading artists and institutions including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Sandbox Percussion, PRISM Quartet, New College Choir, Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and Star Trek’s John de Lancie. Nick is Provost and Dean of the Conservatory at Curtis Institute of Music, where he directs the Curtis New Music Ensemble and holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Composition Studies. He also serves as a composition faculty member and program coordinator at the Tanglewood Music Center. He holds degrees from Oxford, Yale, Curtis, and Princeton.