2026 Keynote Speakers
Monday, May 25, 2026
Dr. Taiwo Afolabi is an award-winning researcher, educator, chartered director, entrepreneur, and community leader. His career over a decade reflects a commitment to excellence and innovation across a variety of domains and global contexts. In addition to being a full professor, he is a Canada Research Chair, founding director of a research centre, and an executive strategic advisor in his current institution. Also, he is a 3M National Teaching Fellow, a member of Royal Society of Canada, and a fellow of Royal Society for Arts. Within private and public sectors, he provides strategic governance, executive leadership, and advisory services essential for building impactful organizations. With experience in over 35 countries across five continents, he advances transformational leadership, champions innovation, and fosters partnership within higher education and beyond.
Timea Wharton-Suri serves communities through her work as an arts executive, educator, curator, and producer. For three decades she has studied, performed, taught, curated, produced, programmed, administrated, and advocated for dance in Canada. While gaining this experience, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance from York University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Arts and Media Management Graduate Diploma from Schulich School of Business. She performed with Ballet Creole, Ronald Taylor Dance, and independently for a decade, and also served in administrative positions at Toronto Arts Council, Toronto Dance Theatre, and the Dance Transition Resource Centre. Currently, Timea is: in a blended administrative and artistic role as the Curator & Executive Director of dance Immersion; a sessional faculty member at Yorkville University’s Bachelor of Creative Arts program teaching arts project management; and a faculty member at Dance Arts Institute teaching the graduating post-secondary students about cultivating a dance career. She also provides strategic consulting for individual artists and groups, is a Board member at Work in Culture, and independently mentors artists through all stages of development.