The It’s Our Time Female Leadership Summit announced today its speaker lineup and launched table sales for the event, which is taking place as part of the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship. The Summit will take place May 11 and May 12, 2021, at the Halifax Convention Centre.

With an aspirational goal to spark conversations far beyond the walls of our rinks and arenas, the Summit invites women to start thinking about their leadership, their contributions, and to remember that the ingredients for success are all the same, no matter your gender.

Suzanne Fougere, Chair of the Summit, promises two inspiring days for both emerging and experienced leaders to connect and discuss the pathways to leadership.

One of the headliners for the Summit is the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, the 27th Governor General, Commander-in-Chief of Canada, sworn in, in 2005, for a five-year mandate. In 2010, she became a special envoy for the UNESCO to support reconstruction efforts in her birthplace, Haiti, after their devastating earthquake. From 2011 to 2014, Michaëlle Jean also served as chancellor of the University of Ottawa. On November 30, 2014, Michaëlle Jean become the third secretary general of La Fancophonie at the 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Dakar, a position to which she devoted her whole energies from January 5, 2015, to January 3, 2019.

Also headlining the Summit is Dr. Kimberley Amirault-Ryan, an internationally recognized leader in performance psychology who was the first and only woman to be the Performance Consultant with the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Edmonton Oilers. She was the Lead of Sports Psychology for the entire Olympic team during the Vancouver, London, and Sochi Olympics. She has received several awards including the Globe and Mail's Top Power 50 List and WXN Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

Other speakers include Nova Scotia’s own Dr. Lisa Barrett, who will be speaking during the VIP in-person portion of the Summit. Dr. Barrett has confidently led her group of infectious disease colleagues at Dalhousie University and Medical Sciences to become a leading voice against COVID-19, and she developed the internationally-recognized approach for COVID-19 testing clinics across the province.

There will be two dynamic panels over the two-day Summit, including themes on women in underrepresented roles, and women in the business of sports.

The Summit will be a hybrid event, with both virtual and in-person attendees. Tables are sold as a table of ten, with six attendees in-person and four attendees online, for $1,500 each. The Halifax Convention Centre has implemented several enhanced safety protocols, in line with provincially mandated guidelines, to ensure the safety of in-person attendees, partners and staff. Tables are on sale now: www.ItsOurTimeSummit.ca.


About the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship:

The 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship is returning to Nova Scotia for the first time in 17 years, as Halifax and Truro will host the tournament from May 6-16, 2021.

Games will be hosted at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax and the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro. This marks the eighth time Canada has welcomed the best women’s teams from around the world. Halifax previously hosted the event in 2004.

Ten countries will be represented at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship including Canada, United States, Russia, Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Hungary, Denmark, Germany, and Czech Republic.

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