Global Finalists

Shannon Bell is EVP, Chief Digital Officer and CIO at OpenText, leading IT, Cyber Security, Cloud Platforms, Data, AI, Commercial Operations and Product and Engineering for AI and Business Networks. With 25+ years driving large-scale transformations across Canada, the U.S., and Europe, she previously led IT and digital at Rogers Communications through the Shaw acquisition, and held senior product/strategy roles at Amdocs. Shannon is driven by harnessing data and AI to accelerate growth and innovation.

"OpenText trusts OpenText" proves that the platforms, governance, and AI capabilities we deliver to 300,000+ enterprises can run our own business. In IT, we targeted $1B in savings over 10 years. Within 12 months, we achieved 120% of plan, raising the bar to $1.5B. We reduced our application footprint by 25%, decommissioned 46 data centres, and deployed agentic AI through an enterprise marketplace. Savings are being reinvested into AI and innovation, including our new Global Command Centre in Waterloo, anchoring IT operations, managed services, and a university-partnered R&D ecosystem. Our learnings now serve as a modernization blueprint for CIOs worldwide.

Martin is a global technology leader with over 30 years of experience managing technology teams, driving innovation and transformation. He has held several prominent IT roles with Fortune 50 companies across several industries, including top-tier banking and insurance, manufacturing, consulting services and Real Estate. As an experienced business and digital transformation executive, Mr. Jepil has a proven track record of connecting strategic thinking with technology execution to achieve excellence and deliver bottom line results.

Under my leadership, the IT function has evolved from a support organization into a true business driver. By reducing global IT spend by $20M annually, developing a 24/7 vendor partnership that generated $20-25M in incremental revenue, and building a patent-pending insight platform responsible for $77M in sales wins, the impact has been both broad and measurable. Spanning 19 countries, I have led my team to standardize global systems, embed AI-driven efficiencies, and foster a culture of innovation and internal talent development that continues to strengthen the organization from the inside out.

Nishat leads a team of 100 professionals responsible for technology, transformation and finance operations for the global portfolio. She has been at Oxford since October 2007. Her role evolved from enterprise risk, policy compliance, investment strategy and risk, operational risk to her current role. She has strategic and deep expertise in technology, finance and risk. Nishat is viewed as a builder of non-traditional functions and creating sustainable operating practices.

Our technology function seamlessly integrates data and technology to drive investment and real estate decisions. We transformed operations, reducing the annual budget cycle by 35% and eliminating over 10,000 hours of manual work. We upgraded JDE 9.0 to 9.2, mitigating cyber risk, and developed a G&A and headcount planning tool in Anaplan. In 2025, we began migrating to Yardi, impacting over 600 users, redesigning business processes, enhancing data governance, and streamlining system architecture.

Alfredo is a global C‑suite executive known for leading enterprise transformation and scaling global growth across luxury retail, technology, media, & aviation. He is the CDO & CIO at Canada Goose, serves on the boards of UNICEF Canada & iGaming Ontario and is an industry professor at McMaster University. Alfredo has held senior leadership roles at Meta (Facebook/Instagram), WestJet, Loblaw, Rogers, Yahoo!, and BCE. Educated in Canada, US, and the UK across Science, Business, Law, and Global Leadership.

Over the past year, my team and I delivered significant commercial impact by driving strong revenue growth, improving operational efficiency, and increasing confidence in technology across the organization. We successfully executed multiple complex initiatives in parallel, including unified commerce, platform modernization, global clienteling expansion, and enterprise data and AI foundations. These investments improved conversion, marketing effectiveness, scalability, and business agility while reducing operational risk. Most importantly, we built a high-performing global team and culture focused on excellence, experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration—enabling faster execution, stronger business outcomes, and a sustainable foundation for continued growth and innovation.

Irene Zaguskin is PwC Americas' Co-CIO and PwC Canada's Chief Information & Technology Officer, Chief Data & Analytics Officer, and a Partner. A seasoned executive and board director, she has led AI, digital, data, and technology transformations across professional services, retail, telecommunications, and energy — including at Rogers, Loblaws, Canadian Tire, and Enercare. Irene chairs the board of Lakeland Power, and holds an MBA, MIT executive certificate, CISO certificate from CMU, and ICD.D designation.

As PwC Americas Co-CIO, Irene Zaguskin operates at a global scale — co-leading technology across North America, South America, Interamerica, and the Caribbean, and shaping how AI, data, and technology are adopted across one of the world's largest professional services networks. In Canada, as Chief Information & Technology Officer and Chief Data & Analytics Officer, she is leading a bold transformation to embed AI at the core of how the firm operates — building its first enterprise data platform in under four months and launching the AI Factory, an innovation engine reimagining work through agentic AI and delivering 3x ROI.