Tracy Morningstar was born and raised in Mississauga #8 First Nation, at the mouth of the Mississauga River on the North Shore of Lake Huron (Blind River, Ontario). After a 1994 Land Claim trust was created, Tracy entered her name and was successfully elected as a Trustee for the Mississaugi Trust (June 2006-2012).

Prior to joining the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business (CCIB) as Manager of Entrepreneurship, Tracy was the Administration Coordinator for New Gold during the construction phase of the Rainy River mine. After the construction phase of the mine, Tracy was responsible for a number of duties related to contract administration and large contract procurement practices. Prior to that, she worked as a Chef and Administrator for two food service companies in Northwestern Ontario. Tracy also enjoys pitching for the “Red Gut Babes” in the Rainy River District Women’s fastball league. She looks forward to watching the Toronto Blue Jays and Raptors games in the city.

With more than a decade of experience in Canada’s technology commercialization industry, and currently VP at Fundspoke, Braden has held senior roles in both the public and private sectors. Braden co-founded a market-leading CPG brand in sport fishing that was acquired in early 2023. He has led growth companies and the organizations that support them in various positions including Manager, Grow Ontario Accelerator Hub at Bioenterprise Canada, Director of Operations at venture-backed startup National Prostaff, and Director of Client Services at Spark Centre. As a volunteer, he served as the Vice Chair of Growth Management Strategy at the City of Kawartha Lakes.

Working as an independent innovation consultant, Braden founded his own practice and worked with organizations such as Nventure, Durham College, 1855 Accelerator, Outdoorsponsors.com, Invest Barrie and more. His role as an advisor to a variety of technology companies has propelled new ventures in agri-food, military technology and training, influencer marketing, ecommerce, wearables, and more.

Braden holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics from the University of Guelph and is a graduate of the Toronto Metropolitan University DMZ Accelerator program.

Robert Washburn is a journalist with 40 years of experience in newspapers, magazines, and radio and currently the host of Consider This Northumberland, a current affairs radio show on Northumberland 89.7 FM. Washburn taught in the Journalism program at Loyalist College including new and emerging technologies. He also taught social media marketing and digital marketing strategy in the Business program and a technology in society course in the General Arts and Science program. He was the first post-secondary educator in Canada to teach in Second Life, has trained journalists across Canada in data-assisted reporting and Internet research skills and served for four years on the board of directors for the Canadian Association of Journalists, with one year as Chairman.

In 2007, Robert Washburn received the Educational Technology Committee award for Innovative Teaching With Technology, and the Canadian New Media Award for Educator of the Year. He holds a Master’s degree on the future of online journalism from the York-Toronto Metropolitan University joint program in Communications and Culture.