World-Class User Experiences (UX): Inclusive by Design- Presented by TWG

With over 20 years of experience in customer experience design and digital marketing, Marilyn is a CX leader and innovator with deep expertise in design thinking and digital strategy. Her clients appreciate her ability to connect the dots between business challenges and customer-centric solutions across a range of technology platforms.   As a Design Thinking Practitioner (LUMA Institute), Marilyn has led countless design thinking workshops, helping clients define their digital roadmaps and develop killer strategies. In her current role as Vice President of TWG, Marilyn leads a bright and talented design team within a research design and data-driven environment. Marilyn and her group create innovative, market-ready, best practice digital experiences for clients from a variety of industries. UX design thought leader + UX mentor/Team builder + data and insight driven approach.

Danielle is a skilled UX researcher, facilitator and creative problem solver. She conducts research at all phases of product development, from greenfield discovery to post-launch optimization. She strives to make technology more useful, usable, and human through ethical and inclusive research practices.  As a Sr User Researcher at TWG, she focuses on informing net-new digital product offerings, ensuring that strategic decisions are driven by customer insights. As a strong advocate for human-centred design, she has implemented research ethics best practices that guide decision-making across the organization.  When she’s not researching, you can find her dancing around the house and trying to keep her houseplants alive.

Lola Oyelayo-Pearson is digital design and product strategist, with a wealth of experience running in-house and agency design teams. She currently leads a multidisciplinary User Experience team at Shopify in Toronto, helping merchants leverage custom financial products and exploit multichannel sales opportunities. Prior to that her experience includes leading the UK Design team for Capital One, heading up proposition design for a highly regarded blockchain start-up, and leading a successful products and services agency Cognizant. A passionate technophile, Lola operates at a strategic level, helping organisations to see the bigger picture and focus on the outcomes that matter in order to establish high-performing design cultures.

Lenny Laurier is the Head of Design, TurboTax Canada for Intuit leading a team that builds amazing software to enable financial prosperity for Canadians. His responsibilities include driving the end-to-end user experience, strategic planning, and incorporating customer-back thinking into the fabric of Intuit’s products serving millions of consumers. In previous roles, Lenny has led user experience design teams at large enterprises and fast-growing, industry-defining startups. His work includes: redefining the mobile banking experience and a new way for BMO customers to open a bank account on their smartphone in minutes; revamping the design language for the 500px photography community and; exploring the intersection of design and AI for large enterprises at integrate.ai.

A passionate advocate for organizational change and lasting progress, Lekan Olawoye is a leader who is equally comfortable offering high-level business advice as he is passionately speaking about how to be an effective ally. His organization, the Black Professionals in Tech Network (BPTN), is the largest of its kind in Canada and the third largest in the US with an organization spanning over 10,000 members. Olawoye’s cross-sector experience gives him the skills to foster transformational change and provide critical guidance on harnessing the power of meaningful diversity. Olawoye honed his expertise across roles spanning from local non-profit organizations to government advisory boards to executive boardrooms. As lead executive, Talent Development at the MaRS District, Olawoye helped ensure workers had the skills and adaptability needed to thrive in modern work environments. Throughout these roles, Olawoye has earned a reputation for effective leadership and peerless vision, resulting in industry awards and accolades. With his proven insight and tireless dedication to inclusivity, Olawoye’s perspective is sought by people across many fields. He’s been published in The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and TechCrunch, and the annual BPTN summit is the largest virtual Black tech summit globally, with thousands of attendees in person and online.