THURSDAY 12:05 PM
CONCURRENT SESSION 1
AI WAR STORIES & FAILURES FROM THE TRENCHES
Moderator
Vladlen Stark CPA, CA, ICD.D
Chief Financial Officer
Remuda Building & Supplies
Incoming Chair
FEI Canada
About the Speaker
As Chief Financial Officer of Remuda Building & Supplies, Vladlen Xavier Stark leads financial strategy for Alberta’s premier post-frame construction and supply company. As a technology entrepreneur, he is also the Founder of Luxara International, a luxury real estate co-ownership platform operating across Canada and Costa Rica.
A recognized voice at the intersection of finance, technology, and governance, Vladlen is the incoming Chair of the Financial Executives International (FEI) Canada National Board. Within FEI, he also chairs the Technology Thought Leadership Forum, producing national programming for senior finance executives on AI, cybersecurity, and the evolving finance tech stack.
His executive background is anchored in architecting enterprise scale. Prior to his current roles, Vladlen led finance, risk, and human capital for a major North American energy company, guiding the organization through a transformational, multi-billion dollar growth phase. Earlier in his career, he provided financial assurance and advisory for global clients across Canada and New Zealand with PwC.
Expanding his governance footprint, Vladlen serves as a Board Advisor at Zindis Hospitality Group, a luxury hospitality operator on Costa Rica’s Guanacaste coast, advising on M&A, revenue strategy, and platform scale.
Additionally, he provides financial stewardship as Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair at Lycée International de Calgary.
Immigrating to Canada from Ukraine, Vladlen shares his executive insights as the host of The Immigrant Hustle, a podcast focused on entrepreneurship and AI. He holds CPA, CA, and ICD.D designations and applies the same high-performance mindset to his life as a competitive athlete, world traveler, and father of two.
About the Session
We all heard the promise: AI will cut costs, accelerate decisions, and transform operations. What the vendor decks leave out are the write-downs, the breach notifications, the board conversations no one wants to have, and the regulatory scrutiny that follows when automation fails at scale.
This session cuts through the noise.
Moderated by a CFO who understands the weight of fiduciary responsibility, this candid panel brings together voices from AI implementation and data consulting, cybersecurity and incident response, and forensic investigation and strategy. These are practitioners who are called in after the damage is already underway. They have seen the contracts that did not hold, the governance structures that collapsed under operational pressure, and the capital deployed against initiatives that delivered liability instead of returns.
The conversation will move directly into the scenarios finance leaders are not yet budgeting for: AI systems that produce confident, auditable-looking errors; third-party integrations that quietly expand your attack surface; and post-incident forensics that reveal how early red flags were missed entirely. For CFOs responsible for protecting enterprise value, these are not hypothetical risks. They are live exposures sitting inside current technology roadmaps.
Attendees will leave knowing where the hidden liabilities live, what questions to demand answers to before the next approval, and how to remain on the right side of accountability when something, inevitably, goes wrong.
Wish Bakshi
Founder and AI Systems Engineer
About the Speaker
Wish is an AI Systems Engineer and Founder specializing in the deployment of artificial intelligence at scale. His work focuses on building autonomous systems that drive real-time decision-making, particularly in high-stakes environments like commodities trading and energy asset optimization. Wish has led the design of intelligent trading agents for North American markets and developed AI platforms that optimize operations for large-scale energy enterprises. He teaches applied machine learning and AI systems design through executive education at Queen’s University and the University of Calgary. A thought leader in the AI space, Wish publishes weekly on LinkedIn, exploring the intersection of deep learning, decision intelligence, and the evolving energy economy.
About the Session
We all heard the promise: AI will cut costs, accelerate decisions, and transform operations. What the vendor decks leave out are the write-downs, the breach notifications, the board conversations no one wants to have, and the regulatory scrutiny that follows when automation fails at scale.
This session cuts through the noise.
Moderated by a CFO who understands the weight of fiduciary responsibility, this candid panel brings together voices from AI implementation and data consulting, cybersecurity and incident response, and forensic investigation and strategy. These are practitioners who are called in after the damage is already underway. They have seen the contracts that did not hold, the governance structures that collapsed under operational pressure, and the capital deployed against initiatives that delivered liability instead of returns.
The conversation will move directly into the scenarios finance leaders are not yet budgeting for: AI systems that produce confident, auditable-looking errors; third-party integrations that quietly expand your attack surface; and post-incident forensics that reveal how early red flags were missed entirely. For CFOs responsible for protecting enterprise value, these are not hypothetical risks. They are live exposures sitting inside current technology roadmaps.
Attendees will leave knowing where the hidden liabilities live, what questions to demand answers to before the next approval, and how to remain on the right side of accountability when something, inevitably, goes wrong.
Sophia Kudlyk
Cyber Security and Incident Response Leader, Senior Vice President, Cyber
Hub International
About the Speaker
Sophia Kudlyk is an experienced cyber insurance and incident response leader with a proven track record of building and scaling cyber programs across North America. As the Senior Vice President of Cyber at HUB International, she leads the strategy, growth, and innovation of the firm’s cyber practice. Drawing on more than a decade of experience in cyber insurance and incident response, she helps organizations navigate complex digital risk, build resilience, and translate emerging threats into actionable strategies. Previously, Sophia served as Senior Product Marketing Manager at Coalition Inc., driving go-to-market strategies, broker education programs, and high-profile events across Canada and the U.S. She broadened her experience within Digital Forensics and Incident Response by building the Canadian presence of Arete Incident Response as Director of Business Development and before that launched the first cyber insurance practice at Purves Redmond Limited. Sophia is widely recognized for her ability to bridge the gap between technical and business stakeholders, create scalable cyber solutions, and forge trusted relationships with brokers, clients, and partners. Her career spans brokerage, incident response, and marketing leadership—giving her a unique, holistic view of the cyber risk ecosystem. She holds a BMOS from Western University, CCIC accreditation from Carnegie Mellon, and the CIP and CRM designations, underscoring her expertise and commitment to advancing the cyber insurance and incident response landscape.
About the Session
We all heard the promise: AI will cut costs, accelerate decisions, and transform operations. What the vendor decks leave out are the write-downs, the breach notifications, the board conversations no one wants to have, and the regulatory scrutiny that follows when automation fails at scale.
This session cuts through the noise.
Moderated by a CFO who understands the weight of fiduciary responsibility, this candid panel brings together voices from AI implementation and data consulting, cybersecurity and incident response, and forensic investigation and strategy. These are practitioners who are called in after the damage is already underway. They have seen the contracts that did not hold, the governance structures that collapsed under operational pressure, and the capital deployed against initiatives that delivered liability instead of returns.
The conversation will move directly into the scenarios finance leaders are not yet budgeting for: AI systems that produce confident, auditable-looking errors; third-party integrations that quietly expand your attack surface; and post-incident forensics that reveal how early red flags were missed entirely. For CFOs responsible for protecting enterprise value, these are not hypothetical risks. They are live exposures sitting inside current technology roadmaps.
Attendees will leave knowing where the hidden liabilities live, what questions to demand answers to before the next approval, and how to remain on the right side of accountability when something, inevitably, goes wrong.
Imraan Bashir
Partner & National Public Sector Cyber Leader
KPMG Canada
About the Speaker
Imraan is a season executive with 20+ years of experience advising on cyber security and information technology matters to a wide variety of public and private sector clients. Imraan is well-versed in multiple areas of cyber security, including governance, strategy, incident management, cloud security, risk management, digital identity and more.
Imraan focuses primarily on helping public sector organizations adapt to the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape and prioritize cyber investments by providing ‘right-sized’ cyber security advice, apabilities and related managed services to offload work that can be done more effectively at scale. This makes a difference for clients by allowing them to allocate their limited cyber resources more effectively and focus on their core missions, thereby saving them time and money in preventing, detecting, responding to and recovering from cyber incidents quickly.
Prior to joining KPMG, Imraan was a senior executive in the public sector directing the policy, strategy, implementation, and oversight of the federal government’s enterprise-wide cyber initiatives, including leadership of key programs such as cloud security and digital identity. In this role, Imraan was exposed to a wide range of cyber security challenges from departments of varying complexity, which positions him well to provide tailored advice to organizations of all sizes.
About the Session
We all heard the promise: AI will cut costs, accelerate decisions, and transform operations. What the vendor decks leave out are the write-downs, the breach notifications, the board conversations no one wants to have, and the regulatory scrutiny that follows when automation fails at scale.
This session cuts through the noise.
Moderated by a CFO who understands the weight of fiduciary responsibility, this candid panel brings together voices from AI implementation and data consulting, cybersecurity and incident response, and forensic investigation and strategy. These are practitioners who are called in after the damage is already underway. They have seen the contracts that did not hold, the governance structures that collapsed under operational pressure, and the capital deployed against initiatives that delivered liability instead of returns.
The conversation will move directly into the scenarios finance leaders are not yet budgeting for: AI systems that produce confident, auditable-looking errors; third-party integrations that quietly expand your attack surface; and post-incident forensics that reveal how early red flags were missed entirely. For CFOs responsible for protecting enterprise value, these are not hypothetical risks. They are live exposures sitting inside current technology roadmaps.
Attendees will leave knowing where the hidden liabilities live, what questions to demand answers to before the next approval, and how to remain on the right side of accountability when something, inevitably, goes wrong.
Meet some of our other speakers
Executive Advisor & Chief Economist
Deloitte Canada
Tyson Jones
Senior VP, Ontario
BDC
Micheal Rousseau
President & CEO
Air Canada