Our 2023 Summit theme, “Serve with Purpose, Lead with Clarity, Drive Positive Change” invited participants to be committed to the mission of service, navigate their leadership journey with a clear vision, and leave their mark during a time of extraordinary change. Three powerful statements that inspired leaders to a call to action in their personal and professional lives. Together, purpose, clarity, change represent the North Star that helps us navigate through turbulent and uncharted waters.

In work and life, we are in the midst of accelerated change due to the pandemic and its rippling effects. Public service executives are being challenged to meet new dynamics that include disruption in the workplace: shifts in productivity, collaboration, meaningful connections, learning, and well-being. Framed by our theme and building on the success and participant feedback of recent Summits, APEX brought external world-class thought leaders to centre stage to inform and inspire executive leaders.

What was the impact of Summit?

Attendees broadened their awareness of cutting-edge practices, policies and technologies, gained insights on new skills and tools, and expanded their personal executive networks. They learned from experts about new leadership practices, and benefited from tangible strategies, tactics, and approaches to increase their leadership impact.

• 1113 registrations (817 in-person and 296 online)
• 70+ GoC organisations

In addition, the annual APEX Awards of Excellence Ceremony was hosted on the first day by the APEX President and Chief Human Resources Officer. The ceremony recognized and celebrated recipients of our 8 outstanding professional awards, including the prestigious APEX Citation Award.

Program and Speakers

We were very excited to bring together an extraordinary line up of renowned thought leaders from both the public and private sectors.

• Maria Ressa, Co-founder and CEO of Rappler, Nobel Laureate
• Eric Noël, Senior Vice-President, Oxford Analytics and Founder, Canada Towards 2030 Project
• Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist and an Associate Editor at the Financial Times
• Naheed Nenshi, Canadian politician and first Muslim mayor of a large North American city
• Tessa Virtue, Three-time Olympic gold medal figure skater
• Chris Gardner, American businessman and motivational speaker

Also thank you to our two Summit co-champions for hosting and facilitating the conference:

• Jean-François Tremblay, Deputy Minister at ESDC
• Gina Wilson, Deputy Minister, Indigenous Services Canada

Janice Charette, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, came to the APEX Leadership Summit to address federal government executives. A few hours prior, her upcoming retirement was made public. She addressed the crowd on this important transition and introduced the incoming Clerk, John Hannaford. It was an emotional moment for all!

Watch video of Clerk’s remarks