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Jill HeinerthJill Heinerth invites audiences into the underwater caves she swims through—literal doorways that lead to places few humans have ever seen. Just as these submerged passages open into vast, uncharted worlds, the challenges we face in business and life can become gateways to growth, innovation, and discovery.
Drawing from decades of extreme exploration, Jill shares how cultivating an exploration mindset helps individuals and organizations navigate risk, build strong safety cultures, and thrive in times of uncertainty. Through powerful storytelling and practical insight, she reveals how fear can either close doors, or become the very threshold that leads us to extraordinary new possibilities.
More people have walked on the moon than have visited many of the places that Jill Heinerth has seen on Earth. From the most dangerous technical dives deep inside underwater caves, to searching for never-before-seen ecosystems inside giant Antarctic icebergs, Heinerth’s curiosity and passion about our watery planet is the driving force in her life. In her visually stunning presentations, she encourages audiences to reach beyond their limitations, challenge the unknown, and overcome their fears, while sharing practical lessons on risk management and safety, discovery learning, failure, and collaboration.
From desert oases of the Sahara to Baffin Bay's cold waters, Heinerth has been the hands and eyes for climatologists, archaeologists, and engineers worldwide. She led the first dives into underwater caves inside Antarctica's massive B-15 iceberg and was a lead diver on a ground-breaking US Deep Caving Team project, piloting the first accurate 3D cave mapping device using tech that’s now bound for space.
Heinerth became the first Explorer-in-Residence of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2016. She is also a fellow of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, Underwater Academy of Arts and Sciences, Women Divers Hall of Fame, and the Explorers Club, which awarded her with the William Beebe Award. In addition, Heinerth has been honoured with the Explorer’s Club Stefansson Medal and the Wyland ICON Award, and she is the inaugural recipient of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration. In 2023, she received her first honorary doctorate from Victoria University of the University of Toronto.
A bestselling author, Heinerth’s first book Into the Planet, was lauded by the Wall Street Journal, Oprah Magazine, and the New York Times. Her children’s book, The Aquanut, is a Blue Ribbon Selection for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Heinerth is also the subject of a new documentary Diving into the Darkness, which won Best Documentary Feature at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where it premiered.
Louis GialloretoIn a dynamic market environment influenced by normal market cycles, unexpected trade turbulence and ever evolving and potentially-impactful technological change how are you managing build robust and sustainable business models for your organizations ?
Come prepared to discuss and debate the best practices as they apply in 2026 and how you can leverage these.
Louis Gialloreto has been a Professor of Marketing at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management for over 25 years and current Module Director for the McGill HEC EMBA and Directors Education Program. As a specialist in strategic growth, commercial innovation, market competitiveness, governance and business trends, including AI transformation, he has taught a wide range of audiences from board members and executives in multinational organizations to aspiring graduate students.
Louis has also been a Lecturer in the Law Faculty at McGill and is a visiting lecturer at a variety of institutions in North America and Europe, in addition to being a frequent speaker and panel chairman at conferences worldwide. He has also been involved in several SSHRC Research projects in a variety of legal and commercial subject areas.
In addition to his academic background, Louis has twenty years of professional corporate experience in a variety of positions with both regional and major airlines, financial services and in management consultancy. During ten years at Air Canada, he held a variety of management jobs culminating in a senior marketing post.
Louis has developed and taught on executive and management education seminars and corporate consulting mandates with representatives of over 100 companies. He is the author of over 40 published articles, several book chapters and a book entitled Strategic Airline Management - The Global War Begins.
