Here is our 2024 Workshops Speakers:
Our 2024 Workshop Speakers come from various industries, are are excited to share their stories.
Tuesday, Feb 20
Harriet Tinka - CPA Alberta
Workshop
As the CEO of EmpoweredMe Inc., an award-winning Social Enterprise, Harriet Tinka passionately dedicates her career to empowering individuals through coaching, workshops, and a profound commitment to fostering personal development. She is a multifaceted professional excelling in various arenas and believes that investing in and believing in people is the most innovative business decision companies can make. Throughout her 20-year finance career, she showcased financial acumen, demonstrated a profound commitment to community service, and exemplified her leadership skills by adding value to those around her.
Puneeta McBryan - Edmonton Downtown Business Association
Workshop
Puneeta McBryan is the CEO of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, a role she took on in December of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as cities, downtowns and businesses all over the world grappled with the devastating impact of the pandemic and the unknown reality ahead. As the lead convener, connector, and ‘chief optimist’ for Edmonton’s Downtown, Puneeta is working with all three orders of government, the private sector, the arts & cultural and post-secondary sectors, and her city’s social services and nonprofit leaders to help build vibrancy, social well-being, and economic prosperity for her community. This work has led to her recognition as the Inspired Leader of the Year in 2022 by IABC Edmonton, one of Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 by Edify Magazine in 2021, and the recipient of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Community Impact Award.
Puneeta also serves on the Board of Directors for Health Cities, sits on the Norquest Workforce Advisory Council, and often volunteers her time to work with business students at the University of Alberta School of Business.
Previously, Puneeta was an industry leader in the field of marketing and communications, most recently as the Director of Client Services at ZGM Modern Marketing Partners, Western Canada’s largest independently owned full-service advertising agency.
Oscar Lopez - Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse
Workshop
Oscar Lopez was born in El Salvador, Central America but grew up in Edmonton, where he graduated high school with the Most Outstanding Student Award. He enrolled in the Co-operative Education Program at the Faculty of Business at the University of Alberta and graduated in the spring of 2002 with a Major in Distribution Management but with a passion for international business. While at the Faculty of Business, Oscar did the study abroad program in his third year spending one semester at the TEC de Monterrey – Campus Guadalajara in Mexico where he first got a taste of international business and made life-long friends.
After graduating from business school, he embarked on an AIESEC exchange, landing in the small city of Santa Maria, located in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grade do Sul. While on his one-year internship at a trading company there, he fell in love not only with Susana, his wife of 20 years but also with “churrasco” or Brazilian-style barbecue.
After returning home to Edmonton from Brazil in 2003, Oscar embarked on the business plan to make reality the opening of Edmonton’s first authentic Brazilian steakhouse, later given the name Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse. Returning to Brazil in 2004 he worked as a butcher, and in all positions in a local Brazilian Steakhouse in the city of Porto Alegre, also located in southern Brazil. There, he learned the trade of “Churrascarias” or Brazilian-style steakhouses spending two years working for free as he had no formal work permit. Upon returning to Edmonton in 2006 and spending five more years in the restaurant industry working in a number of different establishments and “perfecting” the Pampa business plan, the chain’s first location opened to great success, great reviews and many awards in February of 2011 in Downtown Edmonton. Pampa was also featured nationally and internationally in FoodNetwork Canada’s show called “The Opener” featuring celebrity Chef David Adjey.
The second location opened its doors in Downtown Calgary in January of 2015, featuring an 1,800 bottle wine cellar, one of the city’s biggest and over 200 seats to serve Calgarians the province’s best Brazilian barbecue. South Edmonton on Ellerslie Road saw Pampa open its third location in late summer of 2017, featuring a wine-themed bar and photography taken from one of the business partner’s cattle ranches in southern Brazil. Just over a year later, in December of 2018, the third location in Edmonton and fourth overall, opened in the city’s West End on 170th street offering dining for up to 170 guests. Finally in the early fall of 2019, Pampa opened its doors in Central Alberta, with a 110-seat location in the northern part of Red Deer. In the spring of 2021, the original Downtown Edmonton location expired its lease, and the restaurant was closed.
At its height, Pampa employed over 225 team members, had revenues of $12.5M per year, offered a total of 980 seats in five locations and was considered the largest Brazilian-steakhouse chain in Canada in terms of number of staff members, revenue, seats, and locations. After closing one of its locations, Pampa is tied for the number one spot in some of the categories with an operation from Ontario.
Oscar is an avid traveler since a young age, his first trip abroad (other than moving to Canada at age 10) was to Yokohama, Japan while in grade 11, where he hiked Mount Fuji at nighttime to watch the sunrise from the summit. Besides Japan, Oscar has had the opportunity to travel to just over 30 countries. An avid Formula 1 fan he has watched 6 races around the world and he hopes to visit the rest of the circuits in the coming years. When not watching Formula 1 races, you will find him doing overnight hikes in the Rocky Mountains or in B.C.’s west coast with his brother Fernando. His wife Susana and Oscar welcomed their daughter Siena in August of 2022, their first child. Their two Dachshunds, Luna and Valentina round out their family. Oscar calls south Edmonton home, and his favourite chant is “Let’s Go Oilers!”