The Indigenous Leader Speaker Series is a partnership between the University’s Indigenous Engagement Office and the Goodman School of Business. The series is not only an important opportunity for the School to amplify the voices of Indigenous business leaders, but also a chance for students to hear first-hand from a leader committed to doing business in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.
2024 Indigenous Leader
Jonathan Davey
Hosted in advance of National Indigenous Peoples Day, honouree Jonathan Davey (BA ’05) joined Robyn Bourgeois, Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement at Brock University, for the fourth annual Indigenous Leader Speaker Series event.
Davey is Haudenosaunee and a proud member of the Lower Cayuga of Six Nations of the Grand River. He is Chief of Staff to the President and CEO of Scotiabank, as well as the first Brock University graduate to receive the Indigenous Leader designation. In his role, he assists with specialized Indigenous client solutions as the former Head of Indigenous Financial Services at Scotiabank (2018 to 2023).
Jon Davey is Haudenosaunee, a proud member of the Lower Cayuga of Six Nations of the Grand River and is the Chief of Staff to the President and CEO of Scotiabank. In that role, he assists with specialized Indigenous client solutions as the former Head of Indigenous Financial Services at Scotiabank (2018 to 2023). Jon has created first-to-market products such as the First Nations Leasehold Financing Program as well as Indigenous-specific investment vehicles to optimize tax benefits.
He has over 10 years of experience as Federal Crown counsel in the Aboriginal Law Division of the Department of Justice Canada (DOJ), focusing on land management and administration on reserve lands as well as complex negotiations. While at the DOJ, Jon was selected as the Special Advisor and Counsel to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.
Jon also serves as a Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces primary reserve and is the recipient of the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD) and holds the appointment of Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (AdeC). He is a Brock University Trustee, a Director with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee for the Ontario College of Teachers.
He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Cornell University, a Juris Doctorate from Osgoode Hall Law School and a first-class Honours Bachelors degree in Business Communications from Brock University. Jon has been an Action Canada Fellow and a Cornell Institute for Public Affairs Fellow and, recently, he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 by PwC and Caldwell Partners and an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Previous Indigenous Leader Speaker Series Honourees
Karen MacKenzie, 2023
A proven leader, a skilled consultant and an empowering coach, Karen MacKenzie is a proud Cree-Métis woman and the Co-Founder and President of MacKintosh Canada, an Indigenous owned, international consulting company. Also the Co-Founder of PeopleBest Canada, an artificial intelligence company that looks at what makes success happen inside people, teams and organizations, shared how she brings her traditional knowledge of indigenous ways into the contemporary workplace as this wisdom and way of being reflect “wise practices of high performance organizations.”
Mallory Yawnghwe, 2022
The Founder and CEO of Indigenous Box, Mallory Yawnghwe, joined us to discuss her journey and her company’s values, which are based on the teachings of shared abundance through reciprocity and connectedness. Indigenous Box is a subscription box and corporate gift service that promotes Indigenous entrepreneurship by creating opportunities for emerging, under-represented and established Indigenous businesses to reach new customers.
Jenn Harper, 2021
Niagara entrepreneur Jenn Harper, the Founder of Cheekbone Beauty – a sustainable and socially-conscious cosmetics company, was honoured at the inaugural Indigenous Leader Speaker Series. Cheekbone Beauty is committed to helping close the educational funding gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, donating 10 per cent of its profits to the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. Harper also strives to educate as many Canadians as possible about the Residential School System and the effects it had on her family and friends through decades of generational trauma.
