Kirsten Paquette is the Vice President of People & Culture at Brane, a Canadian financial technology company, with a focus on blockchain technology and digital asset custody offering products and solutions that make this technology accessible, secure, and useful for everyone. As a human resources specialist with deep recruitment experience in this rapidly emerging technology space, Kirsten  discusses the fast growing emergence of career paths and employment opportunities within this sector and what it takes to transition into this new sector of automation. 

Matthew Gutknecht is a seasoned music licensing specialist and the Senior Director of Sports Entertainment at APM Music in the United States, where he skillfully negotiates the placement of music featured in top rated sports cable broadcasts with all of the major leagues, including the NFL, NBA and NHL and across all of the NCAA athletics programs. This episode captures Matthew's unique and holistic perspective on music and media, the entire sports entertainment landscape and how he serves up a winning client service experience, as a business development professional in the ever-changing entertainment business. 

Sponsorship opportunities: If you’d like to address a labour market or skills shortage topic by educating CareerWise audiences about job opportunities within your industry, you can contact the Executive Producer and Host of the podcast, Adam Kane, via email: adamkanefm@gmail.com 

Melanie Pump is a Chief Financial Officer based in Canada, with over 20 years of corporate experience. Her current role overseeing financial activities for the public company Plank Ventures has ensured that the company continues to invest and support the growth of tech entrepreneurs and their businesses. As we will learn from our conversation, Melanie’s unique path to success in finance and accounting was far from conventional. Aligned with her professional experiences, she has recently authored a book titled Detox: Managing Insecurity in the Workplace and she has shared her learnings and experiences on the impacts of toxic work environments on CTV, FOX, ABC and Sirius XM. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Professional Accounting Designation.

Marla Korpar is an experienced environmental engineer leading the energy efficiency movement with the implementation of solar energy across rural and metropolitan regions of the United States.  Coupled with the attainment of academic and professional certifications, Marla has dedicated her professional life working towards a vision of a world powered by clean renewable energy - that is sustainable for future generations to harness for the benefit and well being of this planet.  Marla is a Senior Development Associate at Oriden, a full-service renewable energy developer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and she previously led fundraising and development at Solar Energy International, an organization celebrating 30 years of solar training and renewable energy education.

John Arbour is an experienced cannabis industry strategist and the Director of Business Development at Treez - a leading enterprise cloud platform based in California (USA) at the epicenter of the cannabis industry, set up to streamline retail supply chain operations. John's forward thinking vision has seen him co-found a number of B2B technology platforms to date that have helped to accelerate the legal supply of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes across the USA. During this discussion, we learn more about the speed of which the industry is growing, the explosion of employment opportunities and how technology platforms are driving transactional growth.

Carl Black is an experienced investment professional currently working as the Chief Investment Officer of Deetken Impact Sustainable Energy. Carl is primarily focused on analyzing renewable energy projects and companies in Latin America and the Caribbean. On a daily basis, Carl works to deploy capital from Canadian and international investors for projects in these regions in an effort to help these companies generate a measurable, beneficial social and environmental impact, alongside a financial return. Carl is a well traveled Economist who holds a Masters of Science, Economics for Development degree from the University of Oxford.

Catherine Chlebak is a highly experienced Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant from Canada who looks at ways to reduce the impact of illness on those returning to work using rehabilitation techniques such as exercise, physiotherapy and counselling that can restore function, enhance other skills or abilities and compensate for more impactful functional losses. Catherine’s 15 years of practical experience, combined with her academic credentials, has seen her take on fulfilling and affecting roles within health care and government run social services centres.  Catherine provides us with a fascinating insight into this rewarding high growth industry.