business stream

Highlighting a mesh13 business panel

It used to be an employer would have to sift through a pile of candidate resumes only to read through the demonstrated abilities, consult Myers-Briggs and hope for the best. Maybe a consultant would be called to shorten the process, but the placement was still reliant on what the candidate offered or the research revealed.

Then came the Web and, more recently, social media. We share everything so it only makes sense the practice of hiring would start to leverage digital to tell the story of the future employee to find the match. It also makes sense prospective employees would study an organization’s online assets to see if there is a good fit. Like any partnership, the more you understand each other the better chance everyone has in the long run.

For this session on May 16, we have gathered Ben Baldwin (ClearFit), David Ain (Egon Zehnder) and Gary Swart (oDesk) to help us understand how the dynamics of hiring talent have changed as employers and potential employees leverage social media and their digital networks to find opportunities.

Ben Baldwin is the co-CEO with ClearFit, an online service solution that provides small and medium size businesses with a better way to find the best employees. ClearFit matches candidates with new employers using patented data analysis. The startup, which recently received $7-million in venture capital, analyses the prospect’s experience, organization’s culture and other measurable factors.

Joining Ben is David Ain, a Partner in Egon Zehnder’s Toronto office. David is a member of the firm’s Consumer, Technology and Private Equity Practice Groups. His practice is largely focused on consumer, technology and digital clients across North America. He also works extensively with private equity firms on CEO, CFO and other senior searches for a wide range of portfolio companies. David will share his insights on how the industry has changed.

Rounding out the panel is Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk. With more than 2.7 million registered contractors, the world’s largest online workplace lets businesses and contractors to work together. By using technology to remove the barriers of traditional hiring, oDesk’s platform enables businesses to find and collaborate with talented contractors regardless of where they are located..

According to the oDesk CEO, “Businesses are recognizing the competitive advantage of being able to hire the skilled professionals they need, regardless of where they happen to be, and scaling their teams on-demand. We see this as a massive market opportunity — any work that can be done via the Internet — and predict that by 2020 one in every three people will be hired to work online.”

From securing contractors to finding the right full-time employee, the hiring game has changed and it’s tough to know your next move. Learn from these three thought leaders so that you an get a head of the competition for the best talent for your next project or your business…or to seek out your next great work adventure.

To learn more about our speakers, please click on their links below:
Ben Baldwin (ClearFit)
David Ain (Egon Zehnder)
Gary Swart (Odesk)

Highlighting a mesh13 business stream panel

The history of money goes back 2500 years ago with the first minting of coinage. Since then, money has evolved, but essentially, money was well money. Now the money is ones and zeros. The ancient institution is being disrupted at a rapid pace, which is what makes it interesting to mesh. Smartphones and other digital technologies are bringing about more change that will affect the way that we work and play.

There are many companies making a play. Simple. PayPal. Apple’s Passbook. Google. Square.

But it’s not just about what is happening outside of the system. There are innovators within the financial system. Finanicial institutions and mints alike are working on initiatives that will change how money is used and spent.

These companies and organizations are taking money in many fascinating directions. What’s more interesting than each of them individually is the sum of what this means. What will money look like in the future? What happens when we breach the vault of the banking and government institutions running our economies? What happens to all of the supporting services on the supply chain? We have so many questions.

That’s why we are excited to have two panelists who are actively working to revitalize the concept and reality of money. We may not get every question that we have answered,  we can promise a juicy conversation with lots to think about.

Derek Colfer of Visa Canada leads Visa Canada’s mobile-based strategy and product portfolio. Working directly with the Global mobile team in San Francisco, Derek’s responsibilities include mobile contactless payments, alerts, app development and other near-term mobile innovations. Derek’s portfolio includes work with Visa, Heineken, Barclays and Deutsche Bank. From 2002 when it was founded to 2008 when it was acquired, Derek co-founded Jambo Mobile, an award winning mobile marketing company.

We’re also excited about our second panelist, Carey Kolaja. As the Chief of Operations for Global Product & Experience at PayPal, Carey leads all aspects of business planning for her team’s organizational effectiveness, analytics and business intelligence usage. Previously, she was the head of the Emerging Opportunities group where Carey led the overall global go-to-market strategy and daily operations for digital goods, devices, adaptive payments and accounts, and business payments.

Learn more about Carey Kolaja here.
Click here to learn more about Derek Colfer.

The Future of Work and the Enterprise
A keynote conversation with JP Rangaswami, salesforce.com

In 2010 when Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff hired JP, he said, “I can think of no one better as salesforce.com’s Chief Scientist than JP Rangaswami. He has the rare talent of being able to see what the future should be, knowing what it takes to get there, and the enthusiasm to make it happen. He is a true innovator.”

When we decided to explore the topic of the future of work and the enterprise, we looked to salesforce.com because it has been a pioneer in developing enterprise platforms. Given JPs experience and expertise and insight, we are sure JP will deliver terrific insight about the future of work, how it is being disrupted and where work will go next.

On his blog, JP has said it is only a matter of time before enterprise software consists of only four types of application: publishing, search, fulfilment and conversation. During this keynote conversation, we will delve deeper into this expectation, its impact on the enterprise and, ultimately, its impact on you.

Learn more about our Business keynote, JP Rangaswami (salesforce.com)

Click here for the full mesh13 schedule.