Speakers

One of North America’s most innovative arts leaders, Sue Elliott comes to Calgary Opera from Norman Rockwell Museum, where she served as its first-ever Chief Audience Officer. 

Prior to joining the Museum, Sue was inaugural Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Learning Institute and Linde Center for Music and Learning. She also launched and led the world’s first online professional development, certificate, and accreditation program for private music teachers at the Royal Conservatory of Music; transformed public programming and partnerships at Seattle Opera, and created Houston Grand Opera’s Song of Houston commissioning and community engagement initiative.

A popular music lecturer at home and abroad, she co-hosted Saturday Night Opera broadcasts on Classical King FM and served as an advisory board member for ArtsEd Washington, University of Washington School of Music, King FM, Seattle Science Festival, OPERA America, World Refugee Day, and Hobby Center’s Uniquely Houston.

Sue holds music performance degrees from McGill University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Southern California and certificates from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Social Impact Strategy.

As an entrepreneur, business owner, and former beef producer, Darrell brings a unique perspective to agtech commercialization and is committed to advancing Canada's agri-food sector. As CEO of the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN), he leads a team dedicated to building a community that supports data-driven agriculture technology. CAAIN funds the development of agricultural innovations that increase the profitability and productivity of farmers and primary processors, and it funds smart farm networks as platforms for technology validation and demonstration. Before joining CAAIN, Darrell held several innovation leadership positions focused on assisting inventors and founders with intellectual property management and the acceleration and growth of technology startups.

Ali Velshi is an award-winning journalist, host of "Velshi" and Chief Correspondent for MSNBC, and a weekly economics contributor to NPR's "Here And Now." He has reported extensively from Israel during the war with Israel and Hamas, and Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe during the Russian invasion. In the US, he has covered the COVID-19 pandemic, the killing of George Floyd and the protests which followed it in Minneapolis, during which he was shot with a rubber bullet fired by authorities while reporting live. 

Velshi is known for his immersive on-the-ground reporting and his interactive discussions with small groups, which form part of his ongoing series, Velshi Across America. He hosts the "Velshi Banned Book Club" on MSNBC, and the "Velshi Banned Book Club" podcast. 

Prior to joining NBC News and MSNBC in 2016, he hosted "Ali Velshi On Target," a nightly primetime show on Al Jazeera America. Before that, he served as CNN's chief business correspondent, anchor of CNN International's "World Business Today," and host of CNN's weekly business roundtable "Your Money." Velshi also co-hosted CNN's morning show, "American Morning." He is the author of Gimme My Money Back and co-author with Christine Romans of How to Speak Money, and of the forthcoming "Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy Of Endurance And The Fight For Democracy" (St. Martin's Press, 2024), and "Open Space: How The Second Great Space Race Will Shape Our Future" (Knopf, 2025).
 
Velshi is also the editor of "The Trump Indictments" (Mariner Books, 2023), and the author of the foreword to the compendium "Great Muslim Leaders: Lessons For Education" (IAP 2023).

Born in Nairobi and raised in Toronto, he graduated from Canada's Queen's University with a degree in Religion, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws from his Alma Mater in 2016. Velshi splits his time between New York City and Philadelphia.

He has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, and is the recipient of two National Headliner Awards and a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award.