Anastasia Bucsis was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and started speed skating at the age of 4. Within her 24 year speed skating career she represented Canada at 2 Olympic Games, 6 World Championships and 46 World Cup starts. She was the only athlete from North America to come out publicly in opposition to Russia’s anti LGBTQ+ laws before the Sochi 2014 Olympics. She now lives in Toronto and works for CBC Sports where she co-hosts CBC Sports Presents (CBC’s main sport property with Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo). She just came back from Paris 2024, where she hosted the morning show for CBC.

Experience the narrative of excellence as members of Team Homan recount their journey from national representatives to world champions. Their story—marked by Olympic appearances, consecutive world titles and an unbeaten Scotties—demonstrates disciplined preparation, leadership under pressure and a sustained championship culture. 

Join us for an electrifying session as Team Homan shares clutch moments, winning habits and actionable strategies from their playbook. Their experience and insights will be invaluable for clubs focused on player development, team culture, and high-performance practices.

Team Homan has proudly represented Canada at the 2018 and 2026 Winter Olympic Games. They delivered a dominant 2023–24 season, going 67–7 and capturing seven titles, highlighted by a near-perfect run at both the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the World Championship to secure Canada’s first world title since 2018. That momentum carried into 2024–25, where they posted a 75–8 record, went undefeated (11–0) at the Scotties, captured back-to-back World Championships, and won the 2025 Olympic Curling Trials. They capped it off with a bronze medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Change is inevitable, but meaningful change starts with leadership. Drawing on more than two decades of building championship cultures, Chantal Vallée explores how leaders can create environments that embrace change while creating a positive and winning culture. Through lessons from the New Zealand All Blacks, five consecutive national championships at the University of Windsor, and becoming the first woman to coach and manage a men’s professional basketball team, Chantal will challenge leaders to look inward first. Before we can successfully change our teams or organizations, we must be willing to change ourselves.

A leadership expert, researcher, international speaker, and one of the most accomplished coaches in Canadian history, Chantal Vallée has spent more than two decades studying, building, and leading high-performance teams.

As Head Coach of the University of Windsor Lancers women’s basketball program, Chantal transformed a program that had struggled near the bottom of the country for close to 50 years into a dynasty in Canadian university sport, winning a record five consecutive national championships.

In 2018, Chantal made history when she became the first woman in the world to simultaneously serve as Head Coach and General Manager of a men’s professional basketball team. With the Brampton (Hamilton) Honey Badgers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, a franchise she helped build from its inception, she led the team to the league final in its inaugural season.

Beyond coaching, Chantal is an entrepreneur and investor who founded SheSports to invest in the business of women’s sport. SheSports is an investor in the Montréal Roses of Canada’s Northern Super League and Unrivaled, the innovative U.S.-based professional 3-on-3 basketball league featuring the top 30 WNBA players.

Chantal is the author of Dare to Win, a leadership book with an international readership spanning classrooms, boardrooms, and high-performance and professional sport, featuring a foreword by NBA championship-winning coach, Nick Nurse.

Chantal is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Athena Award, was named one of the 20 Most Influential Women in Canadian Sport, has earned more than 20 Coach of the Year honours, and has been inducted into several Halls of Fame.

Membership growth starts with creating a club experience that people genuinely want to be part of. This session will explore how curling clubs can intentionally build belonging, connection, and community into the member experience—turning first-time participants into engaged members and members into advocates. Participants will learn practical ways to create a club culture that keeps people coming back, strengthens retention, and naturally encourages new people to join. Ultimately, it’s about moving beyond simply offering a sport and creating a community people don’t want to leave.

Dr. Rich Norman is a dedicated strategist, researcher, and futurist committed to advancing equitable practices for racialized and marginalized communities. With a transdisciplinary approach, he intertwines theory, systems thinking, and storytelling, drawing inspiration from the wisdom of First Peoples globally. As the Director of Community Futures and Innovation at Curling Canada, principal consultant at TwelfthSeed, and Director at Large for UnitedWeCurl, a national non-profit dedicated to creating inclusive spaces in curling, Dr. Rich disrupts and reimagines sports systems applying his academic and professional expertise to introduce innovative techniques tailored for the uncertainties we face today, sparking transformation and inclusivity in the dynamic world of sport.

Aging infrastructure presents both challenges and opportunities for organizations looking to manage costs, improve efficiency, and plan for the future. Drawing on more than 25 years of specialized engineering experience, Ian B. Storey, P.Eng. will explore a strategic approach to assessing aging infrastructure and identifying practical opportunities to improve performance, sustainability, and long-term viability. The presentation will offer a high-level look at how informed planning and innovative solutions can help organizations move from simply managing aging assets to making strategic investments in their future.

Krista Kerth will facilitate an interactive session that answers questions such as What is a brand? Why is a brand important? and What are the elements of a brand? Krista’s workshop has been consistently rated a club favourite at other curling conferences across Canada over the past year. Attendees especially enjoy participating in a variety of exercises that support clubs in building the elements of their brand foundation. Example exercises include explorations into Core Messages, Brand Personality, Customer Experience, and Value Proposition.

Dan Brands Founder, Krista Kerth, has been building pro-athlete personal brands for 6 years and recently started Lora Athletes, a professional women’s hockey sports agency. She has also branded, re-branded, restructured marketing teams, and build brand and marketing strategy for the last 23 years. Krista was one of the first agents in the PWHL and is supporting young women to build their game, their brand, and their legacy, paving the way for young girls. Impact is her brand word and her purpose is to leave a positive imprint on everyone and everything along her path.