The East&West Dialogue is a special event we organize once a month to bring in the perspectives, experience and expertise of local people, and to promote mutual understanding between communities of different cultural backgrounds. This May, we proudly present Mr. Ian White and Mr. Wayne Henshall as our guest speakers. Come to hear what they have to say about cultural difference at work and in life, unconscious bias, collaboration, transformation, leadership , and more! Even better, come with as many questions as possible to get the most from our guests, and make the night a truly interactive event!
Born in North-western Ontario, Ian White was raised in Vancouver and Oakville Ontario, Moving to Toronto in 1981 where he completed a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree at Ryerson’s School of Interior Design. He worked as a Designer and Senior Project Manager for one of Canada’s premier Corporate Design firms. The career ended when sudden vision loss hit him in 2001. Shifting focus to primary care-giver, Ian began taking courses at Ryerson University, switching to University of Toronto in 2007 where he continues towards completion of an honours undergraduate degree in philosophy.
Since 2011 Ian has been volunteering with the CNIB as a group leader/peer mentor.
He co-founded the Visionaries Peer Support Group, which was chartered as a Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB). Ian has been President of the CCB Toronto Visionaries Chapter since 2013, overseeing the chapter’s phenomenal growth. Under his governance, the Visionaries Chapter has re-established the CCB as a major presence in the GTA’s vision-loss community, Developed hundreds of social and recreational opportunities, overseen fund-raising initiatives, and created an annual White Cane Week Exposition in Toronto, an event that showcases many of the resources available to the blind community. Since 2016, Ian has served as a Member on the CCB’s Ontario Division Executive, and continues to promote the CCB’s objectives within the blind community in Toronto.
Ian’s hobbies include amateur sculpture and finger-style guitar. He is also a voracious reader and food enthusiast.
Wayne Henshall grew up in rural Ontario, on the family farm (which is still in the family and is the home of his near-organic garden), and went to school in Toronto. In his second year of university he secured a summer job working for IBM and at the end of the summer was offered a full time position. He took that opportunity and worked for a combined 21 years with IBM and Lenovo. He has held a variety of positions ranging from technical specialist, warehouse worker, retail store sales, trainer, business process and operations to Director and CIO/Board member. In that experience he has been afforded the opportunity to travel the world, experiencing cultures and adapting processes, policy, and IT Systems to continually evolve to meet the needs of customers (internal and external). Today he is continuing in that evolution of self as he is the owner of his own company Pangaea Innovative New Thought Solutions Inc.
Everyone is welcome to join the dialogue with Ian and Wayne!
When: Thursday, May 31, 2018
6:30 – 7:00 PM Meal & social time
7:00 – 8:30 PM Dialogue time
Where: Iroquois Jr. Public School, 265 Chartland Blvd., Scarborough (near Finch & Brimley; free parking at the west side of the school building)
Cost: Free (including a simple meal). Donation of a loonie or a toonie would be appreciated.
Please RSVP by the night of Wednesday May 30 at: ericliujt@gmail.com. Thanks!
Hope to see you there!
The East and West Learning Club
Participants: Daniel, Eric, Jackie, Jeffery, Michelle, Peter, Yan, Yang, Yong
Special guests: Ian, Wayne
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