Changemakers Shaping the Future of Sport, Business, and Purpose

At the SponsorshipX Changemakers Summit, we don’t just talk about change we bring together the people who make it happen. From leaders rewriting the rules of sport and sustainability to creators redefining culture and commerce, this year’s speakers embody what it means to dream and do it.

Here’s a closer look at some of the extraordinary Changemakers you’ll meet in Toronto this November and why you’ll want to be in the room to hear their stories firsthand.

Jessica Lisi – Northern Super League

As a colour commentator for the Northern Super League (NSL), Canada’s first-ever professional women’s soccer league, Jessica brings insight and experience. A former youth national player who represented Canada from 2013 to 2018, she’s played at the NCAA Division I level and now helps shape how fans see and understand the women’s game.

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “Dream it. Do it.”

Jessica’s voice represents the next generation of Canadian soccer: knowledgeable, fearless, and authentic. At SponsorshipX, she’ll share what it means to move from player to analyst and how the NSL is changing the game for women in sport.

Yannis Biot – L’Oréal Canada

L’Oréal’s Beyond Beauty agenda is rewriting the rules of brand storytelling, and Yannis Biot is the quarterback. Tasked with helping the company’s iconic brands enter the worlds of sport, music, and entertainment, Yannis is creating new ways to connect with audiences through culture.

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “If an idea scares me, seems impossible, or is likely to get pushback, I have a strong bias for action and will go out of my way to make it happen.”

Expect Yannis to challenge assumptions about creativity, courage, and corporate reinvention, and to show how brands can act with the agility of start-ups while inspiring trust on a global scale.

Nagma Siddiqui – Humanity

Nagma Siddiqui is a strategist who makes ideas move people. At Humanity, she leads purpose-driven brand transformations that connect insight to impact. With experience across Nestlé and Revlon, she has mastered blending empathy and analytics to help brands become movements.

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.” – Naeem Callaway

At the Summit, Nagma will unpack how storytelling, strategy, and human connection can unite teams, and why purpose isn’t just good for the world, it’s good for business.

Derrick Emsley – tentree & veritree

From planting 150,000 trees as a teenager to leading two globally admired sustainability companies, Derrick Emsley has built a blueprint for business with purpose. tentree has planted over 100 million trees while creating a beloved apparel brand, and Veritree now helps organizations worldwide measure and verify their environmental impact.

Favourite Changemaking Quotes: “No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.” – Sir David Attenborough

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek

Derrick’s story proves that scaling sustainability isn’t just possible, it’s powerful. At SponsorshipX, he’ll reveal how transparency and technology can transform purpose into measurable impact.

Neill Duffy – 17 Sport

For more than 30 years, Neill Duffy has been a global pioneer in purpose-led sport. His firm, 17 Sport, operates at the intersection of sport, business, and sustainability, helping leading brands and organizations harness sport’s unique power to drive social and environmental outcomes.

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “It always seems impossible… until it’s done.”

Neill brings an unmatched perspective on the global movement redefining sponsorship as a force for good and why doing well by doing good is the most sustainable strategy of all.

Marie-Pierre Leclerc – Intact Insurance

With more than 18 years of experience leading digital and brand transformations, Marie-Pierre Leclerc has helped shape how Canadians experience insurance. At Intact, she’s driven data strategy, customer engagement, and multi-brand marketing at scale and helped reimagine how trust is built in financial services.

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “All things are difficult before they are easy.” – Thomas Fuller

Marie-Pierre’s journey is about progress through perseverance, and she’ll share how empathy, insight, and innovation can create lasting loyalty.

Helen Stoumbos – The GOOD Games

A trailblazer on and off the field, Helen Stoumbos scored Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal and is now rewriting how Canadians experience sport through The GOOD Games, a festival blending traditional, adaptive, and Indigenous sport with community celebration.

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “Creating an event from scratch isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes an unshakable vision, a purpose that pulses through your veins, and a ‘why’ so strong that no obstacle, no doubt, and no voice of dissent can shake it.”

Helen’s vision is changing how communities come together, proving that inclusion and inspiration can be the foundation of an entire movement.

Matt Yonan – Tigris Sponsorship & Marketing

With three decades of experience guiding brands like Subaru, Ford, Lumen, and the NHL, Matt Yonan knows what genuine partnership looks like. At Tigris, his philosophy is simple but powerful: “Start with Yes.”

Favourite Changemaking Quote: “I have a sign on my wall that says, ‘Start with Yes.’ Clients come to us all the time with a challenge we’ve never faced, but decades of experience give us the confidence to shift our perspective and create innovative solutions.”

Matt’s approach to changemaking is rooted in optimism — the belief that innovation begins with curiosity and courage.

Be in the Room Where Change Happens

From entrepreneurs making real change to the rise of new events to purpose-led sustainability and results-driven yet still human marketing, these speakers are shaping the future of industries and inspiring new ones to emerge.

At the SponsorshipX Changemakers Summit (November 13–15, 2025) in Toronto, you’ll have the chance to meet them, hear their stories, and ignite your own.

🎟️ Join us at sponsorshipx.com/changemakers and become the changemaker you’ve always wanted to be.