Innovative strategy and the continuous pursuit of operations excellence

David is a strategy and operations expert who has been helping organizations to streamline their end-to-end operations while enhancing the customer experience for more than 20 years. David founded The Burnie Group in 2011 to help organizations dramatically improve their operations. It has since become one of the fastest-growing management consulting firms in Canada. Prior to founding The Burnie Group David spent eight years at McKinsey & Company where he was a leader in McKinsey’s North American Operations and Retail practices. He also served as Director of Marketing and Sales at Grocery Gateway.com and was an Account Executive at Proctor & Gamble.

David’s experience includes: Corporate strategy, lean process redesign, performance management, post-merger integration, workforce management and leading transformational change. David has worked extensively in banking, insurance, telecommunications and retail in areas including back office, contact centre, branch/store operations and shared services.

David received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the London Business School, where he graduated with distinction, and earned his Honours Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University with Dean’s List honours. David is a supporter of the Fort York Food Bank, and an avid athlete. He was an All Canadian and Academic All Canadian while playing football for the National Championship winning Western Mustangs, and was later drafted by the CFL's Hamilton Tiger Cats.

Darshan is an operations excellence guru, and he's been helping clients around the world increase profits for over 15 years. He served as Vice President at Active Operations Management, working with senior executives to dramatically transform management methods and business culture for organizations including Bank of Montreal, Harris Bancorp, Barclays and TD Canada Trust. He was also Director, Analytics Practice for the Advisory Services Group at Experian, where he built significant operational efficiencies for clients around the world.

Darshan's experience includes: In-depth consulting for back-office operations, business analytics, workforce management, process optimization, productivity improvement, leading transformational change, and most importantly, motivating people.

Darshan earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at McGill University, received a certificate in International Management at the Stockholm School of Economics, and received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto. In his time away from work, Darshan leads his family and friends on remote wilderness canoe trips, where high winds, rapids, snakes and bears help him to recharge between client engagements!

Hugh has over 20 years experience working in technology, management consulting and analytics roles, always with a focus on improving customer operations and marketing. He has a lengthy track record of holding influential positions and developing successful business strategies. Prior to joining The Burnie Group, Hugh founded his own practice, Client Lens Group. He has run customer analytics and database marketing departments at Nielsen and Telus, worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and has led applications, infrastructure and Project Management departments at EDS.

Hugh's experience includes: Management consulting, marketing, building customer loyalty, automation, analytics and performance management, and technology strategy.

Hugh earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the London Business School, where he focused on Private Equity and Venture Capital Finance and Strategy. He also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. Hugh is a devoted husband and proud father of two boys. He enjoys hockey, soccer, the violin, and has a variety of personal technology interests including web and mobile application development.

Douglas is a blockchain and strategy expert who has been working in the information technology industry for over 25 years. With roles ranging from technical engineering, enterprise sales, standards definition and administration, consultancy and worldwide strategy, Douglas has defined his career as a leader, mentor, and advisor who excels in fostering E and C suite relationships and helping individuals and organizations succeed in a world of accelerated change.

Douglas is the co-founder of CueContext, a mobile software solution that builds context adaptive mobile solutions for the zoo Industry, a member of the Board of Directors at MaRS Innovation and a former executive at IBM. With a passion for productivity, Douglas’ experience includes developing strategy solutions, optimizing client operations and technology, and driving innovation and change.

Douglas earned his Masters in International Economic and Social Administration at Universite Pierre Mendes and his Bachelor degree in Political Studies from Queen’s University. Outside of work Douglas is an avid traveler who enjoys reading, camping, and playing guitar. Douglas is also an advocate for green building tech, and volunteers regularly to help the homeless and at-risk youth.

Alexey is a strategy and operations expert, with unique, hands-on experience building and running online businesses. He's been consulting for over 10 years, helping clients to develop target operating models, re-design their processes and inform their strategies through benchmarking and performance management. Alexey is the CEO and Co-Founder of InsurEye, one of the leading Canadian consumer review platforms for insurance. He spent 5+ years as Project Leader at The Boston Consulting Group, and worked as Internal Consultant for Process and Project Management for Daimler Chrysler.

Alexey's experience includes: Developing business and operations strategies, re-designing processes across different industries, identifying and driving efficiencies, creating performance management solutions for Operations space, creating and executing benchmarks (Contact Centres, Multi-Channel), developing B2B and B2C online monetization models, assessing and evaluating global megatrends.

Alexey received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Collège des Ingénieurs, where he focused on 'Strategy and Management of Technology,' and earned his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich. Alexey speaks five languages and spends his time away from work travelling, playing table tennis and braving the slopes Alpine skiing.

Alexey is a frequent contributor to numerous media outlets such as National Post, Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail as well as multiple online publications. His topics focus on Financial Services, Insurance and Personal Finance.