The future
is ours
to .
The annual conference for operations, transformation and technology leaders in Banking, Insurance, Healthcare and BPO.
Welcome to Capacity26
Automation is scaling. AI agents are joining the workforce. And the pressure to prove it’s all worth it is rising faster than most organisations can keep up with.
The leaders who own the future aren’t waiting to find out if it paid off. They’re building the evidence as they go.
Capacity26 is built for the people responsible for how organisations actually run and change. Operations leaders. Transformation leaders. Automation and AI leads. CIOs and CTOs.
Different roles. One conversation that matters.
There are questions every leader is sitting with right now:
- Are you backing the right things?
- Is the ROI still there once the project team has moved on?
- Are you in control of what AI is costing you, or just watching the bill?
Real challenges. Honest conversations. Genuine peers.
You’ll hear from leaders doing this for real, spend time with peers carrying the same pressure, and leave with a clearer read on how to use data and AI to focus on what matters, backed by the confidence to prove it.
This is where leaders doing the hard work come to think, connect, and move forward. Come and join them.
An exceptional lineup of speakers sharing real-world expertise and proven operational impact.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
BHASKAR KATTA
Owning the future at scale
Bhaskar Katta leads group customer operations for Westpac, one of Australia’s largest banks, and he’s flying in from Sydney to tell Toronto exactly how that’s going.
Regulators want human oversight of every AI decision that matters. The board wants ROI. And the operation’s team still has to run, every single day, while all of that gets figured out in real time.
In this opening keynote session, Bhaskar shares what it actually takes to scale AI transformation inside a regulated bank, where the accountability doesn’t move, even when the work does.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
CHRIS HADFIELD
Houston, we have a data problem
Colonel Chris Hadfield reminded the world what it means to operate where the margin for error is zero. A veteran of three space missions, two spacewalks, and command of the International Space Station, where split-second decisions carried no room for a second attempt.
As humanity pushes back toward the Moon, the discipline that kept him alive up there looks a lot like the discipline operations leaders are trying to build down here: data you can trust, people who know when to override the system, teams that hold their nerve under pressure.
Chris closes Capacity26 Toronto with what operating in genuinely unknown territory demands, and what today’s AI transformation leaders can borrow from someone who commanded a space station and never got a second attempt.
Bhavesh Vaghela
ActiveOps
Casey White
CIBC Mellon
Jeremy Hulme
CIBC Mellon
Julien Crowe
National Bank of Canada
Lesley Lawrence
ActiveOps
Phil Moody
ActiveOps
Richard Anton
Broadridge
Richard Jeffery
ActiveOps
Spencer O’Leary
ActiveOps
Mike Smith
EY Canada
Mark Reynolds
United Healthcare
Poornima Bhattacharyya
Manulife Bank
Joy Santosh
ActiveOps
One day. Nine sessions. The questions Toronto’s operations leaders are actually asking right now.
From the uncomfortable truth about agentic AI, most pilots never make it to production, to the capacity trap that quietly swallows what automation was supposed to release, to what “in control” even means once AI tokens show up as a cost the CFO can’t ignore.
This isn’t theory. It’s Westpac, Sun Life, and the leaders running large-scale operations telling you exactly what they’re doing about it.
8:30 – 9:30
Breakfast & Registrations
9:30 – 9:45
Welcome
The future is ours to own
Operations is changing faster than ever, with human effort, digital labour, and AI working side by side, redefining what a high-performing operation looks like. In this opening address, we set the scene for Capacity26: why the future of operations belongs to those who choose to shape it, not wait for it, and what that means for how we manage capacity, control the cost of AI, and lead with confidence.
9:45 – 10:30
Keynote
Owning the future at scale
How Westpac, an Australian multinational bank is navigating AI transformation, human-in-the-loop accountability, and the pressure to prove ROI while regulation tightens.
10:30 – 11:00
Panel Session
The truth about agents
Agentic AI promises autonomous workflows and cost cuts at scale, but most pilots never reach production, and regulators are demanding human oversight of every consequential decision. A frank panel on what agentic AI is actually delivering in operations: where it's working, where it isn't, and what regulators are watching.
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30
ActiveOps Platform Showcase
ActiveOps Platform: building the future of operations
Every operation today has two workforces: the people you employ and the automation and AI you've invested in. In this session, we'll introduce the ActiveOps Platform and our vision to bring people, automation and AI into one connected picture of capacity, so you know what's actually working, what isn't, and what to do about it.
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch Break + Platform Labs
13:30 – 14:00
Presentation
Growth Takes Time. We Gave it Back: A human-centric approach to decision intelligence
Operational intelligence can identify opportunities. Automation can remove effort. But lasting transformation is ultimately measured through the experience of the people doing the work. This session combines strategic lessons and front-line stories to explore how insight, technology, and operational change came together to deliver meaningful and sustainable results. A candid discussion of what changed, what was learned, and why the human dimension of transformation matters as much as the technology itself.
14:00 – 14:30
Panel Session
Staying in control when the machine is running
The CFO used to ask one question about operations: are we doing more with less? Now AI has introduced a third resource into the operational model - one without established governance, or an established cost of getting it wrong. How do you build a cost model for something that didn't exist three years ago, and what does good AI cost governance actually look like?
14:30 – 15:00
Panel Session
Augmented, not replaced
When agents handle the repetitive and the predictable, your people get time back. The question nobody warns you about is: time back to do what? Released capacity doesn't reinvest itself, and culture doesn't adapt just because the technology did. This is a panel of operations leaders who are living it, the resistance, the reskilling, the uncomfortable conversations. What does it actually feel like to work alongside a bot? What changed, what didn't, and what would they do differently if they were starting again tomorrow?
15:00 – 15:30
Coffee Break + Platform Labs
15:30 – 16:20
Closing Keynote
Houston, we have a data problem
There is no environment on earth where the consequences of bad data, poor decisions or broken trust are more immediate than in space. In this closing keynote, Chris Hadfield, Veteran Astronaut, reflects on what it genuinely means to operate in unknown territory, and what the leaders navigating today's AI transformation can learn from the people who have always had to get it right first time.
16:20 – 16:30
Conference Close
By Invitation Only
The ActiveOps Awards Gala Dinner recognizes our customers who are committed to operational excellence. Enjoy a night of celebration with panoramic views of the Toronto skyline.
We’re at The Globe & Mail Centre, Toronto on 24 September
Perched on the top floors of the headquarters of Canada’s most storied news organisation in Toronto’s King East Design District, the Globe & Mail Centre is a light-filled, modern space with sweeping views across the city skyline, Lake Ontario and the CN Tower.
This is where it starts.
Places are limited – register now and be part of the conversation.