Lori Schmidt is the Chief Executive Officer of Productivity Alberta, a private not-for-profit corporation working to improve the productivity, innovation, and competitiveness performance of Alberta and Canadian industry. Lori is an avid supporter and facilitator of creative approaches and alliance building in tackling regional and global competitiveness issues. Her years of public and private sector roles – including industry and cluster development, trade policy, strategic management and regional economic development – has had an impact on a broad range of businesses in a variety of industrial and not-for-profit sectors. Lori recently completed her designation as a strategic alliance professional and is a member of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, a global network of leaders from competitiveness organizations around the world. A strong advocate of giving back, Lori is involved in several not for profit ventures, including the Premier’s Council for Alberta’s Promise – an organization dedicated to improving the lives of Alberta’s children and youth by inspiring ideas, actions, and investment between our business, agency and community partners to help build a bright future for our kids.