Black AI Xchange 2026 The Black AI Future: Building, Leading and Owning in the AI Economy

Evan Solomon is also the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and represents Toronto Centre.

Vijay Thanigasalam is honoured to serve as Ontario’s first-ever Associate Minister of Artificial Intelligence Adoption and as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Scarborough-Rouge Park.

Previously, he held the roles of Associate Minister of Transportation, Associate Minister of Housing, and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. He holds an MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University and worked in the finance sector with Toronto’s top financial institutions prior to his career in politics.

Shingai Manjengwa translates complex AI research into practical learning programs and solutions at Mila. A data scientist by training, she previously led Technical Education at the Vector Institute and founded Fireside Analytics, a data science education company whose online courses have reached more than 500,000 learners.

Her work spans AI adoption, responsible AI, public policy and workforce development. She is a Public Policy Forum Fellow, recipient of the 2023 Womxn in Data Science Guiding Light Award, and author of “The Computer and the Cancelled Music Lessons.”

Osita Nwajiufor is the Chief Executive Officer of Black AI Centre & BlackTECH Hub, advancing AI capability, entrepreneurship and inclusive economic participation. Through his broader ecosystem, he has supported more than 15,000 professionals and businesses since 2018.

His vision is to ensure Black communities build, lead and own in the AI economy. Through Black AI Centre, Osita is advancing Canada’s national platform for inclusive AI, with a goal of impacting more than 100,000 people by 2030.

Paul Anthony Hamilton is CEO and Founder of Elevated Performance Group and a senior HR and talent executive with more than 25 years at KPMG, Microsoft, BMO, Rogers, Korn Ferry, and OpenText. He advises executive teams and boards on adopting AI without losing sight of the people it affects.

Jumoke Ajidahun is a Senior Security Solution Engineer at Microsoft, specializing in threat detection and response, cybersecurity strategy, and organizational resilience.

At the intersection of cybersecurity and AI governance, Jumoke helps organizations balance innovation with security, compliance and accountability, empowering them to harness emerging technologies responsibly and confidently.

Franklin Ogidi is a Senior Applied Machine Learning Specialist at Vector Institute. His work has involved developing open-source tools and libraries that support researchers and practitioners in their machine learning workflows, and building technical curricula and hands-on engineering support for intensive bootcamps.

Franklin holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor's degree in Biosystems Engineering from the University of Manitoba.

Ugo Osuji is a Deployment Strategist at Mistral AI, helping organizations design and deploy AI systems that deliver business outcomes. Previously, he served as Lead AI Deployment Engineer at WRITER, building enterprise AI workflows and agent systems for healthcare and financial services organizations.

Uchi Uchibeke is the Founder and CEO of APort, an AI infrastructure company building authorization systems for AI agents. He founded and recently exited Techstars backed Chimoney, a platform providing API driven payouts and wallets supporting multiple currencies, and created the World Innovation League’s Diverse Tech Talent Program.

Accomplished AI Research Scientist and Manager with over twelve years of software development experience and eight years of AI innovation leadership. Currently pursuing an Executive MBA to integrate strategic business analytics and governance with deep technical expertise in frontier models. Expert at driving cross-functional teams, shaping AI roadmaps, and translating complex technical concepts for diverse audiences, executives, and policymakers. Committed to building safe-by-design, agentic and non-agentic AI systems that bridge the gap between scientific innovation and large-scale execution.

Kenisha Hanson is a human centred AI strategist and organizational design specialist working at the intersection of people, systems and emerging technology. She is the author of Peace Your Way to Success and a certified professional coach.

A Black AI Centre Champion, she explores how AI can augment human judgment, strengthen decisions and create meaningful progress while protecting well-being, equity and human agency.