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I’ve always been fascinated by how systems work together to move the world forward. As…
Articles by John
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In the world of supply chain, the time for contemplation is over.
In the world of supply chain, the time for contemplation is over.
This week, representatives across 21 Member Economies have come together for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation…
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John Sicard shared thisA vivid perspective on the value of intentionally pushing the boundaries of diversity, and especially proud of what Kinaxis has done to set the bar high. #autismatwork #autism #neurodiversityJohn Sicard shared thisMost organizations say they value diversity. But when it comes to neurodivergence at work, good intentions often collide with outdated definitions of success. Neurodivergent professionals make up 15–20% of the workforce, yet many are still overlooked—not because they lack talent, but because we measure performance through a narrow lens. Speed over depth. Visibility over impact. Confidence over insight. In this article, I explore why leaders must rethink how success is defined—and highlight how John Sicard took a different approach by redesigning hiring and performance systems to unlock overlooked talent. The lesson is simple: ⭐ Inclusion isn’t just about accommodations. ⭐ It’s about changing how we lead. Because when leaders rethink the system, they don’t just create more inclusive workplaces—they build better ones. 🔗 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/g-dJxjNY #Leadership #Neurodiversity #FutureOfWork #InclusiveLeadership #WorkplaceInnovation Kinaxis John Sicard LeadWise Hub Neurodiversity in Business (NiB) - the Neurodiversity Charity QuickStart Inc. Emotional Intelligence :)
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John Sicard shared thisWe all know at least one person affected by Cancer. November 13th is "Hockey Fights Cancer Night", presented by #CIBC. Please join me in supporting the Senators Community Foundation and #CHEO as we work to support kids and families facing cancer! See link below to make an impact!!John Sicard shared this💜 Make twice the impact in the fight against childhood cancer.💜 This week, every gift to our Hockey Fights Cancer campaign will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Michael & Lucie Andlauer, all in support of children’s oncology programs right here in Ottawa-Gatineau. Together, we can help kids and families facing cancer get the care, hope, and strength they deserve. 💜 Make your gift today: https://lnkd.in/g_BxzX9f 💜 Doublez votre impact dans la lutte contre le cancer infantile. 💜 Cette semaine, chaque don versé à notre campagne Hockey Fights Cancer sera égalé dollar pour dollar par Michael et Lucie Andlauer, au profit des programmes d’oncologie pédiatrique ici même, dans la région d’Ottawa–Gatineau. Ensemble, nous pouvons aider les enfants et les familles touchés par le cancer à recevoir les soins, l’espoir et la force qu’ils méritent. 💜 Faites un don dès aujourd’hui : https://lnkd.in/g_BxzX9f
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John Sicard shared thisWhat an equal parts pleasure and privilege to be invited back to #Kinaxis this morning as a guest judge for their annual Hackathon! Over 140 teams, over 600 participants, and some of the most innovative uses of #AI I have ever seen! Special thanks to my long standing and dear friend Gelu Ticala for the opportunity to spend time with my past #Kinaxis Teammates, and to participate and witness what the most talented R&D organization in #SupplyChain Software can do in just 5 days of hacking. Stunning display of unbridled talent!! Congratulations to all the winning teams!! Jamie Hollingworth Graham Andrews Blaine Fitzgerald Dominic Thomas Saujanya Shrivastava Duncan Klett Megan Paterson
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John Sicard shared thisIan is a gift to our great city of #Ottawa! Congrats to a truly great man! Very proud to have be their to witness this in person…John Sicard shared thisIt's hard to imagine many nicer guys being honoured than Ottawa's Ian Sherman, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D. Mazel tov! Aaron Smith Salem Macdonald Sharon Appotive Ron Prehogan Jack Silverstein Lance Davis Peter JF Nicholson Jonathan Sherman Adam Sherman Matthew Sherman Michael Polowin Idan Scher Jessica Greenberg Debbie Weinstein Erin Benjamin Kathryn Tremblay (She/Her) Sharon Diamond Sueling Ching John Sicard Kathryn Tremblay (She/Her) David Baker Shannon Gorman John Ouellette Lianne Laing Jessica Roback Jake Levinson Bruce Raganold Josh Kardish Rena Garshowitz Leslie Feldman, MBA Danielle Simpson Jason Shinder Jeff Todd Reba Wilson Emily Jamieson Mark Taylor Friends of JNF CanadaIan Sherman honoured at Negev Gala that raises $1.1M to help Israel rebuildIan Sherman honoured at Negev Gala that raises $1.1M to help Israel rebuild
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John Sicard shared thisSuper proud of what Kinaxis has accomplished with its “Autism at Work” program over the years. Expanding the aperture of diversity to include neuro-diversity can lead to improved performance while simultaneously enhancing the ingredients of culture. Great article, Linda!John Sicard shared thisNeurodiversity at Work: From Awareness to Advantage Inclusion isn’t just a statement—it’s a strategy. Companies like Kinaxis proved it when then-CEO John Sicard launched a hiring program for people with autism, showing that diversity of thought drives innovation. As Sicard said: “Diversity of thought, an inherent and positive benefit when hiring neurodiverse individuals, is more likely to yield breakthrough ideas faster than if everyone approached problems with the same unified perspective. Everybody wins.” Research backs it up: neurodiverse teams are 30% more productive and 20% more innovative (Harvard Business Review & Deloitte). Let’s move from awareness to advantage—and design workplaces where every mind can thrive. Read more on LeadWiseHub.com 👇 #Leadership #Neurodiversity #Inclusion #Innovation #FutureOfWork #LeadWiseHub #Kinaxis #AutismAcceptanceCanada #AccessibleEmployment #QuickStart SAP Kinaxis LeadWise Hub John Sicard Suzanne Jacobson QuickStart Inc. https://lnkd.in/gERfpdX2neurodiversity at work: from awareness to advantageneurodiversity at work: from awareness to advantage
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John Sicard shared thisExcited to announce that my band has been busy crafting new tunes! Join us on September 27th at Bar Robo in Ottawa for a fantastic night featuring our music and the amazing sounds of "Where's Mike?". Can't wait to see you there! Snag your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eUJkvxM6 And catch a glimpse of our vibe on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eVTFqk3u
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John Sicard shared thisFor those in my network interested in hearing, literally, what I've been up to, today marks a milestone - my labels first release hits Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, and many others... Julia Rita is an emerging singer/songwriter who writes from the heart and about the heart. It has been a journey for her, and I, to get this first set of original songs tracked, mixed and mastered. The process has been highly rewarding for me, playing drums/percussion on all tracks, helping with some harmony vocals, and getting the finished product to market. I hope you will take the time to enjoy her beautiful tone, her heartfelt messages, and put her on your frequent playlists (Spotify and Apple links below). If you want to follow future artists, check out at www.sicardstudios.com. #JuliaRita #SicardStudios #SingerSongerwriter #Ottawa https://lnkd.in/egP9UN79Mirror Mirror by Julia Rita distributed by DistroKid and live on SpotifyMirror Mirror by Julia Rita distributed by DistroKid and live on Spotify
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John Sicard shared thisGreat insight…John Sicard shared thisLab to logistics: Why do so many chemical engineers end up in supply chain?Lab to logistics: Why do so many chemical engineers end up in supply chain?Lab to logistics: Why do so many chemical engineers end up in supply chain?
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John Sicard shared thisThose who know me best, know just how passionate I am about music, and about supporting young emerging artists. I'm thrilled to announce the release of my first contribution and collaboration - Julia Rita's all original album that tells the story of love, loss, and how the passage of time changes your perspective on relationships. Anyone with teenage daughters will appreciate and understand its deep sentiments. Music is a very tough business, but I'm hopeful that my network of friends will lend their support of this young and emerging talent by pre-ordering her beautifully written music and lyric, with yours truly having produced, engineered, mastered and played drums on every track. PRE-ORDER: https://lnkd.in/eDBwTH6a FOLLOW US: https://www.juliarita.ca https://lnkd.in/euUT2XjR
John Sicard commented on a post
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Such a great message here, Megan... I'm sure it will inspire many who take the time to listen to it! Thank you for sharing your experience and thank you for saying "YES"! #Kinaxis #Leadership
John Sicard commented on a post
3w
Spectacular results… congrats Razat and the amazing team at Kinaxis!
John Sicard commented on a post
3w
Outstanding news!!! CONGRATS Erin!! So glad to know your influence will continue to serve our great city!!
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John Sicard reacted on thisJohn Sicard reacted on thisKinaxis has ONCE AGAIN been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® #MagicQuadrant™ reports for #SupplyChain Planning Solutions, for both Discrete and Process Industries. Proud to be part of a team building AI‑driven orchestration that helps enterprises plan smarter and respond faster when it matters most! 👏 🔗 Check out the report here and discover why Kinaxis has been recognized as a Leader: https://lnkd.in/g7mh7XHR
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John Sicard reacted on thisJohn Sicard reacted on thisHUGE news from Kinaxis today - I'm really excited to share what our team has been working on with NVIDIA. In partnership with NVIDIA, we’re dramatically accelerating large‑scale, complex supply chain orchestration on the Kinaxis #Maestro platform by leveraging GPUs to deliver a dramatic acceleration in #optimization performance. This innovation is going to allow our customers to run more scenarios, continuously evaluate options, and make decisions concurrently at a scale that reflects real‑world complexity. 💬 As our Chief Technology Officer, Gelu Ticala puts it: “When optimization shifts from hours to minutes, organizations gain the ability to iterate more frequently and evaluate more alternatives. That speed is essential to enabling concurrent supply chain orchestration and advancing our agent‑driven strategy.” This marks an important advancement in our AI‑driven #orchestration strategy and reinforces what’s possible when AI is designed to operate in the flow of the business. Proud of the teams behind this work — and excited about what this unlocks next in #supplychain and enterprise decision making. A special shout-out to Dane Henshall who has been working on this and had the opportunity to co-present at NVIDIA GTC 2026 today. Learn more about the news here: https://lnkd.in/gbeG-uyu Check out the post from Kinaxis here: https://lnkd.in/gchrVehN
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John Sicard reacted on thisJohn Sicard reacted on thisHad a great week in the desert of Arizona this past week. The week started with Zero100 Forum in Scottsdale. There's something about this event that consistently stands out. The conversations are candid, grounded, and focused on the realities supply chain leaders are dealing with right now. What I heard is that supply chain leaders know that disruption is coming (this is just the new reality), but struggle to respond fast enough. Decision‑making breaks down across handoffs, governance, and escalation paths. The answer - leveraging enterprise-grade AI to orchestrate operations concurrently so that decisions are globally optimized and executed in real-time. A shout out to David Kelly (Kinaxis), along with industry experts and leaders Dr. Arne Flemming (Bosch), Jim Cafone (Pfizer), and Kelly Coutinho (Zero100) for a great session on where supply chain response slows down during disruption and the gap between planning and execution. It was great being there with members of the Kinaxis leadership team including Razat Gaurav, Mark Morgan, David Kelly and Manik Sharma as it reinforced for all of us why these discussions matter. Across sessions and conversations, the themes that kept coming up mirror what we hear from customers every day. For the second half of the week, we were joined by the rest of the Kinaxis senior leadership team for some deep, course charting discussions on how we build and deliver the technology and solutions that will address the challenges discussed earlier in the week at Zero100 Forum. It's clear that Maestro is the foundation required to meet the need. As we continue to augment the platform with new #data and #AI composability that complement and augment our industry leading solutions, we stand ready to help our customers meet these challenges. It was a great week and it left me even more confident that we are solving the right challenges, with the right technology and the best team in the industry. 🚀
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John Sicard reacted on thisJohn Sicard reacted on thisMegan Paterson said no for five months before she accepted the COO role at Kinaxis. She rose through the HR ranks over 18 years, watching the company grow to 2,000 employees, expand to 33 countries, go from privately held to publicly traded, and reach nearly half a billion in revenue. She and her CEO both knew the company needed someone in that seat. She just didn't think that person was her. "After five months, I said yes. And then I figured it out." She ensured there were strong leaders she trusted around her, all focused on leading their teams effectively, and unlocking constraints for them. Three things from this conversation worth sitting with: 1️⃣ The people closest to your work often see your readiness before you do. And the gap between what they see and what you believe about yourself is worth interrogating because it's usually not a skills gap. It's a perception gap. 2️⃣ Giving your team access to AI tools is just part of the answer. At Kinaxis, a company managing some of the world's largest supply chains, the internal focus has shifted from access to enablement. Megan was clear: you can give someone the best model available and still see no gains. What moves the needle is whether people know how to use it, trust it, and have been given the space to learn. 3️⃣ Hire to complement, not to mirror. Megan's first move as COO was deliberately building a team that was strong where she wasn't, people who could work with her through the gaps, not around them. Her advice for founders: your early hires shouldn't think like you. They should be able to do what you can't. What have you been telling yourself you'll say yes to once you feel more ready? This is the third episode in my International Women's Month series with Invest Ottawa. 🎙️ Listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/evcjKnWC
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John Sicard reacted on thisJohn Sicard reacted on thisHappy #EmployeeAppreciationDay! 🙌 Today, we’re celebrating the incredible people who make #Kinaxis what it is. Your passion, creativity, and commitment to helping our customers—and each other—tackle the world’s toughest #supplychain challenges continue to move us forward in meaningful ways. Thanks to you, we’re driving #innovation, delivering real impact for organizations around the world, and shaping the future of supply chain together. We’re proud of the work you do, inspired by the energy you bring, and grateful for the difference you make—today and every day. Thank you for being at the heart of our success. ❤️
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John Sicard liked thisJohn Sicard liked thisMost organizations say they value diversity. But when it comes to neurodivergence at work, good intentions often collide with outdated definitions of success. Neurodivergent professionals make up 15–20% of the workforce, yet many are still overlooked—not because they lack talent, but because we measure performance through a narrow lens. Speed over depth. Visibility over impact. Confidence over insight. In this article, I explore why leaders must rethink how success is defined—and highlight how John Sicard took a different approach by redesigning hiring and performance systems to unlock overlooked talent. The lesson is simple: ⭐ Inclusion isn’t just about accommodations. ⭐ It’s about changing how we lead. Because when leaders rethink the system, they don’t just create more inclusive workplaces—they build better ones. 🔗 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/g-dJxjNY #Leadership #Neurodiversity #FutureOfWork #InclusiveLeadership #WorkplaceInnovation Kinaxis John Sicard LeadWise Hub Neurodiversity in Business (NiB) - the Neurodiversity Charity QuickStart Inc. Emotional Intelligence :)
Experience & Education
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Sicard Holdings Inc.
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Honors & Awards
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CEO of the Year 2020
Ottawa Board of Trade, Ottawa Business Journal
Best Ottawa Business Awards (the BOBs) recognize the most successful, innovative and socially conscious companies and business leaders who are driving economic growth and prosperity in the nation's capital.
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EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Ontario
EY Canada
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic…
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries.
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English
Native or bilingual proficiency
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French
Professional working proficiency
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Italian
Limited working proficiency
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