Speakers

Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA), Luca Bucci is a government relations expert with over a decade of experience in the public and private sectors. Most notably, Luca served as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, where he developed a comprehensive understanding of the home building industry and the critical need for housing supply across Ontario. Luca’s wealth of knowledge in government relations and advocacy will help forge a path for the strategic direction of the association and the residential construction industry in Ontario.

Bob Schickedanz is a home builder, industry leader and has served as the OHBA’s President since 2019. Prior to his appointment, Bob served on the OHBA Executive Committee as 2nd Vice President and 1st Vice President. In addition, Bob recently served as the 2018/2019 Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association’s (SCHBA) President and is Co-Founder of FarSight Homes. Due to the challenging and uncertain times our industry faced through COVID pandemic, Bob continued to serve a second term as President of OHBA, and graciously took on a third term as President until 2022.

Bob’s passion for the home building and renovation industry has been with him since childhood, working alongside his father and uncles at Schickedanz Bros Limited, a family business established in 1951. After working at the MMM Group as a Professional Civil Engineer, Bob rejoined the family at Schickedanz Bros Limited as the Land Development Manager, where he was responsible for land acquisition, development approvals and site servicing at various projects across Ontario. In 2001, Bob, along with his brother Rick, co-founded FarSight Homes, the next generation of the family business.

Tasha Kheiriddin is one of Canada’s best-known commentators, analysts, and strategic thinkers. She is currently a principal with Navigator Ltd., one of Canada’s leading high stakes strategic advisory and communications firm; the national political columnist for Postmedia; a lecturer with the Max Bell School of Public Policy; and a bestselling author. With over two decades of experience analyzing, writing about, and commenting on political and current affairs for major networks and publications across Canada, Kheiriddin is an in-demand keynote speaker and a polished moderator and emcee.

Kheiriddin became passionate about politics and current affairs at an early age and held various positions in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. After a career in politics and law, she became a journalist, first working for CBC Newsworld before joining the Law Times and CPAC, where she earned the Justicia Award for Excellence in Journalism. Over the course of her media career, Kheiriddin has also co-hosted CTV News Channel’s National Affairs, hosted the Tasha Kheiriddin Show on Global News Radio, and served as a member of the editorial board and columnist at the National Post, as a columnist at iPolitics.ca, and as an award-winning host-producer at the Cable Public Affairs Channel.

In addition, Kheiriddin has served as communications director and vice-president for several major Canadian policy institutes, including the Montreal Economic Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. She also operated her own communications consultancy, advising clients on strategy, message development and media training. In recognition of her work, the Women’s Executive Network named Kheiriddin as one of Canada’s “Top 100 Most Powerful Women” in 2016.

An accomplished writer, Kheiriddin is the co-author of Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution and the author of The Right Path: How Conservatives Can Unite, Inspire, and Take Canada Forward. She is also a tax policy and justice contributor for two other books. Kheiriddin also writes a weekly column for the Postmedia chain of newspapers and provides analysis for radio and television networks in both official languages.

A law graduate of McGill University, Kheiriddin has lectured in McGill’s Canadian Studies and North American Studies programs and in its Max Bell School of Public Policy.

Amir Hassan has more than 25 years of experience in Building Envelope and Forensic Restoration in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. He has worked on complex projects for both existing buildings and new construction. His Building Science knowledge includes work with structural glass, curtain wall design and evaluation, frameless and skylight systems,

structural assessment, property condition assessment, building enclosure commissioning, roofing, and waterproofing systems, and weather-tightness, energy modeling, thermal performance, and thermography.

Amir has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, and a Master of Science degree in Facade Engineering. He is a frequent speaker and author on roofing and building envelope topics. Amir is the current president of the Alberta Building Envelope Council North (ABECN). He also holds the role of Subject Matter Expert in the field of Building Science with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Born and raised in Edmonton, Jessica has over 10 years of experience under her belt. She has sold over 500 homes. In her career, she specialized as an Area Manager on-site, drawing plans and managing the custom-building process from start to finish. She trained many colleagues to become top performers over the decade. She is excited to help educate and inspire through PHBI.

In addition to starting her own business Rise Realty Group with Liv Real Estate, she also spent extensive time building her social media platform where she not only sells Real Estate but also greatly advocates for women’s rights.

Mike Memme is a home builder and industry leader in the residential construction sector. Mike has leveraged his industry expertise as the Operations Manager for Mountainview Building Group since 1995, building communities right here in the Niagara Region. He brings significant industry experience overseeing the new home construction process right from dirt to door.

Larry Brydon is a former VP of Business Development and Regulatory Affairs with Cricket Energy. He is a LEED AP with extensive experience in the energy efficiency and carbon reduction NGO marketplace. Larry currently sits on the Board of Directors for EnerQuality Corporation, BILDs Advisory Board, and is the current Chair of Sustainable Buildings Canada. Larry previously Chaired the Energy Subcommittee as a member of the team that developed LEED Canada for Neighbourhood Development, the WELL Standard for Homes, and has been active in the development of the Energystar for New Homes and multifamily buildings program. He was appointed to the MMAH technical review committee for part 5 and part 12 of the OBC in the 2016 code update, representing OHBA, and is part of the SBC team that developed and now delivers the Enbridge and Union Gas Savings by Design Programs.

For more than a decade, Mitch Heimpel has been running campaigns at every level of government and serving in senior roles both at Queen’s Park, and Parliament Hill. Mitch’s experience in policy and parliamentary affairs has led to the passage of major initiatives at both the federal and provincial levels of government in recent years.

He worked on Ontario’s nation-leading Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy, its elimination of the practice of “Birth Alerts”, and its recent reforms to the Child Welfare system, initiatives that required extensive consultation with First Nations Communities to ensure culturally appropriate and community-led services.

Mitch has appeared as a political commentator for Global News and CTV, and has been published in the Toronto Sun.