Elevate Festival 2025 Welcomes Top U.S. Tech Leaders to Toronto

Canada’s leading tech festival welcomes top U.S. and global AI innovators to its 7th annual event, October 7-9. Media accreditation is now open. Apply here.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / September 23, 2025 / Elevate Festival, Canada’s largest homegrown tech and innovation event, returns this October 7-9 for its seventh year in Toronto. Building on its reputation as Canada’s premier platform for AI and technology, Elevate 2025 will feature a lineup of leading U.S. speakers, offering insights into emerging trends, innovation strategies, and cross-border collaboration. The Festival serves as a rare opportunity to see how Canadian founders, policymakers, and investors are working alongside U.S. leaders to navigate one of the most competitive and interconnected tech markets in the world.

U.S. speakers include:

• Chris Lehane, Chief Global Affairs Officer at OpenAI

• Erika Ayers Badan, CEO of Food52 and former CEO of Barstool Sports

• Clay Bavor, Co-Founder of Sierra

• Jeff Holan, Head of Cortex AI Apps and Agents at Snowflake

• Chris Urmson, Co-Founder and CEO of Aurora

• Margaret Richardson, Chief Marketing & Corporate Affairs Officer at GoFundMe

• Chan Park, Head of US Policy and Partnerships at OpenAI

• David Nyhan, Director at Spotify

• Adam Blinick, Head of Public Policy and Communications for the US & Canada at Uber

You can find a list of confirmed speakers here.

Elevate Festival 2025 marks a pivotal moment for North American tech. By uniting U.S. and Canadian leaders on a Canadian stage, the Festival creates space to learn from one another, collaborate on the future of AI, and unlock new opportunities that will shape the next decade of innovation. For American audiences, the Festival offers a front-row view of how Canada’s fast-growing tech ecosystem is scaling globally, while highlighting the cross-border dynamics that are shaping investment, talent, and policy.

Over 85 sessions have been added to the Festival’s agenda here, with more being added every day. Select sessions with U.S. speakers include:

• Inside Spotify’s AI Lab: David Nyhan, Director for Spotify, on building the next generation of personalized music experiences.

• The Road Ahead for Autonomous Vehicles: Chris Urmson, trailblazing technologist and CEO of Aurora, on what’s next in self-driving.

• The Future of AI Democratization: Chris Lehane, Chief Global Affairs Officer at OpenAI, on how artificial intelligence can be made accessible and impactful across industries worldwide.

• Lessons From Building and Scaling AI Agents for the Enterprise: Jeff Hollan, Head of Cortex AI Apps & Agents at Snowflake, on what it takes to create AI products that solve real problems, stay competitive, and scale globally.

• Call My Agent: The Future of Service: Clay Bavor, Co-Founder, Sierra, on how AI agents are transforming customer experiences, from smarter product discovery to seamless subscription management.

“Elevate is where global tech and innovation leaders come together,” said Lisa Zarzeczny, Co-Founder and CEO of Elevate. “This year, we’re excited to bring several prominent U.S. voices driving breakthroughs in AI, fintech, and more, connecting American innovators with Canadian founders and global investors to shape the future of technology.”

Elevate Festival is made possible by its Founding Sponsors: TD; Moneris; and Interac Corp.; as well as its Corporate Sponsors: Google; the Government of Ontario; the City of Toronto; 3M Canada; Remote; Capital One Canada; KPMG LLP; Danone Canada; DMZ; CPA Ontario; Riipen; TurboTax Business; Startup Atlantic; The Way Company; University of Toronto; Dell Technologies; EQ Bank; Brampton Innovation District; Toronto Transit Commission (TTC); Black Innovation Zone; Uber Canada; Beanfield; Kids Help Phone (KHP); MenuSano; Toronto Global; MaRS Discovery District; and 4TU.Startups, the Netherlands.

With support from OddBee; Bizzabo; Divine Furniture Rental; Digitech, Lithuania; Get Wrapped; Interprefy; AccessWire; Islands; Twenty6Two; Category Communications; MarTechDo; and Fintechs Canada, and Official Media Partner: The Globe and Mail. Supporting Media Partners include Maclean’s | SJC, Pattison; UB Media; BetaKit; and NOW Toronto.

For more information about Elevate Festival 2025, visit: www.elevatefestival.ca. To purchase tickets, please visit: www.elevatefestival.ca/tickets. You can also join the conversation on social media by following @ElevateTechCA and using #ElevateFest2025.

Media can apply for accreditation here by Friday, October 3rd.

About Elevate

Elevate is a Canadian non-profit that unites world-class innovators to catalyze transformation in the Canadian tech ecosystem. Through year-round programs and events, including the annual Elevate Festival and CIX Summit, Elevate shines a spotlight on Canadian innovation, facilitates global connections with startups and investors, and inspires Canadians to embrace a go-for-gold mentality to help shape the future of the Canadian innovation economy.

Media Contact
press@elevate.ca

SOURCE: Elevate

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