Mark Breslin
CEO & FounderYuk Yuk’s Inc.
Mark Breslin is the CEO and founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs – with 12 comedy clubs across Canada, the founder and artistic director for the Humber College Comedy program and a founding member of the Canadian comedy awards.
He has acted as producer, executive producer and story consultant for numerous television programs such as Late Night with Joan Rivers, Friday Night with Ralph Benmergui and Kenny vs Spenny among others. He is an author and columnist and worked in radio as the program director for Laugh Attack on SiriusXM Canada.
Breslin is also a much sought-after public speaker. Selected speaking engagements have included the American Comedy Institute in NYC, the Big Bear Comedy Workshop in L.A., Association for Campus Entrepreneurs (Toronto keynote address), universities, colleges and many more.
In 2014 Breslin was named one of the 180 most influential people ever to be born and raised in Toronto. In 2017 he was awarded the Order of Canada – the second highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations and medals of Canada.
Amanda Lang
HostTaking Stock
Award-winning business journalist Amanda Lang has been covering business in North America for more than 25 years. Lang is the host of Taking Stock, a weekly national television program airing across multiple Bell Media networks including BNN Bloomberg, CP24 and CTV News Channel. Taking Stock also airs as a weekly podcast and on the iHeart radio network. She was previously host of Bloomberg Markets, a global program airing in Canada on BNN Bloomberg and on the Bloomberg Television network globally. Prior to that Lang was CBC’s senior business correspondent reporting for its flagship nightly news program, The National, and host of The Exchange with Amanda Lang, a daily business program airing on CBC News Network. For five years before that Lang hosted The Lang and O’Leary Exchange with Kevin O’Leary. And prior to that the pair co-hosted SqueezePlay on BNN for 6 years.
Lang studied architecture at the University of Manitoba, before becoming a journalist. Her first job in journalism was for The Globe and Mail, and subsequently Lang joined the Financial Post newspaper where she became the paper’s New York correspondent. In New York she made the leap to television where she first was part of the team that launched BNN and, before long, wound up at CNN as a reporter and anchor.
Lang is a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She is chair of the board of directors of Covenant House Toronto, the largest agency in Canada serving homeless and at-risk youth.
Lang is also a best-selling author. The Power of Why (HarperCollins, October 2012) explores the connection between curiosity and success. The Beauty of Discomfort (HarperCollins, April 2017) examines how difficult change can be and sets out strategies for how to achieve it.
Jim Slotek
Movie Critic
Jim Slotek is a former Toronto Sun columnist, movie critic, TV critic and comedy beat reporter who covered Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival for 20 straight years. He’s been a scriptwriter for the NHL Awards, Gemini Awards and documentaries, and was nominated for a Gemini Award for comedy writing on a special (the NHL Awards).
Slotek currently writes for Zoomer magazine and recently scripted the City of Toronto’s New Year’s Eve celebrations. He also started the movie site original-cin.ca which features the work of veteran print movie critics.