Mathieu Lipari

Speaker Bio

Mathieu's extensive experience includes helping producers in developing countries and working as a project manager for Farm Management Canada since 2010. Mathieu has led projects to develop risk management resources tailored for Canadian producers. These include the Comprehensive Guide to Managing Risk in Agriculture, risk management toolkits, and AgriShield™, an online comprehensive risk management platform.
Over the years, Mathieu has taught comprehensive risk management for agriculture, providing training to hundreds of producers and farm advisors across Canada, given guest lectures in Canadian universities and colleges, and published various articles and papers. He’s also spoken about risk management at various national and international events like the International Farm Management Association (IFMA) Congress.

Mathieu has completed a degree in accounting. He also holds a technical degree in agriculture and international development from the University of Guelph and a bachelor of business administration from L’Université du Québec à Montréal.

Sylvain Gadbois

Speaker Bio

Business Development Officer, New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture & Fisheries

Sylvain is a business development officer within the Government of New Brunswick’s Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries. Sylvain has been New Brunswick’s representative to Farm Management Canada’s Provincial-Territorial Ministry Network for nearly a decade and is proud to serve as the Network’s elected representative to the Board of Directors.

Sylvain is passionate about advancing business management skills and practices in agriculture.

Sylvain spent his youth on a large family farm in the Province of Québec, where he acquired tremendous experience in the agricultural sector.

Sylvain graduated in Agricultural Economics from the Macdonald Campus of McGill University and went on to obtain his CMA and CPA designations. Committed to lifelong learning, Sylvain has taken advantage of numerous professional development opportunities including Business Risk Management from the Université de Moncton, Commercial Credit from Moody’s, and Production and Operations Management from Athabasca University.

Before coming to the Department, Sylvain worked as a farm business consultant, as a senior manager in the feed industry, in banking, in education and other industries. As General Manager for a large integrated farm in New Brunswick, Sylvain learned firsthand the importance of having a diverse set of business skills and practices to lead a successful farm business including strategic planning, operational policies, accounting, and information technology.

Sylvain lives in Fredericton with is wife Bette. He loves spending time with his family and son Alexandre. He has been involved in sports all his life (and still to this day). Every year he grows a large garden of fruits, vegetables and flowers that he named his “Lab of Experiments”. His most recent volunteer work was being an Executive member of the YMCA’s Men Club in Saint John NB and reading French to youth at the local library.
siness management practices and program development.

Kelleen Tait

Speaker Bio

Kelleen is MNP’s National Leader for Livestock Services and a Partner with the firm’s Assurance and Accounting Services group in Edmonton. She works closely with her clients to ensure they understand their financial situation and feel confident in planning for the future. She helps clients strengthen their businesses based on their unique situation and industry best practices.

Kelleen offers assurance and advisory services to a wide variety of clients. These include agricultural producers, feedlots, livestock operations, food and beverage processors, producer associations, and related charities.

Kelleen supports clients with audits and review engagements, AgriStability applications, and tax and succession planning. She also advises on growth strategies, benchmarking, profitability improvement, and governance —helping clients set clear goals and track progress over time.

Kelleen earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in accounting from St. Francis Xavier University in 2008, including semesters abroad in Helsinki and London. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2011. Kelleen is also a board member for the Alberta Food Processors Association.