Keynote Speaker
Jennifer Botterill
Three-Time Olympic Hockey Gold Medalist, Harvard Graduate, Motivational Keynote Speaker, NHL Broadcaster
Jennifer Botterill is a consummate professional who brings her high-performance mindset to every opportunity. As a decorated collegiate hockey player with Harvard University and a three-time Olympic champion with the Canadian National Team, her success on the ice has translated to a flourishing career off of it. Not only is Jennifer the CEO of two companies, she has also established a strong presence at the highest level of NHL broadcasting. She is the only NHL analyst to be on the main panel for national networks in both Canada and the USA.
Jennifer’s work with Turner Sports (Warner Media) and Sportsnet (Rogers) includes in studio analysis, and in game analysis at ice level in between the benches. When she is not sharing her knowledge and expertise for sport on the air, she is empowering others to pursue excellence with her engaging keynote presentations and career coaching.
Jennifer was born in Ottawa but raised in Winnipeg, and sport has always been a core part of her family life. Her mother Doreen is a two-time Olympic speed skater, and her father Cal was a hockey player, and is a sports psychologist working with NHL and Olympic athletes. Her brother Jason played professional hockey and won three World Junior Championships for Canada, After his elite playing career, Jason has worked front-office roles in the sport, now the assistant GM for the Seattle Kraken.
Her family encouraged a high-performance mindset from an early age, ensuring Jennifer was just as dedicated to her school work as she was to sport. Her first memories of hockey were from playing ball hockey in the basement with her brother, but it wasn’t until she was 13 that she began to seriously pursue the sport. Her passion led her to attend the National Sport School, and later graduate from Harvard University with an Honors degree in Psychology.
Jennifer debuted for the national team at the 3 Nations Cup in 1997, at the age of 18, and subsequently was named to the first-ever Canadian Olympic women’s hockey roster in 1998. During her freshman year at Harvard University, she helped the Crimson to their first-ever national title in Women’s hockey. She continued to rack up the achievements, becoming the only two-time winner of the Patty Kazmaier award (for the top player in women’s college hockey) and named a four-time All-American.
Throughout her collegiate career, and beyond, Jennifer was a member of Canadian National Women’s Hockey Team for 14 years, amassing 17 gold medals for Canada during that time. She is a four-time Olympic medallist (including 3 gold medals), a five-time World Champion, and was named MVP of the World Championships twice. Jennifer also played for the Toronto Aeros, Mississauga Hockey Club, and the Toronto CWHL team.
In 2011, Jennifer kicked off her broadcast career with TSN for the Women’s World Championships. Since then, she has grown her credentials with MSG Network (New York Islanders broadcasts), CBC (Hockey Night in Canada, Olympic coverage), and Sportsnet (Hometown Hockey, Wednesday Night Hockey, Hockey Central, Hockey Night in Canada).
She also joined the highly-anticipated broadcast team for Turner Sports’ NHL on TNT coverage for the 2021-2022 season. Jennifer was also a part of NBC’s first- ever all-women NHL broadcast team in 2020, inspiring the next generation of excellence in Broadcasters.
As the CEO of Excel in Life Inc.; Journey to Excel Inc., Jennifer continues her pursuit of excellence while inspiring and coaching others along the way. CCM Hockey named Jennifer to their Board of Directors in 2021, bringing her experience as a hockey player and mentor to the brand as it continues to develop tools for athletes to perform at their best.
In 2006, Jennifer was awarded the Order of Manitoba, and has continually given back to her community as an ambassador for Right to Play, and work with charities such as Special Olympics, Kidsport, Children’s Wish Foundation, SickKids Hospital, CanFund, Hockey Canada Foundation, and Canadian Cancer Society.
She is based in Toronto with her husband Adrian and their three children, but travels internationally for her career.
Keynote Topics
1. Why Not You? How to Excel in Life and Business
In this keynote Jennifer focuses on how to reach new levels of excellence in your personal and professional life. She addresses the importance of setting high standards for yourself in every capacity. Jennifer provides tools that her audience can start to apply on a daily basis. She encourages an approach for sustainable excellence and provides techniques on how to perform at your best on a consistent level. Jennifer shares techniques to help with preparation and she discusses the critical importance of time management. She helps people to strive towards their ideal performance state and to take a ‘no regrets’ approach to each day. Jennifer wants every person to think about the lasting impact that they would like to create in their lives, and she will help them to achieve this.
2. Resiliency! Thriving in a Changing Environment
The path that we face isn’t always as we may have imagined. Jennifer addresses the benefits of adapting to change. We have a choice to make every day, and Jennifer demonstrates how we can learn to shift our perspective to make the most of our environment. Jennifer shares stories and messages that have helped her on her evolving path through life, sport and business. She provides examples on how we need to do things differently to get better results than we had in the past. Jennifer shares ideas on how to be productive and efficient in every way. She teaches how to control potential distractions and how to maintain a strong level of focus. She encourages people to strive towards new excellence – in any environment.
3. Women in Business. Reaching New Levels of Excellence
- Dr. Jeff Miller
- Dr. Linda Schott
- Dr. Rick Peters
- Dr. Julie Pasche
- Dr. Ian MacRae
- Dr. Paige Hickman
- Dr. Jonathan Neilson
- Dr. Addie Waxman
- Dr. Aitazaz Farooque
- Evan McDonald
- Chelsea Lobson
