PolyML Strengthens Leadership with Appointment of Industry Luminary Chameli Naraine to Board
WATERLOO, Ontario — PolyML, an innovator in data analytics and machine learning (AI), announced today that Chameli Naraine, a trailblazer in the fintech and payments industry, has joined its Board of Directors. Naraine's appointment marks a significant milestone in PolyML's growth trajectory and reflects the company's commitment to advancing responsible innovation and industry leadership.
Article content
As President and CEO of Symcor from 2010 to 2024, Chameli Naraine led a sweeping digital transformation, repositioning the organization as a nimble, digital-first powerhouse. Under her leadership, Symcor became one of Canada's leading providers of secure business process outsourcing and technology services across key sectors including financial services, telecommunications, and utilities. Her strategic foresight and emphasis on culture change cemented her legacy as one of the most influential figures in Canadian fintech.
Article content
'Bringing Chameli's calibre of leadership and her deep payments industry experience to our Board is a game-changer for PolyML,' said Mardi Witzel, CEO of PolyML. 'We are incredibly excited about the strategic insights and innovative spirit she will bring to our team.'
Article content
'Chameli's visionary approach to technology, governance, and risk management will be absolutely critical as PolyML enters its next phase of growth,' said Dr. Gaston Gonnet, co-founder and Chairman of PolyML. 'Her addition strengthens our ability to deliver cutting-edge, compliant, and explainable AI solutions to global financial institutions.'
Article content
Beyond her corporate achievements, Naraine is a dedicated philanthropist through the Naraine Family Foundation, which focuses on advancing education, health, and wellness initiatives for women and children in Canada, India, Honduras and Kenya. She has also converted family farms into sustainable, eco-friendly operations, providing fresh food to underserved communities and hands-on learning opportunities for students.
Article content
Naraine's many accolades include being named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women, Ascend Canada's Pan-Asian Leader of the Year, and recipient of the Trailblazer Award from Women's College Hospital.
Article content
Her appointment signals a bold new chapter for PolyML as the company scales its mission to redefine the future of AI in financial services through ethical innovation, privacy-preserving technology, and explainable machine learning.
Article content
About PolyML
Article content
PolyML is a Waterloo-based technology company specializing in data analytics and machine learning (AI) solutions across a range of sectors. Founded by Dr. Gaston Gonnet and a team of leading computer scientists, PolyML helps financial institutions leverage value from some of their most complicated data across a range of applications. The company's platform enables extraction of high-value insights, interpretable models, and specialized approaches to forecasting—empowering organizations to deploy AI with confidence, clarity, and accountability.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Contacts
Article content
Media Contact
Article content
Karson Simpson
Article content
Article content
Article content
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CBC
a few seconds ago
- CBC
What is ground pay, one of the sticking points in the Air Canada flight attendant strike?
If you've been following the Air Canada strike throughout its twists and turns, you've likely heard the term "ground pay," or noticed flight attendants holding signs decrying unpaid labour. More than 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job early Saturday morning, leading to hundreds of flights being grounded. On Monday, striking Air Canada flight attendants defied a federal back-to-work order and abruptly halted the airline's plans to resume operations. Later in the day, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu told The Canadian Press that the federal government is launching a probe into allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector as the work stoppage stretches on. One of the key complaints from the union representing Air Canada flight attendants is that workers are not paid for duties performed before take-off. "Our members' only goal is to be paid for their time at work," CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick said in a press conference Monday. Air Canada and The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. The airline's latest offer included a 38 per cent increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions, over four years, that it said "would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada." But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8 per cent raise in the first year didn't go far enough because of inflation. Both sides have said they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren't in the air. But why is that work unpaid? And why is it such a sticking point? Here's what you need to know. What is ground pay? Right now, Air Canada flight attendants are only paid when the flight is in the air, as the non-profit Angus Reid Institute explains. And they say this leaves them with unpaid work loading and unloading passengers, and when there are cancellations and delays, the Institute says. This is a common practice in the North American airline industry, and not unique to Air Canada. Ground pay would compensate flight attendants for the work done on the ground before boarding and after deplaning, including safety procedures and assisting passengers. Last year, Wesley Lesosky, a flight attendant and president of the CUPE air division, said in a news conference that on average, flight attendants do 35 hours of unpaid work per month. "It's not just the assisting of the passengers getting on the plane and saying, 'please put your bag here,'" Lesosky told Reuters earlier in August. WATCH | CUPE president says he'll risk jail time: CUPE president says he'll risk jail time as Air Canada flight attendants defy back-to-work order 4 hours ago "What we're looking for is, hey you require us to show up an hour prior, you require us to start safety briefings, safety checks. You require us to assist on the ground. That's what we're asking to be paid for." The airline proposed ground pay at 50 per cent of a flight attendant's hourly rate, according to CUPE's Air Canada component. The union declined the proposal and is asking for ground work to be paid at 100 per cent. Why aren't flight attendants paid for this work? In a nutshell, because airlines have such small profit margins, explained Ian Lee, an associate professor of management in the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University in Ottawa. "The airline industry has, in aggregate, lost more more money than it's made money," Lee told CBC News. "I tell my students, don't ever invest in two industries: restaurants, and airlines, because you'll lose your shirt over time." The unpaid groundwork practice has been around in North America for decades, Lee said, emerging not long after then-U.S. president Jimmy Carter deregulated the airline industry. Then, in the early 1980s, the recession hit, and in 1981 there was an air traffic controller strike, and suddenly the industry started suffering losses, notes the Smithsonian's National Air and Space museum. "Struggling to survive, airlines cut wages and benefits, but this strategy resulted in strikes and lower productivity," adds the Smithsonian. As a 2024 literature review published in the journal Labor History argues, "the persistence of unpaid ground time illustrates a trend of systemic prioritization of corporate profit over workplace equity." Why did this start becoming an issue recently? There have been more delays on the ground ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, explained Lee, which in general means more unpaid work for flight attendants. And those delays have become "transparently clear" in the last few years, he added. For instance, in the week of June 27 to July 3, 2022, 57 per cent of flights at the top 15 airports in Canada were delayed, according to Transport Canada. That decreased just slightly to 45 per cent the week of Jan. 2 to 8, 2023. Overall, in 2024, Air Canada saw 71 per cent of the nearly 386,000 flights it flew land on time, and 71 per cent of the approximately 192,000 flights WestJet flew in 2024 landed on time — putting the two airlines at the bottom of an annual ranking of North American carriers, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. "If you're sitting on the ground for an hour or two at the gate because you're not cleared to leave, or you're parked at the gate because you're not cleared to go in, then the flights attendants are just putting in a lot more work that's unpaid," Lee said. What do other airlines do? In Canada, WestJet and Porter have been "more progressive" than Air Canada in legislating higher compensation for ground work pre- and post-boarding, Lee said. And it's been uneven in the U.S., too, he added. "In other words, it's kind of a Wild West." CUPE spokesperson Hugh Pouliot told CBC News last week that Porter Airlines started paying flight attendants for some boarding duties this year while some smaller carriers — such as Pascan Aviation — pay full salary for ground duties. Air Canada's demands on unpaid work follow gains recently won by flight attendants in the United States. New labour agreements at American Airlines and Alaska Airlines legally require carriers to start the clock for paying flight attendants when passengers are boarding, not when the flight starts to taxi down the runway. Those gains came after Delta Air Lines, whose flight attendants are not in a union, instituted boarding pay for its cabin crew at half of their hourly wages in 2022 when they were trying to organize. American Airlines flight attendants are also compensated for some hours between flights. United Airlines cabin crews, who voted down a tentative contract deal last month, want a similar provision.


CBC
a few seconds ago
- CBC
Ford urges cities to get more municipal workers in the office
Premier Doug Ford is urging Ontario municipalities to send their workers back to the office five days a week, though the City of Ottawa says most of its employees are already there. Ford proffered that advice to a packed room of municipal leaders at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario convention in Ottawa on Monday. Just last week, the province announced that the Ontario public service will be scrapping remote work, and Ford commended cities that have already followed suit. "On Friday, Mayor Brown announced that the City of Brampton will do the same. I want to thank Mayor Brown for his leadership and encourage other municipalities to follow his lead," Ford said. "It will help bring the public service in municipalities closer to the people they serve, and will revitalize our workplaces and downtowns across Ontario." Several Ottawa city councillors were in the audience on Monday. Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney said Ottawa has already been heading in the direction the premier is urging. "I think this is part of the change that we're seeing in general," Tierney said. "We'll see, between mayor and council, if the opportunity exists to say, yes, we'd like everyone to come back to work." Most City of Ottawa workers back in the office In a statement, the city's media relations department said more than 85 per cent of its staff are currently in the workplace five days a week. "We regularly review our hybrid work approach against industry best practices and comparable public-sector employers to ensure our workforce policies continue to evolve and align with any changes to broader standards," the statement said. Ford had still more advice for how cities and towns can prop up the provincial economy as it weathers challenges with affordability and U.S. tariffs. He said the Ontario government is buying Canadian-made products whenever it can, and urged municipalities to ensure their procurement policies also favour domestic companies. Ford said municipalities can also make housing more affordable by reducing development charges, fees charged on new home construction that cities rely on to fund new roads and water infrastructure. That could cost municipalities a fortune, but Ford promised on Monday to boost provincial funding through the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program by $1.6 billion.


CTV News
30 minutes ago
- CTV News
S&P/TSX composite finishes slightly higher
Trader Michael Milano left, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) TORONTO — Canada's main stock index saw small gains to finish Monday's trading session, benefiting from advances in the consumer cyclicals and non-cyclicals sectors, while U.S. markets were mixed. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 17.36 points at 27,922.85. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.30 points at 44,911.82. The S&P 500 index was flat at 6,449.15, while the Nasdaq composite was up 6.80 points at 21,629.77. The Canadian dollar traded for 72.42 cents US compared with 72.43 cents US on Friday. The October crude oil contract was up 72 cents US at US$62.70 per barrel. The December gold contract was down US$4.60 at US$3,378 an ounce. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2025.