Alumni in the Lead
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Michael Chambers’ (BCom 1970) office at law firm Maclaren Corlett, on the 14th floor of a mirror-glassed, high-rise in downtown Ottawa, is filled with mementos. Each comes with a rich anecdote conveyed with a search engine-like recall of names, dates, facts and figures.
On one wall, there’s a snapshot of the scene on July 2, 2003 in Prague when it was announced that Vancouver had won the bid to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Chambers, with his trademark moustache, is unmistakeable. Next to him is then-prime minister Jean Chrétien and then-Vancouver mayor, now senator, Larry Campbell. Framed under glass on another wall is an official podium jacket given to Canadian athletes, right above a print of the Magna Carta and a small plaque noting Chambers’ induction into the City of Ottawa Hall of Fame.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
David Coderre, Public Servant in Residence at Telfer School of Management, and Christian Lohyer, Office of the Comptroller General, have received an international award for “Technology Innovation”. The objective of their work was to transform the way internal audit and financial monitoring is conducted in Canadian federal government departments by improving the ability of auditors and financial officers to access and use financial data through analytics. The analytics provide the auditors and finance officers with easy access to departmental SAP financial data in a common format that allows for the development and sharing of ACL scripts (analytics) to assess key business processes and financial controls, and to monitor departmental financial performance and trends.
The data is not held centrally as each department has its own instance of SAP for its financial system. The departmental auditors and finance officers obtain the data from the departmental financial system using an SAP extract program and then run a common set of ACL analytical routines against the extracted data. Approximately one hundred analytical routines and financial tests were developed and provided to government departments. While at the Telfer School, Mr. Coderre also designed and developed data analytics to perform continual monitoring and assessment of financial risk using quantitative indicators of risk.
The innovative series of interconnected ACL analytical routines support auditors and finance officers across the federal government in the use of data-driven approaches to monitor and test controls, and assess financial risks on an ongoing basis. The analytics examine trends across fiscal years, and support financial monitoring and the examination of the accounts payable, procurement cards, payroll, and contracting business processes. This improves government efficiency and effectiveness, increases public confidence, transparency and openness, and supports the independent assessment of government spending and stewardship of resources.
David Coderre can be reached at
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Once a year, the Ottawa Business Journal nominates professionals for their business achievements to be in their Forty Under 40 list.
Among this years’ nominees, nine are University of Ottawa’s alumni from which two studied at the Telfer School of Management. For this achievement, the Telfer School would like to congratulate:
- Christa Casey, BCom 1997
- Andy LeValliant, EMBA 2012
The Telfer School would also like to congratulate Iwona Albrecht, Solomon Friedman, Michael Horne, Ian O'Meara, Charles Rifici, Matthew Rinfret and Pascal St-Jean, who all graduated from the University of Ottawa.
This year's Forty Under 40 awards gala will take place at the Hilton Lac-Leamy Hotel on June 19, 2014. The event will feature cocktails, fine food, music and dancing and is in part sponsored by the Telfer Executive MBA.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
The Robert Wood Johnson award recipient from the Telfer School of Management, Taylor Linseman, has always had a passion for healthcare management. After completing a Bachelor of Life Sciences from Queen’s University in 2007, Taylor began her healthcare career in Dublin Ireland, where she was the manager of a home care service for individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities. This line of work later brought Taylor to Melbourne, Australia, where she led a community outreach program supporting adolescents with disabilities, mental health struggles, and contact with the criminal justice system. Since returning to Canada, Taylor has worked in the Aboriginal Health and youth services arenas.
Deciding to pursue postgraduate education in 2012, Taylor chose the Telfer School of Management’s Master of Health Administration program because of its uniquely close link to the MBA degree. She graduated from the Telfer MHA in December 2013 and was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma society this past March. With strong business foundations and experience in community-based care, Taylor is very excited to continue her healthcare career with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. She currently manages the Youth Net (Réseau Ado) program: a peer-to-peer mental health support service for adolescents in the Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec regions. Taylor’s passion for supporting vulnerable populations holds throughout her professional and personal life; she is equally proud to volunteer as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Therapeutic Riding Association of Ottawa-Carleton within her spare time. Taylor plans to continue learning through involvement with the Canadian College of Health leaders and aspires to impact accessibility within our system in her healthcare future.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
The Regroupement des gens d’affaires de la Capitale nationale (RGA) recently honoured the laureates of its 2014 Excellence prizes. These were awarded during the organization’s annual gala that took place on April 12, 3014 at the Ottawa Convention Centre.
The RGA 2014 Gala of Excellence brought together more than 700 RGA members, members of the business community, leaders and politicians from Eastern Ontario and Outaouais.
Annually, RGA honours outstanding professionals for their organization's performance, their commitment to the community and the importance of bilingualism in business.
Marc Lebouthillier (MHA 1982): Leader of the Year
Directeur général, Hawksbury & District Hospital
Eugène Tassé (Alumni of the Commerce class of 1944, DU 2009): Coup de cœur award – Philanthropy
Photo: Joanne Lefebvre, CEO of RGA; Eugène Tassé; Denis Bouchard, General Director of Bell Média Inc.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
The U.S.-based Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) has awarded its 2014 Canada Award to Joe Irvine, who is Director, Technology Transfer and Business Enterprise (TTBE) at the University of Ottawa, in recognition of his outstanding service to the technology transfer community. He travelled to San Francisco, California to receive the award. Joe Irvine has worked tirelessly to strengthen ties between the University’s researchers and the community at large.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
On November 21, the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce organized the Best Ottawa Business Awards (BOBS), sponsored by the Telfer School of Management. During the event, top businesses in Ottawa were highlighted. Harley Finkelstein (JD-MBA 2009) gave an inspirational speech on his personal entrepreneurial journey. The Telfer School and Dean François Julien, who was among attendees, are proud that so many Telfer alumni are affiliated with organizations that are considered among the very best in the Ottawa.
Congratulations to Paul Loucksand who was named CEO of the year. He will be the keynote speaker at the next Telfer School Alumni Breakfast.
Congratulations to Wes Nicol for receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, who among other things, instigated an annual entrepreneurial competitions to which 17 Canadian business schools including the Telfer School.
Congratulations to all winning companies:
- A Hundred Answers
- Abbott Point of Care
- Acart Communications
- Cadillac Fairview / Rideau Centre
- Christie Walther Communications
- Events Ottawa Partnership
- Farm Boy
- Giant Tiger
- Halogen Software
- HazloLaw - Business Lawyers
- Health Wave
- Mitel Networks
- OakWood Renovation Experts
- prairieFyre
- Pythian
- Rimikon
- Ross Video
- Shopify
- Soshal
- TUC Managed IT Solutions
- Windmill Developments
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Mayor Jim Watson today announced the 15 residents who will be inducted into the Order of Ottawa during a formal ceremony at City Hall on November 21.
This prestigious civic award was established in 2012 by the Mayor and Members of City Council. This year’s recipients of the Order of Ottawa were chosen by a Selection Committee comprised of the Mayor, City Clerk and Solicitor, Chief of Police, Chief of Protocol, City Archivist, and the Chief Executive Officer of Library Services.
“The Order of Ottawa is recognition of some remarkable residents who are being honoured for their commendable services to our city,” said Mayor Watson. “I am pleased to recognize the contributions of these amazing people who have made a difference in the lives of others in our community through a variety of professional and civic-oriented endeavours.”
The Order of Ottawa recognizes exceptional residents who have made a significant contribution in a professional capacity in many areas of city life, including arts and culture, business, community service, education, public service, labour, communications and media, science, sports and entertainment or other fields of endeavour that benefit the residents of Ottawa.
This year, Rob Ashe was inducted to the Order of Ottawa for his passion for people and incredible involvement in different organizations and boards.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Congratulations to Telfer alumnus Denis Coderre, who was elected as the 44th mayor of Montreal in the election that took place on November 3, 2013.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Twenty-four year old Brennan Loh meets me at 9 a.m. in the reception area of Shopify’s new office space in the heart of the Byward Market. He walks me through the colourful hallways covered with floor-to-ceiling chalkboards, neon green paint, random drawings and a life-size cut-out of Chuck Norris. Shopify employees get an annual allowance to deck out their office space as they see fit, an expression of the company’s very creative and free-spirited corporate culture.
“This place is unbelievably supportive of creativity, experimentation, doing things and telling people,” says Brennan, who is Shopify’s head of business development. Based in Ottawa, Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows individuals and businesses to create custom online stores. It hosts over 60,000 active online retailers, small to medium sized retailers who have processed over 35 million orders and have generated $2 billion in online sales.
A Telfer alumnus, Brennan first joined the company in 2010 after having launched his own business called Avitu with two uOttawa engineering students. The three worked tirelessly on Avitu out of a hot apartment before being offered the opportunity by another uOttawa alumnus to use part of Shopify’s office space to run their company. That alumnus, Harley Finkelstein, a graduate of the combined law and MBA program, was the chief platform officer at Shopify. “Shopify always wanted to be involved in the community and foster that sense of growth in Ottawa,” says Brennan. “They had this openness and willingness to share, a very Silicon Valley approach.”
The exchange of business practices and strategies was something that Harley knew quite well even before he came to Shopify. A few weeks after he began his studies at uOttawa, he was introduced to a group of Ottawa entrepreneurs who would meet weekly at a local coffee shop to discuss business and share ideas. It was there that he met Tobias Lütke, a young German who was running a snowboard shop and was in the midst of transitioning into a software company — Shopify. Harley was in a similar situation; he hoped to take the licensed t-shirt printing company that he had founded as an undergrad online, making it more manageable for him to run his business while in school. “I became one of Shopify’s first customers,” he says.
But Harley felt that he could be part of something bigger. After completing his degree and joining a law firm in Toronto, he realized he was destined for a more creative career. “I felt that law was all about mitigating risk and frankly, I as an entrepreneur wanted to take risks. I felt like people had this work-life balance thing but to me, I don’t believe in separating my life into work and non-work. I want to spend my waking hours doing something I love and being an entrepreneur allows me to do that,” he says. Harley soon returned to Ottawa and joined Tobias as chief platform officer at Shopify.
As for Brennan, the time he spent working on Avitu — which initially started as a class project — was invaluable. He saw the material he was learning in class put into practice. His collaboration with two engineers was also an eye opener, as it allowed him to “see not only the business rationale but the product reasoning,” while enabling him to have educated conversations with his co-founders. He also took the opportunity of being in a shared space with Shopify to exchange best practices and discuss business strategies with Harley every week. “He was kind of mentoring me and would suggest different ways to look at technology,” says Brennan.
In 2010, Brennan and his partners decided to leave Avitu behind and join Shopify. “When we returned to school, we kept running into the inherent problem that Matt and Dan [Avitu’s co-founders] were in their final two years of engineering. That’s the worst possible year to try to run a full-time company on the side. I was going into my final six months of school and the time crunch was really just killing us. We felt that we had to take the next step but we just couldn’t. So when Shopify offered us a job, it just made sense,” he explains.
Both Harley and Brennan continue to create and to feed their inner entrepreneur. They are driven by their passion and love for what they do, something they believe all 265 Shopify employees share.
“This is a place where we really encourage people to act like owners,” says Harley. “We courage them to fail fast and fail gracefully. Find something you love doing every day. For me, it is running a business. For Brennan, it’s making business development deals. For our designers, it’s creating beautiful things and for our engineers, it’s about building incredible software.”
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Five remarkable alumni were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the world of business, the community and their alma mater. The Trudeau Medals, the Young Achiever's Award and the Dean's Philos Award were presented at the 2013 Telfer School of Management Alumni Association Gala of Excellence, which was held at the Ottawa Convention Centre on October 26, 2013.
Trudeau Medals
Established in honour of Reverend Father Roland Trudeau, OMI, former director of the University's Commerce department from 1950 to 1965, the Trudeau Medal is the highest honour given by the Telfer School of Management to its alumni. It recognizes leadership, initiative and contributions to the business world, the community and their alma mater. This year's recipients are:
Cathy Lewis, EMBA 2007
Dennise Albrecht, MHA 1990
Michael McFaul, BAdm 1982
The Young Achiever's Award
The Young Achiever's award was created to honour the individuals (under 40) who have been able to achieve greatness in their lives within an exceptional period of time. This year's recipient is:
The Dean's Philos Award
The Dean’s Philos Award recognized individuals who have demonstrated outstanding philanthropic achievement and social commitment. This award was established in 2004 on the Telfer School of Management’s 35th Anniversary. This year's recipient is:
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
“I could have probably gone through 20 years of heartache in real-life jobs before learning what I did in the two years of the program.”
The 34-year-old founder and CEO of Valydate Inc. has ridden the ups and downs of the National Capital Region’s high tech sector since the heady days of the telecom boom and reinvented himself along the way.
He graduated with a Bachelor in Computer Systems from Carleton University in 2002 and worked in an engineering role with Nortel Networks. When the market tanked, he joined a new design analysis startup called CoreSim as a technical co-founder, where he found a valued life-long mentor in CEO Ken Bradley.
When that venture was sold to Celestica a few years later, Alam looked for a fresh opportunity with a company that was smaller and more entrepreneurial and made his way to electronic product development firm Fidus Systems.
While his Fidus experience allowed him “to grow tremendously” and work in international sales and business development, he hungered for more – a practical business education that would compliment his real-world experience.
A business education with real-world grit
He first checked out a number of MBA programs, but found that most attracted undergrads and their curriculums focused heavily on classroom delivery. What he needed was a program for experienced business professionals with the same career aspirations that would give him the management skills to do what he had always dreamed of – founding his own company as the CEO in the driver’s seat.
He ultimately chose the Executive MBA program offered by the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. Here he found a program with the right mix of experienced faculty members, a cohort of business professionals he could relate to, and a curriculum that focused on working in teams and managing the group dynamics inherent to the success of any business.
“About 50 per cent of the projects I completed for the Executive MBA were related to my daily work at Fidus,” he said.”I drastically grew as a person. The faculty takes you through the process to understand and know what you don’t know. And as Executive MBA candidates working in teams, we struggled the way we should have struggled, we fought and then we learned to work together.”
He also learned about the value of building relationships based on trust, openness and honesty, and in having a network of experienced mentors and advisors. The program equipped him with the tools he needed to launch Valydate, an electronic review and validation firm. In 2009, he was recognized for his achievements with a Forty Under 40 award from the Ottawa Business Journal. Last year, he was recognized by Invest Ottawa as one of its Rising Star CEOs.
3 successful years and counting
Now entering its fourth year, Valydate has been profitable since inception and has doubled its clients, staff and revenue in every year. It works with global multinationals in the telecom, defence and aerospace, photonics, industrial and medical sectors. Each step in its development has been a carefully calculated risk for Alam, who is not a fan of the all-or-nothing school of entrepreneurship where founders leverage their personal assets for startup capital and risk losing everything.
“Never cross that boundary where your job and the risks that you take in that job can result in somebody coming and taking away your furniture,” he tells the current class of Executive MBA candidates in the Telfer program. “Look for safer diving boards versus jumping in without knowing all of the risks.”
And he always emphasizes having that sounding board of trusted mentors with the experience and perspective you can rely on.
“No matter how well you think you know an industry, you don’t know everything,” he said
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Once a year, the Ottawa Business Journal nominates professionals for their business achievements to be in their forty under 40 list.
Among this years’ nominees, eight are University of Ottawa’s alumni from which four studied at the Telfer School of Management. For this achievement, the Telfer School would like to congratulate:
Luc Richard, MBA 1999
Anil Dilawri, BCom 1997
Lynda Joann Carter, BCom 2000
Charla O'Connor, MBA 2005
The Telfer School would also like to congratulate Tara Lapointe, Marie-Andrée Pelletier, Peter Paciorek and Hugues Boisvert, who all graduated from the University of Ottawa.
This year's Forty Under 40 awards gala will take place at the Hilton Lac-Leamy Hotel on June 20, 2013. The event will feature cocktails, fine food, music and dancing and is in part sponsored by the Telfer Executive MBA.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
A Samuel-Genest high school graduate, Phill Cote (BCom 2003) began his Gee-Gee football career in 1996 and had an outstanding four years from 1996 to 2000. A three-time All-Canadian quarterback (1998-2000) and three-time nominee for the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canada's most outstanding university player, Phill took home the prestigious award in 2000. Phill is the only player in the Gee Gees history to be a Hec Crighton winner and member of a national champion Vanier Cup team (2000).
Aside from leading his team to a national championship and being named the Vanier Cup's most valuable player, Phill accomplished much during his four years as the starting quarterback,
including a 77 per cent touchdown to interception ratio, a 28-4 record and uOttawa records for touchdowns scored in a season (16) and in a career (32). Both of his team records still stand today. The four year co-captain was also selected Ottawa's amateur athlete of the year in 2000 by the Associated Canadian Travelers Association.
A promising pro career was cut short by an injury, which led Phill to redirect his energy and focus on his wife and three children and on the pursuit of a career in the federal government.
The self-proclaimed family man continues to exemplify his strong yet humble leadership style which served him so well as a Gee-Gee, where he mentored and encouraged teammates to reach maximum potential. Phill commands respect among his peers by leading by example.
Phill looks forward to teaching his son all about football, just like his father had done for him.
Photo: Normand Fortier, Phillippe Côté, Clinton Archibald
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Linda Eagen has had a distinguished association with the University of Ottawa and the Telfer School of Management. One of Canada's most respected and successful fundraising professionals, she served as director of development for the University of Ottawa for three years. In this role, she led programs that raised more than $10 million as part of the University's capital campaign. She then moved on to serve as manager of development for the Telfer School of Management, where she played a pivotal role in making the school a national leader in business education and research.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
TMX Group Limited today announced the appointment of Jean Desgagné (BAdm 1985, BCom 1986) as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Canadian Depository for Securities Limited (CDS). Mr. Desgagne, whose appointment will take effect on February 19, 2013, will join TMX Group's executive management committee and will be an Officer of TMX Group Limited. He replaces Ian Gilhooley, who retired on December 31, 2012.
Click here to read the complete press release.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Kanika Gupta (BCom 2008) has received one of the Telus Future Leaders Award and thus secured a place in Canada’s Most Powerful Women’s Top 100.
Kanika was inspired to start SoJo, a social enterprise technology company, after more than a decade of building and growing other social ventures. The company builds e-learning tools that guide individuals who want to put their ideas for social change into action. Prior to founding SoJo, Kanika worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Canadian International Development Agency, Canadian House of Commons and grassroots organizations in West Africa and India. In 2007, she founded Nukoko, a non-profit organization that sends more than 600 girls to school in West Africa every year. Kanika is actively engaged as a youth advisor with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Canadian Digital Media Network.
Anne-Marie has received a WXN Hall of Fame Award for winning a spot as a Top 100 most powerful woman three times. She was named Managing Partner of Ernst & Young’s Advisory practice in 2009. She joined the firm in 1985, obtained her CA in 1987, and became a partner in 1998. Prior to leading our Advisory practice, she led their Technology and Security Risk Services group. In 2004, she was named a Fellow of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec (OCAQ).
Anne-Marie is a board member of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec and Public Policy Forum, and she also serves on the public affairs committees of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the OCAQ. Anne-Marie has led her firm’s gender equity initiatives in Canada, and received Ernst & Young’s Rosemarie Meschi Award in recognition of her contributions to the advancement of women in business.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Invest Ottawa is working with nearly 20 community organizations to organize Global Entrepreneurship Week Ottawa. They were asked to submit nominations for the 100 Rising Stars among leaders who operate a business, social enterprise or charitable organization. To be chosen as a Rising Star, the key criteria included creativity, growth of the operation, and overall impact in the community.
Ten Telfer School of Management students or alumni appear on that list:
Eric Dormer, MBA 1993
Jen Butson, BCom 2011
Lori Keith, EMBA 2010
Mark Edwards, EMBA 2000
Michael Alam, EMBA 2009
Mohammad Al Azzouni, Student in Economics with a Minor in Business Administration
Richard Bergman, BCom 1988
Robert Poole, BCom 1987
Sarah Wise, BCom 2000
Rouzbeh Zadeh, EMBA candidate
Click here [This link is no longer available] to see the full list.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Certified Management Accountants of Ontario (CMA Ontario) is proud to announce that Suzan Unitt (BCom 1996), CMA of Ottawa, Ontario, has been appointed as one of five new Fellows to The Society of Certified Management Accountants of Canada (FCMA).
The FCMA designation is a prestigious, national honorary designation awarded to Certified Management Accountants (CMA) who, through their outstanding achievements including community leadership, bring distinction to the management accounting profession and serve as a role model to others.
Ms. Unitt is the Chief Financial Officer and General Manager for Erskine Dredge and Associates Architect Inc., one of Ottawa’s leading architecture firms. She has more than 30 years of professional experience in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. In her current role, she successfully introduced strategic management practices into the organization through her work overseeing Finance, Administration, Human Resources and IT, and was nominated for a Creative Leadership Award at the firm.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Ms. Unitt received her Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Telfer School of Management in 1996. She is considered a role model through her career achievements, enthusiasm of the CMA designation and volunteer work within the community.
Since achieving her CMA designation in 1998, Ms. Unitt has been a strong promoter of CMA Ontario. She currently serves on CMA Ontario’s Review Committee and acts as a mentor in the CMA Mentorship Program. She previously served as a Board member and Chair at the Chapter level in Ottawa for five years.
Ms. Unitt currently serves her community as a Board Member and Strategic Planning Committee member for the Causeway Work Centre, an award winning community economic development organization. She served as Treasurer of the Rehabilitation Centre Volunteer Association Board from 2009 to 2012.
Experienced in the "three pillars" of the profession – accounting, management and strategy – CMAs are strategic and financial management professionals who contribute to the bottom line success of organizations by understanding all areas of business.
The FCMA designation demonstrates excellence in management accounting, commitment and pride to CMA Ontario, and active involvement in improving the well-being of their respective communities that brings respect to the member and the management accounting profession. FCMAs are nominated by their peers, who recognize their exemplary qualities and contributions.
Earlier this year, CMA Ontario was granted status by the Public Accountants Council of Ontario (PAC) as an Authorized Designated Body to license and govern Certified Management Accountants to practise public accounting.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Ms. Robinson has been an active member of the Canadian investment industry for over twenty‐five years. She has unparalleled experience in investment management due diligence and monitoring, and building comprehensive multi‐manager investment platforms geared to the unique needs of private clients. Her experience has also included managing the portfolios and relationships of both private clients and institutions including not‐for‐profit corporations and foundations. Ms. Robinson began working exclusively with families and individuals at RBC Private Counsel in Ottawa where she was a Regional Vice President, Investment Counselor and Partner. She continued her journey with the unique investment needs of private clients when she joined CC&L Private Capital as Vice President. Her work with families and individuals has focused on the development and implementation of customized investment manager strategies, portfolios and investment policies.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Rob Mariani, is Vice President and Group Leader, Public Engagement at Hill + Knowlton Strategies in Ottawa.
Ten years ago Rob co-founded Ascentum with his business partner and fellow Telfer MBA Alumnus Joseph Peters. From a small office in Ottawa's Somerset Village, the firm set out to change the way organizations engage their publics. They developed tools and approaches, both online and in-person that enabled informed participation. Informed participation can be described as what happens when issues meet context. It is an enriched knowledge gathering process that produces meaningful dialogue and supports different degrees of involvement in the decision-making life cycle.
In the market place, this offering represented a shift from the traditional 'top of mind' approach to gathering citizen and stakeholder feedback. Informed participation makes a difference because of the complexity of issues facing today’s organizations. With context, facts and background, participants are better equipped to provide their diverse perspectives helping organizations make more robust and sustainable decisions.
Over the ten year span Rob led a number of initiatives across the government, not-for-profit and business sectors. He participated in public policy development, strategic business planning, program and service delivery, and business transformation. As project lead Rob often called upon this background in Quality and Process management from his time spent at Mitel to help deliver projects on time, within budget, and most importantly of the highest quality.
Today, Rob looks forward to a new horizon. In August of this year Hill + Knowlton Strategies announced the acquisition of Ascentum. H+K is the top-rated strategic communications firm in Canada, a leader in both public relations (PR) and public affairs (PA). As Vice President and Group Leader of the newly formed Public Engagement group, Rob's goal is to support the evolution of PR and PA from an industry that has been traditionally more about telling a story, to one that is involved in the creation of the story by engaging stakeholders and citizens in that process.
For H+K CEO Mike Coates the integration of public engagement into the current service mix represents an opportunity to redefine how the agency uses their relationships to help clients achieve their goals. For Rob and the Public Engagement group, it provides a spring board to continue to grow and expand what started as an Ottawa grown business by two MBA alumni over a decade ago.
Rob volunteers his time with the Telfer School of Management as a mentor in its Executive Mentoring Program.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Mark is co-owner and President of Inspire Developments – a private corporation that owns and manages 94 rental units in the Ottawa area as well as develops unique infill real estate projects. Currently the company is developing a 31 unit condominium project near the Ottawa Train Yards as well as a 3 unit townhouse project in Centertown.
Until the spring of 2012, Mark lived in Toronto for 10 years where he was President and CEO of The Futura Loyalty Group, a strategic services and technology provider to the leading rewards program operators in North America including Aeroplan, Delta Sky Miles, American Advantage Miles and US Airways Miles.
Key experiences in this role included:
- Raised $34 million in venture capital financing through both equity and debt instruments.
- Recruiting, structuring and implementing numerous strategic partnerships with large, public entities.
- Day to day oversight and management of a team of as many as 50 staff.
Mark is a down to earth, transparent, results oriented manager who enjoys interacting with all stakeholders in a business environment.
Mark is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Telfer School.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Five remarkable alumni will be recognized by receiving Trudeau medals, the Young Achiever's Award and the Dean's Philos Award for their outstanding contributions to the world of business, the community and their alma mater at the 2012 Telfer School of Management Alumni Association Gala of Excellence. The Gala will be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre on September 29, 2012, during the University of Ottawa’s Homecoming celebrations.
Trudeau Medals
John King, MHA 1979
Janet LeBlanc, MBA 1990
Charles-Antoine St-Jean, BAdm 1975, BCom 1976 [This link is no longer available]
The Young Achiever's Award
Frédéric Michel, MBA 2004
The Dean's Philos Award
Brian Radburn, BAdm 1981, BCom 1982 [This link is no longer available]
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
In 1992, Michael was selected among 5300 candidates to be one of Canada's next generation of astronauts. Michael retired from the military in 2001, and seeking ever-greater challenges, began to work with PixeLINK in 2002. As president, Michael provided strategic direction to the company and ensured that PixeLINK provided the best products to customers as well as the most value to shareholders.
Michael left the company in 2008 to become an independent consultant and CEO of the Ottawa Flight College/Ottawa Flying Club. He helped the organization to transition from a club to an operating business with the development and formulation of policies and procedures and the creation of corporate learning processes that have enabled the organization grow and adapt to changing business conditions. In addition, he revamped the IT system, implementing an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning system that automated business processes and improved reporting and control, while replacing several other software systems and eliminating redundant manual data entry. He has also been instrumental in maintaining strong stakeholder relationships with key partners and suppliers of the company.
In 2012, Michael became the CEO of Scouts Canada.
Mike holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada and an Executive MBA from the Telfer School of Management.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Three remarkable alumni will be recognized by receiving Trudeau medals for their outstanding contributions to the world of business, the community and their alma mater at the 2012 Telfer School of Management Alumni Association Gala of Excellence. The Gala will be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre on September 29, 2012, during the University of Ottawa’s Homecoming celebrations.
John King, MHA 1979
Janet LeBlanc, MBA 1990
Charles-Antoine St-Jean, BAdm 1975, BCom 1976 [This link is no longer available]
The recipients of the Dean's Philos Award and of the Young Achiever's Award will be announced shortly.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Weiwei (Vivi) Wu will present her research on innovation-enabling organizations at the Academy of Management’s annual meeting, August 3-7 in Boston.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Janet LeBlanc is internationally recognized for her expertise in customer value and experience management with award winning results in driving transformational change. She works with organizations to improve performance by transforming how they interact with clients to deliver a branded customer experience. Janet integrates customer expectations into strategic planning, employee performance management, and process improvement initiatives—with the goal to link customer strategies to business and financial results. She successfully led the integration of customer feedback into one of Canada’s most recognized brands, Canada Post. Janet works to engage employees with a branded customer experience through training and development, performance management, executive coaching, compensation and rewards, and communications.
Awards & Recognition
Janet was the winner of a 2009 Stevie Award for Women in Business (Best Executive) and her leadership won Canada Post four international awards ─ namely an International Business Award for Best Customer Service Organization, a 1to1 Impact Award for Organizational Transformation, a World Mail Award for Customer Service, and an Aberdeen Industry Achievement Award for Business Evolution. Janet was named to the prestigious position of Customer Champion, joining a world-wide community of top-level executives who are the voice of the customer in their organizations and whose efforts help tie customer strategies to bottom-line results. She sits on Dr. Bradley Gale’s Advisory Board for Customer Value Management and was a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Customer Strategist, an executive journal for Chief Customer Experience Officers. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Capital Region YMCA-YWCA.
Speaking Summary
A leading-edge practitioner, Janet is passionate about representing the voice of the customer. A sought-after guest speaker, Janet regularly presents at events all over the world including the Chief Service Officer Summit, the Customer Experience and Engagement Summit, and the European Market Research Event. She was the main conference chair for the 9th Annual North American Conference on Customer Management.
Professional History
A 20-year marketing veteran, Janet has influenced innovative strategic thinking since starting her career. She previously led a national training and development department for sales and customer service and served as marketing director of the Coaching Association of Canada where she led the implementation of “Coaching Principles in Management” a training program for sales and service managers. Janet holds a Masters of Business Administration and was an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Ottawa for 10 years. She is an accomplished writer including a Canadian best seller, available worldwide in three languages
Click here [This link is no longer available], to read the article on Janet Leblanc featured in Distinctive Women Magazine.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Emily graduated from the Telfer B.Com program with an option in International Management in 2006. While at the University of Ottawa, Emily got involved with AIESEC Ottawa, the local chapter of AIESEC, a global youth-led organization. After leading the local chapter for two years, and upon graduation, Emily moved first to Pretoria, South Africa in 2007, to support the operations of Ungana-Afrika, a niche consultancy and non-profit that catalyzes scalable enterprises in emerging markets by accelerating the adoption of innovative technologies, business models and services, that promote equality and improve quality of life.
Emily then moved on to Lagos, Nigeria, to work for C2G Consulting, a technology consulting firm. Upon her return to Canada from Nigeria, Emily re-joined AIESEC, this time in a full-time role, with the national head office in Toronto, managing an alumni engagement program. She was then elected as National President for AIESEC Canada for the 2008-2009 term. In this role she led a team of 8 full-time staff out of the head office and oversaw the activities of 28 local offices and over 300 volunteers across the country.
At the end of her time with AIESEC Canada, Emily was selected to be part of the team that oversees AIESEC's global operations and was based in the Netherlands for much of 2009 and 2010, in her role as Director for Western Europe and North America. In this role, Emily oversaw operations in 19 national offices in the region, providing consultancy services and training to groups representing over 10,000 members of AIESEC in Western Europe and North America. This role gave her the opportunity to work in 23 different countries over the course of the year.
Upon completion of her time with AIESEC International, Emily moved to Sydney, Australia, where she is now Director of Operations and Projects for the Youth Action and Policy Association, an industry body representing, and advocating on behalf of, the interests of youth services and young people in the state of New South Wales. In her role, Emily oversees the delivery of the organization’s training and resourcing of its members as well as its internal operations.
See Emily's profile on our Linked with Leadership portal.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Once a year, the Ottawa Business Journal nominates professionals for their business achievements to be in their forty under 40 list. On June 21, nominees will be honored at the Forty under 40 awards at the Hilton Lac-Leamy. This event is sponsored in part by the Telfer School Executive MBA.
Among this years’ nominees, 6 are University of Ottawa’s alumni from which 2 studied at the Telfer School of Management. For this achievement, the Telfer School would like to congratulate:
Kyle Braatz, BCom 2009
Alexandra Pontbriand, BCom 1999
The Telfer School would also like to congratulate Adam Aptowitzer, Theresa Balys-Bertuzzi, Deepak Dutt, Fadi Ghaby and Julie Kingstone who all graduated from the University of Ottawa.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Russ Morgan is a Telfer School of Management alumnus that likes to keep busy. Aside from his professional life as a strategy and marketing professional, over the last three years he has started and run a non-profit alongside his brother and a small board. Dedicated to eliminating poverty in the developing world, Building Walls of Wisdom (BuildWoW) has been committed to creating educational opportunities through the construction of schools.
During his tenure at the Telfer School of Management, Russ was the president of the winning Undergraduate Business Games team [This link is no longer available], as well as a four-year executive on the University of Ottawa Marketing Association, now the Telfer Marketing Association. Russ learned early on that going above and beyond what is expected of you can be incredibly rewarding.
One of the biggest rewards Russ received was on a recent trip to visit all BuildWoW projects underway in Africa. He was able to see first-hand the very real difference that his organization, inclusive of its numerous contributors, has made in various communities. In a recent reflection of his trip, he wrote the following:
“At the end of the day we are all people; people that work, people that laugh, and people that want the best for their children. The only difference is where we are born and the resources that are available. For those of us who live in a country where resources and education are abundant, we have a responsibility to help those communities with less.”
Russ is a firm believer that his business education has greatly contributed to his organization's success. With a BCom in Marketing, Russ has been able to apply a number of strategic frameworks to help BuildWoW grow. In addition, Russ continues to support doing more -“Everyone within our organization, myself included, work on a volunteer basis. I have seen first-hand that individuals can provoke change no matter what profession they choose.”
To see Russ in action, we invite you to watch the video explaining the current Building Walls of Wisdom project in Northern Ghana.
About Building Walls of Wisdom
Launched on April 1st, 2009, Building Walls of Wisdom was created in an effort to make a small impact in the world of extreme poverty. The construction of schools is one of the most significant ways to tackle this issue. Building Walls of Wisdom creates educational opportunities one school at a time. Its original and very modest goal was to build 10 schools in 10 years. Today, they are in the midst of raising funds for their 7th project. To date, Building Walls of Wisdom has been responsible for the construction of schools in Kenya, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, and Ghana.
For more information on Building Walls of Wisdom, please visit www.buildwow.com.
To contact Russ Morgan directly, please
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Diane Lorenzato (EMBA 1996) will be at the Annual Symposium Association of the Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) as the winner for the Leadership Award of Excellence. This event, titled “Ahead of the Curve: Predict, Plan, Perform”, will take place on May 29 and May 30 at Canada’s National Arts Center in Ottawa. To view the preliminary program or to register, click here.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Laura Recoskie and her team members (Steven Recoskie and Sébastien Touchette) won 1st place in the graduate students category of the 2012 PEI Student Competition organized by the Faculty of Engineering. Their challenge was to develop a portable, low cost and long endurance system capable of providing crisis management solutions and search and rescue support. The product solution that was presented is an autonomous, low cost, hybrid powered, dirigible, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), capable of operating up to 96 hours. Because it uses commercially available components and a modular design, it is cheaper to produce and it can be adapted to other devices according to specific mission objectives.
To see the complete list of the winners, click here [This link is no longer available].
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Sean Sirois is Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Securities Limited and is responsible for Global Markets Structured Solutions sales to institutional clients in Canada. The Structured Solutions business includes cash and derivative instruments in credit, rates, hedge funds, commodities, real estate and FX. He is Director of DBSL and Branch Manager of the Montreal office. He has been registered with IIROC as a Futures Representative and a Commodities Supervisor.
Sean joined DB in 2003. He was previously at JP Morgan in Montreal for 6 years and TD Securities in Toronto, Montreal and Tokyo for 13 years in various trading, sales and management positions. Sean earned a B.Comm (Honours) at University of Ottawa in 1982; a Diplome at Ecole supérieure de commerce de Paris in 1983 and the CFA charter in 1995.
Sean lives in Montreal with his wife and three children, while his work is based between Montreal and Toronto. He enjoys running, cycling, skiing and various other recreational activities. Sean supports various social and environmental causes. He is a past board member for Tyndale St-Georges Community Center in Little Burgundy in Montreal and continues to fundraise for the organization. Sean is currently a member of the Telfer School of Management’s Dean’s Advisory Board in Montréal.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Joanne Lefebvre, Badm 1983; MBA 2011, director-general of the Regroupement des gens d’affaires de la Capitale nationale, provides her CO-OP students with memorable experiences that give them a chance to spread their wings professionally.
To that end, she assigns truly important duties to her students while showering them with tremendous generosity. CO-OP students on Ms. Lefebvre’s team are allowed to play a direct role in event organization and to carry out wrap-up duties as well.
This is why she won the CO-OP Employer of the year Award.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
As recently featured on the Telfer School of Management website, Myron Gomes is a recent BCom graduate from the Telfer School of Management specializing in finance. Upon graduation, Myron co-founded Spoonity, a software company with a unique loyalty rewards platform for the restaurant industry. He recently partnered with Jag Ghuman, another Telfer alumnus and Ottawa franchisee for Freshii restaurants. Jag has agreed to run Spoonity in his two Ottawa Freshii locations. Myron hopes to expand Spoonity into other Freshii locations in the near future.
Additionally, Spoonity was recently accepted into the University of Ottawa’s StartUp Garage for the summer of 2012. The StartUp Garage is an initiative of the Ottawa Technology Transfer Network (OTTN) to foster and support student entrepreneurship in the Ottawa area. This opportunity also includes $20,000 in funding, office space at Invest Ottawa and other mentorship opportunities.
Spoonity has also been invited to appear on the next season of Dragon’s Den, airing this Fall on CBC.
The future is looking bright for this startup. Congratulations to Myron and his team at Spoonity!
Click here to find out more about Myron Gomes.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Felix Chim graduated from the Executive MBA program in 2000. Prior to studying at the Telfer School of Management, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree (with honors) in Civil Engineering from Leeds University in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chim went on to work in the construction industry for over 15 years. He has been employed by a number of multinational companies including, CertainTeed (Saint-Gobain), HILTI, Tyco and Shui On. He currently works for Lowe’s, a fortune 50 company in the United States and the second largest home improvement retailer in the world, as Managing Director of the Global Sourcing Office in Hong Kong.
Since joining Lowe’s in 2005, he has moved over 800,000 container cargoes from Asia to the United States! “I had never dreamt of taking up a career in global sourcing and supply chain management but after receiving an EMBA from the Telfer School of Management, it opened up all kinds of career opportunities and I am very happy of where I am now” says Mr. Chim.
Outside of work, he is also a non-executive Director of Christian Excellence Mission Limited, a not-for-profit Christian book publisher in Hong Kong and he is also Vice Chairman at the Export Supply Chain Council in Hong Kong.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Jacline Abray-Nyman is an accomplished leader in the public sector with 20 years of demonstrated success in senior roles within Canadian universities. Jacline's career has focused on philanthropic fundraising, stakeholder and external relations. Acting in the capacity of principal gifts director and campaign counsel, Jacline has personally negotiated many significant philanthropic gifts and business partnerships, and worked on fundraising efforts totaling in excess of $125 million since 1999.
With Queen's School of Business, Jacline provides leadership for developing meaningful relationships with QSB's alumni and donors as well as with community and corporate leaders. As an Assistant Professor, Jacline teaches marketing, marketing ethics and social responsibility and has research interests in marketing, philanthropy and the social-mission sector. Jacline recently concluded a major research project entitled "Transformational philanthropy and networks of cocreated value in Canada."
Prior to joining QSB Jacline worked as a consultant providing advice to clients on relationship building, resource development, marketing and strategic planning. She held the position of Vice- President of Fundraising and Donor Relations for the York University Foundation; Director of Development and External Relations, for the Haskayne School of Business (University of Calgary); and Director of Advancement Services (University of Ottawa); in addition to several other for-profit and non-profit roles. She has worked closely as a volunteer with the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), a Toronto-based social enterprise with a mission to catalyze social innovation.
Jacline holds a Bachelor of Administration (Ottawa), an MBA (Calgary), and Doctorate in Business Administration (Cranfield, UK). She is married and has a daughter.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Congratulations to Telfer School alumnus Jacline Abray-Nyman (BAdm 1990) who has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way Centraide Canada.
About Jacline Abray-Nyman
Jacline Abray-Nyman is an accomplished leader in the public sector with 20 years of demonstrated success in senior roles within Canadian universities. Jacline's career has focused on philanthropic fundraising, stakeholder and external relations. Acting in the capacity of principal gifts director and campaign counsel, Jacline has personally negotiated many significant philanthropic gifts and business partnerships, and worked on fundraising efforts totaling in excess of $125 million since 1999.
With Queen's School of Business, Jacline provides leadership for developing meaningful relationships with QSB's alumni and donors as well as with community and corporate leaders. As an Assistant Professor, Jacline teaches marketing, marketing ethics and social responsibility and has research interests in marketing, philanthropy and the social-mission sector. Jacline recently concluded a major research project entitled "Transformational philanthropy and networks of cocreated value in Canada."
Prior to joining QSB Jacline worked as a consultant providing advice to clients on relationship building, resource development, marketing and strategic planning. She held the position of Vice- President of Fundraising and Donor Relations for the York University Foundation; Director of Development and External Relations, for the Haskayne School of Business (University of Calgary); and Director of Advancement Services (University of Ottawa); in addition to several other for-profit and non-profit roles. She has worked closely as a volunteer with the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), a Toronto-based social enterprise with a mission to catalyze social innovation.
Jacline holds a Bachelor of Administration (Ottawa), an MBA (Calgary), and Doctorate in Business Administration (Cranfield, UK). She is married and has a daughter.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
The Telfer School of Management wishes to congratulate Charles Bordeleau (BAdm 1984) who has been named the new Chief of the Ottawa Police Service. Mr. Bordeleau was honoured as an alumnus of the Telfer School in 2011 as the recipient of the 2011 Dean's Philos Award.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Thibaud Clement is a 2011 Telfer MBA Graduate. Native from France, Thibaud is currently traveling around the world to learn about eCommerce in a creative way, by meeting experts on the road. This is The DODEQA Project: 12 months, 12 cities, 12 objectives. Passionate about Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Web Technologies, Thibaud has already launched his first eCommerce website: Candyscovery. When he is not blogging or reading books, Thibaud loves running, photographing and cooking. His motto? Do Your Best & Fix The Rest!
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Co-Founder, Spoonity
Myron is a recent BCom graduate from the Telfer School of Management specializing in finance. He has a strong passion for entrepreneurship and business development. As an undergraduate Myron was very involved in extra-curricular activities including founding a regular speaker series while President of the Telfer Finance Society which brought in professionals to educate students on careers in finance. He also excelled in inter-university academic competitions. He placed 1st in the Entrepreneurship Case at the 2011 Jeux du Commerce, 1st in International Marketing at the 2010 Happening Marketing, 1st in Finance News Quiz at Omnium Financial Open 2010 and 2nd in International Business at JDC 2010. While a student Myron participated in the uOttawa co-op program and had a diverse set of work terms with organizations like RIM and EDC. Myron also participated in an international exchange to Aarhus School of Business in Denmark.
Following university Myron co-founded Spoonity, a software company with a unique loyalty rewards platform for the restaurant industry. Myron leverages knowledge and skills gained through his multi-faceted Telfer education to run an innovative technology company. The company is poised for rapid growth following a period of software development and a pilot test featured restaurants in the Ottawa area.
Spoonity in the news (this link is no longer available)