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Leadership Councils

donald ainslie

larry alford

cristina amon

jonathan h. anschell

Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Secretary, CBS Corporation

(BA ’89, JD ‘92)

Jonathan H. Anschell serves as Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Secretary for CBS Corporation. Anschell oversees the CBS’s securities, corporate governance, executive compensation, ERISA and real estate matters, and also supervises the CBS Law Department’s intellectual property and labor and employment practice groups.

In addition to his corporate role, Anschell serves as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of CBS Broadcasting Inc. In that capacity, Anschell oversees the legal affairs and standards and practices functions for the Company’s televised entertainment and news operations.

Before joining CBS in 2004, Anschell was a partner in White O’Connor Curry LLP, a Los Angeles law firm, where he maintained a trial and appellate practice with particular emphasis on entertainment and media-related matters.

Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Anschell received his J.D. from the University of Toronto, where he also earned his degree in political science and history as an undergraduate at University College. He lives in Southern California with his wife and two children.

nigel beck

Founder, Whenlabs

(BA, Trinity ’91)

Nigel is CEO and Founder of When Labs: artificial intelligence for augmenting management, driving compliance, employee engagement, retention, and productivity. http://whenlabs.com

Nigel’s passion for HR and management comes from over two decades of building and managing teams from two to thousands around the globe, and led to his acquisition of Kenexa, a human capital management company, the 6th largest acquisition IBM had ever made.

Nigel is a proven leader and innovator. As founding CTO of Footprint Software, a fintech startup, he engineered the largest retail banking system of its kind, building the fastest growing startup in Canada at the time, which sold to IBM. There, he architected IBM’s entry into Open Source software, making IBM the first major corporation to embrace Linux and Apache, and was founding product line manager for their most successful organic software product of the last two decades, WebSphere. Along the way, he founded one of the earliest commercial bot companies, liketribe, which used artificial intelligence and social graph data to provide personalized recommendations.

Nigel is a charter member and board member of the C100, an organization devoted to driving innovation and entrepreneurship in Canada, and on the Advisory Board of the Cornell Institute for Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations (CIHLER). He is passionate about learning, sailing, and being a proud new dad.

robert bell

Chief Executive Officer, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

(BASc ’73)

Robert joined the Trust as chief executive in March 2005 from the William Osler Health Centre, Ontario, Canada, where he was president and chief executive officer.

He has over 40 years international experience in hospital and health services management.

He is a member of the board of directors of Imperial College Health Partners, the Institute of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Imperial College Academic Health Sciences Centre. Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Health Innovations, Imperial College and Chairman of the Association of UK University Hospitals.

He has previously held positions as:

*Vice President, Health Care & Life Sciences Market Sectors, Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young Canada Inc.

*Partner, Ernst & Young and at KPMG (Peat Marwick), Toronto

*Vice President, Hilton Universal Hospitals UK Ltd, London

*Vice President, International Services, Extendicare Inc. (London and Toronto)

*Executive Director of District Health Councils in the Ministry of Health, Ontario

*Treasury board officer, Management Board of Cabinet, Government of Ontario

*Systems engineer, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.

Robert has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto and a Master of Public Administration.

heather boon

randy boyagoda

adalsteinn brown

paul brundage

Head of Europe and Asia Pacific, Oxford Properties

(BA '87)

Paul currently leads the European and Asia Pacific teams with Oxford Properties, overseeing all aspects of their strategy, execution and continued expansion into global gateway cities within these two regions.

Paul has been with OMERS for over 20 years. Prior to opening the Oxford’s London office in 2008, he led asset management and operations of Oxford’s 50-million sq ft Canadian portfolio, and held leadership positions with Borealis Real Estate Management Inc. and OMERS Realty Corporation, Prudential of England and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Paul has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and Geography from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Arts in Urban and Regional Analysis from State University of New York.

Paul is a fellow of RICS, a former President and current board member of the British Property Federation and a board member of the Bank of England’s Property Advisory Committee, Henley Business School Strategy Board

alixe buckerfield de la roche

Advisor, General the Lord Richards, House of Lords

(MA ’81)

Alixe Buckerfield de la Roche is an Advisor specializing in Defence and Security in the House of Lords, in the UK Parliament. Over her career she has worked on Tier I Cyber Threats, asymmetric warfare and hybrid threats, post-conflict governance structures, and post-war resilience and security audit. She is Adviser in Parliament to General the Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, formerly Chief of the Defence Staff. She was previously Advisor to Lord Salisbury’s Defence & Security Group. She was for many years Adviser to Baroness Park of Monmouth, and was Policy Analyst and Parliamentary Researcher (Defence & Security) for Lady Park’s work in the House of Lords.

Alixe has specialised in creating Trust Networks, and devising mechanisms for developing trust networks across organisations, institutions, international governance, & corporate structures for over two decades. An Applied Political Ethicist, she has worked as a Member of Ethics Panels, Ethics Boards, and Ethical Review Committees of institutions and organisations across multiple sectors for over two decades, including the University of Oxford.

A Policy Analyst (Strategy), a Consultant, Lecturer across defence, security, and intelligence domains, and a specialist in Ethical Audit, Alixe’s spheres of engagement include the nexus of Security & Resilience, the shaping of Governance and Accountability, Parliamentary Scrutiny of Government, Policy Analysis, the interface between Policy and Legislation, paradigms & mechanisms for evaluating Risks and Threats, and Ethical Frameworks for Good Governance in post-conflict nation-states. She has published across defence and security domains, and works on multiple pro bono projects relating to Afghanistan. In her spare time she has been a much-published freelance photographer for over 25 years. Alixe has a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto.

gwen burrows

david cameron

tenniel chu

Vice Chairman, Mission Hills Group

(BA (Economics), UofT Scarborough, 1999; Hong Kong Branch Event Committee, 2002; Arbor Award, 2008; Upper Canada College, 1995; Post-graduate studies for Professional Golf Management, Humber College, Toronto)

Tenniel Chu is the Vice Chairman of Mission Hills Group, owner and operator of Mission Hills Golf Club, the largest golf facility in the world with clubhouses in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Haikou.

Mr. Chu joined the family business in 2001, and now oversees the overall operations and development of Mission Hills Golf Club. Prior to this, he worked at US PGA TOUR. In 2014, Mr. Chu retired from his position as Director at Synergis Holdings Ltd., a company founded by his late father Dr. David CHU (Hon. LLD, UofT, 1997; Hon. Advisor to Asia during tenure of UofT Pres. J. Robert S. Prichard).

Mr. Chu is involved in Hong Kong and Mainland China charity and community services, including the United Nations Charity Golf event and the Golfers 5.12 Fundraising Golf Campaign. He is Honorary President of the Hong Kong Golf Media Association, Honorary Advisor of the China-HK Executive Women’s Golf Association, Chairman of OneAsia, Vice Chairman of Hainan Youth Federation, Committee Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Shenzhen and Hainan and Committee Member of the All-China Youth Federation.

Mr. Chu is married to Carmen Chu and has two children.

josephine comiskey

President, GlaxoSmithKine, France

(BA '96)

A Canadian citizen, Josephine Comiskey holds a Bachelor of Science, Physiology from the University of Toronto (Canada) and an MBA from Southern Methodist University (Dallas).

Josephine joined the GSK Group in 1999 as part of a managerial development program. She has held several positions of increasing responsibility, including marketing and sales.

Since 2010, Josephine has gained international experience in various strategic roles. She has held various positions in the US, including VP Strategy, Operations & Planning, VP Commercial Capabilities, and Chief of Staff of President Pharma North America, before being named VP Corporate Strategy in the CEO's office. in the UK, then General Manager of the Danish subsidiary of GSK in 2015.

Prior to her current position, Josephine Comiskey had taken over the Nordic and Baltic area, which includes Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

donald crawshaw

Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

(BA VIC ’84, LLB ’82)

Donald Crawshaw, who also has an LLM and MA, is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Capital Markets, Financial Services, Investment Management and Commodities and Derivatives Groups. He has been active on matters for Canadian and U.S. clients throughout his career, working on a wide variety of public and private financing, acquisition and disposition, investment management, reporting, corporate governance, auditor independence, shareholder activism and other matters, and is an expert on the multi-jurisdictional disclosure system between Canada and the United States.

Mr. Crawshaw has worked on public and private offerings of common and preferred equity, hybrid, convertible, and indexed debt securities and warrants for numerous Canadian and U.S. issuers. His investment management practice includes the representation of open- and closed-end funds and their directors and the development of innovative products, including exchange-traded and various types of unregistered funds.

Mr. Crawshaw has written and spoken about, among other things, issues for audit committees, corporate governance, securities law reform, globalization and the practice of law, regulatory and other developments affecting investment companies, the use of derivatives by pooled investment vehicles, and the multi-jurisdictional disclosure system between Canada and the United States. He has been a member of the Investment Management Regulation Committee of the New York City Bar Association (2006-2009 and 2012-1015), a member of the Task Force on Investment Company Use of Derivatives and Leverage of the ABA Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities, Section of Business Law, the Task Force to Update the Fund Director's Guidebook and is the Vice-Chair of the Investment Companies and Investment Advisers Subcommittee.

paul dalla lana

Chairman & CEO, NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT and Founder & President, Northwest Value Partners, Inc.

Mr. Dalla Lana is the founder, Chairman and CEO of NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT and the founder and President of NorthWest Value Partners Inc. He has 25 years of experience in real estate acquisition, development, and finance. Since 2004, Mr. Dalla Lana has led NorthWest Healthcare Properties’ strategy and growth into Canada’s largest healthcare REIT and, more recently, into global markets of Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil. Mr. Dalla Lana received his B.A. and M.B.A. from the University of British Columbia, is an Advisory Board Member of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and is on the President’s Advisory Council at the University of Toronto.

keri damen

amrita daniere

daniel debow

CEO and Co-Founder of Helpful.com

(JD/MBA ’00)

Daniel Debow is the CEO and co-founder of Helpful.com, a stealth start-up. Most recently, he was SVP, Emerging Technologies at Salesforce. Previously, Daniel was the co-founder and co-CEO of Rypple, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2011. Prior to Rypple, Daniel was on the founding team of Workbrain, which was acquired by Infor in 2007. Daniel has made over 40 angel investments and in 2015 was recognized as Canada's "Angel Investor of the Year."

Daniel holds a JD/MBA (Gold medalist) from the University of Toronto, an LLM in Law, Science and Technology from Stanford University and a BA in Psychology from Western University. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, Founding Partner of the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management, Founder of Root Down Studios and serves on the advisory boards of Thalmic Labs, the Rotman School, Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, The Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, OMERS Ventures and ScaleUp Ventures. Daniel is a recipient of the Rotman School's Catalyst Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the UofT Alumni Arbor Award. Daniel's views on technology have been featured in media such as Bloomberg, the CBC, the Toronto Star, and Forbes. He lives in Toronto with his wife and four children.

joe desloges

barbara dick

priya dogra

President, WarnerMedia EMEA & Asia (excl. China.)

(HBSc ’02, UTM)

Priya Dogra is a part of WarnerMedia’s international leadership team and leads the company’s operations for its entertainment networks and its Warner Bros. businesses in EMEA & Asia (excl. China).

Her portfolio covers the operations of WarnerMedia’s linear TV channels in the regions including programming and affiliate and ad sales, and features brands such as HBO, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, as well as regional and local brands. She also oversees programming and original content production for HBO and HBO Max as well as local theatrical production and acquisitions. Further commercial activities include distribution of US-produced content through theatrical exhibition, home entertainment and licensing to TV networks; and consumer products for WarnerMedia’s key brands.

Priya also works closely with HBO Max leadership as the direct-to-consumer business grows and launches in new territories.
Prior to her current role, Priya was President, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks, EMEA & APAC, with executive oversight and responsibility for programming, advertising, distribution and operations of the WarnerMedia entertainment networks in these regions. She concurrently also held the role of Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development, leading the development of WarnerMedia’s long-term strategy and managing key initiatives across the company to drive growth, with a particular focus on WarnerMedia’s international businesses. In this role, she oversaw corporate strategy, M&A, and venture investments and partners with operating executives to determine business priorities and develop strategies for growth.

Previously, Priya was Senior Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions for Time Warner, Inc. Over a nine-year period, she helped to originate, evaluate and execute critically important transactions across the company overseeing Time Warner’s global M&A efforts. She supported the company’s long-term corporate strategies by identifying and developing key opportunities as well as defining capital allocation priorities. These included corporate-level transactions such as the merger of Time Warner with AT&T as well as divisional acquisitions and investments in production assets, television networks, digital media, data analytics and direct to consumer assets globally.

Priya joined Time Warner in 2009 prior to which she was a Vice President in the Technology, Media and Telecom Investment Banking Group at Citigroup where she spent seven years based out of the New York, London and Toronto offices.

Priya received a B.Sc. (honors) degree from the University of Toronto where she majored in Commerce and Computer Science. She is a member of the University of Toronto International Leadership Council, and in May 2019 received the University’s Desmond Parker Outstanding Young Alumni Award. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Opportunity Network whose mission is to guide underrepresented students to and through college into successful careers.

November 2020

lyse doucet

Chief International Correspondent, BBC

(MA ’82, Hon LLD ’09)

Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and senior Presenter who anchors news programmes for BBC World TV and World Service Radio. She is regularly deployed to present special news coverage from the field, interview world leaders, and report across the BBC’s domestic and global outlets.

Before joining the BBC’s team of presenters in 1999, Lyse spent 15 years as a BBC foreign correspondent with postings in Jerusalem, Amman, Islamabad, Tehran, Kabul and Abidjan.

Lyse’s most recent awards include the St Martin’s Trustees Award for her reporting on religious issues, the One World Media Radio award for a documentary on Afghan women, an Emmy and a Peabody in the United States in 2014 for her team’s reporting from Syria. Her broadcasting also won her the ITV Studios Award in the Women in Film and Television Studio awards. Her report from the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk outside Damascus was honoured with the 2014 Prix Bayeux Calvados for war reporting. In 2013, she was awarded Britain’s James Cameron Award, in 2012 an Edward R Murrow award for radio reports from Tunisia, and a Peabody and David Bloom Award in 2010 for television films from Afghanistan. Earlier awards include Gold and Silver Sony Awards for News Journalist of the Year, International Television Personality of the Year from the Association for International Broadcasting and the News and Factual Award from Women in Film and Television.

Lyse was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Honours list in 2014 for her services to broadcasting and the Columbia Journalism Award for lifetime achievement in 2016.

Born in New Brunswick, in eastern Canada, Lyse has nine honorary doctorates from leading Canadian and British Universities. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto and a BA Hons from Queen’s University in Kingston.

Lyse is an honorary patron of Canadian Crossroads International, and a member of Friends of Aschiana UK which supports working street children in Afghanistan. She is also a founding member of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network and a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She is a Trustee of the Frontline Club for Journalists and the mediation firm Inter-Mediate.

wendy duff

steven elliott

Barrister, One Essex Court

Steven Elliott is a barrister practicing commercial law as a tenant of the Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC, One Essex Court in London. Steven has acted in or advised on proceedings in several jurisdictions as well as before international arbitration tribunals.

Steven graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto in 1995, having won numerous prizes. He also completed a DPhil in law at the University of Oxford (Merton College), funded by a Commonwealth Scholarship, and was a lecturer at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Steven served as a clerk to the British Columbia Court of Appeal and as a judicial assistant to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

Steven is a co-author of The Law of Rescission (OUP 2nd edn 2014), a contributor of Snell’s Equity (Sweet & Maxwell 33rd edn 2016) and the author of numerous articles on commercial law topics. He is also an editor of Restitution of Overpaid Tax (Hart 2014), a member of the Advisory Group of Restatement of the English Law of Unjust Enrichment (2012 OUP), an editor of the Journal of Equity and a founding editor of the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal. Steven’s writings have been referred to in decisions of the House of Lords, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the High Court of Australia and the Singapore Court of Appeal as well as in decisions of intermediate appellate courts in Canada and New Zealand.

Steven enjoys skiing, hiking, fly fishing, kayaking and other outdoor pursuits.

kwong wah er

Director, Firstlink Investment Corporation Ltd.

(BASc (Electrical Engineering), UofT, 1970; Singapore Campaign Committee, Engineering, 2013-present; Engineering Dean’s Advisory Board, 1996-2005; Regional Alumni Contact, 2014-2016; U of T Club of Singapore, 2005; Arbor Award, 2005; MBA, University of Manchester, 1978; Hon. Fellow, Cardiff Metropolitan University, U.K, Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques, France,Public Service Medal(Gold) & Public Service Star, Singapore)

Mr. Er spent 27 years in the service of the Singapore Government before retiring in 1998, to join the private sector. While in the civil service, he served in various ministries including the Ministry of Defence, the Public Service Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Community Development. He was the Permanent Secretary, first with the Ministry of Education from 1987 to 1994, and then with the Ministry of Community Development until his retirement.

His public sector appointments included such institutions as the National University of Singapore, SIM University, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, National Institute of Education, Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore Sports Council, United World College of South East Asia, National Environment Agency and Raffles Institution.

He also sits as an independent director on the boards of a number of public companies in Singapore.

Mr. Er’s community based work includes having served on the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council, Chairmanship of the Toa Payoh Central Citizen Consultative Committee and the Board of The Tsao Foundation. He is currently a District Councillor in Central Singapore Community Development Council

Mr. Er is married to visual artist Madame Chiang Siew Kheng. They have two children, Joanna Er and Shawn Er, and two grandchildren, Oliver Er and Emma Chee.

angela esterhammer

mark evans

Partner, LP and Investment Committee member, Kindred Capital

(UTS ’75)

Mark started his career in finance and for the past 20 years has been working in and with technology start-ups in the UK/Europe, Asia and the US.

Mark is currently a Partner, LP and Investment Committee member at Kindred Capital, a European seed-stage venture fund, based in London.

He spent 15 years @ Goldman Sachs, in Europe, Asia and the US, overseeing the firm’s global capital markets business and worldwide research activities. He was also Chairman of GS Asia from 1992-97 and a member of the firm’s Management Committee from 1992 through its listing in 1999.

Since 1999, Mark has worked in the technology industry, including running a US software start-up, founding early stage venture firms in Europe: Benchmark Capital (Balderton), China: TrustBridge Partners and the UK: Kindred Capital, as well as sitting on the boards of US listed Chinese technology companies, Shanda Inc and Qihoo 360 and several UK and European technology businesses.

He attended UTS, then studied Economics @ Queen’s University and @ University of Oxford.

josh feuer

Chief Operating Officer, Chief Product Officer, Co-Founder Genesis Media

(MSc ’01)

As Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer, Josh leads the product, ad operations and data science teams. He is charged with defining, building and optimizing Genesis’ suite of products, setting the organization’s data science strategy and developing the Genesis patent portfolio. Previously, Josh was co-founder and CEO of TVGenesis, which he built into a dominant video ad platform before merging with Beezag in 2011 to become Genesis Media.

Josh was also CEO of video marketplace Shopflick.com, as well as co-founder of social publishing platform Woman.ca, which he led as CEO to an acquisition by Transcontinental Media (TCL.A) in 2009. He is also the co-founder of Spamhaus which hosts data scientists, mathematicians, computer scientists, researchers and industry professionals in a round-table dialogue on the industry’s “unsolvable problems.”

Josh is entrepreneur-in-residence at the Laboratory for Entrepreneurship in Data Science (L.E.D.S.) and is a Visiting Academic at Courant Institute of Mathematics at New York University. He has a BSc from McGill University and MSc in Medicine (Epidemiology) from the University of Toronto.

jane francisco

Editorial Director, Hearst Lifestyle Group and Editor-in-Chief, Good Housekeeping

BA Innis ’92

Ms. Jane Francisco serves as Editorial Director of Women’s Lifestyle Group and Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping at Hearst Magazines. She served as Editor-in-Chief at Chatelaine Magazine. Ms. Francisco, an 18-year veteran of magazine publishing, previously served as Editor In Chief of Rogers publication Style at Home, a position she began in July 2009. She served as Executive Editor of lifestyle magazines at St. Joseph's Media, a division that includes Wish, Gardening Life and Canadian Family. A University of Toronto graduate, she was involved in developing then new visual arts magazine Venue and also served as editor in chief of Rogers-owned Glow.

paul fraumeni

bonnie fuller

President & Editor-in-Chief, Hollywoodlife.com, and Senior Advisor, Penske Media Corp.

(BA UC ’77)

Bonnie Fuller is best known for transforming young women’s media, having launched and re-invented many national women’s magazines and celebrity weeklies. She is now the President and Editor-in-Chief of HollywoodLife.com, which she launched as a website in Nov. 2009. Ms. Fuller attended University of Toronto, where she earned a B.A. in 1977.

After successfully establishing herself as the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian fashion magazine Flare, Ms. Fuller moved to New York City to become the Editor-in-Chief of YM, where she grew circulation from 700,000 to over 1.7 million. During her career, she has been the launch editor of American Marie Claire magazine for which she and her team earned Advertising Age‘s Magazine Launch of the Year award. Following Marie Claire, Ms. Fuller was promoted to Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, succeeding the legendary Helen Gurley Brown.

Ms. Fuller also succeeded the legendary Editor-in-Chief of Glamour magazine, Ruth Whitney, when she took over as Editor-in-Chief. She led Glamour to its highest ever circulation and revenue levels.

Following Glamour, Ms. Fuller joined US Weekly as Editor-in-Chief in 2002 and completely reformulated and re-designed the struggling title, creating the modern celebrity newsweekly and increasing newsstand sales by over 200%. She created such signature sections as “Stars Are Just Like Us,” “The Buzzometer,” and “Who Wore It Best.” The influence of such sections was so strong that iterations can now be found in most celebrity and entertainment outlets.

Beginning in July 2003, Ms. Fuller served as Executive Vice President and Chief Editorial Director of American Media Inc., where she was responsible for overseeing AMI’s weekly and monthly magazines, including Star, Shape, Natural Health, Country Weekly and Men’s Fitness. Under Ms. Fuller’s leadership at AMI, Star successfully re-launched from a tabloid to a glossy magazine, resulting in the magazine’s paid circulation increasing to over 1.5 million.

In November 2009, Ms. Fuller re-launched HollywoodLife.com as an online destination for women, 18-35 years old, with breaking celebrity news, style, beauty tips, all things entertainment, as well as young women’s issues. The site has grown to over 30 million monthly uniques. She also serves on as a Senior Advisor on the Penske Media Corporation board.

Outside of the site, Ms. Fuller is also a regular contributor to the Today show, Good Morning America, The CBS Morning Show, Access Hollywood, Showbiz Tonight, Good Day New York, Inside Edition and Wake Up With Taylor on XM Radio. She also writes for The Huffington Post and authored the book The Joys of Much Too Much: Go for the Big Life–The Great Career, The Perfect Guy, and Everything Else You’ve Ever Wanted.

gary gershony

MD, FACC, FSCAI, FAHA, FRCPC BayMed Venture Partners – Founding General Partner Life Science Angels – Medical Device & Digital Health Committee

MD ’79; PGMT ’84

Dr. Gershony graduated from University of Toronto Medical School where he also completed his training in general cardiology. He subsequently completed a fellowship in interventional cardiology at Emory University under Andreas Grüntzig, the inventor of angioplasty. From 1993-1997 he was Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab and Interventional Cardiology at UC Davis. From 1999-2021 he practiced interventional cardiology at John Muir Health Cardiovascular Institute in the San Francisco Bay Area where he was Director of Cardiovascular Research, Education and Technology, and established a successful TAVR program. Dr. Gershony is board certified in general and interventional cardiology and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. He has authored over 100 manuscripts and abstracts in the field of cardiology and is a regularly invited faculty lecturer to the preeminent U.S. and international interventional cardiology conferences.

Dr. Gershony was the Founder of Vascular Solutions, which had a successful IPO in 2000, and for which he served as Chief Medical officer and a member of the Board of Directors from 1996-2002. He was the principal inventor of the Duett™ Vascular Sealing Device manufactured by Vascular Solutions.

Dr. Gershony was also the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of AngioScore, which developed unique scoring balloon catheters for coronary and peripheral angioplasty procedures. He was a member of the senior management team from 2003 until AngioScore’s successful acquisition by Spectranetics in 2014.
Dr. Gershony currently serves on the Board of Directors of a number of early-stage medical device companies and has served on the adjunct faculty of the Stanford Biodesign Program. He is the author of 11 issued medical device patents.

Dr. Gershony recently founded BayMed Venture Partners (www.baymedvp.com), a venture capital firm focused on maturing early-stage medical device and digital health companies located in North America and Israel.

meric s. gertler

President, University of Toronto

Professor Meric S. Gertler is one of the world’s foremost urban theorists and policy practitioners. He is widely known as an expert on innovation, creativity and culture as drivers of the economic dynamism of city-regions.

On November 1, 2013, Professor Gertler began his term as the 16th President of the University of Toronto. Previously, he served as the Dean of the University’s largest and most diverse academic division, the Faculty of Arts & Science, a position he had held since 2008. As Dean, his priority was to provide students with a top quality academic experience in which they benefit directly from
U of T’s strength and diversity in research and teaching.

During his term, undergraduate education in the Faculty underwent a fundamental transformation. Today’s curriculum has a renewed emphasis on breadth in preparing global citizens and ensuring all students graduate with core competencies in critical thinking, writing, quantitative reasoning, problem solving and ethical awareness. He also focused on significantly increasing the number and range of research and international academic opportunities for Arts & Science students.

Professor Gertler is internationally renowned as a distinguished scholar. His research focuses on the geography of innovative activity and the economies of city-regions. He has served as an advisor to local, regional and national governments in Canada, the United States and Europe, as well as to international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (Paris) and the European Union. He was the founding co-director of the Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems (PROGRIS) at the Munk School of Global Affairs, served as director of the Department of Geography’s Program in Planning, and holds the Goldring Chair in Canadian Studies.

His research has attracted $8.4 million in external funding and he has published seven books including Manufacturing Culture: the Institutional Geography of Industrial Practice, and Innovation and Social Learning, the latter co-edited with Professor David Wolfe. He is also co-editor of the widely used Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, and winner of Choice Magazine’s “Outstanding Academic Book” award.

His more than 90 journal articles and book chapters have had significant impact in his field and have led him to be one of Canada’s most highly cited geographers. He has held visiting appointments at Oxford University, University College London, UCLA, and the University of Oslo. Professor Gertler was also a member of the Expert Panel on Business Innovation established by the Council of Canadian Academies, which published its landmark report “Innovation and Business Strategy: Why Canada Falls Short” to wide acclaim in 2009. Currently, he is a member of the board of directors of MaRS Discovery District and of Mitacs, a national non-profit research and training organization.

A graduate of McMaster University (BA), the University of California, Berkeley (MCP) and Harvard University (PhD), Professor Gertler was awarded an honorary doctor of philosophy from Lund University, Sweden in 2012. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Academy of Social Sciences (UK) and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He received the Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography from the Canadian Association of Geographers in 2007, and in 2014, both the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of California, Berkeley and the Distinguished Scholarship Honor from the Association of American Geographers (AAG). In December 2015, Professor Gertler was appointed to the Order of Canada.

vivek goel

Vice President, Research and Innovation

Professor Vivek Goel is Vice President, Research and Innovation at the University of Toronto and a Professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Professor Goel is a distinguished scholar with an extensive background in teaching, research and university administration. He obtained his medical degree from McGill University and completed post-graduate medical training in Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Goel obtained an MSc in Community Health from U of T and an MS in Biostatistics from Harvard University School of Public Health. His research has focused on health services evaluation and the promotion of the use of research evidence in health decision-making.

Professor Goel joined the University of Toronto in 1991 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics. He was chair of the Department of Health Administration in the Faculty of Medicine from 1999 until 2001, then served as Vice-Provost, Faculty and subsequently was the University’s Vice President and Provost from 2004 until 2008. He was a founding scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), where he continues as an Adjunct Senior Scientist. He served as founding President and CEO of Public Health Ontario from 2008 until 2014, where he was highly successful in building an academic public health services agency that provided scientific and technical advice to front-line practitioners. Prior to rejoining U of T he served as Chief Academic Strategist with Coursera, a global platform that connects universities and learners with online courses.

He has extensive experience in governance and in his University role serves on the boards of MaRS Innovation, the Vector Institute, the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, the Centre for Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics, Compute Ontario, TRIUMF, IC-IMPACTS and is co-chair of the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP). He is also the Chair of the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network board and Vice-Chair of the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

vivek goel

bill gough

michael goutama

Chairman, Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Singapore Committee.

(BASc (Civil Engineering), UofT, 1986; MASc (Civil Engineering), UofT, 1988; PhD (Civil Engineering), UofT, 1993; Singapore Campaign Committee, Engineering, 2013-present)

Dr. Michael Goutama is the Chairman of the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Singapore Committee. He has diverse businesses and investments in agriculture, life sciences and investment companies in Asia and Europe. He also serves as a Strategic Advisor to various government departments, private and public-listed companies.

Dr. Goutama is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada. He is also a member of various Technical Societies, Chambers of Commerce and Advisory Boards .

Dr. Goutama also studied Computer Science (specialized in Internet of Things, Big Data and Digital Economy) and Finance.

rebecca grafstein

Philanthropist

(JD ’88)

Ms. Grafstein is a member of the bars of Ontario and the State of New York. A 1988 Faculty of Law graduate, she relocated to New York in 1990 and practiced corporate law at Weil through 1994. Ms. Grafstein has been active in numerous cultural and philanthropic organizations including the American Repertory Theater (where she currently sits on the board), Central Park Conservancy, the Irish Repertory Theatre, The Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of the City of New York, FIT, UJA, Harvard College Fund and Horace Mann School. She and her spouse, Larry Grafstein, (also a class of 1988 JD) are the parents of three adult sons.

moya greene

Former CEO, Royal Mail Group

Upon graduation in 1979, Moya joined the Public Service of Canada in Ottawa as an immigration adjudicator, later taking positions in the Department of Labour and the Privy Council Office. In her later position as Assistant Deputy Minister for Transport Canada, she was responsible for transport, overseeing the privatisation of Canadian National Railway and the deregulation of the Canadian airline industry.

In 1996, she joined TD Securities as managing director of infrastructure finance and public private partnership. In 2000, she joined CIBC as senior vice president and chief administrative officer, retail products. In 2003, she joined Bombardier as senior vice president, operational effectiveness, under CEO Paul Tellier. That same year, she was named among the 100 most influential women in Canada by the National Post, and in 2004 as one of the Top 40 female corporate executives in Canada by the Ivey School of Business.

After resigning from Bombardier at the end of 2004, she was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Post on May 12, 2005. During her tenure, she emphasized cost cutting through cutting absenteeism, increasing automation and improving labour relations. The result was a trebling of Canada Post's profits to C$281 million (£183 million), despite a 5.1 per cent drop in revenues, resulting in a two-year extension to her original five-year contract.

Moya was Chief Executive Officer of Royal Mail Group for eight years starting in July 2010. Replacing the departed Adam Crozier, she is the first non-Briton and first woman to hold the post. Her duties have included the partial privatisation of Britain's postal service.

Moya is also a member of the board of directors for the coffee shop chain Tim Hortons.

In February 2013 she was assessed as the 12th most powerful woman in Britain by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 and was named Financial Times Person of the Year in 2014.

Moya graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974, and then attended Osgoode Hall Law School. She lives in Fulham, London with her husband Dr. Roger Springall, a British physician.

scott guan

Senior Partner, Zhong Lun Law Firm 中伦律师事务所

(Doctor of Juridical Science, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto)

Dr. Scott Yunxiang Guan is a senior partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm (中伦律师事务所), a leading red circle firm in China, and heads the firm’s corporate and M&A practice. Dr. Guan has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and capital markets, resolution of complex cross-border disputes and general business advice. Dr. Guan is recommended by Chambers in Asia Pacific and has been continuously recognized by Legal 500, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers and other professional publications as a leading business lawyer in China.

Dr. Guan has practiced law with leading Chinese, Canadian and British law firms in Shanghai, Toronto and Hong Kong. In addition to his practice, Dr. Guan has lectured and written on a number of topics in the commercial law area, and has published articles and two books. Dr. Guan teaches the cross-border M&A module at the EMBA program of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is an adjunct professor of East China University of Politics and Law.

Dr. Guan is also a distinguished fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. Dr. Guan is retained as an arbitrator by the Shanghai Arbitration Commission.
Dr. Guan holds a doctor of juridical science (SJD) degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto and is a recipient of the Arbor Award (University of Toronto, 2007) for outstanding service and alumni leadership. Being a member of the Faculty of Law Building Campaign Cabinet, Dr. Guan co-chaired the Asia Pacific Campaign.

william (bill) guo

Founder & Chairman, Venturepharm Group

(MSc (Pharmacy) ’97)

Dr. Bill Guo is the Chairman and founder of Venturepharm Group, a leading full service-plus pharmaceutical company in Asia. He led its two flagship Venturepharm labs to become the first CRO company listed in Hong Kong. With the purchase of CBI group, Venturepharm also became the first Chinese enterprise to acquire a Nasdaq-listed drug firm. Bill has more than nine years of global pharmaceutical experience in diverse roles from researcher to senior executive with Johnson & Johnson, Novapharm and Venturpharm Canada in North America. He also has nine years of experience as an entrepreneur in China.

After obtaining his medical degree in China, Bill went to Canada to pursue his Master’s and PhD degrees in, respectively, pharmacokinetics and physical pharmaceuticals from the University of Toronto. He also has an MBA from Herriot Watt University and attended the EMBA program at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK.

Fortune magazine recognized him as one of the most promising entrepreneurs in China and he has been a recipient of various rewards: 2005 National Hero award from the state council of China; one of the ten best management elites in China in 2004; one of the ten most influential individuals in the economic field in China, 2005; Distinguished entrepreneur awarded from overseas by the Government of China, 2005. Sole winner of the Youth Chinese Entrepreneur Award organized by Asia Business Week in 2003; and recognized in 2005 for Entrepreneurs and innovation by the British Chamber of Commerce.

daniel haas

doug hamilton

President and CEO, Vasomune Therapeutics

(BSc New ’88)

Mr. Hamilton was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Vasomune Therapeutics on October 1, 2018. Mr. Hamilton has over 25 years’ experience in the life-sciences industry with broad domain expertise including financial management, management consulting, venture capital, and R&D operations management.

Previously he served as President, CEO and Director of MetaStat, a precision medicine oncology company. From 2012 to 2014 Mr. Hamilton served as CFO for SEA Medical Systems, a Silicon Valley health-tech company. In 2007, Mr. Hamilton founded and serves as Partner at New Biology Ventures, a life-sciences incubator accelerator and consulting firm. From 1999 to 2006, Mr. Hamilton served as CFO and COO for Javelin Pharmaceuticals, a commercial stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of a portfolio of acute pain medications. While at Javelin, Mr. Hamilton helped build a late stage product pipeline, took the company public, and raised over $82 million in financing. Prior to Javelin, Mr. Hamilton was the CFO and Director of Business Development for PolaRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. At PolaRx he helped developed the orphan drug Trisenox®and co-led the $45.2 million merger with Cell Therapeutics (currently owned by Teva Pharmaceuticals). Mr. Hamilton served as Project Manager for the Vfend®and Zithromax®product teams at Pfizer, in addition to the Aranesp®, Epogen®, Stemgen®, MGDF, and Cell Therapy product development teams at Amgen. Prior to Amgen, Mr. Hamilton served in the sales and marketing group at Pharmacia Biotech (now GE Healthcare Life Sciences), and in the recombinant DNA vaccine research group at Connaught Laboratories (now Sanofi-Pasteur). Mr. Hamilton earned his honors Bachelor of Science degree from the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto and his MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

donald harrison

President, Global Partnerships and Corporate Development Google Inc.

(LLB ’97)

Donald Harrison is Google’s President of Global Partnerships and Corporate Development. As head of Global Partnerships, Don leads Google's strategic partnerships worldwide and is responsible for product and ecosystem enablement and commercial partnerships across Google's product and business groups. Don also oversees the Corporate Development team that handles Google’s global mergers, acquisitions, and investments and has worked on Google’s largest transactions including Deepmind, DoubleClick, Admob, Nest, and Motorola. He also manages Google’s AI-focused venture fund, Gradient Ventures. Prior to joining Google, Don was a lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where, in 2003, he was first introduced to Google and helped take them public. He started his career at the Toronto law firm of Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg, after earning a degree in political science and philosophy at University of King’s College/Dalhousie University and a law degree from the University of Toronto.

philipp hildebrand

Vice-Chairman, BlackRock Inc.

(BA SMC ’88)

Philipp Hildebrand, Vice Chairman of BlackRock, is a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee with the BlackRock Investment Institute (BII), the Financial Markets Advisory (FMA) and the Client Solutions (CS) businesses reporting to him.

Mr. Hildebrand joined BlackRock in October 2012. Before coming to BlackRock, he served as Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) until January 2012. In that capacity, he was also a Director of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Swiss Governor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), of which the Leaders of the G20 appointed him Vice Chairman in November 2011.

Previously, Mr. Hildebrand was Chief Investment Officer of a Swiss private bank and a partner of Moore Capital Management in London. Between 2006 and 2009, he served as a member of the Strategic Committee of the French Debt Management Office.

Mr. Hildebrand is a member of the Group of Thirty and an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He sits on the International Advisory Board of Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. He is a Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Mérite (France).

Mr. Hildebrand earned a BA from the University of Toronto, an MA from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.

daisy chiu fung ho

Deputy Managing Director, Shun Tak Holdings Limited

(MBA, UofT, 1990; Boundless Campaign Cabinet, 2011-present; UofT (HK) Foundation, 1993-present (Governor, 1993-2007; Chair, 2007-2016); Hong Kong Scholarship Selection Committee, 1996-2016; Rotman Dean’s Advisory Council, 2001-2016; Rotman Leading Business Alumni, 2011; Arbor Award, 1994; BA, (Marketing), University of Southern California, 1987)

Daisy Ho is Deputy Managing Director of Shun Tak Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong conglomerate founded by her father with core businesses in transportation, property, hospitality and investments. She joined Shun Tak in 1994 and was appointed an Executive Director of the Company that year. She became the Group’s Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer in 1999. In addition, she is also a director in a number of Shun Tak subsidiaries or companies that are major shareholders of Shun Tak.

Ms. Ho is Vice President and an executive committee member of The Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, a Vice President of Macao Association of Building Contractors and Developers, a life member of Macao Chamber of Commerce, a fellow of The Hong Kong Institute of Directors, Governor of The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Deputy Chief Commissioner cum Honorary Vice President of the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association, Chairman of Hong Kong Ballet, Vice-chairman of Po Leung Kuk, and Member of Advisory Council of the Canadian International School of Hong Kong.

Ms. Ho has two children, Beatrice Ho and Gillian Ho. Her father is Dr. Stanley Ho, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. Her brother is Lawrence Yau-Lung Ho, Co-Chairman & CEO, Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.

lawrence ho

Chairman and CEO of Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Melco International Development Limited

(BA, Victoria College (Arts & Science), 1999; Campaign International Advisor (Hong Kong); Victoria University President’s Advisors for the Campaign, 2011-2013; Victoria University Chancellor’s Council (Permanent))

Lawrence Ho is the Chairman and CEO of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (Nasdaq: MLCO) and Melco International Development Limited (HKEx: 200). He oversees vision and strategy across the Melco platform.

When Lawrence took over Melco International in 2001, he began a decade-long transformation of the business into a pioneering leisure and entertainment group. Spearheading the development of his first casino hotel in Taipa, Macau (known now as Altira), Lawrence secured in 2006 one of the only six gaming concessions in Macau. Three years later, he opened Melco’s flagship resort City of Dreams in Macau, creating a new kind of lifestyle-focused integrated resort experience catering specifically to the premium mass gaming segment. Today, Melco destinations are recognized for their singular focus on delivering imaginative and quality entertainment experiences, as well as for exemplifying the industry’s shift towards diversified entertainment.

In recent years, Lawrence has focused on taking Melco global and introducing its destination concepts to fast-growing consumer segments around the world. In 2015, he opened City of Dreams Manila and Studio City, the Hollywood-inspired resort in Macau. This year, Lawrence’s latest project, the first integrated resort in Cyprus, was also granted a license to begin operations.

edward iacobucci

michael iacovelli

Chief Executive Officer of Ben Machine Products Co. Inc.

(BA SMC ’92)

Michael Iacovelli is CEO of Ben Machine Products, a leading manufacturer of military and aerospace components, and a subsidiary of a Canadian public company. He is an expert in the manufacturing industry for military and aerospace components, and is an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Aerospace Council.

A practicing lawyer since 1996, Michael has taught Business Law for Small to Medium Sized Enterprises at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School; been an Instructor of Corporate and Commercial Law for the Law Society of Upper Canada; and an Instructor of Advanced Litigation and Corporate Law at Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology.

Fluent in English, Italian and French, Michael is a published author of three legal books, and an avid cyclist. He is Chairperson and founder of the York Region Cycling Coalition, a Director for the Humber River Hospital, and a committee member of the Humber River Hospital Foundation’s Team Revolution.

jordan jacobs

Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Milq.com

Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Milq.com

Co-founder and Co CEO of Layer 6 AI

Co-Leader of the AI Institute

Founder and former CEO, SpyBox Media

Founder and former CEO, Jacobs Entertainment and Media Law

Former lawyer with Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

ira jacobs

nadina jamison

linda johnston

glen jones

peter kadas

Senior Advisor, BXR Partners LLP

(BA Trinity ’86)

Mr. Peter A. Kadas co-founded Renaissance Capital, Russia's first private investment bank in 1995. From 1996 to 1997, Mr. Kadas served as Managing Director for MC Securities in London. Mr. Kadas served as Managing Director of Croesus Central Europe. Mr. Kadas served as a Vice Chairman of Ceske Radiokomunikace a.s. and served as its Director since April 8, 2002. He served as Vice Chairman of New World Resources Plc from October 2007 to May 6, 2011 and served as its Non-Independent Non-Executive Director from August 15, 2006 to May 2011. He served as Vice-Chairman of Ceské radiokomunikace. He served as Vice-Chairman of the board of directors for OKD from 2006 to 2007. Mr. Kadas served as a Vice Chairman of New World Resources Plc (alternate name New World Resources (NWR) N.V.) since September 15, 2011 until February 24, 2016 and its Non-Independent Non-Executive Director since April 8, 2011 until February 24, 2016. Since 2006, he served as a Director of BXR Real Estate Investments B.V.

Mr. Kadas served on numerous corporate boards in Eastern Europe, including CSFB, management committee of Renaissance Capital. He serves as a Non-Executive Director at MAREX Financial Limited, Marex Spectron Group Limited, FOTEX Holding SE and BXR Real Estate Investments B.V. He has been a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of Domus N.V. since April 15, 2014. Since 1990, he served as a Director of Credit Suisse First Boston in Budapest. Mr. Kadas served as a Director of BXR Partners, an affiliate of BXR Group since 2000. Mr. Kadas graduated in 1986 from Trinity College, University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Politics. In 1990, he obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from Dartmouth College.

charlie keil

shana kelley

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Xagenic

Shana Kelley is a scientist and Distinguished Professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine. Shana founded Xagenic in 2010 to develop new solutions for rapid diagnostic testing. She holds a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto, and is an expert in the area of diagnostic technology development. Dr. Kelley was a co-founder of GeneOhm Sciences, a San Diego-based diagnostics company that was acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2005. She has been recognized with a variety of distinctions, including being named one of “Canada’s Top 40 under 40” and a NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Fellow. She has also been recognized with the Steacie Prize and was also named a "Top 100 Innovator" by MIT's Technology Review.

Specialties: Corporate Development, Business Development, Strategy, Product, General Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, Acquisition Integration, Venture Capital, Startups, Alliances, Innovation

Passions: learning, exploring, seeing the world anew; building the new new thing.

bruce kidd

yong guan koh

Chairman, SMRT Corporation Ltd.

(BASc (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering), UofT, 1970; MASc (Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering), UofT, 1972; Hon LLD, UofT, 2011; International Advisory Council; Singapore Campaign Committee, Engineering, 2013-present; MBA, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, 1981)

Dr. Yong Guan Koh is Chairman of the Board of SMRT Corporation Ltd., a public company that runs the underground train system, and buses and taxi services in Singapore. He is also the Chairman of the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation Ltd. and the Cancer Sciences Institute of Singapore, in addition to being a board member of Philip Life Assurance in Thailand and Philip Bank in Cambodia. Dr. Koh was Singapore's Non-Resident High Commissioner to Canada from 2008 to 2013, and is now currently Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Greece.

Dr. Koh joined Singapore’s Civil Service as a Biomedical Engineer and has served in the Ministries of Health, Finance, Education, Defence and National Development. He was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence in 1989 and Second Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance between 1998 and 2001. Dr. Koh was the Commissioner of Inland Revenue from 1991 to 1997. In 1998, he was appointed Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore (Governor of the Central Bank). He retired as the Managing Director of MAS in June 2005, and remained a member of the MAS Board until April 2011. He served as the Chairman of Central Provident Fund Board, the national pension fund for all employees in both the private and public sectors in Singapore, from 2005 to 2013.

Dr. Koh has served as Chairman at Singapore Turf Club, and Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Totalisator Board (also known as the TOTE Board).

He is married to Helen Koh. They have two adult sons and three grandchildren.

edmund koh

Member of the UBS Group Executive Board President UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group AG and UBS AG

(BSc '84)

Edmund is President UBS Asia Pacific of UBS Group AG and UBS AG and a member of the UBS Group Executive Board. With more than 20 years of experience in financial services and a deep understanding of Asian markets, Edmund oversees the entire firm in 13 countries across the region and is responsible for UBS's three main divisions: Global Wealth Management, Investment Bank and Asset Management.

Previously, he was Head UBS Wealth Management Asia Pacific, leading a regional team that now manages assets of more than CHF 400 billion. Under his leadership, UBS Global Wealth Management in Asia Pacific provided a comprehensive range of financial services from various locations across the region.

Edmund strongly believes in growing and nurturing talent, regardless of industry. His commitment to outreach encourages UBS community efforts to create and support education and training programs for youths, as well as performing and visual arts programs for special needs children.

ulrich krull

catherine lacavera

Chief Legal Officer, Color

(BASc ‘97, JD/MBA ‘01, Hon LLD ‘17)

Catherine Lacavera is Chief Legal Officer at Color Health Inc. Color is a healthcare technology dedicated to improving access to healthcare for everyone. Previously, she served as Vice President at Google, overseeing global litigation, employment and regulatory investigations, and managing more than 300 attorneys and technical advisors. Her team won more than 1000 patent and other intellectual property matters, including multi-billion dollar industry defining copyright cases against Viacom and Oracle, the cell phone wars against Apple and Microsoft, and trade secret claims against Uber. She advised on complex licenses and acquisitions, including the acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion and Nest for $3.2 billion, the sale of Motorola Home to Arris for $2.2, and a $490 million multi-party license with TiVo. She has a B.A.Sc. in Computer engineering and a J.D./M.B.A from the University of Toronto. She received an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Toronto, was named one of Fortune’s top 40 under 40 and one of the most influential people in the world of IP, and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

She is admitted to practice law in New York, Massachusetts, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Registered In-House Counsel in California.

anthony lacavera

Founder & Chairman, Globalive Holdings

(BASc ’97)

Anthony Lacavera is founder and chairman of Globalive Capital, a Toronto-based venture capital firm. Globalive Capital, founded in 2014, is a subsidiary of the Globalive Group and an investor in early- and mid-stage technology companies.

Anthony brings more than two decades of experience as a founder, operator and investor in telecommunications and technology related ventures. Following a series of progressively successful start-ups, in 2008, Anthony founded Wind Mobile, Canada’s fourth largest wireless carrier, successfully challenging the market’s dominant players. Known for his deep expertise in 5G and the next generation of networks, Anthony has founded, financed, operated and divested ventures in fields including augmented reality, e-commerce and web development. Anthony employs his extensive knowledge base to provide insight and analysis as a regular contributor on Bloomberg TV.

Anthony is involved in numerous accelerator and incubator programs including the Ryerson DMZ, Next Canada, the Entrepreneurship Hatchery, the Creative Destruction Lab, and MaRS Discovery District. He serves on the boards of numerous organizations including Startup Canada, the most recognized voice for entrepreneurship in Canada and speaks regularly to students about entrepreneurship.

In 2007, Anthony founded the SHAMBA foundation, a charity that applies the business principles of Globalive Capital to support other not-for-profit organizations in more effective fundraising and event organization.

A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Engineering School, Anthony was named an Honorary Fellow of St. Michael’s College and appointed to the Engineering School Hall of Distinction.

chao-shiuan liu 劉兆玄

Chairman, Foundation of Chinese Culture for Sustainable Development 中華文化永續發展基金會

(PhD (Chemistry), UofT, 1971; President's International Alumni Council, 2004-2010; Rose Wolfe Distinguished Alumni Award, 1997; Distinguished Alumnus Medal, UofT Chemistry Department; BSc, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, 1965; MSc, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, 1968)

Dr. Chao-Shiuan Liu is Chairman of Taipei-based, Foundation of Chinese Culture for Sustainable Development, established in 2015. As the founder of this new non-profit organization, Dr. Liu serves as an intellectual ambassador and has given lectures on Chinese culture, civilization and cross-strait exchanges.

Dr. Liu began his academic career with National Tsing Hua University, first as a professor, then becoming Dean of the College of Science (1982-1984), and later President (1987-1993). He later served as President of Soochow University (2004-2008).

In the public sector, Dr. Liu was a Minister of Transportation and Communications and Chairman of the National Science Council in the 1990s. Dr. Liu assumed the position of Vice-Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 1997 to 2000. He then served as a Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2008 to 2009.

Dr. Liu is the Honorary Chairperson of the Monte Jade Global Science and Technology Association.

Dr. Liu is married to Dr. Ming-Sai Liu, also an alumnus of U of T in the Department of Botany. They have one son and two daughters.

nick lo

CEO, Crystal Properties Development Ltd.

(BASc (Mechanical Engineering), UofT, 1990; Regional Alumni Contact, 1990; UofT (Hong Kong) Foundation Director, 1993-1997; Recruitment Volunteer, 2000; Hong Kong Scholarship Selection Committee, 2000; Arbor Award, 2003; P.Eng Ontario)

Nick Lo is CEO of Crystal Properties Development Ltd., the real estate development arm of The Crystal Group. A private, family-owned company, the Group is one of Hong Kong's largest garment makers, with production bases in 15 cities, manufacturing for global brands such as Levi's, Uniqlo, H&M, Victoria's Secret, Marks & Spencer and Wal-Mart. In 2016, Crystal Group was ranked 17 out of 50 Global Companies by Fortune to ‘Change the World’.

Mr. Lo began his career as Marketing Manager at Crystal Properties Development Ltd., where he was tasked with developing the business of the Group in Mainland China by means of devising a long-term strategic plan for property development and related businesses. Appointed General Manager of Crystal Properties in 1996, Mr. Lo was also named a Director of Crystal Investment Ltd. in 1998, a Director of Crystal Properties in 2000, and appointed CEO of Crystal Properties in 2005. Crystal Properties developed and now manages more than HK$2.5 billion (CDN400 million) in real estate development projects that include projects in Hong Kong, Guangdong and Shanghai.

Mr. Lo has served the community in a number of capacities, including Chairman and President of the Dongguan Changping Real Estate Association from 1998 to 2000. He was appointed Chairman of the Youth Federation of Chongqing in 2001, and a Director of the Sichuan Province Overseas Friendship Association in 2011. He has also been a member of the Yunnan Overseas Economic Cooperation and Promotion Association and the Guangdong Returned Overseas Chinese Adolescent Committee since 2012.

albert maasland

CEO Crown Agents Bank; Director, EASDAQ NV; Director Farr MB

(BA Trinity ’82)

Albert is the Group CEO of Crown Agents Bank and Crown Agents Investment Management.

Before joining Crown Agents Bank, Albert served as CEO of KCG Europe Ltd, part of KCG Holdings Ltd where he was also Global Co-Head of Execution Services and Platforms. Prior to that, during his distinguished career in financial services, Albert also served as CEO and Head of International Business at Knight Capital Group Inc where he was responsible for overseeing European and Asian operations; CEO of Saxo Bank London and Chairman of Saxo Capital Markets; Global Head of Business Development, e-commerce at Standard Chartered Bank, Managing Director and member of the Investment and Wholesale Bank Management Committee at Deutsche Bank, Global Head of Business Development at HSBC Markets and Global Head of FX Sales at Chase Manhattan Bank. Albert is a non-executive director at EASDAQ NV and has held numerous other NED roles throughout his career. In addition to his Financial Services experience he has co-founded ventures in Canada, Zimbabwe, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland as well as mentored or supported numerous early stage businesses in various sectors.

scott mabury

Vice-President, University Operations and Vice-Provost, Academic Operations, University of Toronto

As a professor of environmental chemistry, Scott Mabury is one of the most highly cited scholars in his field. And, as the University of Toronto’s vice-president of university operations and vice-provost, academic operations, Professor Mabury is also one of U of T’s most highly sought decision-makers.

Mabury was already serving as vice-provost, academic operations when the University created the position of vice-president, university operations and appointed Mabury to the role on Jan. 1, 2012. On Dec. 15 2016, Governing Council reappointed Mabury as vice-president and vice-provost for another five-year term.

“Under Professor Mabury’s leadership, the University Operations portfolio has executed on an impressive number of initiatives across a wide spectrum of activity,” President Meric Gertler said in a statement. “His mantra has been ‘out-of-the-box thinking with off-the-shelf practicality.’”

Mabury’s achievements include:

- Creating the Utilities Reduction Revolving Fund, which has seen many divisions save money by reducing energy use
- Saving $54 million last year – a year ahead of schedule – through retrofits to improve operations and maximize efficiency
- Creating entrepreneurial space in the Banting & Best buildings for U of T-affiliated startups
- Receiving $84 million in federal strategic investment funding for rehabilitation of almost half of our research space including major projects at U of T Mississauga and U of T Scarborough
- Negotiating a 20-per-cent equity stake at MaRS, recruiting JLABS to occupy part of the space and overseeing construction of the new Law building – on schedule and on time.

“Professor Mabury has demonstrated a tremendous capacity to improve the work of the University while at the same time exercising prudent management of our limited resources,” President Gertler said.

Mabury is the only academic in this role at a Canadian university. And he says it’s the scholarly part of his brain – specifically, chemistry – that helps the administrative side find efficiencies in day-to-day operations at U of T. “In chemistry, from a scholarship perspective, we think about the architecture of molecules and how the different atoms fitting together will alter their properties,” Mabury said. “To do that, we need to understand how things work, and usually in chemistry, we want to improve the efficiency of a reaction with higher yields.

“So optimizing how things work is a theme that exports out of chemistry into this job. I find it an engaging exercise to optimize how things work with a clear mind to what the overall goal is.”

The overall goal is returning saved dollars to the classroom. One project that touches every student, and most faculty and administrative staff, is the multi-year Next Generation Student Information Services (NGSIS). For the past six years, Mabury has co-sponsored NGSIS with the Vice-Provost Students. “This program has dramatically enhanced student experience,” said Robert Cook, the University’s former chief information officer. “Scott drove us to first stabilize the performance of existing services and then introduce dozens of innovations such as the integrated ACORN interface, and tools like Degree Explorer and a Financial Planning Calculator. “Scott has championed U of T's collaboration with other universities to explore new ways of doing things and to save costs. His commitment to value has driven NGSIS and everything done across his portfolio.”

Those who work under Mabury are amazed at everything he can get done in a given day. “He has this magical additional 24 hours that none of us have,” said Elizabeth Cragg, who is the director of the office of the vice-president of university operations. “And he trusts us to do our best job, which is empowering. If he wasn’t a professor, he would have made an amazing preacher. “You just want to follow him. He’s the Pied Piper.”

Mabury’s work schedule now begins at 7 a.m., to cram in meetings that no longer fit into a schedule that once began at 8. His portfolio oversees 1,650 employees across three campuses, departments that range from food services to IT, facilities, capital projects and campus planning. Supporting the provost, he helps to put together the University’s annual operating budget and multi-year budget plans. And his academic life includes regular meetings with graduate students, a graduate-level course he partially teaches and PhD dissertations to review.

On a personal note, he and his Riverdale neighbours recently sponsored a Syrian refugee family who lived in his home for a month. If that wasn’t enough, he also has a farm 1½ hours east of the city where he goes every weekend to plant seeds, practice no-till farming and get his hands dirty. “It’s part of the work-life balance,” he said in a recent interview with U of T News. “Lots of brain work here, and then lots of physical work there.”

From his office tucked into a loft-like corner in Simcoe Hall, surrounded by his daughter’s paintings, Mabury talked about his vision and what’s ahead for the University. “I’m quite proud that we as an institution have adopted the most energy efficiency standards of any universities of which we are aware,” he said. “That was something we did in the spring after the presidential response to the divestment report. It will demonstratively make a difference. We will change how we design and build buildings to make them more energy efficient.”

Sally Garner, executive director of planning and budget at U of T, said Mabury brings a “creative and forward-thinking approach” to the budget process. “He has contributed enormously to the University’s ability to grapple with the many financial challenges currently being faced by all public universities,” Garner said. “He has a particular ability to strategically connect the academic and financial dots and to articulate critical budget messages to the broader University community. “Rarely a week goes by when Professor Mabury doesn’t bring a new idea to the table.”

For the future, Mabury will be focused on development of the University’s real estate. At Spadina Avenue and Bloor Street, U of T is exploring developing retail, office, residential and academic space. In the Huron Sussex community to the west of Robarts Library, the University is working with its neighbours and planning residences for undergrads, grads and townhouses – hoping to contribute to affordable housing in the city. “We’re going to build 10 to 12 faculty townhouses there because we hear the challenges of deans and recruiting faculty,” he said. “New faculty would love to be close to where they’re kick-starting their careers.”

Mabury hopes by developing real estate assets, the University can produce annual revenues that match the endowment payout of about $60 million – money that would be channelled back to the classroom. Perhaps one of the most prominent initiatives Mabury will spearhead – one that will touch many Torontonians – will be the transformation of U of T’s downtown Toronto campus. “The most important project that we’re involved with is pedestrianizing the historic core and returning it to people as opposed to cars,” Mabury said. “Our heritage assets that you see – Convocation Hall, Hart House, the grand stately University College and Croft Chapter House – the view and connection with those buildings for faculty, staff and students is obstructed by cars and roads. We want to remove that obstruction and prioritize pedestrians and bicyclists.”

maureen macdonald

tiff macklem

margaret macmillan

Professor of History at the University of Toronto

BA ’66, Hon LLD ’17 TRIN

Margaret MacMillan was educated at the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford. She was a member of Ryerson University’s History Department for 25 years, Provost of Trinity College at the University of Toronto from 2002 to 2007 and Warden of St Antony’s College and Professor of International History, University of Oxford from 2007 to 2017. She is a Professor of History, University of Toronto, the Xerox Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS and a Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs.

Her research specializes in British imperial history and international history of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her publications include Paris, 1919: Six Months that Changed the World, Nixon in China: the Week that Changed the World, The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 and History’s People: Personalities and the Past. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Companion of the Order of Canada.

michael may

CEO, Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM)

(BASc ’91, PhD ’98)

Michael May completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1998 as a NSERC Scholar and was awarded the Martin Walmsley Fellowship for Technological Entrepreneurship.

Michael is currently the Chief Executive Officer of CCRM. Prior to CCRM, Michael was the President, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Rimon Therapeutics Ltd., a Toronto-based regenerative medicine company developing novel medical polymers that possess drug-like activity.

Michael sits on a number of Boards and advisory committees, including: MaRS Innovation, Rimon Therapeutics Ltd., 20/20 Vision, the Advanced Regenerative Tissue Engineering Centre, the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto and the McMaster Mohawk Biotechnology Program.

bonnie mcelhinny

don mclean

murray r. metcalfe

Former Managing Director, Private Equity, LMCG Investments LLC

(BASc ’77)

Murray Metcalfe retired in 2018 as a Managing Director at LMCG Investments in Boston, where he co-directed the firm’s fund investment activities in the venture capital and private equity area. He was part of the initial team at LMCG at its formation in 2000/2001; the firm manages approximately $7 billion in assets and is now a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada. In a period of over 30 years he worked in all aspects of the venture capital and private equity industry, beginning in 1987 with the Sprout Group, the venture capital subsidiary of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (now Credit Suisse), where he was a General Partner and focused on investments in information technology companies. Prior to the Sprout Group he spent four years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in the firm’s San Francisco and New York offices.

Murray received a B.A.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems (now Management Science & Engineering) from Stanford University’s School of Engineering.

From 2007 until June 2020 he also served on a part-time basis as Professor, Globalization in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. As well as developing and teaching courses and working on interdisciplinary research initiatives, he co-founded the university’s Centre for Global Engineering. From 2015 to 2020 he led a project focused on online course offerings and other partnership initiatives with engineering schools within African universities. As part of that work he and his team members collectively visited over 30 universities in 10 countries in Africa.

Murray is involved in several not-for-profits working in the areas of global development and social entrepreneurship. At the University of Toronto he currently serves on the International Leadership Council (US East Coast). He also serves on the President’s Council of the New England Conservatory in Boston.

irene miller

CEO, Akim Inc.

(BSc (Food Sciences) ’74)

Irene R. Miller is CEO of Akim, Inc., an investment management and consulting firm. She serves as a director on the boards of The Toronto-Dominion Bank Group, the sixth largest bank in North America by branches; and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., a leading provider of securities brokerage services and related technology-based financial services.

Her prior public company board directorships include: Inditex, S.A., Coach, Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., The Body Shop International Plc, Oakley, Inc. and Benckiser N.V. She served as Audit Committee Chair for five of her prior boards and at Coach she was Lead Director for ten years.
Until June 1997, Ms. Miller was Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. She joined Barnes & Noble in 1991, and became Chief Financial Officer in 1993, in advance of the company’s initial public offering. In 1995, she was elected to the Board of Directors and was appointed to the position of Vice Chairman.

From 1986 to 1990, Ms. Miller was an investment banker specializing in emerging growth retail and consumer companies at Morgan Stanley & Co. From 1982 to 1986, she was Vice President of Corporate Finance at Rothschild Inc. For the year of 1981, she was a securities research analyst for Smith Barney, Harris Upham covering the chemical industry. From 1978-1980 she was a news editor for Chemical Engineering Magazine (McGraw Hill).

Ms. Miller started her career as a research chemist at General Foods Corporation, where she awarded U.S. Patent #4,263,333.

She holds an M.S. in chemistry and chemical engineering from Cornell University (1976) and a B.S. from the University of Toronto (1974).

She lives in New York City. Ms. Miller is a trustee of the Miller Khoshkish Foundation.

Since June 13, 2017 she has been a director of the Associates of the University of Toronto, Inc.

faye mishna

somen mondal

CEO & Co-founder, Ideal

(BASc ’02)

Somen is a Canadian entrepreneur and the Co-Founder and CEO of Ideal. With a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Queen's University, Somen served as Co-Founder and CEO of Field ID until it was acquired by Master Lock LLC in December 2012. Somen’s trophy case includes spots on the Profit Hot 50 and Deloitte Fast 50 Companies-to-Watch lists as well as the 2012 Ontario Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Today, Somen works with his team at Ideal to build software that recruiters love. Ideal is an intelligent virtual assistant that uses artificial intelligence to automate time-consuming, repetitive recruiting tasks including sourcing, screening, and engaging candidates.

Outside the office, Somen is passionate about the startup community and has a knack for discovering great restaurants around the world.

david mongeau

gillian morrison

james mossman

former Chief Investment Officer, The Blackstone Group LLP

(BCom UC ’81)

James Mossman is a University College alumnus who graduated in 1981 and is a founding donor of UC One, a program for first-year students that combines the focus of small classes with the energy of community involvement to launch bright young students on their undergraduate careers.

On the strength of his BCom in finance and actuarial science, Mossman entered the MBA program at Harvard. Then he started a career with the New York-based Blackstone Group, rising to the position of senior managing director and chief investment officer.

Since retiring in 2003, he completed an MA in Physics at Columbia University. Now he is taking further graduate courses in the subject at Yale.

kenneth g. ottenbreit

Managing Principal, Stikeman Elliott LLP

(LLB ’83)

Mr. Ottenbreit manages the New York office of Stikeman Elliott (NY) LLP. He practises Canadian corporate and securities law and advises clients, including investment dealers, advisers, funds, banks and corporations on Canada-U.S. transactions, principally corporate finance and M&A. He also advises investment dealers, advisers, funds and banks on Canadian regulatory matters.

Mr. Ottenbreit is the Past President and a current board member of the Canadian Association of New York.

david n. palmer

Vice-President, Advancement, University of Toronto

Since 2007, David has served as Vice-President Advancement for the University of Toronto, Canada’s largest research-intensive university, with 86,000 students on three campuses and more than 550,000 alumni in over 180 countries. David has been leading the University’s ambitious Boundless Campaign since its public launch in November, 2011. With a $2 billion goal, Boundless is the largest campaign in Canadian university history – an ambitious and necessary undertaking to help prepare the next generation of global citizens and to address today’s defining global challenges.

From 1999 to 2007, David served as President and Executive Director of the Royal Ontario Museum Board of Governors (originally the ROM Foundation) where he led Renaissance ROM – a transformational campaign that re-defined the Museum’s financial resource base, its public brand, and its position as a major international cultural destination. Recognizing the Museum’s mandate that encompasses both world civilizations and natural history, he made a priority of reaching out to Canada’s Japanese, South Asian, Chinese, Ukrainian, Italian, Greek and other communities locally and nationally. The Renaissance ROM Campaign, unique in Canada for its inclusiveness, generated an enormous sense of pride and engagement among these diverse communities, exemplified by a landmark gift from Michael Lee-Chin to name the Museum’s new building.

David Palmer is a Senior Fellow of Massey College, an executive committee member of the National Council of Foundation Executives, and a director of the Earth Rangers Foundation. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in musicology from Princeton University and began his career as a Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at The University of Western Ontario, his undergraduate alma mater. After his first foray into development and marketing at Orchestra London, David would return to Western to lead a ground-breaking campaign for the University of Western Ontario’s School of Business Administration. These efforts resulted in it being renamed the Richard Ivey School of Business, ushering in a new era in professional-faculty fundraising in Canada.

In recognition of his strategic and principled approach, and for helping redefine the fundraising potential for several charitable sectors in Canada, David was recognized in 2011 with the Outstanding Fundraising Professional Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In 2016 he was recognized with the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education.

james peers

former CFO, GFI Group Inc.

(BASc ’73)

Mr. Peers recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of GFI Group Inc. ( NYSE ). He joined GFI Group (one of the largest global Inter Broker Dealers in the credit and energy derivatives market) in August 2002 and retired in July 2016.

He served as Senior Vice President at Bank One in Chicago from 1999 to 2001 where he held various positions, including Corporate Controller (under Jamie Dimon).

He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Rabobank International in New York and as a Senior Vice President (Corporate Development) for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in New York and Toronto.

He was a Partner at Ernst & Young where he spent 18 years working in the Toronto and Chicago offices, mainly with financial institutional clients.

Mr. Peers is a Certified Public Accountant in both Canada and the USA.

james penturn

Partner, Generation Three Family Partners, President, Spectralegal Ltd. and, Chairman, Global Daily Fantasy Sports Inc.

(BA '81)

Jim is the President of SpectraLegal Limited in the UK. Jim has responsibility for strategy and managing investor relations.

Jim has decades of experience working with management to successfully raise and administer debt, equity and insurance to finance over $1 billion for knowledge based businesses offering unique services. He currently chairs the strategic advisory committee of an international multifamily office that he co-founded. He has been a director of several Canadian publicly listed companies where he sat on executive, audit, governance and compensation committees.

As well as having a BA (with Honours) from the University of Toronto, Jim has over 30 years’ experience in merchant banking, real property and strategic advisory services as both a principal and agent.

shawn xiaohua qu

President & CEO, Canadian Solar Inc.

(PhD (Materials Science & Engineering), UofT, 1995; BSc, Tsinghua University, 1986; MSc (Physics), University of Manitoba, 1990)

Dr. Shawn Xiaohua Qu founded Canadian Solar Inc. in October 2001 and has been its Chief Executive Officer and President since October 2001. Prior to founding Canadian Solar, Inc., Dr. Qu worked at Automation Tooling Systems Inc (ATS), Cambridge, Ontario Canada from 1998 to 2001, where he performed various responsibilities at ATS and at its subsidiaries in the solar power business, Matrix and Photowatt International S.A. including Director for Silicon Procurement, Director for Strategic Planning and Business Development and Technical Vice President (Asia Pacific) of Photowatt International S.A. From 1996 to 1998, Dr. Qu served as a Research Scientist at Ontario Hydro (currently Ontario Power Generation), where he worked as a process leader in the development of Spheral Solar technology, a proprietary solar technology which Ontario Hydro acquired from Texas Instruments.

Business Achievements

Under Dr. Qu’s leadership, Canadian Solar Inc. became a publicly listed company on NASDAQ in 2006 and has grown into one of the largest photovoltaic solar product manufacturers and solar power project developers in the world. As of December 31st, 2016, Canadian Solar Inc. has delivered cumulatively more than 20GW of solar modules to thousands of customers in more than 100 countries. The Company and its subsidiaries have also connected cumulatively more than 3GW of solar power plants to the grid. These solar power plants are located in Canada, the United States of America, Japan, China and the United Kingdom. The company has also developed and constructed solar power plants in Mexico, Brazil, India and Namibia.

For 2017, Canadian Solar expects to ship 6 to 6.5GW solar modules, achieve approximately $4B of revenue and connect approximately 1GW of new solar power plants around the world. The Company runs manufacturing facilities in six countries including Canada, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil. The Company employs more than 10,000 people around the world.

In 2015, Canadian Solar Inc. acquired Recurrent Energy of California from Sharp, with approximately $265M, thus became one of the largest utility-scale solar power plant developers in the US. Canadian Solar has invested $940M into the US as of today, including capital investment, parent and intercompany loans to its US subsidiaries, parent guaranteed loans and other financial facilities.

Academic publications / Technology achievements

Dr. Qu was the principal researcher on various topics in condensed matter physics and semiconductor materials science during his M.Sc. and Ph.D. studies. He has published scientific research papers in academic journals such as IEEE Quantum Electronics, Applied Physics Letter and Physical Review.

Under his strategic leadership, the Canadian Solar research team has pioneered the commercialization of MCCE (Metal Catalyzed Chemical Etch) black Si texturing technology from 2012 to 2016, improved the efficiency of solar cell, at the same time enabled the low cost diamond wire-saw mc-Si wafer technology to become the new mainstream technology. He also has led the company creating a module production portfolio that accelerated the PV technology advancement for the whole PV industry, such as ELPS (MWT technology), double glass modules and high voltage modules. Through developing new PV technology, Dr. Qu and his team have accelerated solar grid parity, thus enabling the solar industry in many countries to approach the same cost level of fossil fuel energy.

Education

Dr. Qu received a Ph.D. Degree in Material Science from University of Toronto in 1995, a M.Sc. Degree in Physics from University of Manitoba in 1990 and a B.Sc. in Applied Physics from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) in 1986.

From 1995-1996, Shawn was a Post Doctorate Research Fellow at University of Toronto focusing on semiconductor optical devices.

Honorary titles and Recognitions

In 2010, Dr. Shawn Qu was selected as one of the first group of 25 people out of the Chinese government’s 1000 overseas talent program and later was awarded the title by the state council as China’s Distinguished Expert for Dr. Qu’s significant contribution in starting and developing the solar industry in China.

From 2011 to 2013, Shawn was an honorary professor at Tsinghua University, the top university in China, for the development of the renewable energy research program.

Shawn has been actively involved in various solar industry associations and holds key positions. Among them are member of Photovoltaic Special Committee of China Renewable Energy Association, Vice Chairman of Chinese Photovoltaic Industry Association, and Executive Vice Chairman of Jiangsu Province Photovoltaic Industry Association.

Public speaking

Dr. Shawn Qu is viewed as the global solar industry leader. In the past few years, Dr. Qu has been an invited speaker at the IFC Climate Change Conference, the International Economic Forum Americas, the Wall Street Journal Economics Forum, Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance Forum, International Energy Forum, Solar Power International, TEDx Talks, and many other prestigious forums, special interviews at China’s most viewed TV programs “Dialogue”, “Brainstorming” and “Bosstown”.

Personal

Born in Beijing
Married with three children

Education

PhD in material science from the University of Toronto
MSc in physics from the University of Manitoba
BSc in applied physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing

Career highlights

Founded Canadian Solar in Ontario in 2001
Began manufacturing in China in 2002
Listed on NASDAQ in 2006
Opened Canadian Solar’s first a plant in Guelph, Ont. in 2011, then one in London, Ont. in 2014
Purchased leading US energy developer, Recurrent, for $265 million
Set to list new Yield-Co.

In his own words

“My dream was to see solar panels on every household … to create a clean world for the next generation, for our children.”
“I manage a new economy, new energy, business in a very traditional way. I guess I am quite different from other entrepreneurs who start companies. It is very different from the Facebook style.”
“The conventional energy industry receives more tax breaks and incentives than the solar industry. People just don’t see them.”
“We will see costs going down and prices going down, and solar becoming more economic. It will be more and more competitive compared with conventional power sources.”

“Banks and investors are becoming more familiar with solar. They are starting to see solar as a good investment with very predictable incomes.”

steve radbourn

salim ramji

Senior Managing Director, Global Head of iShares and Index Investments, BlackRock

Salim Ramji, Senior Managing Director, is Global Head of iShares and Index Investments for BlackRock and a member of the firm's Global Executive Committee.

Prior to his appointment to lead the iShares and Index Investments business in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors.

Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Before joining BlackRock, he was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company where he led the Asset & Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer in London and Hong Kong.

Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder. He serves on the board of the Investment Company Institute and is a trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child-care agency.

michael ratcliffe

melinda rogers

Founder, Rogers Ventures

(MBA ’97)

Melinda Rogers serves on the Board of Directors of Rogers Communications Inc.; is the Founder of Rogers Venture Partners and is the Vice Chair of Rogers Control Trust since 2015 where she was the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development from 2006 to 2014.

Melinda has over 15 years of experience with entrepreneurial companies in both investment and operating roles and has served as an executive in both private and public technology companies, playing an integral role as an executive and officer.

In her previous role as SVP, Strategy and Development at RCI, Melinda was not only responsible for leading the group as it found profitable growth by targeting emerging businesses new to Rogers’ existing portfolio but was also accountable for the direction of a range of long-term innovation and strategic initiatives for the company.

Melinda has served as a board member and advisor for a number of companies as well as the University of Toronto Governing Council where she served as a Government Appointee member of the Council between 2008 and 2017 as member of the Academic Board, the Business Board, the Pension Committee and the Senior Appointments and Compensation Committee. She is currently the Chair of the Jays Care Foundation--the award-winning philanthropic and charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club; she sits on the Advisory Council of the Rotman School of Management; she serves as Chair of the Board for Texture by Next Issue Media and she is also an International Board member at Right To Play.

Melinda holds a BA, University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from the Joseph L. Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.

mark h. rowswell (dashan)

President, Dashan Inc.

(HBA, University College (Arts & Science), 1988; Governing Council, Government Appointee Member, 2014-present; Governing Council University Affairs Board Member, 2014-present; UTSC Campus Council Member, 2014-2017; Independent Studies, Beijing University, 1988-91; LLD, Thompson Rivers University, 2009)

Dr. Rowswell (a.k.a. Dashan) has been called “the most famous foreigner in China”, where he has worked as performer, television host and cultural ambassador for over twenty years. For many, Dashan is a symbol of “East meets West” of finding a common ground between the two cultures. As President of Dashan Inc., Dr. Rowswell is one of the leading freelance emcees and performers in drama and comedy in China. He has produced and hosted numerous educational programs to teach English and Chinese. In addition, he does promotional work for both commercial clients and charitable causes. Dr. Rowswell is also involved in public service. In February 2012, he was named Canada’s Goodwill Ambassador to China by The Right Hon. Stephen Harper.

In 2006, Mr. Rowswell became a Member of the Order of Canada for his work in uniting the Canadian and Chinese peoples through laughter, understanding and goodwill. He has represented Canada in a number of capacities including serving as Team Attaché for the Canadian Olympic Committee at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and being appointed as Canada's Commissioner General for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. He was also awarded a Special Recognition Award in 2004 from the Canadian Cancer Society for raising awareness of cancer in China.

Dr. Rowswell divides his time between homes in Stouffville, Ontario and Beijing.

stephen rupp

gurinder (gary) sangha

Founder & CEO, Lit IQ Inc.

(HBA Trinity ‘00)

Gurinder “Gary” Sangha is a serial entrepreneur, attorney and academic who is at the forefront of incorporating modern technology into the legal and financial services sectors.

He is the founder and CEO of LexCheck, which uses advances in machine learning technology to help organizations more easily review legal documents. He is a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics. Sangha was the founder and CEO of Intelligize, which helps business professionals research regulatory filings. Intelligize was acquired by LexisNexis.

Prior to founding Intelligize, Sangha practiced securities law at the Hong Kong office of White & Case LLP and the New York City office of Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York City, focusing on initial public offerings. Sangha has also consulted for Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

He speaks frequently and is quoted widely on entrepreneurship, product development, legal innovation and enterprise sales. He has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and various industry blogs. Sangha has been awarded multiple honors including being named to Crains New York's "40 under 40" list.

Sangha earned his JD at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He received his BA in Economics and Commerce from the University of Toronto, graduating with high distinction. He is a member in good standing with the New York State Bar Association.

ted sargent

Vice-President, International, University of Toronto

Professor Edward (Ted) Sargent was appointed Vice-President, International of the University of Toronto in June, 2016. Professor Sargent is a distinguished researcher and holds the rank of University Professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology.

He is founder and CTO of InVisage Technologies and a co-founder of Xagenic.

Professor Sargent’s research interests cover many areas of nanotechnology and its application to communications and computing, medicine, and tapping new energy sources. His research has been cited more than 16,000 times and has been disseminated in Nature, Science, Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Chemistry and Nature Photonics. His book The Dance of Molecules: How Nanotechnology is Changing Our Lives (Penguin) was published in Canada and the United States in 2005 and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Arabic.

Professor Sargent is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “…for distinguished contributions to the development of solar cells and light sensors based on solution-processed semiconductors;” and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers “… for contributions to colloidal quantum dot optoelectronic devices.” He is Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering for “…ground-breaking research in nanotechnology, applying novel quantum-tuned materials to the realization of full-spectrum solar cells and ultra sensitive light detectors. The impact of his work has been felt in industry through his formation of two start-up companies.”

Professor Sargent received the BScEng (Engineering Physics) from Queen’s University in 1995 and the PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Photonics) from the University of Toronto in 1998. He was appointed Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Toronto in 1998; was appointed Associated Professor in 2002; was appointed Full Professor in 2005; and was most recently the Vice-Dean, Research for the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.

som seif

President & CEO, Purpose Investments

(BASc ’99)

Som Seif is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Purpose Investments Inc., which he formed following the sale of Claymore Investments to BlackRock Inc. in March 2012. Mr. Seif started Claymore Investments in Canada in January 2005 and was the former President and Chief Executive Officer leading the implementation of the company’s business development and corporate strategies. Over the seven years of its operation, Claymore Investments organically grew to $8 billion in assets and established itself as a Canadian leader in bringing intelligent, low cost exchange-traded funds to investors through its family of 34 exchange-traded funds across broad asset classes.

Prior to Claymore Investments, Mr. Seif was an investment banker with RBC Capital Markets, where he worked since 1999. He played a key role in developing the structured products group at RBC Capital Markets in both Canada and the U.S., where he structured and raised capital for both Canadian and U.S. asset managers.

Som is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has a Bachelor of Applied Science with an emphasis on Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Toronto. Som has a strong commitment to community and is currently a member of the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation Board, Chair of the Art Gallery of Ontario Corporate Development Committee, a member of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Foundation Board and University of Toronto Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Advisory Board, and a board member of The Next 36. In 2011, Som was recognized for his vision and leadership by Caldwell Partners International with the Top 40 Under 40 award.

michael serbinis

CEO, LEAGUE

(MASc ’01)

A rocket scientist who once developed jet propulsion systems at age 16, Michael is known as a serial entrepreneur who has built multiple transformative technology platforms across several industries, with over $1B of exits.

Michael Serbinis is the CEO and Founder of LEAGUE, a new digital health benefits platform that is set to disrupt the world of insurance. Prior to LEAGUE, Michael was the Founder and CEO of Kobo, a global leader in ebooks, and docSpace, a pioneer in cloud storage. Michael got his start building one of the first search engines, Zip2 at the start of the Internet boom.

A member of the Perimeter Institute's Board of Directors, MaRS Discovery District Board of Directors, Vector Institute, a member of the Creative Destruction Lab Board and YPO. Michael is also a mentor & investor in new technology companies through his company Three Angels Capital.

francis shen

Former Chairman & Co-CEO, Aastra Technologies

(BASc ’81, MASc ’83)

Francis Shen is President of Shen Capital Corporation, a private investment holding company. Mr. Shen was the former Chairman, Co-Chief Executive Officer and founder of Aastra Technologies Ltd. The company was merged with Mitel Network Corporation in 2014. Mr. Shen began Aastra in 1983 and initially focused the company on Research & Development projects in the aerospace and defence industries. In the mid-90s, Mr. Shen redirected Aastra to focus on developing products for the telecommunications market. The business grew substantially and by 2000, it was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and was later part of the index. By 2010, Aastra was one of the top global players in the enterprise communications market. It had an international reach with offices in over 30 countries and provided products and services to over 100 countries around the world. Mr. Shen was named Ontario’s 2000 Entrepreneur of The Year in the Technology & Communications category by Ernst & Young.

Mr. Shen holds a Master of Applied Science (Aerospace Engineering) and a Bachelor of Applied Science both from the University of Toronto. He is a board member of the Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, Toronto International Film Festival, ROM Board of Governors, and a founding board member of NEXT Canada. Mr. Shen also founded Start@UTIAS, a start-up incubator at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.

bernard (barry) sherman

President, Apotex Holdings Inc.

(BASc ’64)

Dr. Bernard (“Barry”) Sherman founded Apotex Inc. in 1974, and still serves as its Chairman. Apotex is Canada’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, with divisions in numerous countries.

Dr. Sherman is an alumnus of the University of Toronto. He earned the degree of BASc in Engineering Physics at U of T in 1964 and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Association of Professional Engineers for standing first in the engineering graduation class of 1964.

He then attended at M.I.T., where he was awarded the degree of MSc in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1965; and PhD in Systems Engineering in 1967.

Dr. Sherman is registered as a Professional Engineer in Ontario.

He serves on the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto.

david m. shoemaker

CEO, NBA China

(BA, Trinity College (Arts & Science), 1992; Student Head of Arts, Trinity College, 2006; LLB, Western University)

As CEO of NBA China, David Shoemaker oversees all of the league’s business and basketball development in Greater China. Prior to joining the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2011, Mr. Shoemaker served as president of the Women’s Tennis Association.

Mr. Shoemaker began his career in 1996 as a law clerk to the Rt. Hon. Antonio Lamer, Chief Justice of Canada. As a corporate and commercial litigator, he spent seven years practicing law at Proskauer Rose LLP and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, both in New York. At Proskauer, he specialized in sports-related client representation, advising both sports leagues and teams, including the National Hockey League, Association of Tennis Professionals and Major League Soccer. During his years in New York, he also served as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Law and Stillman School of Business, as well as New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management.

Under Mr. Shoemaker’s leadership, the NBA has become the most popular and profitable international sports league in Greater China, reaching all-time highs in television viewership, digital and social media consumption, merchandise sales and marketing partnerships.

Mr. Shoemaker has been pivotal in many league accomplishments, including the expanded partnerships with China Central Television, Shanghai Media Group, LeSports Hong Kong and the five-year expansion of the Tencent partnership, which is the league’s largest international digital partnership. He also played a key role in bringing the Chinese Ministry of Education on as a strategic partner in basketball development, launching NBA Academies in China to develop top prospects, and creating and developing the world’s first NBA Playzone, the NBA Chinese New Year Celebration campaign and a series of grassroots events in China.

NBA China also works with internationally-recognized organizations to support education, family development, and disaster relief efforts.

Mr. Shoemaker resides in Beijing with his spouse Jennifer and two boys, Christian and Brendan.

david shore

Executive Producer on "The Good Doctor"

(LLB ’82)

Emmy Award winning writer and producer, David Shore, has been creating television for more than 20 years. He currently serves as executive producer on the hit ABC drama “The Good Doctor”. His additional producer credits include “House”, “Sneaky Pete,” “Battle Creek,” “Hack”, “Family Law,” “Beggars and Choosers,” “Law & Order” and “Traders.” Shore has also written for acclaimed series “The Practice” and “NYPD Blue,” to name just a few.

Originally from Canada, and a former lawyer, Shore has earned an Emmy for “Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series” on “House,” and the Humanitas Prize. Shore was also nominated for two Emmy Awards as a producer on “Law & Order” and was part of the writing team for the Emmy Award-winning first season of “The Practice.”

william (bill) smith

Managing Director, Head of Europe & the Middle East, BMO Capital Markets

(MA ’83)

In his role as Head of EMEA, Bill is responsible for BMO Financial Group’s Capital Markets and Global Asset Management businesses in the region. Prior to his appointment, Bill was Head of Investment and Corporate Banking in London where he was responsible for a wide range of transactions in the EMEA region including M&A, strategic advisory, equity and debt financing.

Before joining BMO Capital Markets in 2004, Bill gained 20 years of investment banking experience working in London, Toronto and Tokyo. This included work in fixed income, derivatives, foreign exchange and credit.

Bill holds an MBA from York University, a Master’s in Political Economy from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University.

william (bill) sobel

Edelstein, Laird & Sobel, LLP

(BA UC ’84)

William Richard (Bill) Sobel has specialized as a talent representative in the motion picture, television and music industries with the law firm of Laird & Sobel in Los Angeles, California for over 30 years. His diverse practice has included the representation of Academy Award nominated and winning actors, innovative directors, pop superstars, television icons and creators, and a hockey sports legend. Mr. Sobel has developed a reputation as an aggressive and skillful negotiator on behalf of actors, musicians, performers, directors, producers and writers. Mr. Sobel graduated from University College and was among the first to initiate a cross-border JD legal education at USC Law School in Los Angeles and Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He also attended the University of California, Berkeley. Bill resides in Beverly Hills with his wife Lisa and their daughters Juliet and Amanda.

richard sommer

thijs spoor

CEO, KBP Biosciences

(BScP ’94)

Thijs Spoor is the President & Director, AzurRx BioPharma Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of recombinant proteins for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and microbiome related conditions. Its therapeutic products will be administered to patients as oral non-systemic biologics. The company currently has two products in its pipeline: MS1819, a recombinant lipase for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency—for cystic fibrosis and chronic pancreatitis patients—and AZX1101, a recombinant enzyme for the prevention of hospital-acquired C.difficile infections. The company is headquartered in NYC, with scientific operations in Langlade, France.

Mr. Spoor is an experienced healthcare executive with global experience in both industry and Wall Street. His professional experience crosses the medical device, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and imaging markets with particular experience in cardiology, oncology and orthopedics.

He graduated with a BScP from the University of Toronto in 1994.

stewart steeves

CEO, LaGuardia Gateway Partners and Regional Executive, USA, Vantage Airport Group

(BASc ’92)

Stewart Steeves is a senior executive with Vantage Airport Group and Chief Executive Officer of LaGuardia Gateway Partners LLC (LGP), the private company selected by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to operate and redevelop LaGuardia Airport’s Central Terminal, a new Central Hall, and supporting infrastructure. The $5.1 billion project is the largest public-private infrastructure partnership in America, and one of the largest and most complex airport redevelopment projects ever executed.

LGP is composed of Vantage Airport Group, Skanska and Meridiam for development and equity investment; and has partnered with Skanska Walsh as the construction joint venture; HOK and WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff as the design joint venture; and Vantage Airport Group for overall development and management. Mr. Steeves acted as the Bid Director for LGP, leading the consortium through a multi-year competitive design and commercial plan development process and bid submission with the Port Authority. At the same time, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Head of Asset Management at Vantage Airport’s Head Office in Vancouver, B.C., where he oversaw the performance of an international network of airports on three continents.

Prior to joining Vantage Airport Group’s Head Office in 2013, Mr. Steeves was Chief Executive Officer of Nassau Airport Development Company in The Bahamas, where he led more than 150 employees through a $500 million airport redevelopment project, privatization and customer service turnaround. Prior to becoming the CEO, Mr. Steeves held the roles of Vice President of Airport Development, and Chief Financial Officer in Nassau, where he managed construction activity and completed almost $1 billion of financings and re-financings for the redevelopment project.

Mr. Steeves, also served as Chief Financial Officer of Tradeport International Corporation, where he led the financial restructuring and strategic repositioning of Hamilton International Airport, a low-cost secondary and cargo focused airport near Toronto, Ontario.

Prior to joining Vantage Airport Group in 2003, Mr. Steeves’ experience included roles in Corporate Finance at the Vancouver International Airport Authority, Project Finance at HSBC Bank Canada in Vancouver, and Construction Project Management for Turner Construction in Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Steeves holds a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He is a registered Professional Engineer and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Mr. Steeves has also been a licensed pilot for more than 20 years.

scott tanner

Former President and CEO of DVS Sciences

Scott D. Tanner retired in 2015 from his last position as Chief Technology Officer of Fluidigm Corp (South San Francisco CA and Markham ON). He was the founding President and CEO of DVS Sciences and saw the company through the development and commercial launch of its first products, securing of Series A financing, and the subsequent establishment of its facilities both in Markham Ontario (R&D and instrument production) and it’s headquarters (commercial and reagents production) in Sunnyvale California. Dr. Tanner assumed the CTO position following the merger of DVS Sciences with Fluidigm in 2014.

The products that DVS Sciences has brought to the global market were originally developed at the University of Toronto where Dr. Tanner was a Professor in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering and then in Chemistry. Prior to that, Dr. Tanner was Principal Scientist with MDS Sciex, the analytical technologies division of MDS Inc. In his 25 years at Sciex, Dr. Tanner developed and helped to commercialize a string of mass spectrometry products.

Dr. Tanner received the 2011 University of Toronto Inventor of the Year Award for Biomedical and Life Sciences, the 2011 ThermoFisher Scientific Spectroscopy Award, the 2003 W.A.E. McBryde medal from the Canadian Chemical Society, and the 2001 Manning Innovation Foundation Award of Distinction. Dr. Tanner completed his PhD in Physical Chemistry at York University in Toronto. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

chuck teixeira

CEO, WCKD RZR

(MBA ’96)

Chuck Teixeira is the Founder and CEO of WCKD RZR, an enterprise software firm focused on delivering intelligent automated Data Privacy solutions. WCKD RZR’s mission is to automate a firm’s compliance with Data Privacy, Data Sharing and Data Ethics rules and policies.

Previously, Chuck was the Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Transformation for Global Banking and Markets at HSBC. Under the Transformation banner at HSBC, Chuck led the global, cross-business effort of business model redesign and solution, using the latest market capabilities; Big Data, Automation, Distributed Ledger Technologies, Digital Platforms, FinTech partnerships and Cloud enablement. Chuck was instrumental in developing a design led culture and tapping into new streams of talent around the globe.

Prior to HSBC, Chuck served as a member of the EMEA Corporate Client Solutions Executive Committee at UBC. He was also previously the Global COO of the Client Capital Management division at Barclays. At Barclays, Chuck undertook a strategic review and restructuring of all treasury, funding, liquidity and Asset Liability Management (ALM) functions across all divisions of Barclays as part of LIBOR remediation efforts. Chuck is a Canadian chartered accountant and has an MBA from University of Toronto.

david tennenhouse

Chief Research Officer, VMware

(BASc ’77, MASc ’81)

David Tennenhouse is VMware’s Chief Research Officer. He leads the research & innovation activities that are accelerating and extending VMware’s technology leadership. These include: formation of a new VMware research group focused on networks and distributed systems; a portfolio of incubation activities and the VMware academic program of engagements with university researchers. He also represents VMware’s technology strategy to government customers worldwide.

David has a strong track record of driving innovation, both in academia and industry. He joined VMware from Microsoft, where he was a Corporate Vice President and led their Technology Policy group. David was previously a Partner at New Venture Partners, where he focused on the creation of spin-outs from corporate R&D teams. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Platform Strategy at Amazon and CEO of its A9.com subsidiary. Before Amazon/A9, David was Vice President and Director of Research at Intel Corporation where he pioneered an "open collaborative" approach to corporate research. This was, in part, based on his earlier work as DARPA's Chief Scientist and Director of its Information Technology Office.

At both DARPA and Intel, Dr. Tennenhouse was involved in the strategic planning and execution of programs related to a wide range of technologies, including distributed/cloud computing, networking, computer architecture, wireless communications, machine learning, search/data mining, image processing, robotics, MEMs, healthcare, and nano/bio-technology. As a faculty member at MIT, he led research on high-speed networking, active networks, software radio and telecommunications policy.

David holds a BASc and MASc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and obtained his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is a member of the ACM, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the FCC’s Technology Advisory Board.

jody townshend

steven truong

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, VinBrain

Mr Steven Truong is the Founder and CEO of VinBrain, a subsidiary of Vingroup, the largest conglomerate in Vietnam. He has been in the AI and software industry for more than 26 years and has held senior leadership positions in top technology companies in the USA and Canada, including Microsoft, Honeywell, and IntelliCommunities. Before forming VinBrain, he was the Director of AI Incubation and Engineering at Microsoft in the USA, reporting directly to the VP of MSAI. Steven has led multi-development center teams at Microsoft. He has been a key innovation initiator for AI product platforms that have been used by hundreds of millions of users worldwide, such as Email Smart Reply and iRanker.

Steven established VinBrain with the mission to infuse AI and IoT to improve human lives and productivity. He has led his team to deploy DrAid – the 1st AI-powered doctor assistant in Vietnam – used by more than 100 hospitals across Vietnam and the USA. DrAid was also the very first & only Southest Asia AI-based device for chest X-ray diagnosis cleared by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). VinBrain has also served thousands of Vietnamese COVID-19 patients through VinBrain’s second flagship product platform, AIviCare, for telehealth and EHR smart management systems. In 2021, VinBrain won ACM SIGAI Industry Award – previously, Microsoft USA in 2020, followed by Sony in 2022.

Steven earned a Bachelor of Applied Science - Engineering Science at the University of Toronto in 1989.

george unger

erol uzumeri

Founding Partner, Searchlight Capital Partners

(BASc ’92)

Mr. Uzumeri is a Founding Partner of Searchlight Capital Partners, a private investment firm with over $5 billion under management and offices in Toronto, New York and London. Mr. Uzumeri is currently Chairman of the Boards of M&M Food Market and Roots. Prior to co-founding Searchlight, Mr. Uzumeri was the Head of Private Equity for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (“OTPP”). Mr. Uzumeri serves on the Board of the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation. Mr. Uzumeri graduated from University of Toronto, with a BASc degree in Honors Industrial Engineering and received his MSc in Finance from London Business School.

alex xuyang wang

CEO, Goldman Sachs ICBC Wealth Management Co. Ltd.

(MBA, UofT, 2000; Rotman Student Contact Mentor, 2013; BA, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 1995)

Alex Wang is the Head of Private Wealth Management, China Onshore, for Goldman Sachs. Mr. Wang joined Goldman Sachs China (Beijing Gaohua Securities Co. Ltd) in August 2010, and was promoted to his current position in November 2013. He works out of the firm’s Beijing office.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.

Prior to Goldman Sachs, Mr. Wang was the Deputy General Manager of Wealth Management at the China International Capital Corporation (CICC), Director of Investment at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Manager of Fund Analysis & Planning at TD Asset Management, and Manager of Investment Banking at China J&A Securities Co. Ltd.

Mr. Wang is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a designation that he received in 2002. He also serves as a member of the expert committee of China Trustee Association since 2011.

jennifer warren

Executive Vice President - Institutional Client Services

(B.Sc. '86, LL.B. '89)

Jennifer oversees the Institutional Client Services Division, which provides trust, custody and agency services to corporations, government agencies, foundations and certain investment plans. It is comprised of three business lines: Global Capital Markets, Retirement & Institutional Custody Services and M&T Insurance Agency. She brings to the role proficiency in creating modern client experiences with expertise in global financial services, digital transformation, and corporate governance.

Jennifer joined M&T in January of 2022, after more than two decades of experience in the financial and tech industries. With executive leadership appointments in legal and regulatory compliance, capital markets and wealth management, she has acumen in acquisitions, divestitures, outsourcings, private investments, joint ventures, privacy, data protection, and cyber risk issues.

Originally from Canada, Jennifer holds a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of science from the University of Toronto. She has also has her FINRA Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses. Jennifer is an experienced public and private company board member in both Canada and the U.S.. she serves her home city of Manhattan as a member of the board of directors of United Way of New York City.

john watt

Head of Asset Management, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure

(BASc ’78)

John Watt is the Head of Asset Management for Morgan Stanley Infrastructure. John joined Morgan Stanley in 2007 and brings more than 32 years of experience in infrastructure acquisition and asset management to his role at MSI, addressing operating issues that include finance, regulatory and technical challenges. In addition to working with company management on strategic and operational issues, he also heads risk management activities, ensuring that assets are appropriately hedged and insured.

He provides leadership and direction on the boards of portfolio companies, typically as either Chairman or lead director. Before joining MSI, John was Director of the Infrastructure Group for Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, where he executed more than $5 billion of transactions in the energy & utilities space. He also served as Co-Chairman of the boards of both Northern Star Generation and InterGen NV.

Prior to this, he held senior management roles at Ontario Power Generation, the government owned power utility, and operating roles at TransAlta and Amoco, and has experience with the oil, gas and power sectors both as an investor and as an operator. John holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario as well as a B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

lorne weil

Executive Chairman, Inspired Entertainment Inc.; Chairman, Tecnoglass Inc.

(BCom UC ’68)

Lorne Weil is Executive Chairman of Inspired Entertainment Inc., a Nasdaq listed global supplier of technology-based products and services for the gaming industry; and Chairman of Tecnoglass Inc., a Nasdaq listed supplier of high quality architectural glass and related specialty architectural products. He was previously Chairman and Chief Executive of Scientific Games Corp., Vice President of General Instrument Corp. and a manager with the Boston Consulting Group.

He holds a BCom from the University of Toronto, MSc from the London School of Economics and MBA from Columbia Business School, where he served on the board of overseers for 12 years.

mark weisdorf

Managing Partner, Mark Weisdorf Associates LLC

(BCom Innis ’79)

Mark Weisdorf is Managing Partner of Mark Weisdorf Associates, focusing on private equity and infrastructure investment strategies. He is a member of the Investment Committee of the Swiss-based IST3 Global Infrastructure Fund, and is a Senior Advisor to Star Mountain Capital, a differentiated, lower middle-market asset management business in the US. From 2005 to 2014, Mark was Managing Director at JPMorgan Asset Management in New York where—as Global CIO and CEO—he established and led their $10 billion Infrastructure Investments platform. From 2000 to 2003, Mark was Head of Private Market Investments at the CPP Investment Board in Toronto, where he was responsible for development and implementation of Private Equity, Real Estate and Infrastructure investment strategies, then totaling $7 billion.

While at CPPIB, Mark was a member of the Board of Directors and chaired the Audit Committee of the parent company for Borealis Infrastructure, which manages infrastructure assets on behalf of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and certain other Institutional investors. From 2001 to 2004, he served on the Board of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) and was founding Chairman of their Research, Benchmarking and Standards Committee.

Prior to 2000, Mark held senior investment banking and executive management roles in Toronto, at HSBC Canada (where he was Head of Investment Banking, and Deputy CEO), CIBC World Markets (Head of Diversified Industries), and Merrill Lynch Canada. Mark is a CPA, CA (Deloitte), CFA and CBV (Chartered Business Valuator). He obtained his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, where he is a past President of the University of Toronto Alumni Association.

roland wieshofer

Chief Financial Officer, Blumhouse Productions

(MBA ’99)

Blumhouse Productions pioneered a new model of studio filmmaking: producing high quality, low budget, wide release films. Blumhouse, which is in the midst of a ten-year first-look deal with Universal Pictures, has produced hugely successful film franchises such as The Purge, Insidious, Sinister and Paranormal Activity, as well as individual hits Get Out and Split. 2018 will see Blumhouse expand further into television and film distribution.

Blumhouse’s award-winning projects include Whiplash, and in television, Blumhouse won Emmys for producing HBO’s The Normal Heart and The Jinx, and two Peabodys—for The Jinx and the documentary How To Dance in Ohio. Blumhouse Television is currently producing Sharp Objects for HBO starring Amy Adams based on Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel, and is serving as the studio for a limited series adaptation of Gabriel Sherman’s acclaimed reporting on Roger Ailes, shepherded by Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy.

Roland Wieshofer joined Blumhouse in 2014 to help grow it from a small production house into a mini-major studio. Prior to Blumhouse, Roland worked at Exclusive Media Group in 2011 as its Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Exclusive, he was the Chief Financial Officer at CinemaNow, Inc., a pioneer in the IP-based film and television distribution industry, for eight years. CinemaNow streamed the first feature length picture on the Internet and was the first company to secure Internet distribution rights from all major studios and over 200 independents.

Roland is a Canadian Chartered Accountant based in Los Angeles and a graduate of the Rotman School of Management.

john witt

Group Managing Director, Jardine Matheson Limited

(BComm. University of Toronto)

Mr. John Raymond Witt is the Group Managing Director of Jardine Matheson, a diversified Asian based group. It comprises a broad portfolio of market leading businesses which represent a combination of cash generating activities and long term property assets. He is also a Director of Dairy Farm International, a leading listed Asian retailer, and Astra International, a major listed Indonesian group, in which the Group has significant holdings.

Mr. Witt has been with the Jardine Matheson Group since 1993 holding a number of senior financial positions in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and France, including chief financial officer of Hongkong Land, a property investment, management and development group, from 2010 to 2016, and chief financial officer of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, the owner and operator of leading hotels, resorts and residences from 2000 to 2010. Before that, he was with Ernst & Young in the United Kingdom, based in their London office following several years at Clarkson Gordon in Toronto.

He is a trustee of the Asian Cultural Council based in New York and a director of the Asian Cultural Council (Hong Kong) Foundation, a Governor of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (and its Chairman from 2013 to 2015) and a voting member of the Hong Kong Riding for the Disabled Association.

Born in Ottawa, Canada, Mr Witt qualified as a chartered accountant in Ontario following his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto (Trinity College). He subsequently earned an MBA from INSEAD, graduating with Distinction. He is married with four children.

jeff wolman

CEO, Wolman Wealth Management Inc.

(LLB ’90)

Jeff Wolman is an attorney, accountant, owner and CEO of Wolman Wealth Management Inc., a business management firm that services primarily those in the entertainment business, which he founded in 1991. He represents several Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award nominees and winners as performers, writers, directors and producers.

Jeff graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1983 and University of Toronto Faculty of Law degree in 1990.

joseph wong

Vice-President, International, University of Toronto

Professor Joseph Wong was appointed the University of Toronto’s interim vice-president, international, on July 1, 2020. Professor Wong takes over from University Professor Ted Sargent, who was named U of T’s new vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

Previously, as the university’s first-ever associate vice-president and vice-provost, international student experience, Wong opened up new avenues to international learning opportunities for U of T students. The number of undergraduate students who travelled abroad for their studies or research was on track to hit 26 per cent this year before COVID-19 struck – up from 14 per cent in 2016.

One of his priorities in his new role will be to grow students’ opportunities for global engagement while the pandemic restrictions remain in place and to ensure that U of T is ready to hit the ground running as soon as international travel is once again safe.

In addition to teaching, Professor Wong is a faculty mentor and the founder of the Reach Project, a student-driven, multi-disciplinary research initiative that has taken students to all corners of the world for in-depth looks at innovative development programs that are reaching the world’s most marginalized people. Over the last several years, Reach student researchers have gone to Ethiopia to study a program to alleviate food insecurity, Brazil to investigate a conditional cash transfer program and Mongolia to study access to solar energy. Several academic publications have resulted from Reach research in leading international journals.

Earlier this year, Reach received additional support from the Mastercard Impact Fund to form the Reach Alliance and expand to six other universities by 2022.

Professor Wong also helped introduce new academic designations that encourage students to acquire the international experience necessary to tackle some of the world’s greatest global challenges. Students can work toward a Global Scholar certification and designation on their transcript by taking a curated series of courses offered by their program or faculty. And they can obtain a Global Citizen designation on their co-curricular record through participating in programs and activities that foster a global outlook and engagement, or that celebrate inclusivity and equity and other core competencies.

Professor Wong was director of the Munk School’s Asian Institute from 2005 to 2014. He’s the author of several books published by leading university presses and academic journal articles, and has worked with international organizations such as the World Bank and United Nations, and has advised governments on matters of public policy. Professor Wong held the Canada Research Chair in health, development and democracy for a full two terms, 2006 to 2016.

shannan wray

nigel wright

Managing Director, Onex Partners UK Limited

(BA Trinity ’83; LLB ’88)

Nigel manages Onex Partners’ European origination in the Business and Industrial Services, Building Products and Packaging sectors. Since joining Onex, Nigel has been involved in the investments in SIG Combibloc, Spirit AeroSystems, Hawker Beechcraft, ResCare and CGG. He has also been involved with a number of initiatives at Onex, including the value realizations of ProSource, various Vencap investments and a number of other significant acquisition opportunities.

Nigel has been involved for about 30 years in volunteer work at homeless shelters in Boston, Toronto and now London, for Camp Oochigeas, an organization providing a residential summer camp and other programming for children with cancer, and for the Ottawa Mission. He has been a director of several charities and foundations, including as a founding director of the MasterCard Foundation.

Nigel took a leave of absence from Onex from 2010 to 2014 to work as Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister of Canada. Prior to joining Onex in 1997, Nigel was a partner at the law firm of Davies, Ward & Beck. Before that, he worked in policy development in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada.

Nigel holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, an LL.B. (Honours) from the University of Toronto Law School and a B.A. (cum laude) in Politics and Economics from Trinity College at the University of Toronto.

robert wright

mylene yao

Co-founder and CEO of Univfy Inc

MD ’93

Dr. Mylene Yao, is co-founder and CEO of Univfy Inc. and has over 15 years of experience in clinical and scientific research in fertility. Prior to founding Univfy, she was on the faculty at Stanford University as Assistant Professor (2003-2011), where she led National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded fertility and embryo genetics research. Dr. Yao was also an Assistant Professor at Columbia University (2002-2003).

Dr. Yao graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto, and completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency training at McGill University. She received her clinical subspecialty training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard University, where she was a Clinical and Research Fellow (1998-2001) and Post-doctoral Research Fellow (1998-2002).

Dr. Yao has received multiple research awards for her fertility research work. She is also the co-author of the chapter on Infertility in the Berek and Novak’s Gynecology, one of the top medical textbooks for obstetricians and gynecologists.
On April 25, 2017, Dr. Yao received the Top 40 Healthcare Transformer Award, by MM&M (Medical Marketing and Media), joining the 2017 class of leading biopharma and health technology innovators.

christopher yip

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International
Leadership Councils

University of Toronto alumni occupy leadership positions in key industries around the world. Our International Leadership Councils capitalize on this network of knowledge and expertise to advance the University’s international partnerships, attract top talent, and magnify U of T’s excellence and impact around the world.

Our Objectives

Drawing on the advice of business, industry and community leaders around the world, the University’s International Leadership Councils focus on:

Advancing U of T’s
international reputation

Connecting U of T to
global innovation hotspots

Institutional and industry
partnerships and collaborations

Recruiting top students and faculty to U of T

Creating opportunities abroad
for U of T students

Our Locations

International Leadership Councils are located in strategic markets where the University has strong concentrations of alumni, as well as opportunities to build robust connections to major research universities, industry, innovation hubs, and top talent.

Asia Pacific

The University of Toronto has been engaged in the Asia-Pacific region for more than a century and has educated thousands of students from this vitally important part of the world. Building on these deep roots, the Asia Pacific International Leadership Council is helping the University forge even stronger links with the region to intensify the exchange of talent, ideas, knowledge and innovation.

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UK Europe

With an estimated 6,000 U of T alumni already in the region, UK Europe is a significant and growing market for U of T. The International Leadership Council for UK Europe is helping strengthen the University's profile and recruitment efforts, drawing on the council’s considerable connections within the fields of finance, journalism, healthcare, and the public sector.

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US East Coast

The U.S. is home to the second-largest community of U of T alumni in the world, with approximately 25,000 grads. The East Coast International Leadership Council, based in New York, is playing a key role connecting U of T to this enormous market. Council members are leaders across real estate development, asset management, media, law, biopharmaceuticals and other areas.

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US West Coast

California is home to the largest U of T alumni community in the U.S. The West Coast International Leadership Council, based in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, is helping strengthen the University’s connections to the region by promoting U of T’s emergence as a hot spot for artificial intelligence, quantum computing and entrepreneurship. Members of the West Coast ILC are leaders in areas such as tech, life sciences, entertainment, and wealth management.

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Asia Pacific

UK Europe

US East Coast

US West Coast

Entrepreneurship Leadership Council

tenniel chu

kwong wah er

meric s. gertler

michael goutama

scott guan

daisy chiu fung ho

lawrence ho

yong guan koh

edmund koh

chao-shiuan liu 劉兆玄

nick lo

david n. palmer

shawn xiaohua qu

steven truong

alex xuyang wang

john witt

joseph wong

robert bell

paul brundage

alixe buckerfield de la roche

josephine comiskey

priya dogra

lyse doucet

mark evans

meric s. gertler

moya greene

philipp hildebrand

peter kadas

albert maasland

margaret macmillan

david n. palmer

james penturn

william (bill) smith

chuck teixeira

joseph wong

nigel wright

donald crawshaw

jane francisco

bonnie fuller

meric s. gertler

rebecca grafstein

murray r. metcalfe

irene miller

james mossman

kenneth g. ottenbreit

david n. palmer

james peers

salim ramji

thijs spoor

stewart steeves

jennifer warren

lorne weil

mark weisdorf

joseph wong

jonathan h. anschell

nigel beck

gary gershony

meric s. gertler

doug hamilton

donald harrison

catherine lacavera

david n. palmer

melinda rogers

gurinder (gary) sangha

david shore

william (bill) sobel

david tennenhouse

roland wieshofer

jeff wolman

joseph wong

mylene yao

nigel beck

paul dalla lana

daniel debow

josh feuer