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Profile
Kirstin Appelt
Kirstin Appelt is Research Director, UBC Decision Insights for Business & Society, and Academic Director of UBC's Advanced Professional Certificate in Behavioural Insights. Her research explores why people struggle with important decisions about the future and how to use choice architecture to help them make the best decisions for themselves and for society. Kirstin is also a behavioural science consultant for organizations including the BC Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG), the California Health Benefit Exchange (Covered California), the Columbia University Center for Decision Sciences, Google, the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), Temple University, and WorkSafeBC. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University and her B.A. magna cum laude in Economics from Dartmouth College.
Stephen Barbazuk
Stephen discovered the value of project management when he was involved in the relocation of a biotechnology facility. Over the past 20 years, he has honed his expert toolkit around strategic planning, change management and practical project management in the areas of biotechnology, research and healthcare. With a passion to incorporate facilitation, coaching and mentoring into the discipline of project management, Stephen's experience compliments with the diverse experience and knowledge of his instructor colleagues in the program. Today Stephen is the Executive Director for a national research network and also serves as the Executive Director for other organizations in a volunteer capacity. Stephen values life-long learning and has been a champion of the UBC Project Management Certificate program for over 10 years.
John Boylan
John has been practicing change management for the past nine years where he has led both large and complex business transformations in the public sector. John is Prosci (2019) and CCMP certified (2021). He holds a Master’s of Educational Leadership & Student Affairs, and a Certificate in Organizational Coaching (COC) from UBC Extended Learning. He is a part-time instructor for a local college and an active board member of the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) – Vancouver Chapter.
John’s passion is building relationship, coaching, mentoring, and empowering others to grow in their own personal and/or professional change journey.
Kookai Chaimahawong
Kookai is the Executive Director of the Centre for Climate and Business Solutions at UBC Sauder School of Business, recognized for her expertise in impact investing and ESG strategies. Her career highlights include launching a successful startup social enterprise, establishing SDG partnerships at the United Nations, and leading investments in sustainability-focused ventures through Venture Capital and Private Equity funds. Additionally, she serves as a Sessional Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Kookai is also a member of the ESG Advisory Council of the ESG Centre of Excellence within the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation (JEDI) for the Province of British Columbia. She holds the position of board chair at the Vancouver Entrepreneurs Forum and is a regular speaker and mentor in global climate-tech startup and responsible investment communities.
Kookai holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Management from Chulalongkorn University, graduating with First Class Honours, and a Bachelor's degree in Political and International Relations from Sciences Po. She also earned a Master of Business Administration in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from UBC Sauder School of Business.
Mumtaz Chaudhary
Mumtaz Chaudhary is the Chief Experience Officer and Co-Founder at Pragilis Solutions—a boutique consultancy that partners with CEOs and executives to anticipate change before it arrives in their organizations. After spending over a decade consulting to companies in the education, energy, machinery, mining, and financial services sectors, Mumtaz knows what it takes to build change-resilient organizations and change-ready leaders—and it’s not managing change as a one-off event. It’s building change management skills for the future.
A thought leader for Pragilis, Mumtaz routinely writes for notable publications such as Consult Magazine and Change Management Review. Mumtaz is a frequent speaker on how companies can properly engage their people to deliver successful change—digital, organizational, strategic or otherwise. She has an active interest in helping companies lead people-centered change and looks for opportunities to incorporate agile, design-thinking and lean principles into her distinctive approach.
Mumtaz is a Certified Change Management Professional™ (CCMP) and holds a B.Sc. in Science, Technology and Society from the University of Calgary. She also serves on the board of ArtStarts—a charitable organization that expands the role of art in BC education.
Stephanie Claggett
Stephanie Claggett has been a writing and English teacher to students from around the world since 2008. Since completing her MBA at UBC’s Sauder School of Business in 2012, she has been preparing students for the GMAT and GRE. Stephanie’s focus is on helping students evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses and create study plans that will help them achieve their goals not just for the exam, but ultimately for their academic and professional careers.
Teresa Comey
Teresa’s personal mission is to inspire learning and growth, create possibilities and increased understanding. She is experienced in leadership and team development, organizational change, strategic planning, and performance coaching. Teresa has coached teams in private and public sectors. A strategic thinker, Teresa has facilitated multiple strategic plans, communication and engagement plans, and developed competency focused succession plans. Teresa has a Masters of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University and holds the designation Certified Senior Organizational Development Professional. She is certified in Myers Briggs MBTI, EQi 2.0 (Emotional Intelligence), Personality Dimensions®, Coaching out of the Box®, Essentials of Coaching™, Excelerator™ Mastery Coaching, and Foundations of Leadership Coaching. She is proud to be a Power + Systems Trainer.
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Profile
Darren Degraaf
Darren is currently an independent contractor for a number of international finance training companies. His main responsibilities include lecturing, curriculum development, training instructors (train-the-trainers) on best practices, and business development. In addition, Darren is a lecturer at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia as well as the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Before working in the education industry, he spent 5 years as a Senior Manager at HSBC Bank. In this position, he focused on the credit risk exposure of the bank's lending portfolio. Prior to that, Darren held various analytical and accounting positions in HSBC's Finance, Asset Management, and Insurance divisions - over some 13 years.
Reeshma Devji
Reeshma is a ProSci certified Change Professional with over 25 years of experience on large scale transformational, capital, cultural, technology and business process change initiatives across variety of industries (Health, Government, Retail, Insurance, Finance, Dairy, Manufacturing, Banking). Her experience spans from Organization Readiness, Strategic Change, Cultural Integration, Stakeholder Engagement to Coaching and Mentoring, Mediation, Training, Business Process Reengineering, Facilitation and Team Building. She is passionate about "Organization and People Readiness" and "Volunteerism kindles her spirit".
Reeshma holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from DeVry Institute of Technology, graduating with honors in Phoenix, AZ.
Sunny Dhillon
Sunny began his career developing software professionally in 2000 after graduating with a Masters in Computer Science before holding Senior Management positions. Sunny has developed/managed software in many different industries including investment banking, retail banking, e-commerce and health care. Major projects have included implementation of PayPal for Best Buy Canada and development of Web & Mobile online banking applications for over 300 Credit Unions across North America.Sunny is a passionate Agile Coach/Trainer who loves to help organizations and teams to become more productive to deliver value to their customers. Passionate to coach and teach both Technical and Business agility principles, Sunny uses the latest Brain Science research to make learning both fun and interactive.Sunny is a strong believer in continuous learning through reading, experimenting, and conversations. He will often be seen speaking at Agile Conferences across North America.
David Durand
David Durand is co-founder MViP, a lawyer and trademark agent, and strategist that assists clients in securing and enforcing intellectual property rights. He has provided counsel to a variety of clients from the retain, media and entertainment and pharmaceutical industry.
He has also spoken at the Token World Conference, InCyber (Montreal) and is a board member of AIoT Canada, FORPIQ and advisor to the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canda (NCFA).
Blake Fisher
With over 10 years of experience in the tech industry, Blake Fisher is a skilled product manager with a track record of driving growth and success for various software products. He excels in working with cross-functional teams to develop and launch products. Independently, he can conduct market research and customer insights analysis to inform product strategy. Blake has a strong understanding of user needs and behaviour and uses this knowledge to create innovative solutions that meet and exceed customer expectations. He is a natural problem-solver and thrives in fast-paced, collaborative environments.
Blake is a Certified Agile Leader (CAL1®), Scrum Product Owner (CSPO®), and Pragmatic Marketing professional.
Stefanie Gajdecki
A graduate of the Ivey Business School at Western University where she earned her MBA, Stefanie brings a financial management approach to marketing strategy with strong leadership skills using an agile mindset.
Before founding Hemera Growth Group, Stefanie worked at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) as a Senior Business Consultant and helped over 100 Canadian entrepreneurs grow their business. Stefanie has also taught and developed courses with BCIT’s Marketing Management program.
Robert Goatham
Robert Goatham is the principal of Calleam Consulting. He founded Calleam in response to the on-going challenges organizations face in developing the leadership skills necessary to successfully deliver today's complex technology projects. Specializing in the study of failed projects, Robert translates hindsight from yesterday's projects into the foresight needed to ensure tomorrow's success. Robert has more than 20 years experience in the technology sector playing roles that include developer, technical lead, architect, quality manager, coach and senior project manager. As a public speaker, writer and trainer, Robert provides audiences with insights that go beyond the theory of a text book and speak directly to the challenges people face in today's workplace.
Rochelle Grayson
Rochelle Grayson, co-founder of BoldCoin.com, is a digital strategy and monetization executive with 20 years of business, technology, and education experience. She has led and launched several innovative digital initiatives, working with a combination of both small and large companies, as well as highly analytical and creative individuals. She has an MBA from Chicago Booth, a BA in German literature, and has been awarded as Top Forty under 40, Vancouver’s Top 10 Women in Technology, and nominated for Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.
Dale Griffin
Dale Griffin is a professor of Marketing and Behavioural Sciences and was the interim Academic Director of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at UBC Sauder School of Business. He has taught at leading universities in Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, most recently at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Professor Griffin teaches courses in Responsible Business, Marketing Research, and Strategic Decision Making at the undergraduate, MBA and PhD levels, and lectures on strategy and decision-making for executive audiences, and provides legal consulting on consumer behaviour and risk perception. He is the co-editor, along with Thomas Gilovich and Daniel Kahneman, of Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment. He received his PhD from Stanford University.
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Profile
Crystal C. Hall
Crystal Hall is the John and Marguerite Walker Corbally Professor in Public Service, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington. Her research pursues the integration of psychology into the design and implementation of social policy, with a particular focus on race, equity, and decision making in the context of poverty. Crystal has a record of serving government agencies at the local, state, and federal level, including having served as a Fellow on the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team and the Federal Office of Evaluation Sciences at the General Services Administration. She also provides guidance to community organizations and nonprofits seeking to implement tools from psychology and behavioral economics into the design and delivery of their programs and services.
Crystal holds a Bachelor of Science in Decision Science, Policy, and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in Psychology from Princeton University.
David Hardisty
David Hardisty is Associate Professor of Marketing & Behavioural Science at UBC Sauder School of Business. His research focuses on decisions about the future, including sustainability, financial planning, and impulsivity. He also studies attribute framing and social dilemmas. At UBC Sauder, he teaches Ethics & Sustainability and Consumer Behaviour. His ultimate goal is to develop tools to improve long-term decision making. He received his PhD in Psychology from Columbia University in 2011.
Emrul Hasan
M. Emrul Hasan has been training CFA exam candidates for over five years at different institutions. He is a full-time Lecturer at the Vancouver School of Economics of University of British Columbia, BC, Canada. Before joining UBC, Emrul taught economics and finance courses at Simon Fraser University (SFU), British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), and Douglas College. Before working in the education industry, Emrul spent several years as Investment Analyst and Consultant at different investment banks, manufacturing firms, and think-tanks such as Fraser Institute and Asian Tiger Capital Partners Ltd. He mostly worked on new venture and private equity valuation, M&A, and writing sector and industry reports while providing sound advice on investment and portfolio management. He is also an active academic researcher working on topics such as capital gains taxes, asset pricing, behavioral finance, IPO and SEO underpricing.
Scott Hayward
Scott has held roles across the software development life cycle for over two decades with IBM Canada. Beginning in quality assurance, he moved through development, architecture, business analysis and project management roles. Recently, as a product manager for a global healthcare asset he had the opportunity to drive both business and technical strategies tied to client needs. In this role, he led the adoption of Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe) on distributed 70-person development teams in Burnaby, Halifax, and Pune, India. He is currently an agile coach with the Insurance Corporation of BC. Scott holds multiple industry certifications in agile methodologies including a Project Management Institute Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification. He is also a Scaled Agile Framework® Program Consultant (SAFe SPC4). Scott is currently pursuing the International Coaching Federation's Associated Certified Coach (ACC) and Distinguished Toastmaster credentials.
Adam Herman
Adam Herman is a commercial Realtor with RE/MAX Commercial, receiving the CFA designation in September of 2019. In his day-to-day, Adam uses cap rates, and comparative analysis to determine values of properties. Adam passed Levels I-III consecutively over a year and a half and can aid in test preparation and strategy, and will be teaching and will be teaching Ethics and other topics within the CFA curriculum between all three Levels. Prior to working as a Realtor, Adam completed a Master of Science degree in Experimental Medicine with UBC.
Vince Hopkins
Vince Hopkins is Assistant Professor in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan. Vince studies behavioural public policy—specifically, how we can help low-income and marginalized populations access public services. His research combines data science (e.g. field/survey experiments, web-scraping) and user experience design (e.g. interviews, journey maps).
John Horodyski
John Horodyski is Managiing Director AVP and has executive management strategy experience in Information Management including Digital Asset Management (DAM), Metadata and Taxonomy design, MarTech, Content strategy, Governance, and Marketing Operations.
John is a world leading expert and has provided strategic direction and consulting for a variety of Fortune 10, 50, 100, and 500 clients from Consumer Packaging Goods, Retail, Media & Entertainment, the Pharmaceutical industry, and Insurance.
John is also published the book, “Inform, Transform, Outperform: Digital Content Strategies to Optimize Your Business for Growth.” John’s latest book, “Metadata Matters” was published in April 2022 by Taylor & Francis.
Edward Hung
Edward Hung is an information technology manager with over 28 years of experience advancing and advocating leadership practices. He has successfully delivered enterprise-wide, large-scale transformations and high-value projects, with a solid track record of setting and delivering strategy.
He is grateful to be teaching at University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business sharing his knowledge and experiences in business analysis, competitive strategy, project delivery and organizational transformation. He also serves as an active volunteer at several local and international non-profit organizations engaging and contributing to our shared community needs. Edward has a bachelor of science in business management and MBA from the University of Phoenix. He is a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) with IIBA, Project Management Professional (PMP), Professional Business Analysis (PMI-PBA), and Prosci change management professional. Edward enjoys sharing his experiences and reflecting on strategies and practices that lead to successful enterprise and business outcomes.
Azeema Jamal
Azeema Jamal has over 13 years of experience in the financial services sector with a specialization in risk, underwriting, business process management, strategic planning, business analysis methodologies, call center development, project management, change management and regulatory compliance. She hires and trains business analysts and provides technical advice and expertise to key stakeholders on operational practices, regulations and opportunities for improvement. Azeema has attained a UBC Sauder School of Business Bachelor of Commerce degree along with a UBC Certificate in Business Analysis.
Cindy Jeromin
Cindy Jeromin has worked in business development with various private and public sector organizations throughout her 35 year career. She currently has her own consulting firm focusing on business development, business continuity, risk management and emergency management activities. She is an instructor and instructional designer for UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies and an instructor for the Justice Institute of BC. Cindy holds a Master’s degree in Knowledge Management, and is an Associate Business Continuity Planner.
Valerie Johnson
Valerie Johnson specializes in Strategic Change Management. She brings consulting experience and knowledge from over twenty five years of change management, leadership development, team effectiveness consulting and IT project work across multiple business sectors including energy, utility, telecommunication, government, higher education and financial services. She has led many large, complex change initiatives and provided the benefits of a structured change management approach. Her success in this area stems from building strong relationships and trust with the business leaders and all levels of employee going through the change.
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Dr. James Kelleher
James has been helping students successfully master the LSAT since 1999. A dynamic instructor, James is passionate about helping students reach their goals to excel in exam preparation. In addition to teaching LSAT, GMAT, MCAT (Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills), and GRE prep courses with UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies, James teaches philosophy of law in the Faculty of Arts at UBC. He also has 13 years of litigation experience.
Catherine King
As Director for the Business of Data team within Corinium Global Intelligence, Catherine is specialized in the field of Data, Analytics, Digital & InfoSec. She directs and hosts the inhouse Podcasts, Livestream Events, Business of Data Show, and the Global Advisory Board. She is an active champion for ensuring all voices within the data & analytics community feel welcome and are represented. She directs & hosts the BoD's Leading Female Executive monthly LinkedIn Live virtual roundtables. She has been recently nominated for The National Diversity Awards for the "Positive Role Model (Gender)" category.
Lukas Klose
Lukas has been working in project delivery for over 20 years as a software engineer in financial, educational, and retail sectors. As Director of Web Publishing at Electronic Arts, he transitioned the department to be agile. This piqued his interest to help other companies reap the benefits of agile as an Agile Coach and trainer. He has helped transition many organizations to agile including Global banks, insurance companies, government branches, retailers, animation studios and from start-ups to fortune 500 companies.
Patrick Lau
Patrick Lau is a Senior Finance Leader with 15+ years of financial management experience in the private and public sectors.
Patrick’s area of expertise includes Financial Planning & Analysis, Corporate Finance, Corporate Development and Treasury Management.
Patrick is a CFA Charterholder and Charter Professional Accountant. He holds a Business Degree from Simon Fraser University and is graduate of the Harvard Business Analytics Program from Harvard Business School.
Gary Lengyell
Originally a graduate in Landscape Architecture from Ryerson University in Toronto, Gary has spent the last 20 years in Vancouver, working in the IT industry. He has extensive project management experience leading medium to large scale IT projects, and in 2014 took the opportunity to work in the construction sector, where he was responsible for managing all of the western Canada retail store builds for a major telecommunications company. In addition to assisting his organization’s shift to agile practices, Gary is currently back managing IT projects. Gary is a strong supporter of volunteer work, has been actively involved in mentoring programs, and annually participates as a judge in the Wideman Education Foundation project management case study competition.
Eunice MacCharles
Eunice MacCharles has over 20 years experience with large and small scale software development projects across various industries, including banking, telecommunication, professional services, higher education, regulatory bodies and insurance. Eunice holds a Honours BA in History & Philosophy from the University of Toronto, and both the Executive Leadership Certificate and a Certificate in Project Leadership from Cornell University. She is a Certified Business Analyst Professional (CBAP), and a Scaled Agile certified Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM). She is an Advisory Board Member for the annual Vancouver BA World Conference, and was a long serving Board Member of the IIBA Vancouver Chapter.
Grace Mckeown
Grace is the current President of the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Vancouver Chapter and is a regarded CM specialist who has held change management and project management roles in public and private sector in both internal and external consulting capacities. She has worked in the field of change management for over 20 years supporting and leading large, complex change initiatives. She is also a Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP).
Grace holds a Health Care Management Certificate from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and completed the Liberal Arts and 55+ Program at Simon Fraser University.
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Louise Novakowski
Louise Novakowski is a professional engineer and project management professional with over twenty years experience in the project management and engineering fields. She currently works as a project management consultant and trainer, providing customized courses for clients as well as teaching at UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies.
Louise holds a Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering from Western University.
Jim Novo
Jim Novo is a regarded consultant who has been helping clients for over 25 years to improve marketing and operations efficiency, specifically the analysis of customer acquisition cost, retention, and value. He’s developed a program that won an Award of Achievement in Digital Analytics, and is the author of Drilling Down: Turning Customer Data into Profits, as well as the co-author of The Marketer’s Common Sense Guide to e-Metrics, considered a breakthrough publication and classic “how to” manual for digital marketing analysis oriented towards understanding and optimizing for profitable customer behavior.
Heidi Nucklaus
Heidi left a long career in advertising in 2016 to become a certified coach with the International Coaching Federation. In addition to being an online instructor in the PM program - she is also a Leadership Coach where she works with clients helping them build their leadership skills as well as effectively navigate through ambiguity, conflict and transition at work. She is known for her innovative, direct and authentic style. Heidi completed the Project Management Certification program from UBC in 2010 (she also has her PMP). Previous to becoming a coach, Heidi spent approximately 20 years in advertising as a project manager where she worked on a range of projects from fully integrated campaigns to 3 dimensional stunt projects. Seven of those years were as Director of Production for Wasserman & Partners Advertising where she supervised a team of producers and designers as well as managed a portfolio of projects. She approaches new projects and endeavours with curiosity, enthusiasm, openness and commitment.
Ekin Ok
Ekin Ok is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. She received her PhD in Marketing and Behavioural Science from UBC Sauder. Her research is in consumer behaviour, with a particular focus on social influences and prediction biases. In her research, she primarily uses experiments, as well as longitudinal studies and qualitative text analysis. Prior to her PhD, Ekin worked as a research associate in a program evaluation company in Vancouver, and was the lead evaluation analyst for several projects on immigration, healthcare, and sustainability. At Queen’s, Ekin teaches Introduction to Marketing to undergraduate students, as well as a MSc / PhD seminar in Experimental Research Design. During her PhD, she taught Marketing Research at UBC Sauder.
Ekin holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Social and Political Sciences and a Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Sabancı University. She also earned a Master of Management from UBC Sauder School of Business and a PhD in Marketing and Behavioural Science from UBC Sauder.
Michael Ouchi
Michael Ouchi is a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist instructor who likes to challenge people to think about using their software investment in new and creative ways. With over 10 years of experience working with clients from individual professionals to private companies and governments, he brings a wealth of practical knowledge and experience to the classroom.
Evgeniy Panzhinskiy
Evgeniy Panzhinskiy, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. He received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in molecular biology from the Novosibirsk State University in Russia and his Phd from the University of Wyoming in the Molecular and Life Sciences Program. His current research at UBC is focused on understanding the role of protein translation in the failure of insulin-producing beta cells during diabetes. Dr. Panzhinskiy holds a prestigious fellowship from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and has presented his work at numerous international conferences and meetings.
Becky Querido
Becky Querido is a collaborative and creative facilitator, coach, and organizational development consultant who empowers individuals to discover their potential and embrace positive, lasting change. With a passion for connection, well-being, and sustainability, she nurtures learning in others, facilitates transformation, and creates sustainable change solutions in the workplace. As a Prosci-certified change management leader and certified PMP, Becky excels in connecting people, conveying vision, and finding opportunities in complexity. With over two decades dedicated to the human resources profession, her expertise lies in group facilitation, responsive leadership development, coaching, and grassroots organizational development. Becky is a driving force in powering up leadership, fostering innovation and making change happen.
Becky holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Arts in Leadership with a focus on Organizational Leadership from Royal Roads University.
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Hasnain Rizvi
Hasnain Rizvi is an acclaimed public speaker, mentor and coach. He has spoken at numerous events nationally and internationally. Hasnain has managed mission critical complex programs and projects for key clients in North America, such as for a Canadian Crown Corporation, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Amdocs where he led a significant Business Transformation Program. He also spent a decade in California leading projects for Fortune 500 companies. Hasnain is a graduate of Caltech’s Project Management Program.
Dave Sharrock
Dr Dave Sharrock is a senior consultant and enterprise agile coach for Increment One. Dave is the only combined Certified Scrum Coach (CSC) and Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) in Canada, holding both an MBA and PhD. He has over 15 years of experience working with product delivery organizations, from Fortune100 companies to start-ups. From telecommunications to branded consumer goods, Dave helps companies and organizations understand and realize the benefits of applying an agile/lean mindset to product development. A sought-after speaker and consultant, Dave is an expert on organizational change and agile business processes. Dave moved to Vancouver in 2010 from Europe, and leads Increment One consulting. As an agile coach, Dave brings a unique perspective to product development from a history of working both on the service side, running the production department at a full-service web agency for nearly five years through the ups and downs of the dotcom bubble, and on the client side, leading online production teams at a major PC manufacturer and leading international social networking platform.
Elena Surcheva
Elena Surcheva is the co-founder and Director, Digital Marketing and Analytics at Iridia Consulting. She is a seasoned digital strategist and analyst who has been working in the online space since 2003. She helps her clients effectively leverage digital media, communicate better with their current and potential customers, and be more efficient in converting advertising spend into tangible and measurable results.
Prior to Iridia Consulting, Elena honed her skills managing all aspects of the digital analytics strategy at TELUS for eight years. She has also worked with B2C, B2B and not-for-profit organizations like Samsung, Knowledge Network, Central 1, ActiveState, Tourism BC, the Canadian Red Cross and the Calgary Zoo.
Lannie Thielen
Lannie’s expertise in mission-driven planning and operational excellence is backed by considerable experience in Fortune 500, public, and private companies. With his ability to collaborate with teams and leaders from the CEO to the front line, Lannie excels at providing clarity on business objectives to ensure information and projects are delivered on-time, accurately, and completely. Lannie has over 25 years of global professional experience. He holds designations in Lean Six Sigma, Project Management and has an executive MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. As a local volunteer, Lannie has provided leadership under the BC Societies Act and BC Cooperative Association Act. He is active in outdoor pursuits including sailing, hiking and biking.
Christopher Thierry
Christopher is co-founder MViP and is a successful technology entrepreneur who has spent his life building new technology companies. He has a degree in Management Information Systems and after graduating grew his company, Cimpl, an enterprise SaaS company, to manage around 4 billion worth of technology expenses for many well know companies. He sold Cimpl in 2019 and has since become an angel investor in multiple companies involved in AI & fintech, he, alongside David is a co-founder of MVIP.
Kristine Thody
Kristine comes to us with 25 years of combined experience in Business, Recruitment and Higher Education. She’s a Certified Coach, having trained with The Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) which is widely recognized as the most rigorous professional coach training and certification program in the industry. She is also certified by the International Coaches Federation. Kristine has been recently named #10 on the list of Top 20 Coaches in Vancouver by Influence Digest.
For 9 years (2012 - 2021), she worked for the UBC Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia as the Associate Director, Alumni Careers. She considers herself incredibly lucky and honoured to have supported the alumni community with their career development around the globe by creating and facilitating unique programming and providing career coaching services. She’s worked with a range of industries and career pathways from new grads to seasoned professionals across Canada, USA, UK, Asia, Europe and Australia.
Prior to moving into Higher Education, she spent 11 years as a Financial Recruiter, working for both a Fortune 500 global recruiting company and a boutique agency in Vancouver, BC. She also spent 5 years working as an Accountant for a wholesale and retail company.
Kristine is currently building her own coaching business and overseeing her passion project as the Executive Director of the largest cycling club in BC.
Jaya Deep Tunuguntla
Jaya is an entrepreneur; and an experienced enterprise business (data) analyst, project manager, change manager, and architect. He effectively manages teams and leads successful projects; drives business strategy, analysis, design, development, implementation, and operations. He has expertise in various industry domains, with passion for integrating the capabilities in serving multiple horizontal and vertical markets, providing comprehensive quality and value. In short, Jaya is a connector, integrator, advisor, and problem solver.
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Gary Wagner
Experienced Change and Project Management Servant Leader with a 15+ year track record driving successful transformations.
Gary is a seasoned servant leader known for his strategic leadership and transformative initiatives. Since immigrating to Canada from Australia, he has driven the adoption of scaled agile at Telus, enhancing software product delivery. At Bally’s Interactive, he spearheaded the alignment of tactical operations with organizational goals during a $150M global M&A. Recently, Gary’s consultancy work at CM Agility has consolidated his change management expertise by deploying design thinking and an affiliative leadership style; including working with leaders at Translink to grow their software Product Management team. Gary relishes his involvement with UBC’s Product Management bootcamp, working with Timothy and the UBC team, to bring the domain of Product Management alive with real-world applications and career coaching for members of the local Product Management community.
Rahim H. Walji
Rahim H. Walji is a Leader for an internal consulting team that provides strategic project and change consultation support for medium to large scale strategically aligned change initiatives for the Fraser Health Authority. His journey started as a senior business analyst and project lead supporting strategic Information Management investments. Over the past 17 years he has helped to support and lead increasingly complex change initiatives, leveraging and integrated approach to project and change to support the transformation of health service delivery in acute care, primary and community care, as well as the Mental Health and Substance Use program at Fraser Health.
Rahim is Prosci and HSD certified and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University (Hons) and Executive MBA (Healthcare) from UBC.
Kate White
Kate White is currently Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science at the UBC-Sauder School of Business. She holds a professorship in Consumer Insights, Prosocial Consumption, and Sustainability and is Academic Director of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics. Kate’s research focuses on how to encourage ethical, prosocial, and sustainable consumer behaviours. Kate has consulted on various behaviour-change projects with industry collaborators such as The City of Calgary, Health Canada, BC Women’s Hospital, My Sustainable Canada, BC Hydro, Big Rock Brewery, The United Way, and Celgene Health Care.
Li Yang
Li Yang is the principal and owner of iACTConsulting Ltd. which offers business analysis and project management services. Li has over 15 years of experience in both China and Canada in the areas of marketing and sales, project management, and more recently, her discovered passion for business analysis. As a trusted advisor, Li draws from her practical industry knowledge in health care, insurance, banking, transportation, call centre, and non-profit organizations.
Timothy Yeung
Timothy Yeung (he/him/his) is a seasoned product leader with over a decade of experience in the digital and technology space. He is currently a Group Product Manager at Hootsuite, leading the product management team for Plan+Create, their core product portfolio in social media publishing and marketing. Before joining Hootsuite, he was an Associate Director of Product Management at EY, and a Lead Product Manager at TELUS Digital. As a product leader, Timothy leads with the philosophy of servant leadership – making sure all team members are empowered with what they need to turn brilliant ideas into reality.
Timothy is an alumnus of UBC, having completed his BCom degree at the Sauder School of Business. He also holds an MBA degree from the Quantic School of Business and Technology. Passionate about inclusive education, Timothy is also serving on the advisory committee for the product management program at the UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies.
Holly Zhang
Holly Zhang has over 25 years of experience in information technology development, business analysis and adult education. She had taught various courses in information technology at university level for six years in China before she came to Canada in 1992. She has been an online instructor for the UBC Sauder Continuing Business Studies’ Business Analysis certificate program since 2013.
Ms. Zhang has worked as a Business Support Analyst and a Business Analyst, and is currently a Senior Business Advisor. Her business analysis experience includes enterprise analysis, business process improvement, requirements elicitation, analysis and documentation, user acceptance testing, system support and change management. She has also managed projects of strategic initiatives, process improvement and information system implementation. She has presented at the Project World BA World conference.
Ms. Zhang mentors and shares experiences with fellow business analysts. She is actively involved in the business analysis community and is the President of IIBA Vancouver Chapter.
Jiaying Zhao
Jiaying Zhao is the Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sustainability, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Jiaying uses psychological principles to design behavioural solutions to address financial and environmental sustainability challenges. Specifically, she examines the cognitive consequences of poverty and designs interventions to alleviate the cognitive burdens in low-income individuals. In addition, she develops behavioural interventions to encourage recycling, composting, and biodiversity conservation. Jiaying has served as a research advisor and consultant for a number of organizations, including Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Policy Horizons Canada, City of Vancouver, and the U.S. Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. She received her PhD in cognitive psychology from Princeton University in 2013.