Adam Flatt [BComm(Hons)/24]

New Bachelor of Commerce alum Adam Flatt completed his undergraduate degree with a double major in supply chain management & logistics and international business. Despite a degree interrupted by pandemic closures, Flatt is grateful for the networking opportunities he had throughout the program, connecting with colleagues and business leaders.

He also completed co-op terms at The Dufresne Group (TDG) as a logistics coordinator, all while balancing his career as a competitive curler.

Flatt shares how the Asper co-op program allowed him to apply knowledge learned in the classroom to the workplace in a way that fit his life and priorities.

“The flexibility of the Asper Co-op program, combined with the support from TDG, enabled me to balance my work with my competitive curling schedule. As a competitive curler traveling across North America to compete in World Curling Tour events, I was able to train and compete at the highest level while still participating fully in the co-op program and gaining valuable skills on the job!”

Flatt recently accepted a new role as Operations Supervisor at Larsen’s Memorial.

Adrian Barreda Rosell [MSCM/24]

Graduating with a Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics, Adrian Barreda Rosell enrolled in the program to advance his manufacturing background with a focus on improving processes across the workplace. While he looks forward to bringing refined technical knowledge back to work, he also notes that the program offered key leadership insights.

“I really enjoyed the people-oriented courses such as Managing People in Organizations, Executive Leadership Responsibilities, and Negotiations,” he says. “A good understanding of communication and motivation is essential for any leader.”

He is excited to continue his career in manufacturing, bringing an enhanced global supply chain view to his work.

“Being conscious about the unique demands of procurement and manufacturing departments will help me influence collaboration within the organization to increase the competitiveness and agility of the organization and the supply chain I am a part of,” he says.

Gagan Pahuja [MBA/24]

Recent MBA alum Gagan Pahuja has lofty goals of leading in the supply chain management industry in Manitoba, with a particular focus in procurement (a fitting aspiration given his MBA focus areas of supply chain and leadership).

Pahuja joined the MBA program in Fall 2022 and got involved quickly, joining the case competition team for the MBA Games 2023/24, benefiting from the mentorship program, and balancing work as a procurement advisor at Manitoba Hydro for a year during his full-time studies.

As he celebrates convocation this Fall, he reflects on how his varied Asper experience has set him up for success.

“The MBA program has been a rewarding journey that has advanced my career goals by enhancing my business acumen and leadership skills. Through coursework and networking opportunities, I’ve developed valuable analytical and problem-solving abilities. My experiences in case competitions and team projects have further equipped me with the confidence and skills needed to excel in my career path in the supply chain management industry,” he says.

He is already putting his procurement acumen to work close to home in his current role as a Purchasing Consultant with Procurement Services at UM.

Julie Xue [MBA/24]

After beginning her MBA at the Asper School of Business in Fall 2022, Julie Xue found plenty of experiential learning opportunities to enrich her in-class work. This October, she receives her MBA with focus in finance, and she reflects on how the program helped move her professional goals forward.

“As a newcomer and woman in my late thirties, it felt impossible to break into the finance industry in Winnipeg before I pursued my MBA. However, after my Asper experience, anything feels possible. The program has opened a lot of doors for me already!”

Xue completed a co-op term with Grant Thorton and participated in prestigious case competitions (Creative Shock, CFA Research Challenge), where she could develop her critical thinking skills and ability to work under pressure. She graduates feeling ready for more after learning from distinguished guest speakers in her executive leadership course and connecting to the Asper alumni network as well as The Associates and Young Associates.

Marissa Troia [BComm(Hons)/24]

Marissa Troia will receive her Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree at Fall Convocation, concluding her Asper student experience even as she stays connected as an alum and debate coach.

Troia, who majored in accounting, filled her years at Asper with involvement through volunteering, co-op, and debate competitions. “The most impactful part of my Asper journey were the extracurriculars I participated in. Not only did they get me out of my comfort zone, but they also enabled me to meet some of my closest friends,” she says.

These experiential learning opportunities seem to have informed Troia’s next steps as a new alum. During her degree, Troia completed three co-op terms with MNP, where she now works as a full-time associate in assurance services, and she will start the CPA program this month.

An avid competitor for ASBAA’s Internal Accounting Case Competition and JDC West, Troia will also join a team of coaches in support of the Team Asper JDC West debate team.

Maureen Agwuncha [MFin/24]

Graduating with a Master of Finance, Maureen Agwuncha is now a member of KPMG’s Corporate Finance team in Winnipeg, where she will be providing financial advisory services to businesses across Canada.

She completed her professional graduate degree in just under a year, taking advantage of the flexible, concentrated programming while still getting involved with Asper Professional Graduate Student Association (APGSA) events and competing in the CFA Business Valuation Case Competition and Creative Shock.

Agwuncha is excited to continue building her career in finance, stating that the Asper MFin has already greatly supported her career goals. “The MFin program has significantly enhanced my visibility on the job market and provided hands-on experience in applying and understanding key finance concepts. I received coaching on navigating the Canadian job market, building meaningful connections, and leveraging existing relationships,” she says. She also plans to pursue CPA exams to further enhance her expertise.

—

With nearly 100 new BComm alumni, and over 70 new alumni from the Stu Clark Graduate School, the Asper School of Business’ alumni community of 22,000 continues to grow. Stay connected as an alum no matter where your education and career take you.

—

UM Bisons are at the centre of it all, making a difference here in Manitoba and around the world. 1,429 degrees are being awarded at Fall Convocation, bringing the number of graduates in the class of 2024 to just over 5,500. Many of these new alumni will stay in Manitoba, contributing high-demand skills to the labour market and injecting nearly $300 million into the province’s economy each year.

How does ADHD impact financial wellbeing and decision-making?

In what ways do gender roles at home predict children’s future investments?

What effect does race-based trauma have on the financial outcomes of Black individuals and communities?

Asper associate professor and The Associates Fellow in Finance, Chi Liao is an expert in behavioural finance, engaging with datasets and psychology, sociology and other social sciences to tackle these questions. She seeks to understand how broader social phenomena affect individual behaviours in financial decision-making and ultimately financial outcomes.

The Associates Fellowship program supports and highlights innovative, impactful work while providing opportunities for Asper researchers to present their findings to the Manitoba business community through the Emerging Topics Speaker Series. Liao presented her work on ADHD, finance and entrepreneurship to members of the Manitoba business and academic community earlier this year.

As she explains, her research supplements what traditional finance might tell us about investing and financial decision making.

“Traditional finance is built on assumptions of ‘rationality,’ meaning that our preferences don’t change over time, that we only care about ourselves, that we only derive utility from wealth, and so on. These assumptions lead to theories predicting, for instance, that everyone should have some of their wealth invested in the stock market,” she explains.

Liao points out that this prediction is far from the truth (in 2005, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians families’ assets comprised only 22.2% stocks and mutual funds/investment funds/income trusts).

“Given this puzzle that traditional finance can’t resolve, a subset of my research investigates the reasons behind low stock market participation despite its importance for wealth accumulation.”

Liao brings this insight into traditional and behavioural finance to the classroom, teaching core courses in both the undergraduate finance major and the Asper Master of Finance program, a CFA Institute University Affiliation Program that prepares students for their CFA designation exams while connecting them with innovative researchers like Liao.

ADHD and financial outcomes

Liao works with secondary data to address compelling gaps in the literature around puzzles like these. In her pursuit of strong data, she finds herself tracing longer histories of neurodivergence and financial decision making. Her work in ADHD and financial outcomes, for instance, draws from data that spans childhood and young adulthood (early twenties), whereas a new project related to ADHD and retirement uses data focused on older adults and retirees. While the range is an important component of credible quantitative research, she points out another implication.

“It goes to show how strongly the effects of ADHD can persist over time.”

Race, trauma and financial decision making

Likewise, as part of her SSHRC-funded work on race and financial decision making, Liao and her coauthors look for links between exposure to race-based trauma and stock market participation, home ownership, retirement savings and wealth accumulation.

In forthcoming work titled “Race, Police Violence, and Financial Decision-Making,” Liao and co-authors Vicki Bogan, Lisa Kramer and Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi find that African Americans living near a police-involved fatality of another African American experience decreases in home ownership, home equity and defined contribution pension participation compared to non-African Americans. They plan to broaden the focus of this research to explore how race-based historical trauma can be passed down through generations to affect present-day financial decisions and outcomes.

Finding better questions in the data

A quantitative researcher, Liao takes an observation, a gap in the literature—at times a personal connection or an instinct—and works to find reliable data that quantifies behaviour, facilitates causal inference and ultimately offers a clearer understanding of behaviour.

Her research aims to understand the way our humanity and history influence our financial behaviour, staying attuned to systems of power and barriers to success that might exacerbate our inability to live up to traditional finance’s (admittedly unrealistic) expectations for us.

In compiling and analyzing data on financial management among people with ADHD and investigating credible explanations for race- or gender-based financial inequality, she lays groundwork for researchers and practitioners to continue asking better questions.

“I came to Asper because, first, the University of Manitoba is prestigious—it has history and is a first-tier university. Second, the tuition was affordable for me,” says Tao.

He describes how an oversaturated job market for finance in Shanghai, where he previously studied and worked, has created an environment where high-value degrees are becoming a basic requirement.

“In Shanghai, it is very competitive,” he says. “Here in Canada, a CFA is more than a basic requirement; it is something that takes time to achieve, and it stands for a high quality of knowledge.”

He notes how many of his classmates might also have practical reasons for wanting to pursue an Asper MFin. “I think if you ask the question, why did you choose to pursue an MFin at Asper?, to my international classmates, their answer would likely relate to immigration,” he says.

For Tao, there isn’t much use in offering more romanticized reasons for joining a program because he has learned that practicality does not preclude creativity, discovery or opportunity.

Throughout the program, Tao heeded as much advice as he could, getting involved, putting himself out there and seeking job and networking opportunities. He is invested in giving back, across campus and the city, dedicating his time as a corporate finance tutor at UM and as a volunteer for the 2023 World Police & Fire Games. In 2023, Tao received a UM Emerging Leader Award for his dedication to the community.

Tao volunteering at the 2023 World Police & Fire Games.

When asked why he volunteers, Tao mentions a few reasons.

“I looked at LinkedIn, and I saw that many successful professionals had volunteer experience. It seemed like something I should do. I also wanted to get involved and practice my English. It wasn’t until the third or fourth volunteer opportunity that I realized I was doing it because it made me really happy.”

Tao, perhaps like many graduate students, felt the pressure of everything he “should” do to make the most of his time at school in Canada. A finance major to the core, he even tried to quantify it once or twice.

Tao’s practical leanings did produce opportunities—to succeed and to slow down. Since joining the program, he has made the most of extracurricular opportunities at the Stu Clark Graduate School while studying Asper’s CFA-certified curriculum.

He credits the Asper Career Development Centre for supporting him, noting that they have a keen understanding of how international students may face unique challenges.

Now, in his third term, he is spending more time immersing himself in Winnipeg, a city he has already come to love.

“In my first semester, I attended as many campus events as I could, competed in case competitions and got involved with the Asper Professional Graduate Student Association. In my second semester, I only had time to study and work. Now, I’m taking time to recover, explore the city and see all the great history and beauty of Winnipeg,” he says.

In pursuing what he felt he should, Tao is discovering what he can do in his career, in Winnipeg and beyond. He shares one of his new experiences in the city.

“I’ve learned that driving can be for fun,” he says. “In my experience, driving was a way to get from one destination to another, but here, an old roommate and I would go on drives without a destination or a map. I saw a lot more of the city’s beauty that way.”

A year into his time in Canada, Frank Tao still has destinations in mind—career success, advanced learning, a robust network—and his experiences at Asper are helping him to also embrace and enjoy the journey.

Greidanus steps into the role while Dr. Suzanne Gagnon, Associate Dean, Professional Graduate Programs and Executive Education, and Canada Life Chair in Leadership Education is on research leave.

Within the position, Greidanus will be responsible for leading Asper’s professional graduate programs within the Stu Clark Graduate School, which include the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Finance (MFin) and Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics (MSCM).

He will also oversee the James W. Burns Executive Education Centre, which provides an extensive range of executive training and professional development programs designed to support advanced leadership skills.

Dr. Bruno Silvestre, Dean of the Asper School of Business, will work closely with Greidanus to advance the School’s priorities during his term. “I am pleased to welcome Nathan to this role, and I am excited for what he will bring to our leadership team,” he says. “I look forward to collaborating with him as we continue to grow our graduate programs and as we welcome our largest ever MBA intake this fall.”

A skilled and dedicated administrator and educator, Greidanus brings his years of experience serving on the Professional Graduate Programs Committee and teaching MBA and Executive Education courses to this acting role.

He chaired the MBA committee between 2013 and 2015, serving on the ad hoc MBA curriculum redesign committee during this time. The result of this committee work led to a newly designed and even more successful MBA program.

Greidanus also served on the Professional Graduate Programs Committee during the approval phase of Asper’s most recent professional graduate programs: the MFin and MSCM. As academic director for Manitoba’s Director Education Program, he oversees the selection and evaluation of instructors for the Executive Education program while contributing to the cohesion of program content.

His courses at the MBA level all have a strong experiential component giving students opportunities to apply their in-class learning to real-world contexts, with many projects linking students to issues facing companies, not-for-profits, government and First Nations.

Greidanus speaks to the significance of the MBA and Executive Education programs at Asper and his hope for the term.

“For over 10 years I’ve been involved in, and a champion for, our Executive Education and MBA programs. I find teaching in the professional programs is both challenging and extremely rewarding. These programs are also incredibly important to the school as they provide Asper the highest level of connection to the business community,” he says.

With his years of experience, Greidanus’s role as Acting Associate Dean promises to continue strengthening these connections between the School and the business community of Manitoba.

The Asper School of Business welcomes Dr. Nathan Greidanus to this position!

Met with a simple question, Sheena Gee felt like she had come full circle.

Gee, an Asper Master of Finance student and Vice President of the Asper Professional Graduate Student Association (APGSA), was asked this question at the first Stu Clark Graduate School meet-and-greet event and has been fielding similar ones since.

As an MFin student who has completed a diploma and bachelor’s degree at the University of Manitoba, she is used to answering queries about living in Winnipeg from new and international students in the program. Gee grew up in Canada, but her parents came to the country as refugees, on her mother’s side, and immigrants, on her father’s. Like her classmates now, they had to rely on their new community to make that transition.

“It’s come full circle for me,” she says, “being the domestic student here and realizing that my mom had these friends that she is still friends with now: the people who said, ‘let me help you’ when she came to Canada.”

Gee shares how the knowledge she offers as a seasoned Winnipegger—from tips for surviving winter, to ways of getting involved in the graduate program—has helped her connect with her cohort and her own family.

She stepped into the role of student representative and finds herself embodying the sense of community that supported her family a generation later: “I tell my grandparents about my classmates, how they came to school, how they ask about this or that, and how I provide answers. My grandma said that she remembers when she had those questions.”

She jokes with classmates that her experience might be similar to what their children could live through. She says, “that’s the running joke: one day, your kids are going to be me.”

Joking aside, Gee is a strong role model who demonstrates the value in following her passion, supporting her community and embracing lifelong learning.

She is also no stranger to fielding questions at home. Gee and her partner balance parenting three children with their commitment to lifelong learning, which includes answering the many questions her oldest has about her MFin classes.

Gee recently had an opportunity to bring her nine-year-old son to an evening class—Investment Policy with Dr. Alexander Paseka. As they got ready, her son insisting on a dress sweater and his Chelsea boots to put his best foot forward, Gee felt the impact of the experience.

 “I didn’t even realize until I saw him getting ready for class that he’s doing exactly what he sees his mom doing,” she says. “I felt good to think that I’m setting a good example for him by doing what I’m interested in, what I’m passionate about.”

Before pursuing this passion with the MFin degree, Gee’s professional life began in dental hygiene. “As a child of immigrants and refugees,” she says, “it’s common to hear ‘get a good job, something safe,’ because they’ve experienced so much instability.”

Gee understood the draw of safety but also wanted flexibility and freedom. She started a business in 2015, Movement360 Inc., a mobile massage and physiotherapy service, and realized that her entrepreneurial spirit might emerge from rather than stand against her family history:

“Looking back, it makes sense,” she says. “On my mom’s side and my dad’s side, they were businesspeople. I see now that there was always a lot of entrepreneurial spirit in my family, even if they didn’t have the opportunity to pursue it when they first came to Canada.”

After succeeding as an entrepreneur, Gee wanted to challenge herself further and pursue an MFin at Asper. “I don’t want to close doors,” she says. “I want to continue to grow and learn.”

She quickly got involved in the program, joining the APGSA and becoming an ambassador for the MFin program. Without a business-related bachelor’s degree, Gee didn’t initially imagine herself in a leadership role.

“I’ve been in many leadership positions, but because this is such a new world for me, I didn’t see myself as a leader,” she says. Like her entrepreneurial roots, Gee came to recognize her leadership skills in this new context, in part because her cohort encouraged her to take on the role. “It was the support from the community at Asper that gave me the confidence to do this,” she says.

Gee will speak at the Asper MFin Open House this month, and she offers a preview of her advice for prospective students:

“Get involved. Dive in,” she says. “It’s the difference between getting through a program and really getting into a program.”

Gee’s story reveals that getting involved can also be a feeling that is not easily measured on a C.V.

She embodies a willingness to live and feel connections in the program beyond a professional network—from stepping into the role of the friend who welcomed her mother as a newcomer and playfully representing a hopeful future for her colleagues’ children, to sitting next to her own son in the classroom of his very first university lecture—Gee’s time in the MFin program seems structured by shared moments and feelings that echo across generations.

Gee’s leadership manifests in her efforts to get students involved and to reflect this involvement herself. It is also present in the unofficial roles she takes on, like giving advice for finding a way through what is unfamiliar, challenging or new: “You don’t see it. You don’t know it, but you’ll feel it,” she says.

____

Prospective students can learn more and connect with Sheena Gee at the Master of Finance Open House on March 8, 2023. Visit the program webpage for more information.

Zhang landed rewarding roles in her home country such as a data analyst and client manager, but this was not enough to stop her from pursuing a postgraduate degree in yet another culturally-rich study abroad destination.

“I gained precious experience in the industry,” she explains. “But soon, I discovered my true calling to experience a culturally diversified, creative and respectful business environment.” All signs led to one of Canada’s leading business schools the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business where Zhang was offered the International Graduate Student Entrance Scholarship.

The business school boasts more than 80 years of experience in providing a world-class education to aspiring leaders and innovators – ones capable of ethically contributing to the social and economic well-being of Canada’s fifth-most populous province and beyond. Zhang knew that to truly make a difference in the financial sector, this was the reputation her university would need. To her, the most significant facts of all were that Asper School of Business respected diverse perspectives and encouraged originality. Her first day on campus proved these to be true.

“On orientation day, not only did I receive access to my class list, but also information on all the extra help available from Asper School of Business, such as career advising, academic tutoring, and more,” she explains. “Halfway through my first semester, support from this respectful and diverse community continued. I love studying with my fellow peers on group projects. I especially love collaborating with classmates from different backgrounds.” One thing Zhang and her new friends for life can agree on? The Asper Master of Finance  (MFin) is an excellent choice. So far, the program is building on everything they already know about business.

Jointly offered by the Stu Clark Graduate School and Faculty of Graduate Studies, the MFin is a comprehensive one-year, three-term program designed to prepare learners for all three levels of exams needed to obtain a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. In fact, the curriculum is mapped to align with the CFA Program Curriculum.

Sample course offerings include: Accounting Fundamentals; Managerial Economics; Corporate Finance; Alternative Markets and Instruments; Financial Modelling; Behavioural Finance; Investment Policy; International Finance; Readings in Accounting and Finance; Spreadsheet Skills for Management; Basic Quantitative Analysis for Management; and a Career Development Seminar.

Zhang’s favourite lessons revolve around ethics. “It is my personal belief that honesty and justice are the most important virtues in a business world,” she says. “So I really appreciate that a course in ethics is provided to build a mindset for constantly reflecting and thinking in professional settings.”

She credits the MFin for opening her eyes to the ever-changing nature of the world of business and she believes this mindset will play a pivotal role in helping her stand out in an increasingly competitive job market. Her educators helped her realize the abilities to foresee technological advancements and in-demand competencies, understand their effects, and add to her “skill bank” accordingly. Thankfully, the program has already taught her to do the above and more.

Zhang has been an exemplary student so far and her dedication to her studies has certainly paid off. Recently, the newly-minted “lifelong learner” was awarded the Asper Master of Finance Student Bursary as well as the Judy Micay Linhart and Samuel Linhart Scholarship.

Without a financial worry in mind, she plans to soon participate in the Business Case Competition, another Asper School of Business hallmark where students compete to produce and market insightful solutions to today’s business challenges.

“We have already made great progress hunting down members for our team,” Zhang enthuses. “The challenge excites me. I have always enjoyed brainstorming with teammates and creating something from scratch. After all, our program has given us enough imagination to foresee 10 years’ worth of the future.”

“The program can complement my accounting and entrepreneurial skills with exposure to wealth creation so it can position me to better tackle finance problems faced by small- and medium-scale enterprises in Nigeria,” said Osunrinde. Already an established entrepreneur in her home country of Nigeria, Osunrinde is the founder of an emerging tech-driven leather craft company called Elizabeth Blac Leather Craft.

“I train shoe and bag startups in Africa on business development and empower them with the right manufacturing skill-set to compete globally, along with the management of my male footwear brand.”

Based on her strong entrance GPA, Osunrinde received an IGSES International Student Scholarship from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Graduate Studies which will cover part of her Master of Finance tuition. Osunrinde noted that she selected the Asper Master of Finance program as she felt it would serve as a strong foundation for her business aspirations and would bolster her accounting degree and professional accounting experience from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Osunrinde has other professional accounting qualifications, which include the Association of Accounting Technicians in West Africa and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Nigeria, where she has completed her exams and is awaiting induction. She has completed her CFA level 1 and has her CFA level 2 exam set for November 2021.

“My passion has evolved from interests in administrative accounting to taking a transition path that will position me for opportunities in the dynamic business world,” noted Osunrinde. After launching her tech-driven footwear brand in 2019, Osunrinde developed an appreciation for the importance of effective management exposure, finance and operations.  

“Seed and growth-stage companies experience many limitations with a growing funding gap in less prominent markets and funding needs for startups and businesses like mine in my home country of Nigeria,” said Osunrinde. “I am interested in creating solutions that can provide small businesses like mine in Africa opportunities and exposure to operate on a global scale. The globally focused Asper Master of Finance program will help make this dream a reality and will provide a much-needed launch-pad for my future aspiration and career redirection.”

The student competitors became business advisors for the day by hacking a real company’s challenges and pitching their solutions to a panel of experienced judges. The Asper MBA and MFin team of five represented by Ranu Jain (MBA), Shixiang Wang (MFin), Wenting Zhang (MFin), Sidney Fung (MBA), Meenakshi Sharma (MBA)  were tasked to work with a start-up social networking platform for sports fans. They competed against teams representing schools including the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia and University of Alberta.

“It is wonderful to see such success with this team in their very first competition experience. They were able to leverage the knowledge they gained from both the MBA and MFin programs,” said Judy Jayasuriya [MBA/14], Lead of Experiential Learning and team coach. “Learning experiences like this are truly transformational and provide a unique opportunity for our students to advance competencies, showcase their ingenuity, and enhance their degrees.”

The team received valuable support in their competition preparation by Asper School of Business faculty advisors Judy Jayasuriya and Howard Harmatz.

For more information about how to participate in case competitions please visit student experience or contact Judy Jayasuriya, Lead, Experiential Learning at Judy [dot] Jayasuriya [at] umanitoba [dot] ca

Dr. Gagnon assumes this role from Dr. David Stangeland who served in this position since 2018. Dr. Stangeland, who played a key role in supporting the expansion and enhancement of the Stu Clark Graduate School during his term, will return to his faculty position in Asper’s Department of Accounting and Finance after a one-year administrative leave.

As Associate Dean, Dr. Gagnon will lead the School’s professional graduate programs. These include three programs within the Stu Clark Graduate School: the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Finance (MFin) and the new Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics (MSCM), set to launch this fall with its first cohort. Gagnon will also oversee the James W. Burns Executive Education Centre, which provides an extensive range of executive training and professional development programs designed to support advanced leadership skills.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Gagnon to the role of Associate Dean of Professional Programs at the Asper School of Business,” said Dr. Gady Jacoby, Dean and CPA Manitoba Chair in Business Leadership. “Her extensive experience in organizational leadership, leadership development and organizational change will strengthen the quality of our professional graduate programs and her expertise in social diversity and inclusion will play a key role in supporting the Asper School of Business’ commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in our ever-evolving global business community.”

Dr. Gagnon joined the Asper School of Business in fall 2018 as an Associate Professor and the inaugural Director of the James W. Burns Leadership Institute, joining the school from McGill University. She holds the Canada Life Chair in Leadership Education and has successfully overseen the launch of the Institute, working with a community and business-based advisory board to enhance leadership education across the University of Manitoba and the Province of Manitoba. Dr. Gagnon teaches two MBA courses and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Asper Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She is an award-winning scholar in leadership, diversity and inclusion, and holds a number of Tri-Council grants supporting her work.

Dr. Gagnon also spearheaded the addition of the Manitoba hub to the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and its National Indigenous Lead at the Asper School. In 2019, she facilitated the development of Pursuing our Asper-ations, Asper’s current strategic plan (2019-2024). Dr. Gagnon will continue in her roles at the James W. Burns Leadership Institute alongside her new Associate Dean appointment.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues as we grow our professional graduate programs, augmenting our excellent student body and deepening our impact both locally and globally.”

-Dr. Suzanne Gagnon

We started the year with the launch of our Pursuing our Asper-ations Strategic Plan. The values articulated in this plan grounded us in our mission while reminding us that adaptability and agility are essential in preparing for the future.

We also celebrated one of the best performances to date at the 2020 JDC West Competition, reinforcing Asper’s place as a top Canadian business school. Team Toba, won awards in a mix of categories including third overall as Academic School of the Year among 12 of the premier post-secondary institutions across Western Canada.

The Asper community also cheered on our Asper MBA and Asper MFin students as they competed in case competitions in early in 2020 and celebrated an outstanding performance from our MBA students when they placed second overall at the Ivy Haskayne East Meets West Case competition.

In mid-March, when the pandemic abruptly changed our course, we all demonstrated resilience and I am so proud of how all our faculty and staff came together in outstanding ways to move our entire teaching model to the virtual realm while still focusing on providing excellent student experience. We even made history by hosting the U of M’s very first virtual class and this trailblazing example set the tone for the entire year.

Our MSc and PhD students also quickly adapted to the new reality the pandemic imposed on researchers. Throughout the year, our graduate research students resumed active (virtual) participation on international conferences and seminar series where they presented their work and had significant success in publishing their work.

One of our first initiatives following the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic was prioritizing student support by creating an emergency student relief fund for Asper students facing financial challenges due to the pandemic. Through the combined financial support from faculty, staff, and the Associates, I am proud to report that the Asper School of Business created an emergency relief fund for our students. The aforementioned generous giving combined with a School budgetary reallocation allowed us to distribute more than $469,000 to undergraduate and graduate students in need.

To recognize our business connections and most importantly, give back — the Asper School of Business created the Small Business Consulting Course. Recognizing the urgent need within the community, this undergraduate course supported the Manitoba business community by providing students an opportunity to work with small businesses to help find solutions to their current challenges. The course launched in September with 26 students providing consulting work to the 12 local businesses that signed-up to participate. This class was an excellent opportunity for our School to give back to local businesses and we are proud of the interest the program received from the local and national media, from students, from the community, and even from the Prime Minister’s Office.

As a significant win for our school and our community, the proposal for an increased admission capacity for the Bachelor of Commerce Program was approved and applied this fall term. The Asper School was successful in obtaining approval to admit 110 more undergraduate students annually and as a result, the Asper School can admit up to 584 BComm students each year.

As we moved into the fall term, the Asper School of Business took a proactive approach to prioritize equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at our School. We established an Asper EDI Task Force, which will proactively address discrimination and foster a more inclusive learning environment for every single student that attends or interacts with the Asper School of Business. We also held the inaugural session on EDI as a part of the Asper orientation where five Asper students and alumni shared adverse experiences of discrimination and bias at the School. The personal experiences and insights shared by the panel participants will help inspire a cultural shift and raise awareness of the challenges facing our School. I believe this is an important turning point for Asper.

As we finish off the year, we are thrilled to launch the Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics (MSCM) program at Asper’s Stu Clark Graduate School. We are excited to introduce this degree to the local, national and international community and to welcome our first student cohort in fall 2021.

I end the year on a note of gratitude. I am grateful to you – Asper students – who showed an incredible ability to adjust to the new (and hopefully short-lived) normal, while practicing agility, resilience, and hard work alongside compassion towards their family members, friends, peers, and Asper professors and staff. I am also grateful to the dedication of our faculty to creating new ways to engage our students and to the support of our staff to ensure we are providing you with the best student experience possible.

While we consider with compassion the suffering caused to many by the pandemic, we should also recognize the rare opportunity for personal growth that accompanied this human tragedy. This year brought opportunities for learning new insights about ourselves as individuals, about us as a community and a society, and about humanity. These insights make us better equipped for future self- and collective-improvement.

I wish you and yours the very best for the season and for safe winter break.

May 2021 bring good health, happiness, and success to all!

Dr. Gady Jacoby

Dean and CPA Manitoba Chair in Business Leadership

I.H. Asper School of Business