Alumni Council

1. Sustain an informed understanding of the strategic priorities of the University and provide alumni-focused insight into the strategy, objectives and actions based on their external perspective and experience at UWaterloo.
2. Provide feedback and advice to the President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo, and Vice-President, Advancement, on how to engage with and maximize the impact of alumni in the success of the University.
3. Actively prepare for and participate in all Alumni Council and sub-committee meetings.
4. Represent UWaterloo’s Alumni Council at events twice per year at minimum.
5. Encourage and actively promote
   • engagement with the University to the broader alumni community,
   • the activities and value of the UWaterloo Alumni Council and its connection to the University,
   • UWaterloo’s reputation nationally and internationally, and
   • participation in the University through alumni connections at every opportunity.
6. Reflect the values of Advancement by displaying leadership in supporting the University through gifts of time, talent and financial support.
7. Suggest potential general members for the Alumni Council and participate in recruitment and orientation for specific committees, as appropriate.

All new members serve a three-year term renewable to a maximum of another three-year term (exact length of renewable term will be decided through Alumni Council need and member interest).

1. Alumni Council typically will meet three-times per year; i.e. October, February and June.
2. The President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo, will be invited to attend all meetings to provide an update on the strategic direction and priorities of the University.
3. Alumni Council meetings will be focused on collaboration and the discussion of ideas rather than on status updates — this requires agendas, pre-work and readings to be circulated in advance of the meetings to get the best input from these valued volunteers.

Sean Patrick Murphy, CPA, CMA, FCMC, PMP is a Partner, Consulting and Technology Solution at MNP. Formerly, he was the founder, Managing Principal and CEO of A Hundred Answers Inc., an advisory, digital and technology solutions and services consultancy.

He is an accomplished business solutions project manager and business transformation architect with 20+ years of management consulting experience. Sean has an extensive background in project management, digital transformation, information management and business and IT strategy for public and private sector clients.

Sean graduated from the Faculty of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering in 1993. He then completed his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa in 1995. During his time at Waterloo, Sean was also a resident at St. Paul’s College.

Meaghan Kimball (nee Stoll) graduated from the University Waterloo in 2006 with a Bachelor of Mathematics with a major in statistics and minor in economics.  Meaghan's undergraduate experience at UWaterloo was diverse and stimulating.  She was a Rene Descartes National Scholarship recipient, Academic All-Canadian as captain of the varsity curling team and international exchange student during her third year studies at Heriot Watt University in Scotland.

Meaghan currently works in foreign currency risk management in the Treasury department of at a large technology company in Silicon Valley.  Previously, Meaghan worked in capital markets in Toronto and New York as a financial derivatives specialist.  Meaghan also holds a Masters of Science from Stanford University and is a CFA charterholder. 

The education and experiences Meaghan received as a student at UWaterloo were highly rewarding and she is excited to give back as a member of the Alumni Council.

John Haddock (BA ’78, Applied Health Sciences, Recreation and Leisure Studies) is a new retiree. He has provided local, provincial, national and international leadership within the YMCA movement both as the past CEO of the Kitchener and Cambridge YMCA’s  for over 30 years as well as recently as a volunteer.  John is known for expanding YMCA delivery systems to positively impact more people’s lives and is continually inspired by the positive impact the Y programs and services have on participants by making a difference in the lives of children, youth, adults and families. 

In retirement John continues to be very engaged in several local and global community development organizations as a volunteer: such as the Immigration Partnership Council, Hospice Waterloo Region, Pamir Productions and here with the University of Waterloo. Globally, John also provides leadership and support to the Africa Alliance of YMCA’s  and Operation Mobilization. In 2008, John received the Recreation and Leisure Studies Distinguished Alumni Award.

Lisa graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2017 with a BA in Arts & Business, majoring in Speech Communication, and minoring in Digital Arts Communications as well as International Studies. She volunteered with the University of Waterloo as part of the Co-op Connection Toronto Chapter after she graduated and realized how inspiring it is to continue the relationship with the university along with future alumni. While working in the Toronto area, she can be seen attending UWaterloo alumni events in order to reconnect with her classmates and professors.

Lisa currently works as a Communications Specialist for a product development firm in downtown Toronto where she utilizes the skills she had been taught at the University of Waterloo as well as through her co-ops to create blog content, social media posts, and events coordination. She has also brought her passion for communication outside of work to the influencer realm where she posts about the latest events and local restaurants in the GTA on her Instagram page. You can check out her adventures at www.instagram.com/lisa42k.

Janine is the Director of Strategic Accounts at NexJ Health, where she is responsible for developing, executing, and delivering on global go-to-market strategies to grow strategic business for NexJ Health, a technology company specialized in patient engagement for chronic disease management. Janine is passionate about bringing disruptive technologies to market for healthcare transformation, and she was recently featured in the book Trusted Healers: Dr. Paul Grundy and the Global Healthcare Crusade, by Dan Pelino and Bud Ramey, where she speaks about the impact technology will have on healthcare in the future, including people-centred health, advanced virtual care, and machine learning for precision medicine.

Janine holds a bachelor’s degree in Honours Economics with a minor in Gerontology from the University of Waterloo, where she was a member of the women's varsity golf team. Janine is excited to give back and continue her relationship with the University of Waterloo through the Alumni Council!

Krista McKerracher graduated in 1984 with a BSc (Hon) in Health Studies and a minor in Biology.  The University of Waterloo provided the perfect foundation for a successful career in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry. 

Krista is recently retired from Corporate life and is now focused on providing advisory services as an independent consultant and/or Board member. She serves as an advisor to Hemex Health, a privately held start-up in the diagnostic space and Abfero Pharmaceuticals Inc. a privately held biotech.  She is a mentor at Springboard, an incubator for female led technology companies.  She serves on the board of The Valerie Fund, a non-profit organization that serves children diagnosed with cancer and serious blood disorders.  She is a grant reviewer for the U.S. Department of Defense Kidney Cancer research program.  From 2014 to 2017 Krista served on the Metro Region Board for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA).   

In a Corporate career spanning more than 30 years, Krista has led both commercial and R&D teams, predominately in the specialty pharmaceutical arena.  Her last corporate role was with CRISPR Therapeutics, a leading gene-editing company based in Cambridge, MA.  She was a member of the Executive Committee, guiding the company in the transition from a research stage to a clinical stage company.   Krista and her team implemented the first clinical trial in the world using ex-vivo editing gene editing with CRISPR Cas9 technology as a curative therapy for sickle cell disease and thalassemia. 

Previously, Krista spent more than 14 years at Novartis Oncology in senior commercial and development roles.  Krista also spent 14 years at the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, starting in Canada at Ortho Biotech and moving to J & J’s corporate headquarters in the US in 1996.

In 2018 Krista was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.  She is proud to have been one of “Ron’s Don’s” serving as the Don of W2 in Village 1 in 1983/84.

Hilary Corneau is the Project Delivery Analyst in the Project Management Office at Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions. Dealing with the processes and systems for the project management team and helping to bridge the gap between software and project management.

Academically, Hilary holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Environment and Business, 2010) from the University of Waterloo. During her time at Waterloo she was an orientation Leader, local sorority president, active community volunteer, and resident at Renison College. She also holds a Master’s of Science (Sustainability, 2011) from the University of Leeds. She is a LEED GA and is Quality Management Systems & Management Systems Auditing certified.

An active volunteer, she was the peer-elected co-chair of the Emerging Green Builders Committee of the Canada Green Building Council GTA Chapter. The team strives to promote the green building industry to students and young professionals. She continues to volunteer with the BC Chapter of the CaGBC. She is also involved with various fundraising endeavours as a runner.

Dan has had a progressive career in software development and IT. He began his career with  hands-on development positions moving into a sales engineering role, and later running his own start-up. Recently Dan has been building and managing rapidly growing, high-performing technology, software development and delivery teams at exciting businesses and most recently is the Vice-President, Technology & Development at VC-funded tech-startup 360incentives.com. He currently leads the IT team at Porter Airlines as Vice-President, Information Systems & Technology.

Dan holds two degrees from the University of Waterloo, a Bachelor of Applied Science (Computer Engineering, 2002) and a Master in Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (2007). Dan also was student-athlete with Warriors Football, playing wide receiver for five years from 1997 - 2001.

Vikas Gupta is a charismatic leader who defines himself as a seasoned executive with an entrepreneurial DNA. He has an insatiable passion for emerging growth tech companies and lives by the philosophy that the right corporate culture combined with innovative strategy can ignite exponentialism.

Vikas was formerly the of CEO of Big Blue Bubble and established the company as the largest independent mobile gaming company in Canada, ranking among the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the nation.

Prior to Big Blue Bubble, Vikas was the CEO of TransGaming, a publicly listed multi-national global leader in the cross platform deployment of video games and the delivery of video games to Smart TV. TransGaming’s technology division was acquired by NVIDIA, representing their foray into Canada.

Vikas enjoys venturing beyond his own industry and is an advisor, mentor, investor, board member to many organizations, from innovative start-ups to not-for-profit organizations, such as Interactive Ontario, Prince’s Charities Canada Patrons Council, MaRS, University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, and serves as an advisor on the Ontario Premier’s digital media roundtable and is on the digital media advisory board for the Ontario Minister of Culture, Tourism & Sport. Vikas is also a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) and is on the YPO Toronto Chapter board.

Vikas is a proud alumnus of the University of Waterloo and was the recipient of the University of Waterloo Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015. He can be found @vikaskgupta or LinkedIn: vikasgupta2010

Garry has enjoyed 25 years of building Information Management Consulting Businesses, and has funded and operated 6 startups. The latest, Makeplain, is focused on Machine Learning Based Advanced Analytics, providing Business Outcomes as a Service. 

He has also returned to his Earth Sciences roots, helping Environmental, Cleantech and Sustainability concerns and sits on the Ontario Board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and Spark Angels.

Garry’s passions include protecting and valuing the world’s natural assets.

Lisa Bauer-Leahy received her Bachelor of Arts, majoring in History, from the University of Waterloo in 1983 and also holds a UWaterloo Athlete of the Year award. Upon graduating, Lisa spent the majority of her career in the automotive industry working as a president & CEO where she was involved in operations management, leadership and strategic planning.   Lisa has always been active in sport and was a member of the 1984 Canadian Olympic Field Hockey team winning a Silver Medal at the World Cup in Amsterdam. She currently volunteers as a coach with the KW Field Hockey team and as a trainer with the Waterloo Ravens Minor Hockey league.With education and experience gained through athletics both as a player and as a coach, Lisa has a keen sense for motivating and leading multidisciplinary teams. 

Michael graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2013 with a BA in Speech Communication and played four years of Varsity Football. After graduating, he returned home to Toronto to launch his career. He began by working in finance, but once he started volunteering with the University of Waterloo, he realized how much he connected to the student energy on campus. That drove him to pursue further education in Career Development and he is now working towards certification as a Career Development Practitioner.

Michael currently works as a career coach for George Brown students with a focus on creating equitable access to quality education and a meaningful work life. In his efforts to give back to the community, Michael volunteers as the President and Co-founder of the ProCareer Club at George Brown College which seeks to help students take a professional, proactive, and progressive approach to their career development.

As a proud alumnus, Michael started a scholarship award at the University of Waterloo called the Collective Movement Award and he regularly visits campus to connect with students. Michael’s main interests are learning, reading, investing, and travel, as well as connecting with diverse communities and helping the students of today to kickstart their careers for tomorrow.