Career Pathways Conference: Navigating Career Success

Co-hosted by the Department of Economics, UWaterloo Economics Society, and the Waterloo Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, this half day conference will bring alumni and students together to discuss the range of careers possible with an economics degree.

Alumni already confirmed include alumni working with the Ontario government, EY, and RBC.

The conference will include:

• Welcome and agenda overview (9:45 am)
• Two morning panels with a break
• Networking lunch (12:00 pm to 1 pm)
• One afternoon panel and a wrap-up session.

Panel Topics:

• 10:00 am to 10:50 am: Public Agencies and Government Policy Professions 
• 11:10 am to 12:00 pm: AI and Cybersecurity Opportunities
• 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm: Finance and Consulting Careers

Networking lunch will be provided. 

Below are the speakers bios for the event.

Sarah Fong, MA ’05

Assistant Vice President - Government Relations, Travellers Canada

Sarah Fong recently began her role as Assistant Vice President of Government Relations at Travelers Canada. Prior to this, she spent over five years at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, where she held several key positions, including Assistant Chief Economist & Head of Industry Data, Director of Economics, and Senior Economist. Sarah started her career in consulting at Deloitte, and as a Senior Market Analyst at CMHC.

Throughout her career, Sarah has honed critical skills at the intersection of policy, government, and business. She has successfully built strong relationships with government and regulatory officials, as well as key industry stakeholders. Her expertise in simplifying complex regulatory policies for diverse audiences allows her to effectively communicate the implications of new or revised regulations. She has authored numerous policy papers and delivered countless presentations on complex topics.

Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Economics and a Canadian Risk Management designation. She also serves as a board member of the Toronto Association for Business and Economics.

Sohaeb Raashid, BA ’10, MPS ’14

Assistant Deputy Minister - Resources and Economic Development Division, Treasury Board Secretariat

Sohaeb Raashid currently holds the position of Assistant Deputy Minister within the Office of the Treasury Board at the Treasury Board Secretariat. Prior to this, Sohaeb held a number of senior leadership and management positions with the Ontario government, including three director positions within various branches at TBS where he led various sectors including Health, Justice, Transportation, Social and Resources sectors. His Ontario Public Service journey began as an Economist at the Ministry of Infrastructure, before progressing to Senior Economic and Executive Assistant and Special Policy Advisor roles.  These diverse experience equipped him with a profound understanding of the fiscal planning processes, government decision-making frameworks, policy development, economic analysis and stakeholder management strategies. 

Michelle Sandler, BA ’14, MPS ’16

Manager, Treasury Board Secretariat

Michelle Sandler has always had a passion for economics and finance. She graduated from the Arts & Business Program, majoring in Economics, and then obtained a Master’s in Public Service, which laid the foundation for her current role as manager at the Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat. In this position, she is responsible for leading a team of Senior Analysts and managing Ontario's expenses in the Long-Term Care and Seniors  sector.

Michelle is dedicated to adding value and making a positive difference through her work, consistently striving to enhance financial management and efficiency.

Susan Chang, BA ’17 

Principal Data Scientist, Elastic 

Susan Shu Chang is a Principal Data Scientist at Elastic® (Elasticsearch) on the Security Machine Learning team, with an unconventional yet impressive journey into machine learning. Holding a master's degree in economics, she taught herself programming during her studies, paving the way for a career in tech. Susan gained significant experience in machine learning through her work in fintech at Clearco, a Canadian tech unicorn, and in the social and telecom industries. She is a Python Software Foundation contributing member, recognized for her open-source contributions, and is a frequent speaker at international conferences like PyCon (US and global), Data Science Europe, the Toronto ML Summit, and Ubisoft.

Susan is also the founder of Quill Game Studios, where she develops narrative-focused games. Her debut game sold 10,000 copies within six months of release. In 2021, she received the Faculty of Arts’ Young Alumni Award for her accomplishments. Recently, she became a published author with her book Machine Learning Interviews: Kickstart Your Machine Learning Career.

Hongxiu Li, PhD ’18

Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Block

Hongxiu Li holds the position of Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Block, where she can put into practice her 10+ year’s experience of in-depth machine learning model development and quantitative analysis. As an experienced data scientist, Hongxiu leads project teams to design and implement data science projects. 

Having obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of Waterloo, Hongxiu has long since implemented her passion about data-driven decision making, economic and statistical analysis to her various experiences. 

Tulu Makonnen, BSC ’98, BA ’05, MA ’06

Data Science Consulting, Eunomie Inc

Tulu Makonnen is a triple degree holder from the University of Waterloo with Science and Arts degrees, as well as a Master of Arts in Economics. Tulu has held a variety of data analytics and data science roles in the biopharma and private equity real estate space. Currently he holds the position of Data Science Consulting at Eunomie Inc. Tulu also has strong business development experience helping business development groups implement Machine Learning tools to become more competitive and cost efficient.

Zehua Pan, PhD ’22

Senior Manager - Fraud Research and Analytics, RBC

Zehua Pan is currently serving as a Senior Manager of Fraud Research and Analytics at RBC. He obtained his PhD, Applied Economics from the University of Waterloo and has continued to grow in his roles in the economics sector.

Zehua describes himself as a passionate economist and credit card fraud analyzer, who specializes in diagnosing risks in systems through data-driven methods, i.e. regression models and neural networks. Previous projects include prioritizing drinking water risk due to environmental externalities and green infrastructure losses in Ontario.

Rosemary Horwood, BA ’12 

Relationship Manager, Richardson Wealth 

Rosemary Horwood is committed to partnering with families and entrepreneurs to achieve their financial goals. She takes a strategic approach to wealth management and has a passion for delivering highly personalized experiences and customized advice. Rosemary is known for her business standards and quality of service.

As a co-op student at Waterloo, she completed six corporate placements and received three nominations for Co-op Student of the Year, following outstanding performance reviews by leading companies. Rosemary has also earned the Certified Investment Manager designation.

Rosemary is deeply devoted to philanthropy and volunteerism and has served as the boards of three non-profit organizations. Rosemary enjoys spending time at her agricultural property, Livingstone Farm 1860, and is a published author of Practicing Hospitality: The Art and Science of Hosting in Your Home.

Azeem Hussain-Aamir, BA ’10

Strategy & Business Transformation, Aviso

Azeem Hussain-Aamir graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He currently works as a Director in Corporate Strategy at Aviso, a diversified asset and wealth management firm with over $130BB AUM. Prior to joining Aviso, Azeem spent six and a half years with BMO, where he held progressively senior positions, heading the Digital Strategy and Insights team. As a management consultant with Deloitte, Azeem advised clients across a range of industries, from manufacturing and automotive to health sciences, hospitality, tourism, and more.

Tulu Makonnen, BSC ’98, BA ’05, MA ’06

Data Science Consulting, Eunomie Inc

Tulu Makonnen is a triple degree holder from the University of Waterloo with Science and Arts degrees, as well as a Master of Arts in Economics. Tulu has held a variety of data analytics and data science roles in the biopharma and private equity real estate space. Currently he holds the position of Data Science Consulting at Eunomie Inc. Tulu also has strong business development experience helping business development groups implement Machine Learning tools to become more competitive and cost efficient.

Mauricio Zelaya, PhD ’14

Partner & National Economics Leader, EY

Grounding business strategy in rich economic understanding can transform any organization’s potential. As leader of EY Canada’s Economics practice, Mauricio fuels our Strategy and Consulting practice with extensive experience in econometrics and statistical modelling, honed at the heart of the public and private sector.

Focused on the economics of innovation and industrial organization, Mauricio works closely with clients to apply economic theory to real business issues. He’s worked across a number of industries, including oil and gas, mining, finance, advanced manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. His work involves performing economic impact assessments, economic outlook and market competitiveness studies, and more generally, using the principles of economics to help clients make better informed data-driven decisions.

Mauricio holds a PhD from the University of Waterloo, a Master’s of International Economics and Finance from Ryerson University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto. He is also a faculty member at the Schulich School of Business at York University, lecturing undergraduate and graduate students on economics and international business.

Please email advcoop1@uwaterloo.ca to join the waitlist.