Thursday, August 20, 2026

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• Thank you and farewell to Dr. Blake Phillips
• Dr. David Hammond joins first national Canadian Cannabis and Brain Health Consortium
• The strategic leadership role inside every major organization

Thank you and farewell to Dr. Blake Phillips

By Rachel Doherty

After more than 15 years at the University of Waterloo, Dr. Blake Phillips is stepping down as Director of the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF). Before he goes, his colleagues, staff and friends at SAF want to mark the moment and thank him for everything he has given the School.

Phillips joined SAF's finance faculty in 2009 and did not stand still for long. He moved through a string of leadership roles, from Associate Director and Deputy Director of Programs to Co-Director of the Bachelor of Sustainability and Financial Management (SFM) Program and has led the School as its Director since September 2022. At heart, he is a sustainability guy who believed finance and sustainability belonged together well before that was common and had the conviction to act on it.

Anyone who has worked with Phillips knows the pace. He is an avid runner, and he runs the School at much the same tempo, always a few ideas ahead and always ready to try the thing no one else has thought of yet. He is also a fierce advocate for SAF, quick to celebrate its people and its work and to build connections across the University and the wider profession.

His signature achievement is one that will outlast his time here, Phillips helped build the SFM program, a partnership with the Faculty of Environment and Canada's first undergraduate degree of its kind. Its first cohort graduated in June 2026, on convocation day, a fitting bookend to his years at SAF. Those 12 students took a chance during a pandemic, urged on by Phillips himself to take a leap of faith on a program that employers were calling for. All 12 crossed the stage with a next step in hand, six continuing into the Master of Accounting program and six with ESG-related jobs lined up.

Phillips is also a steady ally to Indigenous communities and a champion of Indigenous representation at SAF, a commitment now taking lasting form in a new mural installed in the Don Craig atrium in Hagey Hall. For him, it all connects: sustainability, natural systems and Indigenous ways of knowing and caring for the land are part of one understanding.

Ask Phillips what he is proudest of, and he turns the credit outward. "I see my role as creating the conditions for our faculty, staff and students to be successful," he says. "Those shared successes are what I am proudest of."

As Phillips laces up for Lethbridge, he leaves SAF stronger, louder and more ambitious than he found it. We wish him every success at the Dhillon School of Business, and we will miss him, big ideas and all.

Read the full tribute to Dr. Blake Phillips on the SAF website.

Dr. David Hammond joins first national Canadian Cannabis and Brain Health Consortium

This story was originally published on the Faculty of Heath website.

Dr. David Hammond of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences is one of 10 research team leads across the country named to a major new initiative called the Canadian Cannabis and Brain Health Consortium.

Funded by $24 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the researchers in the consortium will work together to investigate how cannabis affects the brain in people of various ages. At Waterloo, Hammond’s team will use population-based cohort studies of cannabis use to examine health risks and brain health.

“Canada has one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world,” says Hammond. “About eight million Canadians use cannabis each year and two million use cannabis daily. Despite its popularity, we know surprisingly little about the health effects of cannabis. Our study will help us understand the long-term effect on mental health, memory and other brain functions.”

The consortium’s other research leads are based at Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Montréal, McGill University, Dalhousie University, McMaster University and the University of Calgary.
 

The strategic leadership role inside every major organization

This is an excerpt from an article that was originally on the Waterloo News website.

For Jas Dharia (BA ’02, MAcc ’02), Chief Audit Executive at GE HealthCare, change isn’t something to brace against. It’s something to plan for. In her experience, embracing change can create new opportunities. 

“In today’s world, change is the new normal,” says Dharia. “If you are averse to change, it is going to be hard to adapt, develop new skills and advance your career. The key is staying curious and continuing to learn as the world around you evolves.” 

Dharia oversees a global team responsible for assessing risk, governance and controls across a complex, multinational organization. Over the course of her career, spanning several industries, she has seen internal audit evolve from a function focused primarily on compliance and historical performance to one that provides forward-looking insights to help organizations navigate emerging risks and changing business conditions.

“When I first started out, audit plans were typically established through an annual planning process that focused on recurring reviews of certain key risk areas. Today, we are expected to remain agile. We’re adjusting our activities and priorities to evolve with emerging risks and business conditions.”

Risk assessments have also changed from control-focused exercises grounded in historical issues and compliance requirements to a more dynamic process that incorporates stakeholder feedback, data analytics, external risk intelligence and alignment with strategic objectives.

Read the full story.