The Department of Management Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Engineering are mourning the loss of a longtime colleague and scholar.
Dr. Paul Guild, professor emeritus in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, passed away on April 24, 2026, at the age of 80. An alum of the University of Waterloo, Guild spent more than three decades at the University he had once studied at, leaving a lasting mark on research, innovation and the careers of countless students.
Guild joined Waterloo as a professor in 1990, bringing with him extensive senior management experience from Bell Northern Research. He quickly established himself as a leading voice on the management of technological innovation and entrepreneurship, holding the CIBC/Nortel/NSERC-SSHRC Chair in Management of Technology Change and serving as director of the Institute for Innovation Research from 1996 to 2015. He also served as vice-president, university research from 2001 to 2005. His research focused on managing technology for product differentiation in global markets and understanding what future users will want, value and accept from new products and services.
Outside of his academic life, Guild was known for his warmth and enjoying the company of others — whether spending weekends with his grandchildren, watching football or restoring his Morgan car. He is survived by his spouse, Inta; his children, Emma and Jesse; and his grandchildren, Audrey, Millie, Alexander and Eden.
"Paul meant a great deal to our department and the broader Waterloo community,” said Dr. Mark Hancock, chair of the Department of Management Science and Engineering. “I first got to know Paul when I started at Waterloo in 2010, and he was always very supportive of me in my early career; he exemplified what it means to be a very kind and caring colleague."
Guild's influence extended well beyond his own research. Among the many students he mentored was Dr. Jagdeep Singh Bachher, chancellor of the University of Waterloo, who completed his PhD under Guild's supervision.
"Paul Guild changed the direction of my life with a single piece of paper on the day I met him,” said Bachher. “This tall, stately gentleman — always calm, always inspiring, always innovating — handed me a column from Harvard Business Review about a new kind of investor. He asked if I'd be interested in studying their entrepreneurial way of sizing up the world. That question morphed into my life's work.
"I came to Waterloo for one degree and stayed for three because of Paul. I'm chancellor today because of Paul. A great teacher can set you off in a direction you never knew you had in you. He did that for me, and for so many others."
Dr. Paul Guild
Dr. Paul Guild greets his former PhD student, Dr. Jagdeep Singh Bachher, chancellor of the University of Waterloo, at Bachher’s installation ceremony in 2024.
