ALUMNI SPEAKER SERIES
Converting Crisis to Opportunity
"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." -Rahm Emanuel
The ongoing pandemic is the one in a 100-years crisis that has shaken both our economy and our society to its very foundation. But the good news and the bad news is that nothing lasts forever. In this online session of the Alumni Speaker Series, seasoned Waterloo engineers and battle-scarred entrepreneurs share their compelling stories of how they recognized - and seized - opportunities during various economic upheavals and the lessons they learned during these crises.
The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions of the panel of experts.
A Zoom link will be sent to those who register for this session.
Watch the full recording of the session:
Moderator:
Christopher Holt, Associate Director, Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, University of Waterloo
Christopher Holt is a former consultant and entrepreneur with experience in the technology, media and finance industries. He completed a PhD at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto where his research focused on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial identity construction among students. His consulting clients include the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association and the Global Absolute Return Congress, both educational organizations focusing on global finance and economics. In addition to several Fortune 500 clients, Chris has also consulted to the World Economic Forum, World Bank and Earth Council Institute, an NGO in San Jose, Costa Rica. He supervises the MBET Corporate Innovation Project and teaches entrepreneurship, management consulting, and organizational behaviour courses to undergraduate and graduate students.
Panel Speakers:
Andrew
D'Souza (BASc
2008,
Systems
Design
Engineering)
Co-Founder
and
CEO,
Clearbanc
Andrew D'Souza is the co-founder & CEO of Clearbanc, the biggest ecommerce investor in the world. Clearbanc has invested $1 billion into 2,800+ ecommerce and software companies using data science to identify high-growth funding opportunities in less than 24 hours. This data-driven approach takes the bias out of decision making and helped fund 8x more female founders than traditional VC. Andrew has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and is an adviser and investor to companies such as WealthSimple, Properly, and Tulip Retail. Prior to Clearbanc, Andrew was the president of Nymi, a wearable platform focussed on identity and security and the COO of education startup, TopHat. Andrew began his career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company after receiving his degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Paul
Maiero (MBET
2010,
Business,
Entreprenership
and
Technology)
Business
Agility
Leader, Deloitte
Canada
Paul
Maiero
is
a
practice
leader
in
Deloitte's
Agile
Transformation
Advisory
practice
out
of
Toronto,
Canada.
He
is
experienced
in
acting
as
a
change
agent
in
large
agile
transformations
than
span
the
business,
technology
and
areas
of
organizations
not
commonly
thought
about
during
the
agile
journey
-
think
controls,
design,
injecting
lean
startup
thinking
into
product,
and
portfolio
management.
Paul
has
provided
advisory
and
implementation
services
with
a
strong
focus
on
agile
frameworks
improve
development
capabilities
and
delivery
across
organizations
with
a
focus
on
the
customer
and
value-oriented
delivery.
Prior
to
joining
Deloitte,
Paul
launched
a
start-up
focused
on
connecting
Canadian
consumers
with
brands
and
retailers
through
mobile
platforms
while
heavily
focusing
on
lean
start
up
and
lean
product
development
principles
to
enable
his
small
team
to
capture
market
share
in
an
rapidly
changing,
innovative
and
dynamic
marketplace.
He
holds
a
Master
of
Business,
Entrepreneurship
and
Technology
from
the
University
of
Waterloo
and
a
Bachelor
of
Commerce
degree
from
the
University
of
Windsor.
Nina
Sodhi (BASc
1999,
Electrical
Engineering)
Founder
and
Managing
Partner,
Nackina
LLC
Nina Sodhi is a seasoned startup executive who has built and scaled several early-stage companies. She currently runs Nackina LLC, a consulting firm advising startups, corporate incubators and VC firms. Prior to Nackina, Nina was the COO of MediQuire, COO of Spatial Systems, CEO and Founder of Blu Trumpet (acquired by Breaktime Studios), and COO of BumpTop (acquired by Google). Nina was also an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in their technology group where she worked on a number of tech IPOs and M&A transactions.
Nina holds a B.A.Sc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Other Sessions of the ALUMNI SPEAKER SERIES:
|
Engineering Our Way Through a Pandemic: How Waterloo Engineers are Finding Solutions
Date:
August
13,
2020 Moderator: Mary A. Wells, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo Speakers:
|
|
Post-COVID-19 Economy: Economic Outlook for Canada Post-Covid-19
Date: September
26,
2020 Speaker: Larry Smith (BA 1968, MA 1975), Professor, Economics |
|
Rise of the Robots in a Post-Pandemic World
Date:
November
24,
2020
Moderator: William
Melek,
Professor,
Department
of
Mechanical
and
Mechatronics
Engineering
|