- 1966Dr. Terrence Downey (BA ’66), Distinguished Teacher Award recipient, former chair of Political Science, President Emeritus, St. Mary’s University, Calgary, President Emeritus, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, a member of the boards of directors of Pure North S’Energy Foundation, Calgary, and the Father Lacombe Care Society, Calgary, was appointed to the national L’Arche Canada board of directors. Dr. Downey and his wife Margaret Downey (née Brown) (BA ’67), joint recipients of the St. Jerome’s University Fr. Norm Choate Distinguished Graduate Award, and the St. Thomas More College’s St. Thomas More Medal, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Six of their children are Waterloo graduates.
- 1967Dr. Vasudev K. Aatre (PhD ’67), former Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the defence sector at an Engineers’ Day program organized by Engineers’ Forum in Nagpur, India.
- 1976Dr. Peter Raaphorst (BSc ’72, MSc ’74, PhD ’76) was inducted to Renfrew Collegiate Institute Wall of Fame.
- Vivian Merchant (PhD ’76) celebrated 50 years working with lasers and their applications in industry by publishing a book on laser applications. Laser Surface Modification, available on Amazon, describes a number of ways in which laser radiation can improve the surface properties of a materials. He is now retired in Vernon, B.C.
- 1977The chairman of the Lingnan University Council, Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen (BES ’77), was appointed as chair of the MTR Corporation.
- 1978Community leader Doug Allingham (BASc ’78) won Whitby’s Peter Perry award.
- Karen Redman (BA ’78), chair of the Region of Waterloo, was elected the chair of the police services board.
- 1980Danby’s Smart Mailbox named one of the Top 5 Hottest Products at CES 2019. Jim Estill (BASc ’80) is CEO and founder.
- 1981Exchange Magazine editor Paul Knowles (BA ’81) won Honorable Mention in the 2018 NATJA Awards Competition in the Historical Travel – Print Publication Category, for his travel feature “A Complicated Icon,” published in the United Church Observer.
- Hydro One announced the appointment of Dave Price (BES ’81) to director of forestry services.
- 1984POSaBIT named Stephen Gledhill (BMath ’84) as chief financial officer.
- 1988Athanassios T. Papagiannakis (PhD ’88) was selected by the Geo-Institute Board of Governors to provide the 2019 Carl L. Monismith Lecture.
- 1989Carol Leaman (BA ’89, MAcc ’89), president and chief executive officer of Axonify, was inducted into the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. Leaman was also named the Canadian HR Champion (CEO) in the 2018 Canadian HR Awards.
- Carol Leaman (BA ’89, MAcc ’89) and Tara Hebblethwaite (BA ’13) were honoured with the Oktoberfest Rogers Women of the Year awards.
- 1990Masco Corporation announced that Jai Shah (BA ’90, MAcc ’90) has been promoted to group president. Shah is responsible for Behr Paint Company, Milgard Windows & Doors, UK Window Group and Watkins Wellness.
- 1991Achilles Karagiozis (PhD ’91) joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as the new director of the Buildings and Thermal Sciences Center.
- Andrew McDonald (BASc ’91) joined Kinaxis as chief product officer.
- 1992Information Builders, a leader in business intelligence, analytics and data management solutions, announced the addition of Kabir Choudry (BMath ’92) as vice-president, field technical engineering and strategy.
- City of Waterloo Councillor Diane Freeman (BASc ’92) was named one of four municipal “climate champions” by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
- Aterica Digital Health, created by CEO Alex Leyn (BASc ’92) and vice-president of marketing and business development Mike Fisher (BA ’92), developed a smart case for EpiPens that link to a user’s and their support network’s smartphones.
- Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. announced the appointment of Jeannine LiChong (MAcc ’92) as executive vice-president and portfolio manager.
- 1993United Battery Metals Corp. announced former Goldcorp senior geologist Michael A. Dehn (BSc ’93) accepted the role of president and chief executive officer of United Battery Metals.
- 1996Intouch Insight Ltd. appointed Cathy Smith (BMath ’96, MAcc ’96) as chief financial officer.
- 1997Teck Resources Limited announced the appointment of Sepanta Dorri (MAcc ’97) to vice-president, corporate development.
- Dragos, Inc., provider of the industry’s most trusted industrial cybersecurity platform and services, announced the addition of Anna Yong (BASc ’97), vice-president of marketing.
- 1998The Foundation of Greater Montréal (FGM) announced the appointment of Tasha Lackman (BES ’98) as its new vice-president of operations.
- Export Development Canada invested $1 million in Waterloo’s P&P Optica, of which Olga Pawluczyk (BASc ’98) is the president and chief executive officer.
- Anne Robinson (MASc ’98) joined Kinaxis as chief strategy officer.
- 1999Kathleen Venema’s (MA ’93, PhD ’99) critical memoir, Bird-Bent Grass: A Memoir, in Pieces, was published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
- Chamath Palihapitiya (BASc ’99) donated $25 million to the University of Waterloo’s newest Engineering building, E7.
- 2001Jeremy Crane (BASc ’01) is the chief executive officer of Yellow Door Energy, which has raised $65 million in Series A financing. Yellow Door aims to build 300 megawatts of solar projects in the Middle East and Africa in the next two years.
- MedX Health Corp. announced dermatologist Trevor Champagne (BMath ’01), from Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital, has joined its Medical Advisory Board.
- Hong Kong-based alumnus Calvin Choi (BA’ 01) donated $3.2 million in support of global talent, creating a physics scholarship in honour of Nobel laureate Donna Strickland and establishing a postdoctoral fellowship program.
- Tami Kitay (BES ’01) joined the City of St. Catharines as the director of planning and building services.
- Yajian Wang (MASc ’01) was appointed to the position of chief financial officer of Sandy Lake Gold Inc.
- 2002Aeryon Labs, co-founded by CTO Dave Kroetsch (BASc ’02, MASc ’07), was acquired by U.S.-based Flir Systems for US$200 million.
- 2005Toronto-based SnapTravel, co-founded by Hussein Fazal (BMath ’05) and Henry Shi (BCS ’14), which uses artificial intelligence to customize online hotel-booking, announced US$13.2 million in new financing – including investment from two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry.
- 2006Amundi has announced the appointment of Ashley Fagan (BA ’06) as head of ETF, indexing and smart beta development for UK and Ireland.
- Innisfil Junior Broomball coach Denis Viens (BASc ’03, PhD ’06) happily showed off a bronze-medal trophy after competing at the World Broomball Championship.
- 2007Alice Madolciu (BA ’07) received the Emerging Leader Award from the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario), an award that recognizes exceptional achievement by CPAs under 34 years of age.
- Alumni Fred Ngan (BMath ’07) and Michael Chan (BMath ’08) and their company Bowtie announced the company has become the first online-only insurer to earn a licence in HK. It also raised Series A funding (US$30 million).
- Cannvas MedTech Inc., a leading business technology company in the cannabis space, announced the appointment of Shirish Patel (BASc ’07) to its Health and Innovation Advisory Board.
- 2008VueReal, co-founded by Reza Chaji (PhD ’08) and Ehsanollah Fathi (PhD ’11), has embarked on a $24 million project to expand its team and create an advanced nanotechnology centre at its facility in the City of Waterloo.
- ISARA Corp., the leading provider of quantum-safe security solutions, announced that renowned quantum computing expert Martin Laforest (PhD ’08) has joined the company.
- Boston's Man Numeric announced the appointment of Robert Lam (BASc ’08) as co-head of credit.
- 2010Starlight Investments Capital LP announced the expansion of its portfolio management team with the addition of a new portfolio manager, Varun Anand (BMath ’10).
- Jourdan Resources announced the appointment of Aaron Atin (BA ’10) to corporate secretary of the company.
- Sokoman Iron Corp. welcomed Eric Myung (BMath ’10, MAcc ’10) as its new chief financial officer.
- 2011Prodigy Game, an award-winning educational technology company founded at Waterloo by Rohan Mahimker (BASc ’11) and Alex Peters (BASc ’11), was Canada’s fastest-growing software company in 2018, according to the Canadian Business Growth 500 rankings.
- 2012Ryan Denomme (BASc ’10, MASc ’12), co-founder and chief executive officer of Nicoya Lifesciences, pursues cutting-edge science from inside an old factory building where his grandmother used to work.
- Gateway CERH announced the recent appointment of Dr. Alexandrea Peel (BSc ’12) as the Gateway Chair of Rural Senior Care. Dr. Peel is breaking new ground by practising in a rural setting – Huron County.
- 2014Pario Engineering & Environmental Sciences LP (Pario), one of Canada’s top providers of specialized engineering and environmental services to the insurance and risk management industries, announced the addition of Ankit Kumar (BASc ’14) to its Accident Reconstruction team.
- 2016Grobo, founded by Bjorn Dawson (BASc ’16) and Chris Thiele (BASc ’16), has developed a “plug-and-play” cannabis cabinet for the legalization era.
- Florian Hopfmueller (MSc ’16), Anna Golubeva (MSc ’17) and Fiona McCarthy (MSc ’17), three PhD students, received prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships.
- Fiix, co-founded by Khallil Mangalji (BCS ’16), closed a $40 million USD Series C Investment to continue helping organizations on their journey to modern maintenance.
- 2018University of Waterloo-based WatVision won the national James Dyson Award. Founded by mechatronics engineering graduates Craig Loewen (BASc ’18) and Lior Lustgarten (BASc ’18), WatVision is working to make touchscreen phones more accessible to the visually impaired.
- Qianyu Zhang (BAFM ’18, MAcc ’18) captured the Canada Gold Medal as the top performer in the Common Final Exam.
