Class Notes Fall 2026 | Math e-Ties | University of Waterloo

Alumni on the move and getting noticed!

Class of...

1970S

James Gardner (BMath ’76, MMath ’78): Sci-fi writer James Gardner was named to CSFFA Hall of Fame. Being called "simply the finest short-story writer in the history of Canadian science fiction" by Rober J. Sawyer, the CSFFA Hall of Fame in 2013. Read More

1980s

Mark Roman (BMath ’82): Mark Roman is the managing director of Info-Tech Research Group. Info-Tech Research Group is placed #237 in Canada's top growing companies of 2026. Read More

Warren Irwin (BMath ’87): Colossal Energy Fields Corp. appointed Warren Irwin as Special Advisor. Irwin will provide strategic counsel to the company's management team and the Board of Directors. Read More

Dave McKay (BMath ’87): Dave McKay the CEO of RBC Financial Group, who’s pushed the bank well beyond its Canadian roots, discusses the US rift, how he uses AI at work and what keeps him up at night. Read More

Terry Stepien (BMath ’88): Terry Stepien launched his company Expetflow's first governed AI product as CEO. Expeflow's new AI agents review high-stakes documents for regulated organizations, including insurance claims, healthcare and financial paperwork, case files and regulatory submissions. They catch errors, gaps and unsupported claims before they become costly, with human oversight and a full audit trail built in. Read More

Dan Jauerning (BMath ’89): Dan Jaurening is the Chair and Board of Directors of HomeEquity Bank.HomeEquity Bank is placed #248 in Canada's top growing companies of 2026. Read More

1990s

Jeff Shiner (BMath ’92): Jeff Shiner is the Executive Chair of the Board of Directors at 1Password. Cybersecurity software company 1Password announced that it has crossed $500 million USD ($702 million CAD) in annual recurring revenue, up from $400 million about a year ago. The technology firm achieved this milestone amid rising Ai adoption and while maintaining a double-digit free cash flow margin. Read More

Leo Ng (BMath ’95): AIA Life Korea has nominated Leo Ng, Chief Financial Officer at AIA China, as its next Chief Executive Officer, the Hong Kong-headquartered life insurer said Monday. Read More

Craig Kaplan (BMath ’96): Through AI, Dr. Craig Kaplan was able to find a 3D shape that fills all space with a never repeating pattern. Read More

Asif Poonja (BABAIH ’96): Asif Poonja is the CEO of Americas Regional of Fujit Canada Incorporated. University of Waterloo was able to sit down with Asif to talk about his path from being a Waterloo student to Fujitsu CEO. Read More

Steven Woods (MMath ’91, PHD ’96): Steven Woods is the Director in the Board of Directors for Signal 1. Signal 1 makes AI tools for healthcare, has landed a deal with Newfoundlands and Labrador's medical authority. Read more

Steven Woods is the Partner and CTO of Inovia. Inovia secures $200-million USD first close for sixth early stage VC fund. This fund will then be used to focus on frontier tech such as AI. This fund is referred to as Fund VI, and it is called by Inovia partner Karamdeep Nijjar the investment firm's "first completely AI-Native fund." Read More

Kelvin Kang (BMath ’97): Kevlin Kang is the CTO of Instant Risk Coverage. Instant Risk Coverage earned #32 spot for top growing companies of 2026. Read More

2000s

Brendan Sterne (BMath ’00): Brendan is the Chief Product Officer at Vention. Vention opening a new physical lab following 400% percent increase in physical AI-related revenues over the years. Read more

Vention is placed #258 for Canada's top growing companies of 2026. Read More

James Ciesielski (BMath ’03): James Ciesielski is the Co-Founder and CTO at Rewind. Majority ownership of Rewind has been taken by private equity firm H.I.G. Growth Partners. The goal is to use the backing of a Pe firm to push out more meaningful features, while helping early investors cash out their stakes. Read more

Christine Sio (BMath ’03): Ssense is hoping to buy a warehouse in the United States to avoid tariffs for their customers. Christine is involved as one of the family co-founders that bought the brand back this year. Read More

Josh Taylor (MMath ’03): Josh Taylor is the Founder and CEO of Carrick. Josh Taylor uses AI to increase the number of phone calls more efficiently and effectively. People continue to prefer to use phone calls over portals or other common medical communication applications. This is where the AI that Carrick Health Innovation developed is able to help handle more volumes of customers. Read More

Dan Wolczuk (BMath ’03): Canada's PISA scores in reading, maths and science are at the lowest it has ever been. Professor Dan Wolczuk points out that this systemic failure leaves many students unprepared for higher education. Read More

Natalie Gordon (BMath ’04): Natalie Gordon is the Founder and CEO of Babylist.Babylist's new showroom features include dedicated stroller test tracks, a Volvo for hands-on car seat installation practice, and a 600-square-foot model apartment where parents can see how baby gear fits and functions in a real-world living space. Read More

Stephen Fung (BMath ’05): Stephen Fung is the Co-Founder of Archon Systems. Archon Systems ranked #199 on Canada's Top Growing Companies of 2026. Read more

Louis Leung (BMath ’05): Louis Leung is the Co-Founder of Archon Systems. Archon Systems ranked #199 on Canada's Top Growing Companies of 2026. Read more

Darwin Huang (BMath ’06): Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright today announced that partners David Szeker, Darwin Huang and Matt McElroy have joined its New York office from Kasowitz. Read More

James Legue (BMath ’06): James Legue is the Vice President of product and technology at Autoverify. AutoVerify placed #299 in Canada's top growing companies of 2026. Read more

Denesh Sohan (BMath ’06): Denesh Sohan is the Director of Engineering at Envision. Envision placed #314 in Canada's top growing companies of 2026. Read more

Edward Wei (BMath ’06): Edward Wei is the CTO at MappedIn.MappedIn ranked #353 in the top growing companies of 2026 Read more

Candace Brule (BMath ’07): Candace Brule is the Senior Vice President, Capital Markets & Corporate Affairs at Hudbay Minerals Inc.HudBay Minerals ranked #351 on top growing companies of 2026. Read more

Siddarth Sengupta (BMath ’07): Siddarth Sengupta is the Senior Director/Head and Customer Success at Borderless AI.Borderless AI earned #38 spot for top growing companies of 2026. Read more

2010s

Ulkar Akhundzada (BMath ’16): Ulkar Akhundzada is the Vice President, Engineering of MappedIn. MappedIn ranked #353 in the top growing companies of 2026. Read More

Abhee Dhwan (BMath ’16): Abhee Dhwan is the Chief Strategy Officer at Jobber. Jobber ranked #134 on Canada's Top Growing Companies of 2026. Read More

Abhihnavan Thanendran (BMath ’16): Abhihnavan Thanendran is the co-founder and CEO of tilt, a live commerce platform. Where sellers are able to stream a live auction and flash sales. Sellers were able to earn up to $260k a month. Abhihnavan says these sellers are successful not because of their audience, but because of their attitude. Read More

Guillaume Verdon (MMath ’17): Guillaume Verdon is the Founder and CEO of extropic. Extropic gets $75M USD from U.S. government for more efficient chips. Read More

Patrick Hannigan (BMath ’18): Patrick Hannigan is the Co-Founder and the CTO of Hive. Hive announced $27 million USD (nearly $38 million CAD) in equity Series B financing today from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Frontier Growth. Read More

Ruslan Nikolaev (BMath ’18): University of Toronto has attracted six talented researchers who focus on human health, technology, and the natural world through a major federal initiative. This is part of a federal program to attract talented researchers to Canada to help solve essential issues. Ruslan Nikolaev is amongst one of the six talented researchers. Read More

Mark Petrov (BMath ’18): Mark Petrov is the Head, Capital Markets of Loop Financial. Loop Financial ranked #53 on Canada's Top Growing Companies of 2026. Read More

Aditya Jayaprakash (BCS ’19): Aditya Jayaprakash is Co-Founder & CEO of Blacksmith. Blacksmith is an infrastructure for platform building and testing code. Blacksmith then announced a $66M Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a $1 billion valuation. The round brings Blacksmith's total funding to $125 million and will enable the company to grow its team and expand its computer footprint. Read More

2020s

Aditya Maru (BCS ’20): Aditya Maru is Co-Founder of Blacksmith. Blacksmith is an infrastructure for platform building and testing code. Blacksmith then announced a $66M Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a $1 billion valuation. The round brings Blacksmith's total funding to $125 million and will enable the company to grow its team and expand its compute footprint. Read More

Aayush Shah (BCS ’20): Aayush Shah is Co-Founder & CTO of Blacksmith. Blacksmith is an infrastructure for platform building and testing code. Blacksmith then announced a $66M Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a $1 billion valuation. The round brings Blacksmith's total funding to $125 million and will enable the company to grow its team and expand its compute footprint. Read More

Helen Zhang (BMath ’20): Helen Zhang is the Vice President, Finance & Operations of Altis Labs. The Toronto-based AI health firm, Altis Labs, raised US$25M, and plans to use the money to expand its AI models across more types of cancers and scale its business. Read More

Rahul Gudise (BCS ’25): Rahul Gudise talks about his journey of sending out 200 applications, and after landing a Nvidia data centre internship realizes Big Tech wasn't for him. Read More

Josiah Plett (BCS ’26): Josiah Plett was named Canada's leading innovators from the Class of 2026. Read More