Alumni on the move and getting noticed…
Submit a class note for the next edition of Math e-Ties.
BMath ’73: Diva International Inc., co-owned and directed by John Chambers, is partnering with Plan International Canada to reach Indigenous girls in northern Ontario.
BMath ’83 - Garth Gibson wrote an op-ed in the Globe and Mail about improving health care with machine learning based on work at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto and successfully reduced wait times and optimized nurse staffing for cost savings.
BMath '81: Ken Holman has stepped down from the Standards Council of Canada volunteer service after 31+ years.
BMath ’85: Roland Sing’s startup Skywatch raised $10M.
BMath ’87: Dave McKay wrote an article about what he learned at Davos 2020.
BMath ’87: Charles Eagan, CTO Blackberry, announced a new initiative between BlackBerry and Waterloo with the goal of creating a joint lab that will fast track the development of research and technology into products that can ultimately be taken to market.
MMath ’96, PhD ’02: Eric Demaine was mentioned in the New York Times for his origami art that’s been showcased at the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
BMath ’97: Bonnie Foley-Wong joins Equality Fund as the new Head of Investment Strategy.
BMath ’01: Paul McIntyre Royston was named the new Grand River Hospital Foundation president and CEO.
BMath '04: Nick Sullivan wrote an article about elliptic curve cryptography.
BMath ’06: Vicki Iverson was interviewed as part of an article about the Ottawa tech sector.
BMath ’06, MMath ‘08: Ian MacKinnon was named Top 40 for 40 for Vancouver. Ian had a second reason to celebrate in 2019. Ian and his wife Karly announced the birth of their son, Fox MacKinnon, on December 28, 2019.
BMath '07: Farooq Sheikh was promoted to partner at management consultancy firm Oliver Wyman.
BMath ’11: Robert Xiao is now an assistant professor at UBC in the computer science department.
BCS '12: Elias Puurunen wrote a book called Beyond Passwords.
BCS ’13: Nadayar Enegesi was interviewed about his latest startup venture, Eden.
MMath ’14, PhD ‘18: Jonathan Herman just completed Techno2018 with his company PocketMath.
BMath ’19: Jacob Jackson, a winner of IOI gold medals in 2014 and 2015, had his company TabNine acquired by Codota.
Kudos!
BMath ’82: Judi Hess, CEO of Copperleaf Technologies Inc., was named one of the Canada’s most powerful women.
BMath ’92: UW Accelerator Centre, led by Paul Salvini, was ranked Canada’s Top Private Business Accelerator and in World’s Top 5.
BMath ’92: Jeff Shiner, CEO of 1Password raised $200M in venture capital.
BMath ’96: Alison Boyd, Senior Director, Alumni Relations, University of Waterloo, received the President’s Community Impact Award recognizing her for her passion and dedication as a Community Leader and active volunteer.
BMath ’02: Andrew Abrahamowicz and his wife Callie are happy to announce the newest addition to their family, Dane Mathew Abrahamowicz. His sisters Ainslie and Kaibrie were thrilled at his arrival on Monday, November 4, 2019 at 7:39am. He weighed 7lbs 2oz, and measured a tall 21inches.
MMath '09: Xiaoyu Mavis Shang, Vice President, Pricing & Analytics, RBC Insurance received a Mercedes-Benz Emerging Leaders Award recognizing women between the ages of 30 to 40 years, who have been targeted for successive leadership positions within their organizations and have a proven passion for learning and innovation.
BMath ’11: Sarah Sun received the Manulife Science & Technology Award for the 2nd year in a row.
Congratulations to friend of the Faculty, Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, President & CEO, Profound Impact Corporation on the recent announcement of being named 2020 Women in Communications and Technology Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship. Honours will be presented at WCT’s Annual Awards Gala on May 7th, 2020 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
With the end of 2019, it was awards and list season. Congratulations to all of our alumni who founded and work at the companies that were included in these lists.
From the Report on Business Ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies:
#4 Auvik Networks – co-founders David Yach (BMath ’83) and Alex Hoff (BMath ’04)
#49 Bonfire Interactive – co-founder and CTO Alexander Millar (BCS ’11)
#54 Life & Co – CFO Katarzyna (Kasia) Malz (BMath ’07)
#78 Altus Assessments Inc - VP Sales, Darryl Kraemer (BMath ’99)
#92 TouchBistro - CTO Aris Zakintinos (BMath ’92)
Mathies were also listed throughout the Deloitte 2019 Technology Fast 50:
- Auvik Networks - co-founders David Yach (BMath ’83) and Alex Hoff (BMath ’04)
- TouchBistro – CTO Aris Zakinthinos (BMath '92)
- Smile.io – Vice President, People Megan Hall (BMath '98)
- Volante Systems - Founder and CEO Joseph Lee (BMath '99)
- Tulip – CTO Tony Salomone (BMath '00)
- Kira Systems – co-founder and CTO Alex Hudek (MMath '10)
- ApplyBoard – co-founder Sina Sadeghian Sadeghabad (MMath ’13)
- Ecopia.AI – co-founder Shuo Tan (MMath ’13)
- Fiix Inc.-co-founder and CTO Khallil Mangalji (BCS ’16)
And the Deloitte Fast 15:
- Doxim - Strategic Advisor, Investment Partner and Mentor to the CEO, Ross Orrett (BMath '88)
- Sensibill – Chief Architect Rick Hill (BMath ’89) and Vice President, Finance Frank Jessop (BMath '08)
- Ecobee – co-founder and Vice President, Software Engineering Mark Malchiondo (BMath '91)
- Rewind – co-founder and CTO James Ciesielski (BMath ’03)
On November 18, several companies with connections to Waterloo alumni won Canadian Fintech Awards.
- Accelerator/Incubator of the Year - Accelerator Centre. CEO Paul Salvini (BMath ’92)
- Credit Union of the Year, Central 1 - Meridian Credit Union. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer David Baldarelli (BMath ‘93), Vice-Chair Board of Directors Tamara Paton (BMath '98) and member of the Board of Directors Ken Bolton (BMath '80)
- Blockchain Company of the Year – Nanopay. CTO Kevin Greer (BMath ’95)
- Judge’s Choice Award, Technology Impact - Applied Bran Research (ABR) co-founders Feng-Xuan Choo (MMath ’10, PhD ’18), Trevor Bekolay (MMath ’10, PhD ’16), Travis Dewolf (MMath ’10), Daniel Rasmussen (MMath ’10, PhD '15)
At the Women in IT Awards on November 21, several nominees are alumni:
- Advocate of the Year - Dinah Davis (MMath ’04)
- CTO of the Year - Vicki Iverson (BMath ’06). Vicki won the award.
- Digital Leader of the Year - Jodie Wallis (BMath ’93) and Elaine Oei (BMath ’04)
- Transformation Leader of the Year - Sarah Tatsis (BMath ’03, MMath ’04)
- Woman of the Year - Shalini Nagrani (BMath ’12)
- Young Leader of the Year - Alexandra Sunderland (BCS ’16)
And finally, Waterstone Human Capital, Canada's leading cultural talent management firm, announced the 2019 winners of the Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures and Canada's Most Admired CEO program.
- Canada's Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures of 2019 – Mid-Market Category - Lifemark Health Group where Brock Dodgson (BMath ’01) is CIO
- Canada's Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures of 2019 – Broader Public Sector Category - CAAT Pension Plan where Derek Dobson (BMath ’92) is the CEO & Plan Manager
- Canada's Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures of 2019 – Broader Public Sector Category - Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital where Donna Inch (BMath ’88) is the CFO of the Foundation
- Canada's Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures of 2019 – Broader Public Sector Category - Michael Garron Hospital | Toronto East Health Network where Patrick Darragh (BMath ’04) is the Chief Medical Information Officer
In memoriam
Alumnus and retired staff member, Shirley Thomson (MA'68) passed away on March 12, 2020. Shirley was the Math Faculty Executive Assistant from 1990 to her retirement in 2005. In addition to her duties as chief administrator of the Faculty, she was instrumental in establishing the Women in Math Committee, and played a key role in sustaining it over the years.
She had an open door policy for students, who saw her as someone who could be counted on to make things happen, provide advice or lend a sympathetic ear. When she retired, a dinner in her honour was organized by former student leaders over many years. For her contributions to the Math Faculty and university wide she was made an Honorary Member of the University in 2007.
We would like to share the news that Distinguished Professor Emeritus János Aczel passed away on January 1, 2020 following a brief illness only six days following his 95th birthday. His daughters Catherine and Julie invite friends to share their memories of János at the University of Waterloo on Friday, April 17 at 2:00 pm (please RSVP by email).
We were saddened to learn of the passing of our 2016 Young Alumni Achievement Medalist and Founder & CEO of Henkaa, Joanna Duong, BMath ’04 in July. Joanna is the only woman to win this award in its nearly decade of being in existence. We have invited Henkaa to create our Waterloo Women’s Impact Network (WWIN) scarf in her honour. Stay tuned about this.
