The Faculty of Mathematics is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Alumni Achievement Medals and the J.W. Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation. These prestigious medals recognize alumni who have distinguished themselves through professional achievement, community service or academic excellence.
This year’s honourees exemplify innovation and leadership across diverse fields. Their achievements include groundbreaking work in cybersecurity, the creation of cutting-edge social media marketing platforms, strategic transformation of the global insurance industry and engineering leadership at a top e-commerce company.
We will be celebrating these individuals and their achievements at a panel discussion on October 7, where they will share insights from their journeys and connect with students, faculty and fellow alumni. We invite the Waterloo Math community to join us in honouring their achievements.
Do you know a Waterloo Math alum who deserves recognition? Nominate them for a medal today.
Meet the 2025 Alumni Achievement Medal Recipients
Ian MacKinnon (BMath ’06, MMath ’08)
Ian MacKinnon is a serial founder and technologist currently building Stingray Security, a browser-based platform that helps protect users from scams and phishing through real-time education and prevention. He previously founded Later.com, which grew from a 2014 hackathon project into the leading social media marketing platform used by over five million brands and agencies. Later was acquired by Mavrck in 2022, where Ian led engineering, machine learning and data science initiatives.
Recognized in Business in Vancouver’s 2019 Forty Under 40, Ian has also held engineering roles at Google and SAP. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo and a Master’s in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
Kim Tremblay (BMath CS ’84)
Kim Tremblay is a dynamic tech leader whose career spans more than three decades across cybersecurity, defence, and advanced systems. A 1984 graduate of the University of Waterloo, she began as a developer, cutting her teeth on complex systems for air traffic control and defence. She later led engineering teams at Virtek and MKS before joining Blue Coat Systems, where she rose to SVP of Engineering, leading global teams and delivering market-leading security products.
In 2012, Kim co-founded Arctic Wolf, building its R&D centre in Waterloo from the ground up. She tapped into the region’s deep talent pool to create something rare: a security product the market truly needed, and a development culture where people were proud to belong. As SVP of Strategy, she helped shape Arctic Wolf into a global cybersecurity powerhouse. Kim retired in 2020 to spend more time with family and pursue long-time creative passions.
Meet the 2025 G.O.L.D. (Graduates of the Last Decade) Achievement Medal Recipient
Manisha Dias (BMath ’13)
Manisha is Head of New Business Development at Somerset Re, where she leads global commercial strategy and oversees underwriting and pricing policy. She brings deep industry expertise and a strong track record of innovation in life and annuity insurance.
Prior to Somerset, Manisha was Head of Partnerships at SCOR Global Life Reinsurance in Charlotte, where she co-founded a new business focused on digitally enabled product offerings and hired and led teams through its growth in the US market. Earlier in her career, she held a variety of traditional and non-traditional actuarial roles across Canada, the U.S., and Asia at John Hancock and Manulife.
Manisha holds an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science with Finance from the University of Waterloo. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst, a Strategic Partner Leadership Professional and a Registered Yoga Teacher.
Committed to giving back, Manisha actively chairs industry committees, guest lectures for the University of Waterloo’s Master of Actuarial Science program and advises early-stage founders.
Meet the 2025 J.W. Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation Recipient
Farhan Thawar (BMath ’98)
Farhan is currently VP and Head of Engineering at Shopify, a role he took on following Shopify’s acquisition of Helpful.com, where he was co-founder and CTO. His career includes leadership roles such as CTO of Mobile at Pivotal and VP of Engineering at Pivotal Labs, following its acquisition of Xtreme Labs.
Farhan is an avid investor and advisor to startups in Toronto and San Francisco, including being a mentor at yCombinator and First Round Capital. Previously, Farhan held senior technical positions at Achievers, Microsoft and Trilogy.
Farhan holds an MBA in Financial Engineering from Rotman and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.