News

As the President and CEO of Sun Life, Kevin Strain (MAcc ‘90) brings close to thirty years of insurance industry experience to his new role. Strain spent much of those years with Sun Life in various finance and business roles to advance his career to eventually assume the responsibility of Sun Life’s leadership. The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) caught up with the very busy President and CEO to chat about his career, how he hopes to lead Sun Life beyond the global pandemic, and why he chooses to give back to Waterloo to help build future talent.

With the start of the fall term, our community is getting ready to return to campus, and so it is a great time to be introduced (or re-introduced) to some of our faculty and staff. Candid, enlightening, serious, and not-so-serious, our Q&A series allows the personalities of the faculty and staff members who make up the School of Accounting and Finance community to shine.

This week, we interview David Ha (MAcc ’09), Professor and MAcc Co-Director, who has been with the School for ten years. Fun fact: At Grad Ball when Ha was a university student at Waterloo, he was voted by his class as most likely to become a professor one day—guess they were spot on in their assessment! 

A pair of Waterloo alumni are helping families deliver math in a fun and engaging way.

Prodigy Game, developed by two University of Waterloo Engineering grads, has filled the resource gap for building math skills and confidence, especially during the present school-year interruption due to COVID-19.

To celebrate Canadian Beer Day, we caught up with Phil Hipkiss (BAFM ’10, CPA, CA), the co-founder of Block Three Brewing Company in St. Jacobs, Ontario. In addition to the craft brewery, Hipkiss is also CFO and VP of Finance for the hearing aid manufacturer, WS Audiology.

Hop, hop, hurray! Cheers to another SAF Alumni Story.

For many, gone are the water cooler and lunchroom conversations that while mundane, were important in staying connected with colleagues. Workplace rituals we’ve long taken for granted have been removed by the pandemic. You would expect that these changes could be detrimental to every company’s culture, however, employees like Siddhi Purohit (MAcc’08) are currently very impressed with their employer’s culture and the values exhibited during the pandemic.