Chief Operating Officer
Acting as COO, Saud Adi is actively involved in key operations across the company with a specialized focus in construction, engineering and construction operations. With a Construction Engineering Technology designation from George Brown and Bachelors of Technology, civil engineering from McMaster University. Saud brings a wealth of knowledge to the construction process including building science and design, value engineering, bid procurement, subcontractor trade relations, scheduling, construction logistics, site engineering and general construction management. Saud sat on the HHHBA board of directors for two consecutive years and continues an active role with the association.
Saud is an active member of the community and has shown continuous support and sponsored local causes and events like Burlington’s Candle Lit Stroll in the downtown, City of Burlington’s Rotary Ribfest, and City of Burlington’s Downtown Business Association. As a company, Adi Development Group has supported and raised funds for various charities and associations including the Canadian Diabetes Association for continued assistance in research, Halton Women’s Place, Ronald McDonald House, SickKids Hospital and Frances Rose Foundation.
Gennum Corporation
(retired)
Doug Barber is the founder of Gennum Corporation (1987). The Burlington-based company designs and manufactures integrated circuits.
Doug was president and CEO of Gennum until he retired in 2000. Barber has been involved with McMaster Engineering since 1968, where he was a part-time engineering physics professor until 1994. After retiring from Gennum, he was appointed Distinguished Professor in-Residence at McMaster in 2001. In addition to being on the Dean’s Advisory Board since 1995, Doug is also chair of the McMaster University Commercialization of Research Results Task Force and is a board member of the McMaster Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization.
Doug has authored 29-refereed papers and holds several patents on semiconductor devices. Throughout his career he has played an active role in the microelectronics industry in Canada. Doug is a past Director of the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association, the Hearing Industries Association and the Alberta Microelectronics Corp. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering
He was a member of the Sectoral Skills Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the National Innovation Strategy, the Ontario Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board and Vice Chair of the Ontario Science and Innovation Council. He was a founding co-chair of the National Information Technology Initiative that sponsored eMPOWR Canada Inc. in 2001 and is a past director of the Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum.
Doug has received many accolades in recognition of his contributions to the industry and the fields of science and technology. These include the APEO Engineering Medal, the University of Saskatchewan C.J. Mackenzie Distinguished Graduate Award, the Professional Engineers of Ontario Gold Medal, honorary doctorate degrees from McMaster, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waterloo, the 1996 Hamilton Engineer of the Year, the 1999 Ontario Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2006 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the highest honours a Canadian can receive.
Partner
Managing Director, Neotribe Ventures
Nitin Chopra is passionate about enterprise software and mobile. He is looking at investing opportunities in application, platform and infrastructure software. Nitin is a big advocate of open-source technologies and is a member of open source initiative.
Nitin has lived and worked in Canada, Germany, the United States and India, and has conducted business globally. In his role as a product manager in BlackBerry’s enterprise software team, Nitin engineered relationships with leading software vendors and drove products from concept to launch. During his years in Germany, Nitin built a distribution channel for BlackBerry’s Unified Communications product with channel partners across Europe and Asia-Pacific. Prior to that, Nitin also worked in product marketing at a semiconductor company, PMC-Sierra.
Nitin earned an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Bachelor of Engineering in electrical engineering from McMaster University. Nitin is an avid hiker and has had the privilege of hiking mountains in North America, Europe and Asia.
Founder and CEO
Chris Crozier is founder of CF Crozier & Associates Inc. and provides overall strategic and financial leadership to the firm. As CEO, he supports the development of the strategic direction of the company and supports senior management. Chris has instilled a core value of mentorship in the firm and guides leadership development and industry engagement.
As a consulting engineer with 25 years in the field of municipal site servicing and water resources engineering, Chris is a technical and project director resource for both offices. Widely regarded as an authority in water resources and land development matters, with notable experience in pre-engineering and approvals, Chris has cultivated long-standing relationships with regulatory bodies at the municipal, provincial and federal level. He has appeared often before the OMB and in a consultative role at public meetings and public information sessions.
Chris is an advocate for active community engagement. Past and current involvements include serving on the Collingwood Economic Stability & Development Services Board; involvement in mentorship programs with The Centre for Business and Economic Development; business fundraising chair for Home Horizon’s transitional housing and past president of the Georgian Triangle Development Institute – a not-for-profit association that fosters communication and cooperation amongst the diverse players in the development community.
On a personal level, Chris has a long association with junior sports in the area as a soccer and hockey coach.
Provost Emeritus
McMaster University
Dr. Art Heidebrecht has retired in 2016 from McMaster University after being involved since 1974 when he was appointed professor of civil engineering. He was Dean of Engineering for eight years and was provost and vice-president academic for five years. Art is also professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Art played a pivotal role in establishing the Bachelor of Technology program, which was launched in 2006. The BTech program is offered in partnership with McMaster and Mohawk College, with graduates receiving both a college diploma and a university degree.
Most recently, Art held the position of the director of the W Booth School of Engineering Practice at McMaster.
In addition to being a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, Art is a board member for IEC and a scientific advisory board member for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES).
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
As executive vice president and chief technology officer, Stephen Howe leads the Bell wireline and wireless network teams that develop, build and operate the company’s high-capacity broadband networks.
Stephen was previously senior vice president and chief technology officer for Bell Mobility where he led the rollout of Bell’s world-leading HSPA+ wireless network.
Before joining Bell, Stephen was executive vice president of information technology at Telus Mobility and previously vice president of technology at Telus and Clearnet Communications (acquired by Telus in 2000), responsible for the design, development and expansion of wireless data, handset portfolio, switching systems and networks.
Stephen has a BEng in engineering physics from McMaster University and a MBA from Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Division VP, Research Director
Corning West Technology Center
Division VP, Research Director, Corning West Technology Center
Waguih Ishak joined Corning in 2007 to head the newly formed Corning West Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif.
From 2005 to 2007, Waguih was the chief technology officer and vice president of Avago Technologies, where he led the R&D efforts for new products in Consumer Electronics.
From 2003 to 2005, Waguih was the vice president and director of the Photonics & Electronics Research Lab (PERL) at Agilent Labs responsible for the R&D programs in photonics, high-speed electronics, sensors, semiconductor tests, wireless communications and consumer electronics.
From 1995 to 2003, Waguih was the director of the Communications & Optics Research Laboratory (CORL), working on photonics and integrated electronics.
From 1987 to 1995, Waguih was the manager of the Photonics Technology Department, responsible for R&D programs in photonics for applications in measurements, communications and computer interconnects.
Waguih has authored approximately 80 journal and conference papers and four chapters in the Handbook of Electronic Instruments.
He is a Fellow of the IEEE and was named an inventor on seven U.S patents. He is on the Technical Advisory Boards of USC, UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, Santa Clara University, NRC, and Panorama Venture Capital.
Waguih received a BSEE from Cairo University in 1971, a BSc math from Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1973, and MSc and PhD in electrical engineering from McMaster University in 1975 and 1978, respectively. In 1999, Waguih completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University.
Vice President of Corporate Science and Technology Projects
Shaffiq Jaffer joined TOTAL SA nine years ago, as the vice president of corporate science and technology projects in North America with a mission to find and fund novel ideas and technologies that will lead to breakthroughs to meet future energy demand. He is engaged across the research community: academia, startups and private research companies, focused on building long lasting relationships at the institutional level that creates strong value for TOTAL and its partners. Research programs have been established across a broad range of research areas: development of energy resources (unconventional oil and gas, biofuels to photovoltaic), conservation and energy efficiency (digital and shared economy), materials engineering (PV, Catalysts, biomaterials, composites) and innovative production processes (electrification of industrial processes). Currently, his priority is to help build TOTAL’s largest future research program, focused on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), and lead an external scientific advisory board to help guide research priorities. Prior to TOTAL, he has worked for P&G and Koch-Glitsch in research and engineering roles. He was educated in Canada at University of Alberta (BSc) and McMaster University (PhD).
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
President, Mantrix Inc.
Former Chief Scientist, VP, Principal Engineer, COM DEV
Chandra Kudsia earned his MEng in electrical engineering from McMaster University in 1966. Chandra received a BSc in physics in 1961 from Delhi University. He earned his PhD in electrical engineering in 1979 from Concordia University. He went on to become one of the founders of COM DEV International Ltd., a global designer and manufacturer of space hardware, located in Cambridge, Ontario. He began as a principal engineer in 1976 and retired in 2001 as chief scientist. Chandra is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in microwave design, particularly for satellite application. Prior to the founding of COM DEV, he worked as a Senior Engineer with RCA Limited.
His passion for space science has been recognized by his many awards and citations, including: the A.G.L. McNaughton Award & Medal, the highest honour given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for outstanding contributions to the field in Canada; the McCurdy Award, given by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute; and a Aerospace Communications Award, which is sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of aerospace communications.
Chandra currently acts as president for his own company, Mantrix Inc., which provides full service environmental management and engineering consulting with multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, scientists and technologists. He founded Mantrix Inc. in 2001. He has also been an adjunct professor with the University of Waterloo since 2001.
In September 2008, he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Kitchener, Ontario. Chandra is a Fellow of IEEE, AIAA, EIC, CAE, and IETE.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
CEO
Faizel is the CEO of APIsec.ai, a company that integrates into the Security Ops, DevSecOps and Development ops to provide API security natively in the workflow that all teams works in today.
Faizel formerly was CEO of Guavus, a Thales Company. Guavus is a streaming analytics and artificial intelligence company based in Silicon Valley, Montreal Canada and Gurgaon India. Prior to Guavus, Faizel was the president, COO and board member of SS8, a network intelligence company. Prior to SS8, Faizel was the vice president of Data Loss Prevention at McAfee, where he was responsible for the DLP business worldwide. Faizel joined McAfee through the acquisition of Reconnex, where he was the vice president of products and marketing. Prior to Reconnex, Faizel held executive leadership roles in product and marketing at ConSentry, Caspian Networks and Nortel Networks.
Faizel holds an MBA from The University of Ottawa, an MS in Engineering from Carleton University, and a BEng from McMaster University.
Chief Risk Officer (CRO), EQ Bank
Marlene Lenarduzzi is Chief Risk Officer at EQB Inc. As a financial services executive in Risk Management and Banking she provides leadership in operations, risk quantification, strategy development, planning and execution across Counterparty Credit Risk Management and Market Risk. Marlene currently serves on several Boards owing to her commitment to giving back to the community. She is President of the Toronto Chapter of the Risk Management Association and serves on the Board of Young Peoples Theatre in addition to her participation on the Dean’s Advisory Board.
Holding a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from McMaster University, a Master of Applied Science from the University of Ottawa and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, coupled with over 20 years of banking experience, Ms. Lenarduzzi has a unique combination of technical skills and business acumen, and a proven track record in delivering change.
Chief Transformation Officer
Chief Transformation Officer, ArcelorMittal Dofasco
Angela Pappin was appointed vice president, technology in 2014 after having held senior roles throughout technology including general manager, metallurgy and quality, business unit manager of tin plate products, business unit manager of cold roll and tin technology. She began her career with ArcelorMittal Dofasco in 1988 as a tin plate products stream senior engineer. Angela’s career has included cross functional appointments including market and product development, engineering, energy management, manufacturing and corporate strategy. Angela is a member of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Corporate Community Investment Fund Committee and a past chair of the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Metallurgical Committee on Tin Mill Practice. She holds a degree in mechanical engineering from McMaster University.
She is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
President, Pley Consulting Inc.
Former CEO, Com Dev International
Michael Pley retired as CEO of COM DEV International in 2016 after a 30-year career and is currently supporting technology SMEs and space companies through his management consulting company. COM DEV was one of the leading suppliers to satellite manufacturers and space agencies around the world, having supplied equipment to over 80% of all communication satellites ever launched and many international science and exploration missions.
Michael graduated Summa Cum Laude from McMaster University with a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering and management in 1983. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
In 2006, he was the inaugural recipient of McMaster’s Les W. Shemilt Distinguished Engineering Alumni award. In addition to being a member of the advisory board to the Dean of Engineering at McMaster since 2002, he is involved in a number of charitable and volunteer organizations. In 2011, he was appointed to the Ontario Manufacturing Council for a two-year term by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade for the province. He is an executive committee member of the board of directors of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and chairs its space committee.
Michael has been a registered member of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) since 1987. He obtained the Chartered Director (C.Dir.) designation from the Directors College (a joint venture of McMaster University and the Conference Board of Canada) in 2011.
Executive Director
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Executive Director, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Sonia Sennik is the Executive Director of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a seed-stage program for massively scalable, science-based companies. Sonia is responsible for the CDL’s strategic, operational and programmatic leadership, coordination and oversight to ensure the success of the Lab and its ventures across 10 university-based locations in Canada, United States, United Kingdom and France. The organization operates sites at the University of Toronto, University of Oxford, Georgia Tech, HEC Paris, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of British Columbia, University of Montreal, University of Calgary, University of Washington and Dalhousie University. Sonia is also the Executive Director of the CDL Rapid Screening Consortium, a not-for-profit organization focused on developing a cost-effective system for reopening the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having spent a decade managing large-scale capital projects (up to $500 million) at Hatch Ltd., a leading global engineering firm, Sonia is well-established in guiding interdisciplinary teams of professionals working on multiple, complex projects. Their particular areas of interest include process optimization, finessing workplace culture, mentoring future leaders and actualizing the potential of their ideas.
In 2020, they founded the Sonia Sennik Resilience Fund at McMaster University to award an annual $8,000 entrance scholarship for an engineering student who has shown grit and strength of character in their life – whether that’s at school, at home, on the athletic field or in their creative pursuits. This commitment grew into a $300,000+ endowed fund with more than 40 start-up founders, CEOs, world-leading scientists, engineers and economists contributing to the effort.
Most recently, Sonia was named as Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, selected from hundreds of nominees by a respected and independent advisory board on four key criteria: Vision & Innovation, Leadership, Impact & Influence, and Social Responsibility.
Sonia previously served as vice-chair of the board of directors for ParticipACTION – a 50-year-old organization dedicated to helping Canadians sit less and move more. Sonia was the head coach of Rugby Ontario Senior Women’s Team from 2016 to 2018, winning bronze, silver and gold at the Canadian Rugby Championships. Sonia is a proud graduate of the MBA program at Rotman School of Management and was the first-ever recipient of the Social Impact Award. Sonia received the Rotman Emerging Leader Award to recognize their influential leadership talent to motivate, mentor and inspire others to reach their potential. They also hold a BEng degree from McMaster University.
Chairman
Chairman, Hitachi Canada Ltd.
Howard Shearer is currently chairman of Hitachi Canada Ltd. Previously, he served as CEO and President of the company. After joining Hitachi Canada Ltd. in 1984, Howard rose through the ranks to the position of president and CEO in 2001 and held that position until 2012. He has had a place on the board of directors since 1999. Prior to this, he served as vice-president & general manager of Hitachi Canada Ltd.’s semiconductor division. Howard has been involved in both the high tech and energy sectors having also been employed by Texas Instruments and Murata Erie.
Howard received his Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering from McMaster University in 1977. He is very dedicated in his community involvement, as he serves on the board for large array of foundations and societies. In addition to being part of the McMaster Dean’s Advisory Board, he currently serves on the board for GE-Hitachi Canada Ltd., Metrolinx, Canadian Nurses Foundation, Independent Electricity System Operator in Ontario, Canadian Nuclear Association, Energy Council of Canada, University of Toronto Governing Council and Japan society. He also serves on the Special Advisory Council to the League for Human Rights, B’nai Brith Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Chairman of Board
Hatch (retired)
Chairman of Board, Hatch (retired)
Kurt A. Strobele is currently chairman of the Hatch Group of companies. Hatch is a global engineering, technologies and execution company with 11,000 employees working in three sectors: metals, energy and infrastructure. During Strobele’s tenure as chairman and CEO (2003-2011) Hatch grew from 3,500 employees to 11,000. Service organizations were added in Brazil, Peru, the Middle East, Russia and India. Kurt has held several senior positions within Hatch, including, vice-president of computer systems; vice-president of engineering; managing director of industrial minerals; and managing director of light metals, which included scale-up and commercialization of new processes.
Kurt has been with Hatch since 1973, when he joined the firm after receiving his PhD in mechanical engineering, from McMaster University. He had received his BSc engineering, Cum Laude, from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1968.
Kurt has 40 years of design and project management experience and as a leader of scale-ups for innovative processes and technologies around the world.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Chief Executive Officer
Gina Succi is a Professional Engineer, a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and co – founder and Chief Executive Officer of Westhill Innovation. For over 20 years, her career interests include leadership in engineering, product development and technology commercialization, in four vastly different market sectors including steelmaking, warehousing / logistics, mining and construction. Westhill Innovation is a leading designer and manufacturer of SunShifter and SunRunner, solar electromobility power solutions and lightweight composites for commercial and recreational transportation.
Gina is also a member of the Engineering Board of Directors at McMaster University, in addition to the SME representative of the Ontario Advanced Manufacturing Board of Directors.
Gina enjoys spending time with her family and special interests outside of her family and career include cycling and the creative arts.
Education
McMaster University (Hamilton Ontario)
- Civil Engineering, BEng, 1989
- Ivey Business School – Leadership Development
- Ivey Business School – Operations Management
Queens University – Finance for Non-Financial Executives
Chair & CEO
Chair and CEO, GOLFTEC Canada
James Suttie is a chemical engineering graduate of McMaster University. He has been an active skier, golfer and tennis player. He’s currently an avid motorcyclist adventure rider, having travelled throughout South America, the United States, Yukon, Europe and Morocco. He climbed Kilimanjaro in 2010.
He is currently Chair & CEO of GOLFTEC Canada, the leading golf instruction and club fitting business in Canada, teaching 24% of all lessons in Canada with 20 centres across the country. GOLFTEC Canada holds the franchise rights for Canada from GOLFTEC LLP, with over 200 centres in the United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
James has held a variety of senior positions in several well respected organizations. He was president and CEO of two software firms and has fulfilled the role of chairman in three organizations. Before founding Selkirk Financial Technologies in 1988, he held a variety of senior management and marketing positions at Gulf Canada, Noranda Mines and IBM Canada.
Vice President and General Manager
Robert Tong retired in June 2023. Prior to retirement, he was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Advanced Solutions Group of onsemi (formerly known as ON Semiconductor). A high-tech industry veteran of more than 40 years, Robert possesses extensive international experience in various leadership roles including general management, technology, marketing and sales. He joined ON Semiconductor in 2008 through the acquisition of AMI Semiconductor (AMI) which he served as the Senior Vice President of the Medical and Wireless Division.
Preceding his four years at AMI, Robert was the President and CEO of Dspfactory, a successful startup specializing in digital signal processing technologies for use in hearing aids. The impressive achievement and growth of Dspfactory finally led to the acquisition by AMI in 2004.
Prior to Dspfactory, he was the Senior Vice President of Satellite Products at COM DEV International. Robert has a Bachelor of Engineering from McMaster University, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2019.
CTO, Central Engineering, Marvell
Lawrence is an experienced executive & engineering leader of integrated circuits electronics design and development. He currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the Central Engineering team at Marvell Semiconductor. He is responsible for Analog Mixed-Signal methodology strategy, industry-leading AMS IP roadmap and strategic research partnership with universities. He previously served as EVP of Central Engineering AMS Group at Marvell. Prior to joining Marvell, Lawrence served as SVP, Central Engineering at Inphi (acquired by Marvell). Prior to Inphi, Lawrence was the VP engineering of wireless products & central analog teams at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.
Lawrence also served as the vice president of engineering for Volterra Semiconductor Corporation, an advanced power management product company and previously, he held various positions at Chrontel, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of mixed-signal visual communication products, including serving as vice president of engineering. Prior to Chrontel, Lawrence was with Nortel Networks (Bell-Northern Research), developing Optoelectronics products for SONET applications.
Lawrence holds a BEng in electrical engineering from McMaster University, Canada, and a MSc electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Retired Senior Vice President Nuclear Laboratories
Robert Walker has had a distinguished career in public service in various leadership roles, both domestic and international.
From November 2010 until his retirement in September 2015, Robert was with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, a federal Crown Corporation, first as Senior Vice President Nuclear Laboratories and from October 2011 as the corporation’s President and Chief Executive Officer. From November 2014, he was concurrently the first President and CEO of AECL’s wholly owned subsidiary, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
Prior to joining AECL, Robert had a career of 33 years as scientist, manager and executive with the research and development arm of the Department of National Defence. From August 2005 until November 2010, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister Science and Technology at DND and the Chief Executive Officer of Defence Research and Development Canada.
From 2009 to 2012, Robert served as the Chair of the NATO Research and Technology Board, the senior oversight body for cooperative research within the NATO framework. He is presently the Chair of the Board for the Network of Centers of Excellence in Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response (MEOPAR), hosted by Dalhousie University. He is a member of the Council of Advisors of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and a director and past Chair of the Board of the Pembroke Boys and Girls Club.
Robert earned a BSc in Physics from Acadia University, an MEng in Engineering Physics and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University. In 2013, McMaster awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science and in 2015 the Royal Military College of Canada awarded him an honorary Doctor of Engineering. He is a graduate of the National Defence College and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Walker is a recipient of the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service and the Canadian Nuclear Association’s 2015 Ian McRae Award of Merit. He is Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.