McMaster University
DeGroote School of Business

Entrepreneur & Executive in Residence

The Executives-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence within the DeGroote School of Business act as mentors and coaches to students at the Undergraduate, MBA and PhD levels.  This is often the first opportunity for students to have ready access to executives and they bring a "real world" perspective to the classroom and to speaking engagements within the Faculty.

Michael CarnegieMichael Carnegie
AIC Industry Professor in Strategic Business Valuation
Michael has extensive experience and accomplishments in the field of accounting and business valuation. Presently, he is a Partner, Taylor Leibow LLP Accountants and Advisors. Since 1998, he has restricted his practice to business valuation, litigation support, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, forensic and investigative accounting and transaction-advisory services. He is recognized professionally as an expert in the areas of business valuation, imputed-income calculations for family-law purposes, investigative and forensic accounting, quantification of economic damages and income-tax matters. He is involved in many professional organizations and invited to speak at numerous professional conferences.

Ian GilbertIan Gilbert
Ian is one of North America's leading experts in improving corporate productivity by addressing companies’ most challenging operational sales issues. He has held executive sales positions at DaVinci Media, TELUS, Cable & Wireless Communications, Parametric Technology, Current Knowledge Corporation and Newpoint Publishing. Ian and his team have designed and implemented business transformation and professional development initiatives for companies like TELUS, Hewlett Packard, Bell Canada, CGI, Ericsson and Tandberg, as well as developing many fast track, start-up companies in partnership with leading venture capital companies.

Steve SmithStephen Smith
Stephen has significant experience as a senior executive in the airline industry, having served as the President of Air Toronto, President of Air Ontario Inc., President and CEO of WestJet Airlines, President and CEO of ZIP Air Inc. and Senior Vice-President, Customer Experience for Air Canada. Stephen is known for his leadership ability, creating a corporate culture which aligns companies and employees and allows customer contact staff to deliver a great customer experience. Stephen has been the face of the companies he has led to the media, analysts, employees and the public.

Rebecca RepaRebecca Repa
Industry Professor & Executive in Residence
Since graduating from McMaster and the DeGroote School of Business, Rebecca has demonstrated exceptional leadership in her professional and personal life. A member of the senior management team at St. Joseph's Healthcare, Rebecca plays a central role ensuring the organization remains a leader in the community.  In her current position, Rebecca is responsible for all construction and renovation projects on all four of St. Joseph's campuses. She is also mandated with leading the service excellence and organizational effectiveness initiatives, as well as the Regional Laboratory Diagnostic Services. As a respected and active member of the McMaster and DeGroote Alumni Associations, she leads by example and was awarded the Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award.

Glen SteevesGlen Steeves
Following Glen’s graduation from McMaster University, he was soon named as one of Canada’s Top 40 businessmen under age 40 by Financial Post Magazine. In his employment at McDonald’s Corporation, he was invited to assemble an international team, recruit and develop the local Russian team and lead and organise the first McDonald’s in Russia. He was promoted to oversee and accelerate McDonald’s expansion throughout Russia, and later was given additional responsibility for other major markets in Europe including the UK, Germany, Austria, Holland and the Nordic countries and then Chief Operating Officer of McDonald's Europe. His experience with a global franchised brand on an international level, exceptional entrepreneurial skills, and ability to motivate staff and stakeholders in a rapidly changing environment ensures that Glen’s experiences and insights will be of high value to our MBA and Commerce students.

Faculty Profile

Elkafi Hassini

Assistant professor of operations management Elkafi Hassini examines the ways materials move within a supply system, covering issues like order fulfillment and storage systems management.

One of his curren research projects involves the complex decision making faced by retailers with both a physical and online presence, particularly grocery chains. Hassini is striving to improve efficiency and coordination between different branches and divisions of the retailers.