The School of Financial Services at George Brown College brings together industry leaders to shape program and course content. Many of the faculty at the college are still active in their industries today, so they combine day-to-day working realities with academic theories and approaches. We take pride in hiring teachers that are well respected and offer students excellent instruction, industry mentorship and provide valuable additions to their professional networks.
Download Faculty Directory in PDF format.
Full-time Faculty Bios
Full-time Faculty Bios
Tracey Adams' bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Richard Almonte
BA (Toronto), BEd (Western Ontario), MA (Concordia), PhD (McMaster)
Richard has over seven years of administrative, operational, marketing, and editorial experience in the theatre and publishing industries. His teaching experience prior to GBC included elementary, adult ESL and university teaching assistantships. He has recently co-authored two business communication text books for Nelson: Essentials of Business Communication (2006) and The Practice of Business Communication (2007). In addition, he has published articles, reviews and chapters on literary topics in magazines, journals and books. Richard has also edited two books on 19th Century Canadian writing, including Mary Shadd’s A Plea for Emigration (Mercury, 1998). He teaches courses in Composition and Rhetoric, Business Communication, Business Journalism, Canadian cultural industries and Canadian literature.
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Tom Arhontoudis
M.A. (Washington State University, PhD (Syracuse University State University)
Tom is an accomplished and innovative senior marketing professional with over 20 years experience in strategic planning and advertising specializing in the field of new brand and product launches, relationship marketing and customer experience framework design. His client roster includes organizations in the Financial Services, Retail, Automotive and Non-for-Profit sectors in Canada, the United States and Europe. Bringing this insight and expertise to the classroom and lecture hall is what Tom does best. His academic credentials include graduate degrees from Syracuse University (PhD) and Washington State University (MA), where he taught a variety of Marketing Communications courses. Recently Tom has also taught courses at Ryerson University and has been a member of the George Brown College faculty since 2004.
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Peter Au
B.Sc Mathematics/Physics, B.Ed Intermediate/Senior MUN
Peter has over 17 years teaching experience in the senior high school and post secondary levels, and remains a member of the College of Teachers in Ontario. He has also taught certification courses for teachers at the university level in computer science and has been involved in curriculum development for the province. In addition, Peter has worked on microchip design with Mosaid Technologies in Ottawa and has run his own computer consulting business for many years. Currently he is teaching statistics and finance mathematics at George Brown College, producing multimedia material and editing text books for Canadian publishers.
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Paul Balog
BSc. in Engineering Mechanics and Materials (Southern Illinois University), MA in Education (Central Michigan University)
Paul began his career as an engineer in the mining industry, in both hard rock and coal mining. But by 1984, Paul realized that his true calling was teaching, and he moved to Academia when he was offered a job teaching mathematics at George Brown in 1984. Paul has actively been involved in the mathematics’ community both provincially and internationally. While past president of the Ontario Colleges Mathematics Association (OCMA), he and his colleagues hosted the 27th AMATYC (2001) conference in Toronto. Paul is currently the president of the OCMA and is the college’s representative sitting on the provincial Heads of Math. In addition, Paul was part of a team that was responsible for changes to the Ontario Senior High School Mathematics curriculum.
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William Basztyk's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Ramesh Bhardwaj's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Adrian Bond's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Lynn Buckerfield's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Julie Bulmash
BA (Concordia), MBA (Heriot-Watt).
Julie has over 18 years experience in Human Resources, working for technologically driven multinational and mid sized corporations. As a recognized contributor to organizational effectiveness Julie has developed compensation and benefit programs, designed performance management systems, developed international human resource policies and programs and led change management projects. She brings several years experience teaching at the university and college level. She is a published author and has written on Organizational Behaviour in Canada, HR and Technology and is currently writing a textbook on Human Resource Planning. Julie is the coordinator for the HR program at George Brown College and teaches courses in compensation, organizational effectiveness and human resource management.
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Peter Burgess
BA (Western)
Peter has over 20 years of teaching experience with George Brown College combined with an industry background in consumer and business marketing. He currently teaches marketing courses to students in the Colleges business programs and has taught marketing courses to both diploma and post diploma students. Peter pioneered the development of George Brown Colleges first post graduate program, Sport and Event Marketing, one of the first programs of its kind in the College system in North America. His major areas of interest include international marketing, product management, and product innovation. In addition to teaching, he has experience as a consultant and advisor to both academic and educational industry organizations and he has a keen interest in the development and application of e-learning technology and digital media for education. Peter has also participated in various international business and educational conferences and enjoys international travel and business projects.
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Avantika (Avanti) Chakraverti
MBA, IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Calcutta, India; Ph.D (English), Jabalpur, India.
Avanti commenced teaching during her Ph.D days, teaching English Literature to post graduate students at her university. Later she worked for leading advertising agencies, specialising in account planning and market research for companies including Colgate Palmolive. While working with a leading agency affiliated with Saatchi and Saatchi, Avanti managed the accounts of several corporate clients like Swissair. She returned to teaching as a volunteer for underprivileged young adults in Africa. Subsequently, she worked for five years at a not-for-profit organization in Toronto where she taught communications and job search techniques to immigrants. Since January 2006, she has been teaching English/Communications at George Brown College.
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Jacqueline Cook
MBA (McMaster), BBA (Wilfrid Laurier)
An accomplished marketing executive, Jacqueline has over 25 years of experience in market research, strategy and new product launches with Internet, telecommunications and media companies. Her professional accomplishments include: the launch of Canada’s first specialty channel for women (now known as W Network), managing the launch of more than 15 new services at Tucows Inc., Canada’s largest domain name registrar, managing the residential product line at Canada’s first national Internet Service Provider, and establishing Telesat Canada as a thought leader in the emerging, high definition television market. Jacqueline joined George Brown College in 2007 and teaches courses in market research, Internet marketing and marketing management.
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Deirdre Fitzpatrick
MBA, CMA
In addition to her joy for teaching and learning, Deirdre brings to the classroom over 30 years of corporate accounting, finance and tax experience, and 16 years of small business experience. For 12 years before joining the faculty, Deirdre was a senior tax advisor at Barrick Gold Corporation. Prior to Barrick Deirdre’s professional experience ranged from US Corporate Controller at TLC (a medical company), to various accounting and finance positions in property management, not-for profits, and banking. She is involved in a charitable foundation, for economic development in Tanzania, with ongoing events and projects. Deirdre has five children and enjoys time at the cottage whenever possible.
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Dave Fleming
B.Com. (Queen's University), MBA (University of Toronto), CA, CMA
Dave is a Licensed Public Accountant in the Province of Ontario. Dave has taught in the business school for over 20 years, including a number of years as coordinator of the Accounting Advanced Diploma program. He is a manuscript reviewer for major academic publishers and has been a marker for professional accounting examinations. Recognition at George Brown College includes the STAR Award of Excellence (1996) and the Award for Teaching Excellence (2001).
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Pauline Fu
B.Sc (Math), BA (Economics), MA (Math and Stats), PhD (Candidate, U of T)
Pauline has over 18 years experience in education and business. She has been teaching various courses in Computers, Mathematics, Statistics and Accounting Applications at George Brown since 2003. Her teaching experience includes roles at Centennial College, Toronto District School Board and Ningxia University in China. Pauline has developed on line courses for the Centre for Business which she is currently delivering. Additionally, Pauline has experience in developing computer programming projects.
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Bruno Fullone's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Lori Futterer
BA (Wilfrid Laurier)
Lori has over 15 years of industry and teaching experience. She has been teaching courses in Business/Marketing in both the Advanced Diploma and Post Graduate Certificate marketing programs at the college since 2000. Previously she worked at Procter and Gamble in a Brand/Marketing Management capacity leveraging strategic marketing, business analysis planning and implementation practices in both Canadian and Global roles. Lori has also reviewed various marketing and management textbooks for a variety of publishers.
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Mary Gibbons' bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Angie Gorassi
BScN (Toronto), DOHS (McMaster), MBA – HRM Specialism (Heriot Watt)
Angie has more than 13 years experience in business, with over 7 years teaching and 4 years coordinating the HR educational programs at the college. Having worked for both public and private corporations, she has experience in the many facets of Human Resources Management. Her particular expertise is in developing and auditing health and safety training programs, and recruiting and selecting employees. Angie was the recipient of the Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence (2005) and the Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award (2007). She has been extensively involved in curriculum design of the college’s courses and was one of the original developers of the HR Post Graduate Certificate program.
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John Hendrikx
B.Sc (U of G), MBA (Dal)
John has over 18 years marketing and management experience in packaged goods, pharmaceutical, banking, government, recreational vehicles and entrepreneurial ventures. He has been employed with industry leaders such as Dow Chemical, Sandoz, BMO, HSBC, Scotiabank, and OLG. John’s experience includes B to B sales, product marketing, direct marketing and analysis, research methods and design, telemarketing, small business management, strategy and consulting. John specializes in teaching database marketing and analytics, and strategic management. John has been teaching with George Brown since 2008.
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Michael Hlinka
M.B.A. (University of Toronto) CFA Charter holder (CFA Institute)
Michael has taught at George Brown College for seven years and brought twenty-five years of business experience with him when he joined the College. He had worked in the Financial Services industry with HSBC Securities, RBC Dominion Securities, TD Waterhouse and Marathon Discount Brokerage. Michael’s primary area of interest is investing in the stock market, and teaches licensing courses such as the Canadian Securities Course, Derivatives Fundamentals and Options and Futures. In addition to his teaching duties, Michael is a regular Business Commentator with CBC Radio and Television and writes a weekly sports column for OUTREACH Magazine, marketed by Toronto’s homeless and unemployed.
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Frank Ingold's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Mariana Ionescu's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Harmeet Singh Kohli
B.S.B.A (American International College), M.B.A (John F. Kennedy University), CITP(FITT), CCS(Canadian Society of Customs Brokers)
Harmeet has been involved in International Business for the past 25 years. Harmeet has received his core training in all the important aspects of international business from his involvement in the international family business and high level of academic training. He has extensive interests in the Middle-East, India, Europe, Kenya, China, Canada, and the USA where he primarily consults in the import and export of consumer products. Harmeet presently teaches a variety of international business courses and is an International Trade Consultant as well. His expertise lies in foreign exchange transactions, import, export, sourcing products, freight forwarding, customs laws, trade finance, international law, and international economics and finance. Harmeet is also a Certified Customs Specialist certified by the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers. Currently, Harmeet is consulting to Canadian and International firms on the import and export of textiles, foodstuffs, and electronics. In addition to teaching at George Brown full-time, he has taught several business-related courses at a variety of colleges and universities in North America.
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Joyce Kraay
BA/Ed (Calvin College) MA (Central Michigan University)
Joyce has more than 25 years of teaching experience at the elementary, ESL and college levels. She has had extensive experience teaching Communications, business and technical, at Centennial and George Brown Colleges, ESL for the Toronto LINC program, as well as being the director of a private ESL school. She has developed various communication programs including a special program designed to assist newcomers in finding work and adjusting to the Canadian workplace. She has recently co-authored a book on job search skills.
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Stoney Kudel
BA (York), MBA (Athabasca) Adult Education Certificate (St. Francis Xavier)
Stoney has more than 20 years of financial services industry experience and has a unique and valuable set of skills and knowledge gained through practical business experience, consulting, and managing and leading people. Stoney is known for his in-depth knowledge of strategic and business analysis and planning, leadership development, leveraging organizational and personal change, adult learning principles and methods, curriculum design, development and implementation, sales and sales management effectiveness, learning delivery methodologies, competency and psychometric testing, and classroom facilitation.
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Sam Lampropoulos
BaSC (Toronto), MBA (York), P. Eng.
Sam has over 12 years of experience leading logistics and supply chain initiatives that have touched Supply Chain, Logistics and Store Operations to improve productivity and reduce costs with large retail organizations and third-party logistics providers. Sam teaches Logistics/Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Resource Planning in Distribution, Supply Chain Strategy & Technology, Purchasing Management and Operations Management. He has also served as a Guide for Logistics on About.com and manages an active logistics consulting practice.
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Susan Lewis
BA (Toronto), M.I.R. (Toronto)
Susan has over 25 years experience as a human resources professional in primarily large, complex and high-profile public sector organizations. Her experience in addressing organizational challenges in both a senior management and consulting capacity includes strategic planning, organizational change, policy and program development and occupational health and safety. In addition, Susan has worked extensively with various community groups to promote diversity and build consensus among stakeholder groups.
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John Luckman
BA (Guelph) MA (Guelph) PhD (McMaster)
John is also a graduate of Humber College. He knows the college system from a student's point of view and a teacher's point of view. John has been teaching at university and college for over 30 years. He has published in philosophy. One paper is based on research done at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. He presented a paper at Trent University on the relationship between metaphysical presuppositions and the philosophy of history.
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Marie Madill-Payne's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Frank Maloney
Bachelor's Degree in Marketing (McGill University), MBA (School of Information Management in Colorado)
Frank has over thirteen years experience in sales, account management, training, teaching, recruiting and co-active life coaching. He has worked for many Fortune 500 Companies including Unilever, Roche, General Motors and Nissan. Frank held a key position at GM during its 1997 rollout of the OnStar program in eastern Canada. He has recruited for Fortune 500 companies for the last six years. Frank is fluently bilingual and full time College Professor teaching in The School of Business at George Brown College since 2002. He has developed, revamped and taught a variety of courses in both the undergraduate and post graduate level. Courses have included Marketing for entrepreneurs, Negotiation Skills, Professional Selling, Business Presentation Skills, Business Concepts and Organizational Behaviour. Frank has had the pleasure of presenting at many GTA meetings of Referralquest, a business lead generating organization. An accomplished speaker, entrepreneur and Reiki practitioner, Frank has completed 167 hours of co-active training as a Co-Active Coach (CC) through the prestigious Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael, California. He is in the process of completing his certification (June, 2008). He currently runs 3 businesses : a successful health and career transition coaching practice, a regenerative nutrition franchise and an automotive recruiting consultancy (Marckis Group). His future goals include life coaching as well as inspirational speaking.
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Winston Marcellin's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Morris Marshall's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Heather McAfee
BA (University of Toronto) MA (University of Toronto)
Heather has over 10 years of experience in education. She began teaching Communications at George Brown and Humber Colleges in 2003. In addition to teaching and developing ESL curriculum and working with youth at risk in Toronto, Heather has been involved in the NGO field for the past 12 years in a variety of capacities including coordinating the construction of an orphanage/primary school project in its developing phase and teaching primary school (both in Northern Malawi). In addition, she has worked on volunteer projects (educational and health related) in both Nigeria and India. Heather has recently co-authored two Canadianized Communications texts.
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Terry McCullough
BA (Western), MBA (Athabasca), CFP, FMA, FCSI
Before joining the staff at George Brown College in 2004 Terry spent ten years working in a financial advisory capacity and in the investment/trading department of a large commercial bank. Previous to that he was an entrepreneur operating an advertising and marketing agency. Terry teaches financial planning and investment courses in the Advanced diploma, degree and post Graduate Certificate programs.
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Mario Pascucci
B. A. (York University) MEd (Nipissing)
Mario Pascucci has taught at the Post Secondary level for 15 years. His background includes experience in a variety of industries and trade classes with tier one companies. Mario Pascucci is founder and President of a corporation for over 17 years. His entrepreneurial skills reflect backgrounds in importing and distribution, sales agency services, and consulting services at a number of levels. Mario Pascucci holds two diplomas from community colleges, a business degree from York University and Completing his Masters of Education.
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Alar Petersoo
BBA (Wilfrid Laurier University), MBA (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Alar has over 9 years experience in the investment industry in Toronto and 8 years of teaching experience at the college level. He has worked in the financial industry with Burns Fry (now Nesbitt Burns), Marleau Lemire Securities, CIBC Wood Gundy and most recently with Scotia McLeod. Additional education includes 6 courses from the C.S.I., including the Branch Manager’s Course. Of particular interest to Alar was trading in the stock market and arbitrage-hedging in the (stock) option’s market. He currently teaches business math and economics courses.
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Louis Pike's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Rand Rowlands
BComm (Toronto), MBA (York), CA, CMA
Rand has over 20 years of experience in Accounting, Auditing, and Consulting. He has led successful initial public offerings, implemented new accounting systems, and built models to streamline processes and reduce costs. Rand teaches Accounting courses at the degree and advanced diploma levels.
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Rhonda Sandberg
BA (Laurentian), MA (Laurentian)
Rhonda has over 15 years in academia and publishing. Her background includes university teaching and research assistantships, and she has co-edited an anthology, which includes her poetry. Along with having taught Communications and General Education courses at GBC, Rhonda has taught literature and business writing at Laurentian University, Seneca and Centennial. She was an online Communications instructor for the Certified General Accountants of Ontario and was a consultant for The Bibliocentre. She has developed a Continuing Education Creative Communications program and has created instructional material for McGraw-Hill Ryerson’s Online Learning Centre (OLC). She has reviewed several English/communication and psychology textbooks for various publishers and has edited numerous publications in the humanities and social sciences. She has recently co-authored a developmental English textbook: The Writer’s World: Paragraphs and Essays (2011) and is currently co-authoring a College English textbook: The Writer’s World: Essays (2012) for Pearson Education Canada. Rhonda teaches all levels of Communication courses and is the Communications Coordinator for the Centre for Business.
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Mark Simpson
BAA (Ryerson)
Mark has over 34 years of experience in education and business. This experience includes teaching Strategic Analysis and Applied Strategy at George Brown; Feasibility Planning and Marketing Workshops for the Toronto Enterprise Fund; conference speaker and facilitator for Social entrepreneurship In the City; speaker Re: Vision 2010 and various other professional seminars. Mark’s industry background includes progressive roles in Sales, Marketing, Business Development and General Management and has an extensive consulting background.
Mark developed and currently teaches the Field Based Consulting (FBC) course, a six-hour, two credit field education elective where students are matched with businesses to investigate problems and recommend solutions. He is the Co-ordinator of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Community Innovation (IECI). Mark provides leadership to IECI and in conjunction with other faculty and industry partners provides young entrepreneurs with business planning and coaching service as well as consulting services to both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Mark is also the Faculty Advisor for SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) George Brown.
Mark was a recipient of the George Brown College Excellence in Teaching and Learning Innovation in 2009.
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Elizabeth Speers
BSc (York), MSc (Alberta), BEd (Toronto), MEd (Toronto), EdD (Toronto)
Elizabeth has over 20 years of experience in education and business. This experience includes teaching in university, college and high school programs as well as senior management roles in industry in process reengineering, supply chain and strategic change management, and human resources. Elizabeth is currently the Director, Centre for Business.
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Frances Steciuk
B.A.Sc. (Guelph), MBA (Queen’s)
Frances has more than 12 years experience marketing consumer packaged goods at a number of multinational corporations. She has extensive knowledge of marketing strategy development, marketing research, brand equity management and brand communications. Frances has taught marketing courses at George Brown since 2003.
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Don St. Jean
B.Sc., M.Sc. (Carleton)
Don has taught Mathematics and Statistics at George Brown since 1981. During this time, he coordinated the Math and Science Department and the Pre-Health Science Program, acted as Chair of the Math and English Department and served on the Professional Development Committee of the Ontario Colleges Mathematics Association. Prior to that, he taught secondary school, college and university level mathematics, worked as an Actuarial Programmer for an insurance firm and as a statistical researcher within the Federal Department of Agriculture. He has published in mathematical journals and developed materials for several texts and on-line courses.
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Clayton Stone
MBA (York), BA (Waterloo)
Clayton has over twenty years teaching experience with George Brown College and over twenty-five years total business experience. He has worked for an international accounting firm, a Canadian bank and the real estate arm of a major retailer before assuming his current duties with the college. His major areas of interest are accounting, finance and computer studies and he has delivered courses in all of these. Currently he is teaching accounting to business students who are not majoring in accounting.
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Tom Supra
BA (Western Ontario), AIT (ITI Toronto), MBA (LUNB)
Tom has over 10 years experience as an entrepreneur, working in fields ranging from web development, database design and business intelligence to CRM analytics. His background in software and database construction is coupled with experience assisting businesses with their ebusiness/ecommerce needs. He has been teaching for over 20 years, 8 of which have been at the college and university levels. Tom has designed the Post Graduate Certificate Marketing program computer applications courses, including new offerings in technology for entrepreneurs, and delivers advanced computing classes using data mining software solutions for select Post-Graduate Certificate programs.
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Barbara Syer
BA (Western), BEd (UBC), MEd (Toronto), CFP, CLU
Barbara’s experience in the securities, banking and insurance industries ranges from new product launches and sales management to corporate training and business transformation. She has edited an adult education course on tax and estate planning and her achievement in managing a corporate university has been documented in HRPAO magazine. Barbara teaches courses in the Bachelor of Applied Business, Advanced Diploma and Post-Graduate Certificate programs. She also serves as Coordinator for Financial Planning programs in the School of Financial Services.
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Robert Symmons' bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Margery Taylor
BSc (St. Francis Xavier), MBA (York), Adult Education Certificate (St. Francis Xavier)
Margery has over 20 years of experience in marketing management for medical products (B to B) and in consumer packaged goods. She also has experience in managing and marketing of non-for-profit organizations. She has been teaching at George Brown College since 2000. Margery currently teaches Marketing Management, Fundraising and Database Marketing in the Advanced Diploma and Post Graduate Certificate Marketing programs. Margery has led the curriculum development for the Sport and Event Marketing and Strategic Relationship Marketing programs and provides support to the Program Advisory Committee of the Post Graduate Certificate Marketing programs. Outside the college she is an active volunteer and has served on non-for-profit Boards and committees.
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John R. Varga
B.Comm (Concordia), CMA, CISA
John has over 30 years of teaching and business experience at George Brown College and continuing education courses at Sheridan College. His professional accounting experience includes public accounting, internal audit, controller, corporate tax planning, reorganizations/restructuring, financial and regulatory reporting, system development. In addition to teaching, he has participated in curriculum development for the Accounting program for a community college in China, and reviewed text books for Canadian publishers.
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Ray Vaughan's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Derek Vigar
HBBA (Wilfrid Laurier), PMP(c)(Project Management Institute)
Derek leads the Project Management stream within the Management Studies Advanced Diploma. He has earned an average overall teacher effectiveness rating of 6.6 out of 7 from the approximately 2,000 students he has taught at both the college and university level. He brings senior project insights and experiences from working with tier 1 Health Care, Technology, Education, Financial Services and Not-For-Profit clients into his interactive and energized classroom.
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James Voulakos
B.Com. (Mc Master), CPCC
James has been teaching at George Brown College for the past 5 years specializing in Professional Sales, Organizational Behaviour, and various Management courses. His passion for business and his commitment to the art of teaching has honoured him twice with nominations for the Crystal Apple Teaching award. James has over 20 years of corporate experience in sales, sales management and general management. He has worked in various industries, including organizations like TELUS, Clearnet, and Laidlaw as well as co-founded Omega Developments, a real estate and land development company. James is also a Certified Executive Coach specializing in leadership development and organizational change.
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Barry Wallace
BA (Western), CHA (York), MBA (Schulich-York), PhD candidate (York)
Barry has 17 years of industry experience in the health care sector, with an emphasis on professional and consumer communication, program design and management, market research, marketing management, strategic planning, and business development. He also has eight years of teaching experience at both the college and university level, focusing on marketing, strategy, and business communication. Barry stays engaged with both academia and industry through participation with a variety of projects and activities. Recent highlights include: reviewed a number of textbook manuscripts on behalf of their respective publishers; volunteered as a member of the Marketing and Communications Advisory Committee of the Toronto Arts Council Foundation; and, led the design of a professional education service for health care providers, for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. In addition, Barry is taking his PhD at York University, and he is the author of the first edition of a business-themed textbook with Oxford University Press – to be published in 2011.
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Chris Watson's bio can be seen under Faculty Biographies in the in Bachelor of Applied Business Degree - Financial Services section.
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Violet Zhang
BA (Hebei, China), MA (York)
Violet was employed for 7 years with a large TV network in China in TV program production and media marketing research. After completing graduate studies in Economics and Communication & Culture, she freelanced for CBC Radio One. She also taught courses in Economics, and Business Administration at Ryerson University, York University and the University of Toronto. She is currently teaching in the area of Computer Applications for both Marketing, and Financial Services Programs at George Brown.
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Centre for Business FACULTY PHOTOS
(clicking on the image below will take you to the George Brown Galleries page for the Centre for Business Faculty photos)
Part-time Faculty Bios
Gjergji Culli
MEd (Albanian State University),
Mathematics Post-university School (Post-university School of Albanian State University) Ph. D. - Applied Mathematics -Differential Equations (Albanian State University) Associated Degree – Computer Sciences and Business Management (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) College and Post-secondary Education Teaching Certificates (IATHE, GB College, Sheridan College) College and University Teaching Excellent International Projects (the Netherlands, Italy, Greece 1993-1997). Gjergji has over 17 years of teaching experience in college and university programs. Additionally he has taught graduating and post graduating courses (college and university) as well as high school and post secondary teacher training programs. Gjergji’s work experience includes projects in College and University teaching excellent in Netherlands, Italy and Greece, national projects for educational reforms in Albania, and curriculum development (courses and programs) for colleges and universities in mathematics, computer and business courses. (mathematics, computer and business courses). Since joining George Brown, Gjergji has taught mathematics and statistics courses in the Centre for business. Additionally he has taught at Sheridan College and Ryerson University. As continuation of his Ph. D. work he has published various scientific articles on equation differentials and published a textbook. At the time his research area of interest is the improvement of teaching methods and studying learning styles.
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Tulsi Dharel
Tulsi Dharel holds MBA & PhD in Marketing. Dr. Dharel has been teaching since 1987 including internationally His areas of interest are International Marketing, Marketing Research, and Sales & Promotion. He has published several publications and articles focusing on these areas. Besides teaching, he has extensive experience as a consultant, a business entrepreneur and a trainer. Additionally he has delivered several lecturers as a key note speaker. Dr. Dharel has started teaching at George Brown College in 2007.
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David K. Dorward
Honours B.A. (University of Toronto), Masters degree in Industrial Relations (University of Toronto). David has 30+ years of experience in Human Resources and Industrial Relations working with private and public sector organizations as diverse as Ontario Hydro, Municipal Electric Association (MEA), CIL, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Nova Scotia Power and most recently Ross Memorial Hospital. He has done numerous courses at Oxford Templeton Business College (now Green Templeton College) in Oxford, England and the Harvard Law School. David has many years of extensive business teaching experience have taught since 1993 at York University, the University of Toronto, Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, Humber College and the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) teaching such subjects as Industrial Relations, Compensation, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Resources Planning, Organizational Behaviour and Organizational Effectiveness. David enjoys interacting with students, especially new Canadians, and trying to help them understand the complexities of modern organizational life in our fast paced business world.
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Genevieve M. Farrell
BScN (University of Western Ontario), MBA (Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, USA)
Genevieve began her career in Nursing in Public Health and to this day works part-time as an HIV/AIDS Sexual Health Counsellor for the Ministry of Health. In her nursing career, she was a staff nurse, Consultant, Assistant Supervisor and Nursing Manager. Genevive has been teaching at Ryerson University for over 20 years and has won 5 Teaching Awards. She teaches a variety of courses in Human Resources, Organizational Behaviour and Management at George Brown and Ryerson University. She has written published articles, textbook chapter and instructors' manuals. She has been a consultant in Recruitment and Selection, Diversity and Interpersonal Skills.
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Paula Hacking
B.A Sociology (Trent University)
Paula Hacking completed Project Management at George Washington University and organizational Psychology and Adult Learning from OISE University of Toronto. She is currently enrolled at CMU in a Master of Arts program specializing in Education and is a member of the Canadian Society of Training & Development. Paula brings over 25 years of progressive and varied experience in a number of senior management positions as Director of Human Resources & Operations, Industry and Sales Director within the marketing and telecommunication industries. Paula ‘s ongoing industry involvement as a facilitator, trainer, instructional designer, consultant and coach allows her to help organizations achieve their highest levels of success. Currently Paula teaches in Human Resource Management and Communication at George Brown College. She enjoys engaging students in learning and shares with them up to date business knowledge as well as her philosophy of breaking through barriers to achieve personal and business success.
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Janet Haist
BA ( York University), M. Arts in Education ( University of Central Michigan)
Janet has been teaching at the college level for 15 years. Starting as an instructor in evening courses, Janet moved to daytime teaching where she has written two courses for the college level teaching . Janet also owns her own business that specializes in accounting and small business consulting. Currently, Janet is teaching a variety of subjects including Financial Analysis for Marketing Strategy, Canadian Business and Psychology.
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Beth Hamilton
MBA (McMaster University), ENG (Queen’s University)
Beth has over 9 years of experience in education. She specializes in Statistics and Organizational Behaviour at both George Brown College and Ryerson University. In addition, Beth has also worked as a consultant, utilizing her expertise in coaching, leadership, teamwork, communication, and motivation to lead organizations through strategic and structural change.
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Anu Carena Harder
B.B.A. (Wilfrid Laurier), M.A. (Athabasca), H.R.D., C.C.P.E.
Anu completed her bachelor’s degree in business management and her master’s degree in global studies and adult education. For the past 17 years, she held strategic positions in new product development, marketing, and account management with large corporations such as Exxon Mobil, Toronto Hydro and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Anu also sold her own successful retail operation, and presently owns a growing commercial property business. A passion for student engagement propelled her into a teaching career at George Brown in 2008. In addition to her academic work in trade globalization, Anu brings her extensive international travel, corporate and charitable work experience to the classroom. She teaches courses in international business, international trade research, entrepreneurship, marketing management and communications.
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Nick Kenyeres
BAS (Technology Management, Bemidji State University); Dipl.T. (Electronics Engineering Technology, Niagara College); Business Admin Certificate (Sheridan College).
After having had a successful career in the Telecommunications industry, working for Bell Canada (20 years) and Sprint Canada (2 years), Nick leveraged his technical and sales/marketing--knowledge and experience--to create The Technology Coach Inc. As the President & CEO, since its inception (in 1996), Nick's company continues to collaborate with other entrepreneurs in the design, development, and delivery of customized “in-house” and “eLearning” tech-oriented training programs for corporate clientele. And, for the past 5 years, he has worked as a part-time instructor--teaching computer application and e-Business courses at George Brown College--in appreciation for the people who have mentored him throughout his career.
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Lisa Yan Li
BSc. MSc (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Lisa has over 10 years experience in computer programming and data analysis fields in both China and Canada. She also taught Mathematics courses at secondary and post secondary levels in Canada, China and Russia. Lisa has taught Math courses for business diploma students at George Brown since 2007.
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George Look-yee
BA (Toronto), MA (Toronto), MBA (Toronto)
George has over 20 years experience with a major Canadian Bank in a variety of management positions, including insurance, finance, risk management and marketing. In addition, he has also provided consulting services for firms in the financial services sector. George has completed post-graduate degrees in Economics and Business Administration as well as courses from the Canadian Securities Institute. He currently teaches courses in financial management and financial planning at George Brown College.
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James Oliver
CSP
James has been teaching at the College and University levels for ten years.
He is also a Manufacturer’s Agent, representing several Canadian Manufacturers in the Sales and Promotion of their Products and Services. James has been selling in the Corporate Arena since 1974 for several Fortune 500 Companies and has held Senior Account and Sales Management positions in Canada and the United States. He conducts Professional Selling and Strategic Account Management Seminars under the banner of his own Training & Consulting Company as well as The Canadian Professional Sales Association. He holds the Certified Sales Professional Designation {with distinction} conducting CPSA – CSP Examinations and mentoring members of several sales organization in various industries.
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Norma Ouellette
BA(Hons English)UBC , MBA(SFU)
Norma has been teaching post secondary courses in Business Communication, Salesmanship, Marketing and Retail Management since 2001. She first joined the staff of George Brown College in 2003, teaching Retail Management. Currently, she is also teaching Business Communication and Customer Service at Humber School of Business, Lakeshore campus, as well as Business Communication at Ryerson University. She has taught both in class and on line courses. Prior to beginning her teaching career she held positions in both the merchandising and planning functions of The Bay. In 2007 she contributed to the second Canadian edition of the Retailing Management text currently used at George Brown. She is currently developing the Intro to Fashion Management course for the Humber Business School Fashion Management degree program.
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Linda Padfield
MBA (Wilfrid Laurier University)
In addition to teaching at George Brown, Linda is a freelance organizational development consultant. She retired in 2007 from Vale Inco where she was the Director of Organizational Development, responsible for ensuring that Inco had the leaders it needed when it needed them through executive recruiting, succession management, management development, leadership coaching, and organizational design initiatives. She joined Inco in 2000 after four years as a consultant with the Hay Group. Prior to that she held a similar position with The Mutual Group, now owned by SunLife. At TMG, Linda managed the implementation of Total Quality before initiating the organizational development role in the company. Linda’s earlier career for 18 years was as an operations manager with Bell Canada. She was one of the first women in non-traditional roles, managing installation crews and buried wire. One of her proudest accomplishments in that time was learning to spur a pole. Linda’s MBA thesis was entitled Enhancing The Role of Human Resources Practitioners in Enabling Organizational Change.
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Arthur Pagel
M.Sc. (University of Toronto), C.A. (ICAO)
Art is a sole practitioner licensed public accountant providing accounting and taxation services to a wide range of individuals, and small and medium sized businesses, including professional athletes, and sports, recreation and wellness facilities. This practical experience has helped Art teach accounting and taxation courses in the business school on a part-time basis for the past 19 years.
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Martin Reyto
BA (Toronto), MA (Dalhousie)
Martin has been teaching for over 10 years. He brings to the profession an academic background in philosophy and English literature, combined with work as a published writer and a 20-year career in IT as a technical writer, systems analyst, software developer, consultant, and project manager. He has taught in a somewhat eclectic combination of disciplines, including creative writing, computer science, and business communication. His poetry and book reviews have appeared in literary periodicals, an anthology of Quebec poets, and a collection of his own poems.
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William Rose
BA (Carleton University)
William’s first career passion was sports administration and marketing which he developed on route to graduating from the Durham College Sports Administration program and the Humber College Ski Area Management program. He worked in various ski industry roles including being a manager at Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler BC when it opened in the Fall of 1980. In the early 80’s, while attending Carleton University he developed an interest in numerous communications and workplace productivity technologies and for the next 25 years worked in Sales and Marketing roles for organization such as, The Federal Government Department of Communications, Bell Canada, General Electric and Computer Associates. In 2004 William was employed by the leadership and personal development firm FranklinCovey and became interested in human capital development. William has been teaching at George Brown College since the Fall of 2006.
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Victor Rosochalsky
Certificate (Ryerson), Certificate-E-Learning (U. of Toronto), BA (Wilfrid Laurier), Honours BA (York), MA in Ed. (U. of Toronto). Victor’s work experience spans financial/insurance underwriting, large scale software sales, project management, and consulting. He has dealt extensively with senior executives from some of Canada’s largest and best known corporations in the financial, insurance, commercial, and manufacturing sectors. He has been teaching various courses in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour for the past 6 years.
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Larissa Schwartz
B.B.A. (Schulich School of Business, York University), B. Ed. (University of Toronto, OISE), M. Ed. (University of Toronto, OISE)
Larissa has a business and education background. Larissa has five years marketing and sales experience in the consumer packaged goods industry. She has worked in product and event planning for Hallmark and Carlton Cards. She also, has six years teaching business experience at the high school and post-secondary level. She worked as a high school teacher and adult educator with the Toronto District School Board. She has international teaching experience in Shanghai, China teaching at the college level. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga and travelling.
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Karen Sinotte
BA Economic (University of New Hampshire)
Karen has over 25 years of experience as a marketing executive in with global firms in financial services, credit card, retail, technology and non-profit sectors. Most recently she has held global VP Marketing roles at American Express and TD Bank. Karen is currently an independent consulting in the area of Customer Relationships Marketing and Marketing Strategy. Karen is an active volunteer and has served on a number of not-for-profit Boards and committees. She has previously taught at University of Toronto and Fanshawe College. She joined the part time faculty at George Brown in 2009 and is teaching Direct Marketing, Financial Analysis and Fundraising in the Post Graduate Certificate Marketing programs. She enjoys bringing her real life work experiences to discussions in the class room.
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Oleksandr Slavko
BSc, MSc in Mathematics and completion of graduate research in Mathematics, (State University, Ukraine), Postgraduate College Teacher Training Program, (George Brown College). Oleksandr has over 16 years of teaching experience at college and university levels. He has taught a variety of courses in Higher Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Probability and Statistics in Canada and Ukraine. He has successfully completed scientific research project entitled “Stability of equilibrium and dynamics of free body in a system with interaction of superconducting rectangles”. Oleksandr was a part of the University’s team where he coached students for Mathematics Olympiads. He is an author of several scientific articles and workbooks for students. Currently he teaches Finance Mathematics and Statistics at George Brown College.
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Jeffrey Weinstein
B.C.L. LLB. (McGill)
Jeffrey Weinstein practiced law for 10 years as a Bay Street lawyer. An accomplished trial lawyer, he was one of the youngest lawyers to appear before the Ontario Court of Appeal. In 1987, Jeffrey entered the business world, recruited by one of his former clients, to take over their largest sales territory. Using the communications skills and powers of persuasion he honed as trial lawyer, Jeffrey quickly rose through the ranks. He was appointed National Sales Manager just two years later. A certified, professional sales veteran with over 20 years of successful sales experience. Skilled in sales management, training, relationship selling and motivation, both as a National Sales Manager and as an independent commissioned sales agent. He has sold both products and services. Over the past 20 years, Jeffrey has excelled in sales, winning many top-salesperson awards. He has spoken to, and consulted with, many $100 million plus organizations, often at the CEO level. He has been a guest lecturer on numerous occasions at McGill University’s School of Management and as a Master Speaker at Le Sport Resort in St. Lucia, the # 1 ranked destination Spa in the world as ranked by Condé Nast’s European readers and at Canyon Ranch, the # 1 ranked fitness Spa in North America. He is currently VP Sales for a private company with their head office in Toronto.
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Peter Widdis
BSc (Roberts Wesleyan), MBA (Aspen, 2012), Post Graduate (George Brown)
Peter is an accomplished business innovation practitioner and passionate professor who brings over 15 years of global brand building experience to the classroom every day. He is also a Senior Consultant with Stratovation Associates, a Boston based management consultancy, overseeing its Canadian Satellite operation. Peter’s multi-faceted background spans roles in brand management, new product development, experiential media, sport & event marketing, advertising and entrepreneurial consultation. He has held senior leadership positions at Cadbury Adams, Campbell Soup Company, Marc Anthony Cosmetics, GREY Advertising, GEM Group and CIM. Likewise, Peter is also a published writer and frequent guest speaker at companies like CBC, Disneyland and conferences staged by Strategy Magazine, International Research Institute and IEG Sponsorship in Chicago. As a founding member of the International Experiential Marketing Association (IXMA) and proud patent owner, Peter is very compassionate about innovation by design. His "5P Model" is recognized as "Best Innovation Practice" by BMG and also Joyce Wycoff, best-selling author of "Mindmapping". Outside his college and industry commitments, Peter is an active volunteer supporting various not-for-profit endeavours in the Greater Toronto community.
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