Leader

The LEADER Advisory Board is designed to provide continuity and strategic direction for the program. Because LEADER is a student-run organization, initiatives are often started in one year, and not continued in the next due to changes in leadership. The Advisory Board helps ensure that initiatives with potential remain on the program’s agenda until they are complete. As an organization without stable funding, the Advisory Board is also instrumental in helping achieve the fundraising goals through their contacts in the business and government community.

Chairman of the Board

Jon Shell, LEADER Executive Director, 2003

Jon Shell was LEADER co-ED with Kathy Engle in 2002-2003. He traveled to Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. Prior to Ivey Jon owned and operated retail stores in Toronto. After graduating from Ivey, Jon worked with McKinsey and Company for two years before jumping back into the entrepreneurial game. Since the beginning of 2006, Jon has been working with fellow Ivey 2003 grads Orin Litman and Jason Christie and Orin’s wife Michelle Cutler to purchase and manage veterinary clinics in Ontario. They currently manage three clinics, and are working hard on finding others. Jon has been Chair of the LEADER Advisory Board since 2006, and is co-founder of Bridge Expeditions, an organization that consults with medium-sized companies in emerging markets.

Board of Directors

Chris Sturby, LEADER Member, 2003

Christopher Sturby is a Lecturer in the Managerial Accounting and Control group at the Richard Ivey School of Business. He has a BA in Business Administration from The University of Western Ontario. He earned his CA designation with KPMG. Chris received the David G. Burgoyne Award for Outstanding Commitment to Student Development in 2008. As well, Chris has been a Seminar Leader at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario School of Accountancy since 2007. Chris is a proud LEADER alumni member and travelled with LEADER to Nizhny Tagil in 2003.

Darwin Smith, LEADER MBA Executive Director, 2007

Darwin Smith holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with distinction from the University of Calgary and a Master in Business Administration with distinction from the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey School of Business. Prior to taking his MBA, Darwin worked for a large Canadian oil and gas company in a variety of different engineering and operational management roles spanning Yemen, UK, and Canada. At Ivey, Darwin traveled to Nizhny Tagil as part of the LEADER Project, and upon graduation was awarded the Gold Medal for highest overall average in the graduating class. Darwin now works in The Boston Consulting Group’s Toronto office. In his spare time he enjoys basketball, squash, golf, and spending time with his wife.

David Sharp, Director for the Centre for International Business Studies

David J. Sharp is an Associate Professor of Managerial Accounting and Control at Richard Ivey School of Business and Director of the Centre for International Business Studies. Before joining the Ivey Business School, Sharp taught at Boston College. He worked for an electrical engineering company and in sales research at a business systems company in his native England prior to teaching business studies for five years in the Middle East. He studied Engineering Science and Economics at Oxford University, and has a Masters degree in Management from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He earned his Ph.D in International Management at the MIT Sloan School in 1987. Sharp’s research interests centre around international management accounting and management decision-making issues. Presently, he is interested in cross-cultural differences in risky decision-making, international business ethics, and the role of control systems in promoting moral behaviour in organizations. He teaches Managerial Accounting and Control and International Accounting in the MBA Program and Executive MBA programs. He also teaches in the Strategic Marketing Management Program, and in the Modular M. Eng program in the Faculty of Engineering.

Everton Lewis, LEADER Executive Director, 2006

Everton Lewis joined the LEADER Project in September of 2004. In May 2005 Everton travelled to Togliatti and Serkupov. The trip to Serkupov was to investigate the possibility of expansion to this region. During the trip to Togliatti Everton participated in the Entrepreneurial program and the regular program as an instructor. In May 2006, Everton taught for 3 weeks in Balti, Moldova. After graduation Everton has worked for IBM as a Consultant in the Business Consulting Services area.

Joanne Shoveller, Vice President of Guelph University

Joanne Shoveller was Director of the Ivey MBA Program Office 2001-2004 and in that role worked closely with the LEADER project and other student groups. Her 17-year career at The University of Western Ontario included work marketing, communications, alumni and corporate development and graduate program management. At Ivey, she was involved in the outreach to Asian alumni, helped to plan and implement the $75 million Ivey Campaign and helped to establish Ivey’s Hong Kong campus. In 2004, she joined the University of Guelph as Vice-President (Alumni Affairs and Development) with overall responsibility for all institutional advancement activities including fund-raising and alumni relations. She has been a member of the LEADER Advisory Board since 2005, serves on the Board of Commissioners of Guelph General Hospital, is Chair of the Board of Trustees for Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, and is on the Board of Directors for Lifelearn Inc.

Mike Hornby-Smith, LEADER MBA Executive Director, 2008

Mike Hornby-Smith joined the LEADER project in July of 2007 and represents the first Executive Director to be part of the one-year Ivey MBA program. Since completing his MBA, Mike has joined RPO Management Consultants and is currently working in their Vancouver office. Prior to Ivey, Mike spent 6 years in IT project management and development at Agrium Inc, a multinational fertilizer and chemical manufacturer and retailer based in Calgary. This follows a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Calgary. Mike was heavily involved in charity and community work in Calgary, most notably holding a seat on the Board of Directors for the Calgary Corporate Challenge amateur athletics initiative. Outside of Canada, he has lived in London, England and traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. In his spare time Mike participates in a variety of sports and enjoys playing the guitar.

Paul Fleming, LEADER Member, 1996

Paul Fleming was a Leader member of the Vilnius, Lithuania crew in 1995 and the site manager for Kaunas, Lithuania in 1996.  Prior to Ivey Paul worked in broadcasting in Toronto.  Post Ivey Paul went to work with Mercer Management Consulting for a few years (now Oliver Wyman) and then spent time in Internet Consulting, Advertising and running the operations of an online transaction processing company.  In 2006 Paul joined Kitplane Builders Inc. full-time, a company he co-founded in 2004.  Kitplane Builders Inc. creates custom airplanes and helicopters for owners in the U.S. and Canada and has recently branched out into aircraft manufacturing, maintenance and electronics work.  He is married to fellow Leader alumni Trish MacPherson (1996 Vilnius) and has two great kids, Alex and Zoe.

Paul Seaborn, LEADER Member, 2003

Paul Seaborn is a Ph.D. Candidate in Strategic Management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Paul traveled to Nizhny Tagil with the LEADER Project during his MBA studies and joined the LEADER board in 2007. Prior to his MBA, Paul completed a B.Sc. in Mathematics with Business from Acadia University and worked for IBM Global Services in both Toronto and Halifax. After graduating from Ivey in 2003 he spent three years as a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) before beginning his Ph.D. studies. Paul’s current research is focused on institutional theory and business-government topics including regulation and privatization. He is a native of Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

Robert Davis, LEADER HBA Executive Director, 2008

Robert Davis joined the LEADER Project in September of 2006, when he was elected as the inaugural HBA Executive Director of the Project. Robert travelled to Yekaterinburg, Russia with the LEADER Project in the spring of 2007, where he taught at the Urals State Technical University. In 2008, Robert travelled to Skopje, Macedonia and Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Robert graduated the HBA program in 2008 when he joined the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in New York. In his spare time, Robert enjoys spending time with friends and participating in a host of different athletic activities.

Saba Abbas-Hasanie, LEADER Executive Director, 2007

Saba Hasanie is a Senior Consultant with SECOR Consulting in their Toronto strategy practice. She has experience in strategic planning, organizational assessment and design, human resources, marketing, and communications. Saba has been a member of the LEADER Advisory Board since 2005. Firstly, as a Junior Executive Director in 2006, then as Executive Director 2007. As a recent Ivey MBA graduate, Saba looks forward to her role on the Advisory Board and is committed to the success of LEADER into the future.

Stewart Thornhill, Executive Director Institute of Entrepreneurship

Stewart Thornhill is Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship and Executive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Richard Ivey School of Business. Prior to joining Ivey, he belonged to the faculty in Entrepreneurial Studies at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto. He received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia and also holds a B.Sc. (Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA with a concentration in Finance. Before beginning his graduate studies in business, he worked as a production engineer in the manufacturing sector and as a radio journalist. Dr. Thornhill’s research interests include strategic execution, leadership, competitive strategy, innovation, and corporate entrepreneurship. His published work has appeared in several top management journals and he currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Business Venturing and the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. Professor Thornhill has taught in Europe, Asia and South America. Recent corporate training engagements include the Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group, Hutchinson Port Holdings, the Globe and Mail, and JD Irving, as well as ongoing development with Canada’s fastest growing companies through the Quantum Shift Executive Development Program. Dr. Thornhill is a Director of the Ontario Telemedicine Network.

Trevor Davis, LEADER Executive Director, 2007

Trevor Davis joined the LEADER Project in September 2005 as part of the former LEADER Project for Entrepreneurs (the forerunner to the new entrepreneurial curriculum). In May 2006, Trevor taught and consulted with students in Chisinau, Moldova and Togliatti, Russia. He was elected as an Executive Director for 2006-2007, during which time he returned to Russia and Moldova as well as traveled to Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Prior to enrolling at Ivey for his MBA, Trevor worked as an Automotive Engineer, designing components for Ford, Chrysler and Jaguar in North American and Europe. Since graduation, Trevor works in Investment Banking with Merrill Lynch in Toronto.