Speaker series
The Family Business Institute hosted a three part webinar series with TMU’s Diversity Institute. Topics ranged from Challenges and Opportunities for Family Businesses, Women in Family Business and Family Businesses in Agriculture and Agritourism. Events were well attended and additional resources are available upon request.
Winter 2025
Richa (Arora) Bahl is at PwC Canada and is a Senior Family Advisor. The students were treated to a case study of the Murdoch family and insight into the roles a family office can play for enterprising families. Given Richa's depth of experience and expertise, the students were able to receive very thoughtful responses to the many questions that surfaced.
Judi Cunningham is a founder of Trella Advisory Group and a member of the Advisory Council for the Family Business Institute. Judi's family business advisory expertise provided our students with invaluable insights.
Stacey and Brian Otis are part of the family behind Otis properties and founding donors to the Family Business Institute. The students were treated to an engaging discussion on the business family’s challenges and triumphs.
Henry Shew is the Head of Tax at Our Family Office and manages relationships with families to preserve and grow family wealth while meeting their core values. He came to class with an interesting case story which he explained and unravelled with the class. He kept the class engaged and taught them meaningful lessons with a very relatable approach.
Christina Sorbara is a Fellow of the Family Business Institute and came to class to share her perspectives as a leader in her family business, Sorbara Group, and vast experience in the family business community. Christina's insights and engaging approach with students were highly motivating and educational for them!
The Family Business Institute would like to express our sincere gratitude to Ali Tharia for joining us as a guest speaker in our family business class. Ali is a seasoned family business consultant and led a thought-provoking discussion.
Fall 2025
Linda and Dana Abou Shackra, the mother and daughter team from Zara Food, came to class to share their perspectives on generational legacy, succession and sibling dynamics. Dana discussed what it was like growing up in the business and Linda noted the pride and sense of responsibility she instilled in her children. So many valuable experiences and lessons shared with the class!
What a treat for the family business students. Not only did Farid Amarshi of Victoria Village share his family business journey and philosophy, but his wife and two sons attended, along with key non-family members of the business and philanthropy projects. Farid spoke about the value of involving children in the business from an early age and how integrity and philanthropy seemed to help the universe to support his business endeavours despite the obstacles. The generosity towards the community and his employees was something the students really absorbed. Thank you so much to the Amarshi family!
Mo Lidsky of Prime Quadrant provided a very candid overview of his entrepreneurial journey as a guest speaker for the TRSM Family Business course. Many life lessons for the students. Thank you so much to Mo for sharing your story with our students.
Dr. Nava Michael-Tsabari was the first speaker in this semester's Guest Speaker Series in the ENT 501 Family Business in Canada course at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her insightful comments and description of her family business journey capitvated the students and created an extraordinary learning opportunity.
The Family Business Institute thanks Nava for her generosity.
Stacey Otis and Brian Otis came to class to share their experiences being second generation members of Otis Properties. They spoke so highly of their parents' lessons and values which they hope to instill to the third generation. "Family First" was a central theme and students asked a multitude of questions to learn from the best practices the Otis family embedded into their business.
Lara Sevadjian, an alumna of TRSM, came to class to speak to the students about the benefits and challenges of being a next generation business family member. Lara works in operations at Cardon Rehab which was founded 50 years ago. Students found her discussion to be engaging and highly valuable as they navigate their family business journeys.
For our final speaker of the semester, the students learned from Henry Shew of Our Family Office. He prepared a case and helped the students understand the importance of governance structures in family businesses.
Past events
