Our Students

Bradley Bernard

bradley.bernard@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor: Dr. André Laplume

Bradley Bernard graduated from Toronto Metropolitan's Master of Science in Management program (formerly known as Ryerson University) in 2021. He examined smart cities in heavily urbanized areas across North America, exploring how the implementation of smart city technology can best serve to resolve urbanized issues that are similar and can be seen across all cities (i.e. air quality, urban mobility, and waste management). As a Research Assistant, he focused on potential problems employees could face after leaving their employer, issues explicitly around restrictive covenants that may still apply to people wanting to start their own company (called a spinout) or to join a direct competitor.

MD Sajjad Hossain

mdsajjad.hossain@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor: Dr. Dave Valliere

Md Sajjad Hossain is an incoming full-time Ph.D. in Management student from the 2022-23 cohort. Sajjad completed his Master of Science in Management (MScM) program at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022. Prior to that, he completed Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degrees from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sajjad comes with diverse experience working in industry and academia. He simultaneously worked in a full-time teaching role in a top-tier university and in a renowned consultancy firm in Bangladesh for several years. He has been strongly involved in community work and has led 50+ student-focused voluntary events while working as the student club moderator. Sajjad also worked in companies like Standard Chartered Bank and Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) in different capacities but academia has remained to be his primary focus. He has multiple peer-reviewed scholarly publications and has participated in prestigious academic conferences like the Academy of Management (AOM) conference and the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion International conference.

Sajjad’s primary research interest revolves around issues related to entrepreneurship, strategy, human resource management (HRM), and organizational behavior (OB). At present, he is working as a research assistant and teaching assistant at Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM). Sajjad aspires to be a seasoned researcher and academician and he is confident that the Ph.D. in Management program at TRSM, under the prudent guidance of the skillful faculty members, will enable him to grow as a researcher. 

Steven Kavaratzis

skavaratzis@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Innovation and Strategy within Organizational Behavior
Supervisor: Dr. Ellen Choi

In 2015 Steven completed 1,000 hours of yoga teaching certifications across Canada and Australia and has taught over 1,200 yoga classes. Steven also has worked for multiple Universities in Admissions, Enrolment, Academic Advising and most recently data analytics at the Ted Rogers School - Office of the Dean. He went on to complete his Masters of Science in Management at the Ted Rogers School in 2021, exploring mindfulness and wellness interventions in academic and workplace settings. Steven also consults in industry for large organizations such as Lululemon and Sunnybrook Hospital. As a PhD Student, he aims to bring his interests of wellness, mindfulness, motivation and burnout together through various research projects and initiatives, with the aim to better organizations and the quality of life for the employees within them.

Shi Qian (Aiden) Li

shiqian.li@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Real Estate Management 
Supervisor: Dr. David Scofield

Shi Qian (Aiden) Li joined the TRSM as a Ph.D. student in September 2022. Aiden obtained his BSc from the University of Toronto, majoring in statistics and economics, and he completed his MSc from Northeastern University in Boston, majoring in project management. 

During Aiden’s professional life, he worked in a real estate company and focused his work on market analysis. With Aiden’s professional and academic experiences, he would like to dedicate his research to real estate studies. More specifically, he would like to focus his research on exploring the broker/agent behaviour on pricing in both the commercial and residential real estate markets. Aiden will be studying under the supervision of Dr. David Scofield, and he is very excited to join the program to continue his education and enhance his knowledge in management and real estate studies. In his free time, Aiden likes to work out in the gym and play golf. 

Katia Osso

Katia.osso@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: HR Management & Organizational Behaviour
Supervisor: Dr. Michael Halisnki

Katia is an educator who has been teaching the next generation of talent in Canada since 2019. She is interested in studying work-life topics, well-being, productivity, leadership, emotions in the workplace and organizational change. An alumna from the Master of Science in Management program at Ted Rogers Business School in 2021, Katia has presented her research examining the far-reaching consequences on other employees when a co-worker uses a work-life policy in conferences in Canada. Prior to joining the academic/educational field, Katia worked for more than 15 years in multinational companies leading brands and cross-functional teams to deliver solid results in the corporate world.

Fatemeh Sasanian Asl

fatemeh.sasanianasl@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Retail and Consumer Services
Supervisor: Dr. Hossein Zolfagharinia

Fatemeh completed her MS degree in Industrial Engineering at Kharazmi university of Tehran, Iran in 2020. Her master thesis focused on a socially responsible closed-loop supply chain with green stakeholders in which she designed a conceptual model, developed it in centralized and decentralized models. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, major in Engineering Management from Kharazmi university of Tehran, Iran in 2018. Her primary research objective is in the areas of Supply chain management (SCM).

Yu Wei Ye

yu.ye@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Dr. Sui Sui, Dr. Vik Singh

Yu Wei has a solid academic background in Economics. She completed her Master of Arts in Economics at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2021. She also holds a Bachelor of Economics (2001) and a Master of Economics (2006) from China. Her research interests embrace but are not limited to the area of the innovation strategy of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the digital age under the global background. She also shows great interest in women’s entrepreneurship and multinational enterprise (MNE) evolution.

Before pursuing her Ph.D., Yu Wei accumulated substantial industry and management experience.  She had nearly 20 years of experience in the financial industry in Strategy Planning and Public Relations Management, with a deep global mindset and strong ability to handle stakeholder-related issues.

Victoria Granova

vgranova@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Management, Cybersecurity and Psychology
Supervisor(s): Dr. Atefeh (Atty) Mashatan

Victoria is an incoming part-time PhD in Management student, who is passionate about strengthening the "human factor" in cybersecurity and will be doing interdisciplinary research in cybersecurity and psychology. Victoria is Founder of the CyberToronto Conference, an annual community conference for the GTA. Victoria is also the President of the (ISC)² Toronto Chapter board, where she works to create professional education opportunities and connects security groups across the GTA to advance the industry together.

In industry, she works as a cybersecurity professional in a FAANG company. Victoria also contributes as an occasional Instructor at York University in the Cybersecurity Certificate Program.

Victoria holds the CISSP, CISA and CPA designations and has an MBA from Queen's University. She was awarded Canadian Security’s Top 10 Under 40, as well as Canada's Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity in 2021.

Atiyeh Kazerooni Monfared

akazeroonimonfared@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Digital Enterprise and Social Media
Supervisor(s): Dr. Ravi Vatrapu

Atiyeh earned her MS degree in Industrial Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology and her research on price and capacity decisions in a segmented market was published in IJAMT. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, major in System Analysis from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran.

Atiyeh has more than 10 years of work experience in the IT sector as a Business Analyst and Software Sales Engineer. She is interested in Business Data Analytics. During her Ph.D. in Management, she will specialize in Digital Enterprise and Social Media. Her research area falls under the Data Science and Supply Chain Management umbrella with interests in Digitalization, Resilience, and Transparency.

Yisheng Li

yisheng.li@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Digital Enterprise and Social Media
Supervisor(s): Dr. Ravi Vatrapu

Yisheng holds an MS degree in Data Analytics at George Mason University and an MS in Management at Brock University. He published a paper as a contributing author in the American Journal of Health Behavior and presented his research at several conferences. His primary research interest is in computational social sciences with a focus on conspiracy theories on social media. Specifically, he is investigating the formation of homophily of conspiracy theories through the lens of social/cognitive theories. To this end, he aims to employ machine learning and natural language processing coupled with big data. Broadly, he is interested in the ethical implications of AI (e.g., fairness, transparency). Yisheng was granted the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Brock Faculty Supervisor-MSc Student Research Award, Brock Graduate Studies Dean's Excellence Award, and Brock Distinguished Graduate Student Award.

Saifur Rahman

mdsaifur.rahman@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Ken Grant / Wendy Cukier

Saif is currently working as a Research Assistant at the Ted Rogers School of Management’s Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto. He has completed the Masters of Science in Management (M.Sc.M) program from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2021. His research interest includes entrepreneurship and strategy, Unicorn startups, women entrepreneurship, project management, and change management. He is also working as a professor in the Project Management program at the School of Management, George Brown College, Toronto.

Saif is a certified Project Manager (PMI-PMP, and PMI-ACP) and Business Analyst (CBAP-IIBA and PMI-PBA), as well as a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB-ASQ) practitioner, with over 12 years of experience in the Management Consulting, FinTech, Process Automation & Digital Transformation, and Investment Banking domain. He has also completed his Bachelors (2008) and Masters (2012) in Business Administration from University of Dhaka.

Meet Shah

meet2.shah@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Real Estate Studies
Supervisor(s): Dr. Murtaza Haider

Meet completed his Master of Science in Management from the Ted Rogers School of Management, where he was awarded the MScM Best Thesis Award. His thesis analyzed the impact of government policy change on hedge fund performance measured through return, flow, and risk. Meet also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Brock University. His research interests include hedge funds, real estate finance, real estate law, and REITs. With previous industry experience and academic knowledge, Meet strives to make an impact by exploring new and innovative topics in Real Estate Management and Finance.

Nicole Taylor

nic.taylor045@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation
Supervisor(s): Alison Kemper

Nicole is interested in the intersection between business, history, and gender in mature industries. In particular, she explores how multinational institutions use language to (re)create power dynamics and how individual women at all levels (ie. entrepreneurs, workers, managers, or executives) shape, and are shaped by, such institutional policies.

Windsor, Ontario is her home town and with the current shift from 'automotive' to 'automobility', she is intimately familiar with how the automotive industry is more than just the immediate manufacturing company or SMEs in the supply chain. Indeed, the ebbs and flows of the automotive industry affect whole communities. As coordinator for a non-profit that supports nascent entrepreneurs, she is able to support her community as both researcher and practitioner. As an instructor at a college, she brings her personal and educational expertise to make the classroom simultaneously interactive and informative.

Previous research includes a variety of topics ranging from media content analysis of women executives; resilience of entrepreneurs; case studies of women in the film and retail industry; gender differences in digital skill; and the effect of employee engagement on organizational citizenship behaviour.

Nicole has earned two master's degrees: an MA in History from the University of Western Ontario (2020) and an MBA from the University of Windsor (2019). She received her BA in History from the University of Ottawa.

Dane Vanderkooi

dvanderkooi@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Digital Enterprise and Social Media
Supervisor(s): Dr. Atefeh Mashatan

Dane Vanderkooi is currently a Research Assistant at the Cybersecurity Research Lab (CRL) at Toronto Met and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) from the University of Ottawa where he majored in General Management. Following his undergraduate degree, Dane worked at the Department of Justice first as an administrative assistant and later as a data analyst. He also recently finished his Master of Science in Management (MScM) at Toronto Metropolitan University where he specialized in Information Technology Management. Throughout his tenure here at Toronto Met, Dane has been able to present his research at the SERENE-RISC 2020 Cybersecurity Conference and the CRL Research Exhibit in 2019. For his Ph.D., he will specialize in the Digital Enterprise and Social Media research area. More precisely his research is focused on digital privacy management and information disclosure in addition to IoT end user adoption and social media analytics.

Charlie Wall Andrews

charlie.wallandrews@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Dr. Wendy Cukier

Charlie Wall-Andrews (MBA, MA, BA, CCIP) is a Trudeau Scholar and lecturer at the University of Toronto. In addition to having over a decade of management experience, she is an alumna of the prestigious Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship, which specializes in social entrepreneurship and cross-cultural leadership. As a leader in the creative industries, she established many programs such as the Creative Entrepreneur Incubator and Equity X Production Development Program which prepares artists to turn their passion and talent into a sustainable career. Charlie did her Master of Business Administration at Ivey Business School, Master of Arts (MA) at York University, and Bachelor of Arts at Laurentian University. She is dedicated to advancing scientific research and critical theory in management studies and creative entrepreneurship. She conducts research at the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University and studies under the supervision of Dr. Wendy Cukier.

Dike Ike

dike.ike@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Dr. Howard Lin, Dr. Anna Triandafyllidou

Dike’s primary research interest lies in the entrepreneurship behaviours of immigrants in Canada. In addition, he is interested in immigration and settlement, particularly as it applies to new immigrants in Canada. Prior to joining Toronto Metropolitan University, Dike worked as a manager for over five years in several multinational companies. Dike holds an M.Eng from Covenant University, and has authored over twenty highly cited publications in international journals and conferences.

Natalia Lumby

nlumby@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Dr. Ojelanki Ngwenyama

Natalia Lumby is an educator and researcher with a passion for packaging, design, sustainability and technology. Currently an Associate Professor in the School of Graphic Communications Management, she has been teaching at Toronto Met since 2008. Her research interests are largely in consumer packaging. Lumby looks at packaging systems from a variety of stakeholder perspectives. She has investigated innovations in packaging technology and evaluated the performance of systems and processes in packaging. During her PhD in Management at TRSM, she will be focusing on exploring management systems that support sustainable innovations in packaging.

Osama Aziz

osama.aziz@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Dr. Kenneth Grant, Dr. Andre Laplume

Osama received his education up to bachelor in Pakistan. Osama’s bachelor is in accounting with specialization in finance from the University of Management and Technology Pakistan. He did his masters at Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada in management with specialization in Entrepreneurship and Strategy. During his stay at Toronto Metropolitan University, he was involved in different research works in addition to academic work. One of his major research works was to contribute to a report "The Survival Rate of Startups Funded by Angel Investors" co-sponsored by NACO and federal government's MITACS research program. He also had the honour to work as a teaching assistant during his bachelor degree and a research assistant during his masters degree. Osama has nine research papers as well as five international conferences on his credit. His area of interest is economic activities particularly in the field of entrepreneurship.

Samin Shaaban

sshaaban@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Digital Enterprise and Social Media
Supervisor(s): Dr. Farid Shirazi

Samin is a doctoral fellow in the interdisciplinary Management program specializing in Digital Enterprise and Social Media. She is an Adjunct Professor at Seneca College in the School of International Business Management and a Faculty Researcher in the Office of Applied Research and Innovation. Her teaching and research interests embrace but are not limited to the following areas: data analytics, environmental sustainability and climate change. Samin’s dissertation research concentrates on integrating big data analytics with environmental sustainability, and compliance through the fusion of deep learning and blockchain.

She has a background in Law and Business, with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) from TRSM, where she wrote a thesis on the impact of ICT and international protocols on carbon footprint and climate change, for which she was awarded both the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and TRSM Distinguished Thesis Award.

Sedat Ogeturk

sogeturk@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Real Estate Studies and Retail and Consumer Services
Supervisor(s): Dr. Tony Hernandez, Dr. Dogan Tirtiroglu

Sedat received his MScM degree in Real Estate Management from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2018. He studied engineering at Istanbul Technical University, Turkey and proceeded to work in various upscale manufacturing institutions. Sedat obtained his MBA degree from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2015. His research interests include commercial real estate and real estate investment trusts (REITs) specific to Canadian REITs.

Sohrab Mashhadizadeh

smashhadizadeh@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) 
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Supervisor(s): Dr. Aziz Guergachi

Sohrab’s research interests include corporate strategy, quantitative market analysis, and exponential organizations. Sohrab has done his undergraduate in engineering and has several years of experience working in the corporate environment before joining the Ted Roger School of Management. Sohrab has completed his Master of Science in Management at TRSM specializing in strategic market analysis. Based on his academic excellence and his research during his graduate studies, he was awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Toronto Met Graduate Development Award, and the MScM program’s Distinguished Thesis Award.

Zachary Robichaud

zachary.robichaud@torontomu.ca
Area of Interdisciplinary Specialization: Retail and Consumer Services
Supervisor(s): Dr. Hong Yu, Dr. Wendy Cukier

Zachary is a proud double alumnus at Toronto Met university having completed his Bachelor of Commerce, Major in Retail Management, in 2017 and most recently, his Master of Science in Management in 2019. His thesis examined the impact of virtual reality on Generation Z consumers’ purchase intentions regarding fair-trade coffee. Following the successful defence of his thesis in the summer of 2019, Zachary developed a conference paper that was subsequently accepted for presentation by the 2020 American Collegiate Retailing Association annual conference where it won best graduate student full paper submission. His research area falls under the retail and consumer services umbrella with interests in omnichannel retail, smart shopping, consumer behaviour and psychology, and sustainable retailing.