Entrepreneur & Executive in Residence

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

Gregory Melchior
Investment Advisor at BMO Nesbitt Burns & Executive in Residence
Greg Melchior has over twenty years of experience in the international capital markets most recently as Director of Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income with Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. Upon completion of his Honors BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto, Mr. Melchior was hired by Dean Witter Reynolds. Mr. Melchior also worked with the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board in the area of financial accounting. After completing his MBA at Dalhousie University, Mr. Melchior was hired by RBC Capital Markets in the institutional fixed income and foreign exchange desks. Currently, Mr. Melchior is an Investment Advisor, BMO Nesbitt Burns.

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

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

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

Arnie Strub
Senior Sales, Marketing and Management Executive & Entrepreneur-In-Residence
Arnie, who graduated from DeGroote’s MBA program, has a focus in the Food Marketing and Consumer Packaged Goods industry, and hails from the family business, “Strub’s Pickles” which was based in Dundas.

As a Senior Marketing and Management Executive, Arnie is a driving force in the consumer packaged goods industry and an expert in Business Consulting. He is able to unlock enterprise value by utilizing his 20+ years of proficiency and by linking in to his vast network of experts and contacts in marketing, management, distribution and finance. Arnie has a proven record for identifying niche business opportunities, using local thinking and global sourcing that has resulted in creative, innovative and profitable entrepreneurial solutions.

As Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Arnie will act as a mentor and coach to students, Faculty and Staff. Arnie will also lend his expertise in leadership and management through his guest lectures on the following topics in Commerce or MBA classes:

• The connection between Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Consumer Packaged Goods Marketing when you don’t have P&G’s budget (for small to medium Enterprises) -
• Trade Marketing vs. Consumer Marketing in today’s CPG marketplace
• The applied logistics of Direct to Store and Direct to Consumer marketing
  
  

Email: arniestr@mcmaster.ca

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

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