Ty Abraham is joining McMaster Continuing Education as an experienced online educator in business administration. His career spans developing and instructing business courses for colleges and universities across Canada, as well as helping companies maximize their resources to achieve organizational goals.

Throughout his teaching career, Ty has engaged with hundreds of adult learners, with the majority of courses in the area of management and leadership. Ty is passionate about online learning and is always excited to introduce creative teaching strategies to boost student engagement and learning.

Ty possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree, and a Master of Organizational Management (M.Org.M.) degree.

Ty’s goal is to provide you with relevant information to enhance your business knowledge on your journey to becoming a skilled professional.

With almost a decade of professional experience, Dr. Ahmad possesses a solid pharmaceutical background as a registered pharmacist, with a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Florida. Upon graduating from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, she enjoyed meaningful opportunities in retail, hospital and home care settings. She successfully learnt a diverse set of skills, while keeping in tune to critical developments in clinical practice.

In a fast pace environment, she provides genuine care to patients, upholding the significance of identifying as well as resolving medication-related issues. Her approach has extended beyond clinical practice, and into teaching students in formal as well as informal environments.  In fact, she had the pleasure of teaching and learning from students registered in the University of Toronto Doctorate of Pharmacy program (EPE/APPE) as well as students in Sheridan College’s Faculty of Applied Health and Community Studies and the Peel District School Board. 

Some of the courses Dr. Ahmad lectured at Sheridan College include Basic Physiology and Pharmacotherapeutics, Introduction to Pharmacology, and Advanced Concepts in Pharmacology.  As an instructor, her teaching philosophy is one that is individualistic and valuable to the student, coupled with self-reflection and continuous learning.

Dr. Minna Allarakhia is faculty at the University of Waterloo and Founder of Engaged Thinking Associates. Dr. Allarakhia’s academic research and professional activities focus on: designing for sustainability, personalizing sustainability for and empowering consumers through responsible consumption.

Haitham Amar currently works as a Lead Data Scientist in the field of online commerce and SaaS. He is also a sessional instructor at University of Waterloo teaching various graduate level AI courses. He has been working in the field of data analytics and AI since 2010. He is a member of the Centre of Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (CPAMI) at the University of Waterloo. He received his Ph.D. degree in the field of communication and information systems from University of Waterloo. He also received his MASc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and his B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from University of Tripoli.

His current research interests revolve around market analysis, recommendation systems, machine learning, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, situation assessment and decision aid systems, vehicular localization, cognitive radios, trip planning and applied game theory.

Tara is a healthcare and information technology specialist, working for Hamilton Health Sciences as the data analyst for their Cardiac & Vascular Surgery Program. Completing multiple projects to enhance the delivery of health care to the cardiovascular population of Hamilton-Haldimand-Niagara-Brant region is her passion.

Tara believes that the quality of data informs real-time patient care and drives program initiatives and improvements. With over 20 years of healthcare data expertise Tara is also certified as a clinical research associate, working with McMaster Vascular Surgeons coordinating their research for the last 9 years. Tara’s most exciting adventure has been mentoring clinical research associate graduates from McMaster University enhancing their practical experience with Canadian research.

Michael Angell (he/him) is a PhD Candidate in the department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. His research focuses on the relationship between gender and self-hood in early fiction. His other research interests include animals in eighteenth century popular culture and Restoration drama. He is also completing a graduate diploma in Gender Studies and Feminist Research.

He is passionate about teaching English, and has taught English in Canada and overseas for almost ten years. He loves to cook, read, attend the theatre, and enjoys new foods.

Michael Ayers has been involved in senior care and hospitality throughout Canada and the United States for 40 years. He has been an administrator, vice-president of operations and owner of long-term-care and retirement communities and is now an adviser to the retirement home industry as a consultant.

Michael has also been an accreditation surveyor, board and committee member and presently an educator with the Ontario Retirement Communities Association, which represents over 700 retirement communities in Ontario. Throughout his career, Michael has provided educational opportunities for thousands of retirement community staff and managers through in-person and web-based educational presentations. He is a passionate advocate for seniors and for managers and staff who have chosen senior care as a career.

In mid-career Michael honed his hospitality skills as the owner/operator of a small cottage resort, bed and breakfast and apple orchard in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Michael now lives in Ontario cottage country where he and his wife adopt senior dogs who need a loving home.

Emily Baillie is a digital marketing instructor and content marketing consultant. She is a member of the Canadian Marketing Association. Through her business Compass Content Marketing she provides content and digital marketing strategy counsel to clients including MasterCard, Northern Ontario Travel, United Way, Adoption Council of Ontario, Tourism Simcoe County & more.

Since 2014, she has taught social media and digital marketing courses in the GTA. She also leads digital marketing workshops and corporate training sessions across Ontario. In 2004, Emily graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an Hons. BA in Communications Studies and in 2010 she earned a Certificate in Strategic Communications from University of Toronto. She is a Chartered Marketer with over 15 years of experience in the marketing industry.

Dr. Iris M. Balodis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University and a faculty associate with the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research. She is a core member of the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research as well as Director of the Integrated Neuroscience of Motivation and Change (IN-MaC) Laboratory.

Her overall research program covers different aspects of reward and stress processing across various at-risk populations. This includes substance-based disorders, such as cannabis or alcohol use disorders, non-substance-based disorders, including gambling disorder, as well as other disorders characterized by problems with impulse control, such as binge eating disorder.

Dr. Min Basadur is Professor Emeritus of Innovation & Organizational Behaviour at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and Founder of Basadur Applied Creativity. He began developing his insights about creative thinking and complex problem-solving at Procter & Gamble where he received three U.S. patents and created a corporate-wide innovation consulting practice. Min integrated his work into award-winning doctoral research and received his PhD in Organizational Behavior at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Business. His Simplexity Thinking™ system and the Basadur Innovation Profile are used globally by major organizations including eBay, PepsiCo, Fox Studios, Procter & Gamble, John Deere, and NASA, among many others. His books, The Power of Innovation and Design-centered Entrepreneurship, became instant CEO need-to-reads. Min also teaches in popular MBA programs in Asia and Europe and for the Directors College of the Conference Board of Canada.

Sally Bean is the Director of the Health Ethics Alliance & Policy at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Bean earned a B.A. in Philosophy & English, an M.A. in Bioethics and Public Policy and a Juris Doctorate. After law school, Bean completed a two year fellowship in Clinical & Organizational Ethics through the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. She also currently serves in the following academic capacities: an Adjunct Lecturer in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, an Associate Member of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Osgoode Hall School of Law at York University. Additionally, Bean serves as a member of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, Board Member of the Canadian Association for Practicing Healthcare Ethicists and Canadian Bioethics Society, Chair of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Community of Practice, and is a member on the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee. Her research areas of academic interest pertain largely to health institution and health system ethics with an emphasis on health law and policy.

Bio to come! 

Rav Bhathal has spent the last 15 years teaching business and specifically marketing. He has a wealth of industry experience being an entrepreneur and running his own Marketing and Event Management company.

Rav is a strong believer in differentiated instruction, and understands that every student is an individual, varying his teaching style and evaluations to help bring out the best in each student. He uses all his real-world experience in his instruction, providing students with a modern and current day perspective, mixed in with traditional textbook and theory.

Rav holds a B.A., B.Comm, and M. Ed.

In his free time, Rav enjoys reading about all things business, and loves fitness, sports, and music!

Dr. Michael Biocchi completed his PhD, Masters of Science and Bachelor of Computer Science. Michael is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Michael has worked in higher education for over 10 years. He started as a staff member working at a university doing application development. He moved into the role of Manager of IT and then soon after became the Director of IT. During these years, he also taught part-time at both the university and college levels. In 2018, he left his industry job to pursue his teaching career where he is now a full-time professor within a Computer Science department. He has taught a variety of courses including Security and Privacy, Project Management and Artificial Intelligence.

Michael also runs a consulting business. He works with businesses in developing risk assessment, policy creation, business continuity planning, disaster recovery planning, and security awareness. He has provided online training to thousands of people across the world teaching about security and privacy.

Nicole Bleiwas is a senior marketing executive who has a passion for delivering brand and business breakthroughs.

At Coca-Cola, Nicole led business planning and built shopper marketing and revenue management capabilities. Nicole served as VP, Strategy, Insights, and Marketing Operations with Kraft Heinz. In this capacity, she created a consumer-centric insight framework that resulted in the successful launch of new products. Most recently, Nicole launched a Direct-to-Consumer startup, bringing to market an innovative functional beverage brand.

Nicole has a BA in Statistics and an MBA in Marketing.