Goodman: The Magazine, Summer 2022 - Vol. 5, Issue 1 by Brock University

The

Magazine Summer 2022 — Volume 5 Issue 1

The Values Issue Double degree graduates make their mark

The power of passion, perseverance & professionalism

A Dean bids farewell

Table of Contents

Dean’s message.................................................................................. 3 Goodman news: New and notable................................................. 4 Leaving a legacy................................................................................. 6 A passion for business....................................................................... 8 Brock investment yields innovative programs.............................. 10 Gaudes looks back on term as Dean.............................................. 11 Goodman facts and figures.............................................................. 12 Panel sparks discussion on sustainable business practices....... 14 Alumna prepared to take on the business world......................... 15 Once a student, now a staff award winner.................................... 16 Students give finance profs top marks.......................................... 17 Dean's Advisory Council................................................................... 17 Research team finds influential ties to housing prices................ 18 Teaching is “something powerful” for award winner.................. 19 Big win caps off stellar case competition season........................ 20 Prof's Perspective: Welcome to the metaverse............................ 22

PUBLICATION MANAGER Susan LeBlanc

PUBLISHER Goodman School of Business

PHOTOGRAPHY Fab Formisano, Joel Smith

EDITOR Kaitlyn Little

CONTRIBUTORS Erika Barbosa, Kaitlyn Daw, Doug Hunt, Kaitlyn Little, Cathy Majtenyi, Tiffany Mayer, Joachim Scholz

PRODUCTION Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario

ASSISTANT EDITOR Tiffany Mayer DESIGNER Kev Greene

Goodman: The Magazine

ISSN 2561-6706 (Print) ISSN 2561-6714 (Online) goodman@brocku.ca

ON THE COVER Chris Battagli and Nadia Senchuk are two Goodman School of Business alumni who are passionate about their entrepreneurial endeavors. They are seen here in the vineyard at Stoney Creek's Leaning Post Wines.

Dean’s Message This June we welcome back to campus graduating students and their guests as we celebrate the first in-person convocation ceremony since 2019. We are delighted that the first people to receive the print copy of this issue will be our new graduates. We’ve coined this edition of Goodman: The Magazine The Values Issue as it focuses on the School’s core principles of passion, perseverance and professionalism. As the 2022 Goodman graduates become Brock alumni, we know they will carry these values with them as they enter their next life chapter. In these pages you’ll see how our students, staff, faculty and alumni are exceptional examples of these values. From alumni who have followed their passion to build successful businesses, to our faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond to support the Goodman community. We share a roundup of this year’s business competitions where our students represented us with a high level of professionalism. We also share the story of the first grads from ESB Reutlingen, who persevered in a new country during a pandemic to find their own path to success at Goodman. This fall also marks a major milestone. Goodman is celebrating 10 years of being a named business school, thanks to the transformational gift from the Goodman Family Foundation. Their gift and trust in the School has helped us expand both our physical space as well as create more partnerships at home and around the world, from research that is helping the local grape and wine industry to supporting our student co-op placements with the United Nations Development Agency. The Goodman family’s commitment to business education has helped us develop the next generation of business leaders who are prepared for doing business with purpose and bringing our values to life. The growth experienced at Goodman over the past 10 years has positioned us well for the next 10. I hope you enjoy the summer issue of Goodman: The Magazine and I welcome your comments. Andrew Gaudes, PhD, ICD.D Dean, Goodman School of Business

Summer 2022

Goodman News

New & Notable bell-on

Goodman grads recognized as co-op champions

rock graduates and co-founders of Moyers & Stark Consulting, Darryl Moyers (BBA ’11) and Tyler Stark (BBA ’11), have been honoured for their outstanding contributions to the Brock Coop program. The Brock University Alumni Association’s (BUAA) Alumni Co-op Employer Award is presented jointly by Brock Co-op and the Brock Alumni Relations office each year to recognize an extraordinary Brock graduate who has contributed to Brock Co-op’s success through their mentorship and advocacy. Inspired by Moyers’ overwhelmingly positive co-op experience as a student and a mutual desire to give back to the institution that brought them together, the dynamic duo turned to Brock Co-op to help provide the next generation of learners with employable skills and experiences. Since 2016, Moyers & Stark Consulting has regularly recruited talent from Brock’s co-op programs, with some students finding full-time employment within the firm or with its clients upon graduation. “At Moyers & Stark, our students have been given meaningful, impactful and real-world projects to work on and problems to solve,” says Julia Zhu,

Goodman: The Magazine

Associate Director, Co-op Education. “Darryl and Tyler have made a conscious effort to discover each student’s potential and provide them with opportunities to shine.” One of the co-op students hired by Moyers & Stark, Ishan Kohli, was recognized as a Co-op Student of the Year earlier this year. The Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student was offered an extension and promotion after completing his first co-op work term with the firm. He also became a Certified Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant and a Certified Salesforce Administrator during his time at Moyers & Stark, and his work brought in more business for the organization. Fellow BBA student Justin Dilgert and Bachelor of Accounting student Yarnie Shahparast also received the honour for their academic standing, personal and professional development, and exemplary contributions to both their employers and the Goodman School of Business. Rounding out this year’s awards, Taylor Leibow LLP Chartered Accountants were the recipient of the Co-op Employer of the Year Award in the small and medium enterprise category while the Canada Revenue Agency was the large organization category winner.

Business partners Tyler Stark (BBA ’11), left, and Darryl Moyers (BBA ’11) are the co-recipients of the 2022 Alumni Co-op Employer Award.

Fourth-year Bachelor of Business Administration student Justin Dilgert received one of Brock’s Co-op Student of the Year awards.

MBA Accounting program gets reaccredited

arrows-spin

oodman’s MBA program received reaccreditation from CPA Ontario in January. The accreditation gives MBA grads specializing in accounting the opportunity to have advanced standing in the CPA Professional Education Program to the end of Core 2. The CPA accredited stream allows non-accounting university graduates to pursue an MBA and an accounting designation at the same time.

Barry Wright named Interim Dean of Goodman

F Student project aims to cut down coffee lines at peak times

ith thousands of people set to visit Brock’s main campus this summer for the Canada Games, one class has ideas brewing to help visitors get their coffee quickly. Working in partnership with Brock’s Dining Services, a fourth-year Operations class in the University’s Goodman School of Business used computer software to analyze data and pinpoint where bottlenecks were occurring during peak times while people waited in line for their coffee at Tim Hortons and Starbucks on campus. Braden Day, Dining Services Co-ordinator, Compliance and Brands, says the experiential learning project helped the team better prepare for a variety of possibilities when it came to providing speedy food and beverage service. “With their simulations, we essentially get to test creative ideas on the computer first, before taking the risk of implementing in the restaurant,” Day says. “Once we know the winning combination, we can implement it and see an instant improvement that takes the guesswork out the equation.” Among the researchers was third-year Bachelor of Business Administration student Domenic Iacopino, who said working with real-world clients in Dining Services encouraged his group to expand their ideas. “One of our group members came up with a wild idea to implement self-serve kiosks that accept Brock Card payments, but in the end, we combined that suggestion with some rescheduling recommendations as our final proposal,” Iacopino says. As he prepares to pursue a career in operations management, Iacopino is thankful for the many hands-on learning experiences he’s had in his Brock courses. “Applying my knowledge outside of the classroom and learning to work in a group will be very helpful in my career,” he says. “And there’s so much value in helping the community — everyone benefits.”

ollowing consultation with faculty members in the Goodman School of Business and with the University Senate, Interim President and Provost and Vice-President, Academic Lynn Wells has appointed Associate Professor Barry Wright to serve as Interim Dean of the Goodman School of Business, effective July 1. Wright will succeed Andrew Gaudes, whose term as Dean ends on June 30. Under the Policy on the Appointment of Academic Administrators, Wright will serve a term of up to two years while the search for a Dean is completed. Wright has been a faculty member in Goodman since 2003, previously serving as Interim Dean from December 2015 to June 2017, as well as Interim Associate Dean. He has also previously served as Director of the Niagara Community Observatory. Since May 2020, Wright has been on secondment as CEO of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. Wright’s research at Goodman has largely focused on leadership and organizational change. In the surrounding Niagara community, he has served on numerous agencies and organizations, including as board chair for Niagara Health, and a board member for Leadership Niagara and the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce.

Summer 2022

Leaving a Legacy: The first double degree graduates from Reutlingen University create a club to help future students By Tiffany Mayer

From left: Carina Hohenadel, Julia Gralka and Elke Neumann are the first double degree students from ESB Reutlingen to graduate from Goodman.

Goodman: The Magazine

hen Elke Neumann, Julia Gralka and Carina Hohenadel graduate from Goodman this spring, no one could fault the double degree students for returning to their native Germany and getting on with their careers and lives. They successfully completed their studies in the program that consists of two years at Brock and two years at a partner university in the International Partnership of Business Schools (IPBS) network. For most graduates, there wouldn’t be much else to do except take their next steps. But the trio, who are the first students from double degree partner Reutlingen University ESB Business School to graduate from Goodman, have a vested interest in the happenings here. They didn’t just come for degrees. They came for the chance to meet fellow students and future colleagues. To facilitate that, Neumann, Gralka and Hohenadel took on the heavy lifting of creating an official club – the Goodman IPBS Club – initially to help fellow double degree students connect with each other. But their mandate grew to support all Goodman students interested in living and studying abroad through any IPBS exchange and networking opportunity. “This helped Canadian and international students become aware of each other,” Neumann says. “It was nice to see other faces and get to know them.” No easy feat at a time when social distancing was emphasized as a means of staying safe during the pandemic. Then again, meeting people isn’t exactly low-hanging fruit at the best of times when you move 6,000 kilometres from home to study. When Neumann, Gralka and Hohenadel enrolled in the double degree program at Reutlingen University four years ago, the world was in that nostalgic state of normal. The three friends chose Canada as the place to spend their final two years of the program. They were drawn to the multiculturalism, a political climate that differed drastically from the U.S. at the time and, of course, the chance to go where none from their school had gone before them. “I felt North America would give me the opportunities other students wouldn’t have,” Gralka says. “A lot of students in Europe study in other European countries. But North America offered a different perspective.” Their ETA was September 2020 but with the advent of the pandemic six months earlier and all the travel bans that were imposed, the trio wouldn’t arrive until November that year – not that the world was in a better state. Ontario was on the verge of another lockdown and Goodman students were largely studying virtually at the time. Neumann, Gralka and Hohenadel arrived to a situation that made it nearly impossible to get to know fellow students. “Those first few months, we concentrated on university only,” Hohenadel recalls. “I found it difficult to meet anyone. We didn’t know anyone here or have contact with students in the years above us. It was hard to connect and interact.” Other challenges included getting used to many smaller assignments and group work required to complete courses rather than the usual end-of-term exams at Reutlingen. Finding a co-op placement was also more competitive than back home in Germany. Still, they persevered, with Gralka landing at Bosch and Hohenadel at Karl Storz, a medical supply company, in Mississauga. Neumann returned to Germany to work for the summer. Gralka and Hohenadel lived in downtown Toronto during their work terms, just in time for COVID-19 restrictions to be eased for the summer. That’s when they finally started to meet other students in the double degree program who were also completing their co-op requirements in the big city. Connections continued when they returned to school in September for their final year. Still, they admit, it was challenging meeting their Canadian colleagues, many of whom had already formed their circle of friends in their first year or two of study. The Goodman IPBS Club was their solution to finally create a social

network of their own. It would give the chance for students from overseas or about to head to their partner school to meet; learn about the traditions and cultures of their host country; and hear from program alumni about life after graduation. The experience, in many ways, gave them a taste of running a business. They got to choose the club executive – a mix of Canadian and international students – which included a social media co-ordinator and event organizer. “We got close with these people as we met with them the most,” Neumann says. The Goodman IPBS Club has held three networking events since its inception less than a year ago, including a virtual trivia and pub night, and guest speaker, alumni Andre Chabot, who shared his experience studying as a double degree student in Germany.

ESB Reutlingen students Carina Hohenadel, Julia Gralka and Elke Neumann made the most of opportunities to travel during their time here during the COVID-19 pandemic, including to Ottawa where they visited Parliament Hill.

The trio plan to stay in touch with their successors in the club to help keep it going without them – Neumann and Hohenadel plan to return to Germany while Gralka intends to spend more time in Canada after graduating in June – and help it become all they envisioned. “We hope that the club will be of great support to all GSB students interested in international exchange and looking to make new friends,” Gralka says. There’s a sense of accomplishment when they consider all the work they put in to not just graduate with two degrees but leave a Reutlingen legacy at the Goodman School of Business. “Going through the process and seeing the result, we can be proud of ourselves, especially going through our last year and all our courses, and writing our final-year research paper,” Hohenadel says. “It’s not something we leave behind. We can build on it and if we want to build another club in the future, we know what to do. And who knows? Maybe we’ll be invited to speak about our experience with club members one day.”

Summer 2022

Chris Battagli (BBA ’18) started building 416 Coffee with his dad Carmine before he graduated from Goodman.

Nadia Senchuk (MBA ’07) co-owns Leaning Post Wines with her husband Ilya.

A Passion for Business By Tiffany Mayer

Learning at the Goodman School of Business involves more than mastering the concepts of accounting, economics, marketing or finance. A cornerstone of studies at Goodman is instilling the values of passion, perseverance and professionalism in every student to carry with them after they graduate.

Goodman: The Magazine

Goodman grads exemplify these values in countless ways and have a reputation for making their marks in the business world because of them. We caught up with two alumni who continually demonstrate the Goodman values in everything they do and are living their dreams because of it.

Bean there, doing that

wine-bottle wine-glass

Who: Chris Battagli (BBA ’18)

hink of a barista making your favourite brew and chances are, they’re nothing like Chris Battagli or his father Carmine. “If you plant me and Carm next to anyone in this industry, we’d stand out like a sore thumb,” Chris says. “Our end goals are very different than a lot of those people’s end goals.” The father and son owners of 416 Coffee make a mean cuppa joe, don’t get him wrong. But they love cars, and Chris adores fashion — streetwear, especially — and that influences how they do things at 416 Coffee. Mostly, they love running a business. “If coffee was illegal, I’d find another business to run tomorrow,” Chris says. The good news for aficionados of a perfectly pulled espresso is that’s not likely to happen and 416 Coffee will be here to supply them at their St. Catharines and Grimsby locations. Before 416 existed in the 905, Chris studied marketing at Goodman and noticed growing interest in fair trade, single-origin, artisanal coffees. Carm had years of roasting experience from previous ventures and in 2015, he and Chris began brewing plans for Niagara’s newest coffee purveyor. Chris’s time at Goodman prepared him for entrepreneur life. At a high level, it gave him “the basic skills to go out into the world and contribute.” The demands of studying and starting a business taught him time management, too. Most notable was a consumer behaviour course that gave Chris a glimpse of what compels people to spend their money. Over the next few years, father and son diligently built 416 Coffee while Chris finished school and pored over social media to find suppliers of traceable and ethically sourced beans the Battaglis could turn into those highly coveted artisanal roasts. They started selling their signature beans to local restaurants. Then came efforts to open a takeout kiosk in St. Catharines’ Port Dalhousie neighbourhood. The pair “drained their bank accounts” and put in all the elbow grease to open their postage-stamp sized coffee shop that bucked every cafe trend, including those found at the java joint just down the block. People would laugh when they found out what they were doing. “They’d say, ‘You know there’s a coffee shop down the street?’” Chris recalls. The Battaglis managed to turn naysayers into regulars once they opened. The reason: “You have to be focused on what you do, taking care of customers,” Chris says. “If you do, everything will take care of itself.” How else could they have opened another outlet, growing their business in a global pandemic? It helped that they “doubled down” on their online retail business. Even better that they already established 416 Coffee as a grab-and-go shop with no tables for lingering. The economic uncertainty of the pandemic also meant they could negotiate favourable rent in Grimsby. Success seemed written in their tea leaves with Chris’s passion and perseverance helping to see them through. “I’m very clear about what I want from my life,” Chris says. “I always wanted to be successful. I wanted to have a big life. Once you’re clear about you want, you’ll push yourself through any adversity. It’s a very clear goal and it’s getting there, no matter what. “But it’s also enjoying the day-to-day,” he adds. “Not every day is great but it’s enjoying it. Everything is getting you toward your end goal you’ve got to reach.”

cup-togo coffee-beans

Wine not? Who: Nadia Senchuk, (MBA ’07)

adia Senchuk gets a kick out of telling the origin story of her and husband Ilya’s relationship. They met in the grape-growing capital of Winnipeg, Manitoba, she jokes. The Prairies have yet to carve out an identity for producing the star ingredient in wine, but Winnipeg does seem to produce great vintners, at least. The Senchuks are proof. They own Leaning Post Wines in Stoney Creek, a winery that started as a bootstrap enterprise and now, 13 years later, is a destination on Niagara’s wine route. It’s named for the leaning post at the end of every row of grapes in a vineyard — emblematic of the support the couple got from friends and family as they built their dream. But just as much credit goes to the passion and perseverance that Nadia exudes when talking about how she and winemaker Ilya went from being two kids in the ’Peg to poster children for tenacity. “I’m of the opinion if you set your dreams high and really put the work in, there’s almost no limit to what you’re capable of,” Nadia says. “We knew because we didn’t come from large financial backing that we’d have to do that.” Nadia was studying economics at the University of Manitoba when she and Ilya, who was studying classics and science, started dating. He had no idea what he wanted to do until he read a story about a new oenology and viticulture program at Brock and decided to apply. “I’m so glad he read that article because I couldn’t imagine him doing anything else,” Nadia says. As for her, she followed Ilya to Ontario and met business professor Carman Cullen, who persuaded her to consider doing a new MBA program in wine marketing at Goodman. It wasn’t up and running when she applied to do her master’s degree, so she focused on finance instead. After graduating, Nadia worked in commercial banking and found herself sitting across the table from entrepreneurs in search of funding on a near daily basis. “That entrepreneurial bug stung me,” Nadia recalls. “Problem is, I didn’t know a lot about business. My husband knew a lot about the wine industry and we knew we didn’t want to spend our lives working for someone else. We started dreaming and started putting things together. We just started.” By 2009, they had a virtual winery, borrowing infrastructure from other wineries to make their vintages and sell them to restaurants. Two years later, they bought the property for Leaning Post. By 2013, they opened their boutique winery to the public. In the meantime, Nadia worked as vice-president of operations for a manufacturing firm in Grimsby, learning business “on someone else’s dime.” In 2017, she joined Leaning Post full-time. “I love it. I’m passionate about business,” Nadia says. “I really want to turn heads in the wine industry.” Leaning Post is doing that thanks to Nadia’s business prowess and Ilya’s winemaking talents. Her Goodman MBA gave her a smattering of everything she’d need to operate a winery, even if it wasn’t clear while studying that would be the case. Her passion and perseverance did the rest. “When you’re young, you think, ‘When am I going to use organizational behaviour?’ I’ve used it multiple times,” Nadia says. “(My Goodman education) was the seeds to show me what’s possible.”

Summer 2022

Brock investment yields innovative programs By Kaitlyn Little

wo Goodman projects aimed at helping students apply their classroom knowledge in real-world scenarios were launched this year thanks to funding support from Brock’s Academic Initiatives Fund (AIF). The AIF program enabled the creation of a case writing teaching and learning centre and supported a post-graduate work initiative out of the Centre for Business Analytics (CBA). The projects were part of a larger Brock initiative to address priorities in Brock’s strategic plan or that help in the University’s pandemic recovery.

Anteneh Ayanso

Eric Dolansky

Goodman: The Magazine

Case writing and teaching learning centre Associate Professor of Marketing Eric Dolansky led the development of the case writing teaching and learning centre. Over the academic year, a case writing group of 25 faculty, staff and students formed. They attended sessions that covered various aspects of case writing followed by a roundtable where everyone who was developing a case could workshop it. “What I’m hoping for is to build a community of case writers at Brock, whether it’s for their own use or publications,” Dolansky says. For Dolansky, the benefit of case learning is that it focuses more on process than content, allowing students to take the information they know and apply it through analysis to become more effective decision-makers. “It’s like going to the gym. You need to get a certain number of reps in so you can see the benefit,” he says. “If you don’t do the practice you aren’t going to be ready for the big game. It’s the same idea – that cases are about learning how to do things better through practice.” The inaugural Case Combat competition hosted through the initiative wrapped up in April with a fully subscribed roster of graduate and undergraduate competitors addressing a case with an equity, diversity and inclusion theme. “Cases are the focus of my research and teaching, and I hope my enthusiasm is contagious and helps students engage in the topic more.”

briefcase

Centre for Business Analytics post-graduate work initiative Preparing students so they are ready to apply their data analytics skills in the workplace was the focus of an AIF project led by Anteneh Ayanso, Professor of Information Systems and CBA Director. CBA brought on longtime industry partner Robert Lytle, CEO of rel8ted.to Analytics, to help design a program that complements students’ classroom training with innovative learning and apprentice opportunities. The CBA and rel8ted.to worked with both Goodman Group and Brock’s Co-op Career and Experiential Education (CCEE) department to facilitate the program. “It’s like an apprenticeship program to enhance program training in business analytics, giving students exposure to work-related skills that organizations are asking for,” Ayanso says. With analytics being such a dynamic field characterized by rapid changes in industry practices, giving students the chance to gain experience with using in-demand software programs and tools with real data was important. The first aspect of the program was the Robot Training Academy. This gave students access to short skills-training modules that grant a certification, which will help with applying for jobs in the field. Three students who excelled in the training were identified and offered a co-op position. MBA analytics students Vega Yu, Mohit Verma and Rahul Kumar were chosen to work on community projects that needed data analysis work done. The students worked on real-world projects with Goodman’s accreditation team, data analytics projects with a global IT research and consultancy firm and completed projects for a global media and events company. “Everyone has a data analytics need. We didn’t have the capacity to address those before,” Ayanso says. “This program helps to address a community need that was there for a long period of time.” For Ayanso, the program was about expanding the professional designations available to students and providing hands-on experience in the field, which students could leverage into launching their careers after graduation. The concept proved popular with 50 students participating in the initial offering. Prior collaborations between the CBA and rel8ed.to include NSERC- and OCE-funded projects.

Andrew Gaudes wraps up his term as Dean June 30.

Gaudes looks back on term as Goodman Dean By Kaitlyn Little

A Major moments 2018

Goodman signs a co-op partnership agreement with the United Nations Association of Canada

2019

Goodman Group launches to increase accessibility to community services; International Partnership of Business Schools adds Brock as its only Canadian partner; Alongside Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Goodman launces first MBA MPH double degree program; Goodman School of Business building expansion complete.

2020

Ranked No. 1 in Canada for student and faculty diversity in QS Global Ranking; Virtual mobility opportunities launched for Goodman students.

2021

Goodman receives Business School Impact System label for contributions to local economy; Indigenous Leader Series launched; BBA International Double Degree program was accredited by the European Foundation for Management Development.

2022

Construction begins on new Goodman Student Success Centre.

s Andrew Gaudes prepares to wrap up his time as Dean on June 30, he sat down with Goodman: The Magazine to reflect on his time leading Brock’s business school. He noted that the last five years have been a great run for Goodman in terms of advancing the school’s mission in the areas of scholarly, academic and experiential opportunities, but what has resonated with him the most, personally, has been the student successes. “The greatest delight is being able to see all of the energy channelled towards the personal and professional fulfilment of our students,” Gaudes says. Those successes include students receiving national leadership awards and recognition, seeing students take on positions working with the United Nations in the Global South and the five students who made the CPA Common Final Exam honour roll. “In part, it’s because of the pathways that we put in front of them, and then it’s in the students’ hands how they leverage those pathways to thrive,” he says. Gaudes is proud of the new pathways and partnerships that have been created or expanded during his tenure that have been able to go from concept to celebrated in that five-year span. International partnerships expanded opportunities for students to study and work, from the establishment of new double degree partnerships at the graduate and undergraduate levels to a partnership with the United Nations enabling Goodman students to go on worldchanging co-op placements with the UN Development Agency. The latter has been recognized nationally by Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada and internationally by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Obtaining the Business School Impact System (BSIS) certification through European Foundation of Management Development (EFMD) allowed the School to quantify its impact on the community for the first time, finding that its total annual economic contributions to the Niagara region is $380 million annually. On the research front, the School established eight new research scholar positions, which raised investment in research activities by more than $1 million. Industry partners, including the LCBO to fund research relevant to Niagara’s grape and wine industry, also stepped forward. The second half of Gaudes’ term was shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. It became evident during this time that people can produce and perform anywhere but what really struck Gaudes were the emotional changes he noticed. “Empathy and compassion were elevated to a level that it should be anyways,” he says. “I hope that stays.”

Summer 2022

Facts & Figures Beta Gamma Sigma Each year, the top 10 per cent of undergraduate students and the top 20 per cent of graduate students are inducted as members of Goodman’s BGS chapter. The organization’s mission is to encourage and honour academic achievement in the study of business, to cultivate and celebrate leadership and professional excellence, to advance the values of society and to serve its lifelong members.

Beta Gamma Sigma Outstanding Chapter Awards The Outstanding Chapter Awards recognize BGS chapters who demonstrate excellence in chapter performance.

GOODMAN AWARDS: 2021 Outstanding Chapter Award SILVER 2020 Outstanding Chapter Awards Best Practice in Connections 2019 Outstanding Chapter Award SILVER

Fast Facts

Number of induction ceremonies

1202 Undergraduate students inducted

707

Graduate students inducted

2018 Outstanding Chapter Award Honourable Mention 2017 Outstanding Chapter Award SILVER

Number of faculty inducted

Number of Brock Administration members inducted

Number of chapter honourees

Number of students sent to the global leadership conference

Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter Honour Roll The Chapter Honour Roll program awards active BGS chapters who engage their members.

GOODMAN AWARDS: 2020/21 Honours 2019/20 Highest Honours 2018/19 Highest Honours 2017/18 Highest Honours 2016/17 Highest Honours

Goodman: The Magazine

Chapter Honourees 2021 LYNN WELLS

Interim President and Provost and VicePresident, Academic, Brock University

2019 ROBIN RIDESIC

Founder & CEO, The Exchange Brewery

2018 GERVAN FEARON

President & Vice-Chancellor, Brock University

BILL HAINES

Recently Retired Global Head of Rates Trading RBC Capital Markets

2017 RHONDA KLOSLER

Chief Operating Officer, Collins Barrow Toronto

SHIRLEY CHEECHOO

Brock University Chancellor; Award-winning aboriginal Canadian actress, playwright and filmmaker

2016 SHANNON PASSERO

Owner, The Post Office

JASON SPARAGA

CEO & Founder, Spara Capital Partners; Founder and Co-CEO, Spark Power Corp.

2015 DR. NED GOODMAN

Founder and CEO, Dundee Corporation and Dundee Wealth; Chancellor, Brock University

ED WERNER

Co-founder, Trivial Pursuit

2014 DEBORAH ROSATI

Board member & Chair, Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, Sears Canada; Founder, RosatiNet, inc.

GARY COMERFORD

Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated

MARTY PHILP

Managing Director, Kilbride Partners

2013 DAVID ANYON

Executive VP and CMO International, RGA International Corporation; Founder, The D. Stuart Co. Inc. & former Chair and CEO, Vintex Inc.

2012 JOHN ZOCCOLI

President, Jamzoc Holdings Limited

2011 MICHAEL McCAIN

President and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

2005 DR. KENNETH FOWLER

Entrepreneur, Real Estate/Hospitality Industries

JACK EDDS

Professor, Goodman School of Business; one of the “founding fathers” of business, accounting and co-operative education at Brock

2004 JOHN WALKER

Founder, Walker Industries

SUZANNE ROCHON-BURNETT

Métis broadcaster and businesswoman

2010 DR. ROY CAIRNS

Chairman, Charlesway Corporation; Senior Counsel, Chown, Cairns LLP

ANTHONY LACAVERA

Founder, Chairman and CEO, Globalive Communications Corp. (Wind Mobile)

2009 DR. DAVID HOWES

President and Chief Executive Officer, Lincoln Fabrics Limited, and Lincoln Fabrics Inc.; Chair, Brock Board of Trustees

2008 PAUL JENKINS

Senior Deputy Governor, Bank of Canada

2007 DR. RAYMOND MORIYAMA

Co-founder, Moriyama and Teshima Architects

PAUL HOUSE

Chairman, CEO and President TDL Group Corp (Tim Hortons)

2006 DR. ARCHIE KATZMAN

General Manager, The St. Catharines Club

ROBERT L. NEILL

Managing Partner, Durward Jones Barkwell & CO. LLP

🏆 MSc Grad Accomplishments Goodman’s Master of Science in Management (MSc) program prepares students for careers in academia, research and industry. Muhammad Talha Afzal (MSc ’21), Accounting specialization, has been accepted into the PhD program in Accounting Information Systems at Rutgers Business School. Yisheng Li (MSc ’21), Operations and Information Systems specialization, has been accepted for admission to the PhD program at Metro Toronto University, joining the Digital Enterprise and Analytics Research team under the supervision of Ravi Vatrapu. Li is planning to investigate conspiracy theories on social media platforms using psychological/cognitive theories and big data and computational modelling. Anis Triki (MSc ’11), Accounting specialization, started a position as Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Rhode Island in July 2021. Baoqi Zhu (MSc ’16), Finance Specialization, started a new position in April 2021 as Senior Specialist of Risk Strategy for Alibaba Group.

Summer 2022

leaf wind-turbine

Business Matters panelists Gabriel Demarco, Jessica Blythe, Mikayla Richards, and Natalie Lowe.

Business Matters panel sparks discussion on sustainable business practices By Kaitlyn Little

or businesses, taking steps to be more sustainable is likely to include a lot more time looking at spreadsheets than posting on Instagram, says sustainability events professional Natalie Lowe. The comments from Lowe, President of Celebrate Niagara and the Sustainable Events Forum, came as part of the annual Business Matters panel discussion hosted by Goodman in March. The event aimed to spark dialogue and help local businesses think about how they can introduce sustainable business practices. “For your business, you need to do an assessment to see where the largest emissions are, how does that fit into my business model and what can I do that actually makes a difference,” Lowe says. Moderated by Todd Green, Associate Professor of Marketing at Goodman, the other panelists included Jessica Blythe, Assistant Professor, Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre; Gabriel Demarco (BSc ’13), Winemaker and Viticulturalist at Cave Spring Vineyard; and

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Mikayla Richards (BBA ’19), Sustainability Analyst at EcoVadis. Green, who studies corporate social responsibility, says every industry will be impacted by climate change, so it’s important to look at what businesses can do locally to mitigate it. “With big issues like this, sometimes people feel that there’s nothing you can do that will make a difference,” Green says. “Yet there are expectations from consumers that companies need to address climate and make commitments to doing better.” The discussion touched on how small changes across many businesses can have a big impact, how to look at where you are and set goals of where you want to go, and how to communicate actions both internally and externally to build a culture of sustainability. For Demarco, he’s witnessed first-hand how attitudes around sustainability and adaptation strategies can shift and evolve by seeing the change on his own team over the last decade. He encouraged people to be patient with the process.

“You slowly change culture and change the conversation and validate the process,” he says. “Science takes time.” The panel emphasized that making these changes doesn’t need to be done in isolation and there are a lot of collaboration tools available. Blythe and Green noted there is help available from Brock students and researchers as well. “You’ve got friends in Niagara and Brock is one,” Blythe says. “There are a lot of partnership opportunities available. Please get in touch.” With Brock’s experiential learning opportunities, small businesses and other organizations can partner on projects and initiatives. Past examples include marketing plans on sustainability initiatives and the design of mock climate adaptation plans. This is the seventh in a series of panel talks organized by Goodman. The Business Matters series is supported by the Willmot Foundation and is part of the D. G. Willmot Leader Series. A recording of the online event is available on Goodman’s YouTube for anyone who is interested.

How exploring the world prepared me to take on the business world By Erika Barbosa

y friends and family told me partaking in an exchange and travelling solo would be the scariest and most challenging, yet greatest, experience of my life. Several months into my exchange, I can confidently say this is true. However, as I navigate each challenge and opportunity throughout my time at EBS Universität in Germany, I return to the same motto that encouraged me to apply for the BBA Double Degree program in the first place: “Things will work out for the best.” This reassuring thought has enabled me to transform my experiences into valuable lessons, including these three, during my few months abroad thus far: Lesson 1: Always be open to learning. By taking the leap to study abroad, I opened the door to numerous life-long lessons. Goodman provided me with a strong basis of business knowledge in the classroom paired with experiential learning, which I’ve developed further at the EBS Business School while applying a more scientific approach to business theory. As an international university, EBS also focuses on teaching business using a global perspective through courses like Intercultural Competence and discussions about real business examples from around the world. These new perspectives, although unfamiliar, strengthen my capabilities to conduct business on an international scale. Lesson 2: Make new connections. EBS welcomes students from around the world for exchange and double degree program opportunities. Collaboration is highly encouraged in many courses, providing the chance to work with peers from Sweden to Chile to Spain, to name a few. Despite being used to group work at Goodman, these collaborative opportunities at EBS enlightened me to unique perspectives due to our different cultural and business backgrounds and ages. This group work has made me a better team player and learner. Lesson 3: Don’t underestimate my capabilities. If my exchange has taught me one thing, it’s that I’m capable of more than I think. This past year, I’ve had the honour of leading the Brock Women in Business club as president, which I continue to do from abroad. I doubted my abilities to lead my team from Germany, but with a group of such hard-working, motivated students and a strong support system of Goodman faculty, it’s been a pleasure – even when the time difference is not always ideal. Despite being overseas, my connection to the Goodman community is stronger than ever. As someone who knows what they want and aims to achieve it, I often have tunnel vision when it comes to my goals. I believe my new mindset, cultivated through these lessons, will open the door to opportunities I wouldn’t have pursued otherwise; for instance, working in Europe after graduation always felt unrealistic, but now I feel I can conduct business internationally, work with diverse groups of people, and complete daring tasks. No matter what happens between now and then, I’m grateful for an exchange experience that’s shaped me into an open, confident person and a never-ending learner. Despite the many unknowns ahead of me, I’ve learned to take whatever comes my way and trust that everything will turn out, whether I’m meeting new people or solving an unfamiliar issue.

Erika Barbosa is a third-year BBA Co-op International Double Degree student, currently studying at EBS Universität in Germany. Erika is always open to change, and as she prepares for her co-op term in Germany, she looks forward to putting these lessons into practice and exploring the many opportunities available to her.

Summer 2022

Once a student, now a staff award winner By Tiffany Mayer

Academic Advisor Steve Argiropoulos is this year’s Goodman Staff Award winner.

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teve Argiropoulos knows a dance that’s unlikely to be in any choreographer’s repertoire. It’s called The Academic Advisor and it goes something like this: A student walks by Argiropoulos’s office in the A wing of the Mackenzie Chown Complex. They may or may not be lost but Argiropoulos, an academic advisor with the Goodman School of Business, makes a mental note, knowing that if it’s the latter, he’ll see them pass by again soon. If the student does come by again, Argiropoulos knows the next time they’ll slow down as they pass but keep walking. The third time, the student may even stop near his office door and peer in. By the fourth sighting, Argiropoulos will pop out of his office to strike up a conversation and offer help. “You just sense they’re trying to build up the courage to come in,” Argiropoulos says. “You say, ‘I’m your academic advisor.’ They say, ‘Thanks’ and a couple of days later they show up again. They want to talk but they just weren’t sure if they should.” Argiropoulos’s intuition – and his empathy – aren’t lost on those who work with him. They’re among the reasons he’s this year’s recipient of the Goodman Staff Award, along with his ability to put first-year and new Goodman students at ease when they finally end the dance by taking a seat in his office. “I try to keep the environment easy-going and non-judgmental,” he says. “In doing that, you’ll find students will open up. Once they get talking, they’re able to find out what they need to know, what resources are available, and that can help them achieve success.” For a man who sounds like a natural at his job, it wasn’t always a given that Argiropoulos would go into a career helping students with everything from figuring out what courses to take to helping them through their academic struggles. Argiropoulos’s career path steered him toward academic advising when he decided to take a timeout from working in the insurance industry to return to school at Brock. Arigropoulos planned to get a three-year degree at first. Then he did his own dance, switching to the four-year health sciences program to become more professionally agile. “That turned into, ‘Why not a master’s degree and why not a second master’s degree?’” he recalls. With an MEd in hand – Argriopoulos would eventually get his MBA from Goodman, too – he had the opportunity to serve as a faculty academic advisor in the Department of Health Sciences. He loved the work and started rethinking his career ambitions. From there, he moved to an academic advisor role in the Registrar’s Office where he spent four years before coming to Goodman in 2018. “There was opportunity waiting in the insurance industry, but I really loved what I was doing at Brock, so I made the decision to stay and never looked back,” he says. Still, Arigropoulos was surprised, albeit honoured, he won the staff award. As the academic advisor to new GSB students, he sees what he does as part of an overall group effort, more than an individual achievement. “In terms of what we do in academic advising, we do what we do. It’s an important role,” he says. “From students’ first day on campus to graduation, while academic advising plays an integral role in helping students navigate university, there are many individuals involved in the process.” “It’s nice to get recognized for the work that’s done,” he adds. “We have so many different roles in the Faculty. When a front-facing role gets this accolade, it’s nice.”

Dean's Advisory Council Members Mark Arthur (BAdmin ’77) Executive Vice-President, CWB Wealth Management

Mishka Balsom

President & CEO, Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Julia Deans

President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity Canada

Mark Dockstator

Past President, First Nations University of Canada

Mark Goodman Bonnie Lysyk

Auditor General of Ontario Ernest Biktimirov is the 2021-22 recipient of the graduate studentvoted teaching award.

Geoff Hoover is the 2021-22 recipient of the undergraduate student-voted teaching award.

Manik Mair (BAcc ’15) Chair, Goodman Alumni Network George Soleas

President & CEO, LCBO

Students give finance profs top marks

Doug Wilkinson (BBA ’91) Partner, Deloitte

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By Kaitlyn Little

he ability to make finance courses fun and engaging earned Professor Ernest Biktimirov and Finance Lecturer Geoff Hoover top honours in this year’s studentvoted teaching awards. The titles were handed out at Goodman’s Student Success Celebration held virtually in April, with Biktimirov receiving the Graduate Professor of the Year honour and Hoover receiving the Undergraduate Professor of the Year title. Students praised both instructors for their ability to make complicated course content accessible and for their clear passion for subject matter. Biktimirov said he felt honoured to receive the award and his enthusiasm in the classroom is inspired by his love for finance and teaching. “I truly enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with a younger generation,” he says. “The perception of finance as a dry and complicated subject makes teaching it even more exciting. “The fact that the recipient of this award is selected based on students’ votes makes this award very special for me.” Hoover says he was surprised to find out he had been selected and was honoured to receive the award since he knows many Goodman instructors who deserve recognition for their teaching. He considers himself fortunate to be standing at the front of the classroom in a role that provides a sense of meaning. “During university years, what is learned in the classroom and the grades achieved can be important, but what is more important is the person a student becomes,” Hoover says. “I like to remind students that who we are is what we do day in and day out.”

Toronto Advisory Group Deepak Chopra

President & CEO (Retired), Canada Post

Graeme Deans

Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Dan McGrath (BAdmin ’85) COO, Cineplex Entertainment LLP

International Advisory Group Greg Berti

Vice-President Global Markets & Industry Relations, Andrew Peller Ltd.

Lili Tomovich (BA ’89)

Chief Marketing Officer, Barclays US Consumer Bank Members of the Dean’s Advisory Council are recognized leaders and influencers in their industries who offer diverse expertise, perspectives and advice to the Dean and faculty. They enhance relationships between the School and the business community; assist Dean Andrew Gaudes in shaping the direction of the School; and help the School achieve its overall mission. Most members of the council are not alumni. They have no affinity to the Goodman School of Business other than their belief in the School and its leadership.

Summer 2022

Goodman research team finds media sentiment influences housing prices in Canada By Cathy Majtenyi

o negative and positive comments about the housing market expressed in media reports affect housing prices? Yes, they do, says a research team at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business – but only if information related to housing is not transparent. Professor of Finance Ernest N. Biktimirov, Associate Professor of Finance Tatyana Sokolyk and Professor of Information Systems Anteneh Ayanso set out to study the relationship between ‘news media sentiment’ — people’s attitudes and beliefs expressed in news media – and the prices of houses in both Canada and Australia. With an international news database from Dow Jones, the team gathered more than 21,000 articles related to real estate published in newspapers of major Canadian and Australian cities from 2004 to 2019. Using topic modelling, the researchers discovered distinct topics discussed in print news media. In Canada, these were, in order of frequency: construction activity; selling activity; regional economic outlook; national economic outlook; government policy; real estate agents; property size and features; and housing affordability. The team then used dictionary-based sentiment analysis to classify newspaper articles as being ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ using a specialized dictionary. They compared housing sentiments with housing price indexes in both countries. “We found an interesting result,” Biktimirov says. “Media sentiment doesn’t have predictive power for housing prices in the Australian market, but it has strong predictive power in the Canadian market.” That’s because the Australian housing market is much more open than in Canada, he says. “If the market is not transparent, sentiment begins to play a big role in the determination of prices,” he says, adding that buyers make their purchasing decisions based on this and other information conveyed in media reports. Media sentiment related to housing affordability, construction, economic outlook, and housing selling

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activities has significant impacts on house prices, but not in the areas of government policy, property size and features, and real estate agents, according to the research. Biktimirov says overall, Australia has stronger laws to protect the interests of home buyers and that Canadian real estate agents have much more power than their Australian counterparts. For instance, in Canada, information about past prices for houses is primarily available to real estate agents only, and agents can represent both buyer and seller, he says. A Canadian practice particularly detrimental to home buyers is blind bidding, a process in which bids are placed on properties without someone knowing what the other homebuyers are offering. (At the time of this writing, the federal government was discussing banning the practice as part of its proposed Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights). Ayanso says the topic discovery through topic modelling algorithms repeatedly turned up articles from Australia about house auctions. “We didn't know that house auctions were a big deal in Australia; I think we just found out in this research,” he says. “We found out auction is a different consideration in Australia than in Canada.” Auctions enable buyers to know each other’s bids in public, empowering them to make better purchasing choices, Ayanso notes. The team’s research, funded by a grant from the federal government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), implies that policymakers should strive to increase information transparency in the housing market, especially in the areas related to changes in house prices, Sokolyk says. “From that perspective, following the Australian model for open auctions may be a good thing for the buyers, in particular, and for the housing market, in general,” she says. Biktimirov notes how the housing market has become the world’s largest asset class, with an estimated value of US$220 trillion globally, almost three times as much as all publicly traded stocks in the world.

$ house-chimney-heart A Goodman research team says people’s attitudes and beliefs expressed in news media affect housing prices in Canada but not Australia.

Skander Lazrak is this year’s Goodman Faculty Teaching Excellence Award winner.

Teaching is “something powerful” for award-winning prof

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By Tiffany Mayer

kander Lazrak will tell you his calling was never teaching. As a graduate student at the University of Montreal, he wanted only to do research, not be at the head of a class. But he also knew standing behind a lectern was inevitable, given his ambitions of earning his PhD in finance from Concordia University. His goal was to continue doing work that would make him a thought leader rather than work on Bay Street and the frontlines of the finance industry. So no one was more surprised than Lazrak when he realized he loved being in front of students as a professor that first time he taught at U of M. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is for me,’” Lazrak recalls. “That’s what I wanted to do. I can share my opinions, my knowledge. I can explain it all. That appeals to me personally.” The way he does all of that also appeals to his students. Lazrak is this year’s recipient of the Goodman Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. Earning the distinction, he admits, is almost as

surprising as learning he loved to teach. “Recognition for teaching is really, really great, especially for my area,” Lazrak says. “I’m in finance. It’s usually dry and hard. That’s not easy, at least for undergraduates.” Still, Lazrak has a way to make information stick, get mind-bending concepts across clearly, and even convince some of his students to make finance the focus of their studies and futures. “I let the students know it’s in their best interest to learn this. I show them how important this is in real life,” Lazrak says. “I get them enthusiastic about the topic. I get them to see it’s interesting." As interesting as he saw teaching could be all those years ago in Montreal. After experiencing that rush with the first lecture he gave, Lazrak knew for certain academia was his professional destiny. He trained in pedagogy while doing his PhD at Concordia to make sure he would be the best version of himself in front of a class. “This is the best job for me,” Lazrak says. “I do research and then I teach students. I spark their

enthusiasm in the subject. I feel it has an impact.” But students continuously spark his enthusiasm, too. It’s a feedback loop, he explains. Students ask him questions; he asks them questions. They discuss current issues like real estate prices and consumer behaviour. He shares his knowledge and relevant examples often using math models. All in, it’s “something powerful,” he says. But perhaps the most powerful of all — even more than winning an award affirming his career choice — is the ongoing relationships he establishes with those who really get what Lazrak does in a lecture hall. He often has students provide him with their personal email addresses after graduation so they can stay in touch, no longer as mentor and protege, but as equals. “That’s the best thing, receiving that kind of recognition,” Lazrak says. “Once students finish their studies, they’re no longer students for me. They’re friends. We are now colleagues.”

Summer 2022

Big win caps off stellar case competition season

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From computer screens around the world, Goodman students once again demonstrated their professionalism as they represented the School with pride at Brock competitions and abroad.

Master of Business Administration student Gopichand (Moe) Maruri. Clockwise from top left: BBA student Jessica Foster, BAcc student Michael Cubelic, and BBA International Double Degree students Ahmad Pasha and Malek Abou-Rabia.

Business students continue win streak at international competition Goodman students finished the competition season by finding repeat success after winning top honours for the fourth consecutive year at the 2022 World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara (WTCN) International Case Competition. The team competed virtually in March against students from Canisius College, the University of Buffalo, Niagara University, Daemen College and Niagara College. This year’s case focused on Speed Global Services, a supply chain solutions business in the Buffalo-Niagara region. The case dealt with supply chain management and global logistics of the company operating in a new global trade environment. The students had 24 hours to prepare their solution and be ready to present to the judges. Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student Jessica Foster, BBA International Double Degree students Ahmad Pasha and Malek Abou-Rabia, Bachelor of Accounting (BAcc) student Michael Cubelic, and faculty advisors Kent Walker and Mark Parker made up the team. The students attribute their success with such a challenging case to the team dynamic they were able to build through practices and mock training cases. “You can’t simply solve the world’s global shipping and transportation issues in 24 hours,” Abou-Rabia says. “So, we looked specifically at how we could help Speed Global Services navigate around the issue.” Once they decided on their recommendation, it was time to sell it to judges. “When you get to present, even on a Zoom call, you have to bring the energy and capture the audience,” Pasha says. “In our practices, we tried to keep the energy up because even if they don’t necessarily agree with our recommendations, that aspect will take us further.”

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National competition yields personal, professional wins for MBA students A combination of academic excellence and a strong overall team performance has landed the Goodman School of Business’ MBA Games team a fourth-place overall finish at Canada’s largest collegiate business competition. The MBA Games features 16 leading business schools from across the country and was hosted virtually by the Schulich School of Business at York University in January. The competition includes academic cases, philanthropy activities and sports and dance challenges. Goodman’s team took home second place overall in academic performance, finishing first in one of the two cases. Strong showings in the sports and dance challenges as well as the philanthropy campaign helped the team achieve the fourth-place finish. But for first-year Master of Business Administration student Gopichand (Moe) Maruri, the team’s top athlete, participation in the sports challenges marked a significant personal win for him as well. Over the three-week October walking challenge, he logged more than 350 kilometres for the team, a feat that might have seemed virtually impossible just a few months earlier. Shortly before leaving Hyderabad, India, for Brock last summer, Maruri contracted dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness that significantly impacted his health and presented physical challenges for the avid cyclist. “The MBA Games brought me back to life,” Maruri said. “Over the period of those three weeks, I constantly pushed myself to do as much as possible.” Maruri’s contributions included a 43-kilometre round-trip walk from Brock to Niagara Falls that took more than eight hours. Co-captains Anushri Sachdeva and Owen Angus-Yamada led the team of Goodman students, who spent four months preparing from their desks and communities around the world, including in India, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Members of the winning academic case team, which also focused on Indspire, are Sachdeva, Manoj Kumar, Soumitra Biswas, Mourin Mostafiz and Seyed Amir Mousavian. Biswas was recognized as the team’s top presenter.

medal DECA ONTARIO RESULTS The following teams received medals for their final award standing in their categories: • Second place in Debate: Sehaj Deol, Hamza Raja and Griffen Mason. • Third place in International Business: Alexandra Schonewille and Catilin Gratton. Master of Science students Owen Angus-Yamada and Daniela Gatti.

John Molson Competition brings out the best of graduate competitors Goodman grad students competed against some of the world’s top business schools at Concordia’s John Molson virtual case competition in January. The team finished second in their division and 10th overall in the 30-team competition. Team members included MSc students Daniela Gatti and Owen Angus-Yamada, and MBA students Milind Kalpesh Soni and Deeya Chhabra, along with team advisor, Accounting Lecturer Norman Chase. Participating in competitions has helped shape Gatti’s Goodman experience. “Early on, even in my undergraduate experience, reading lots of cases for competitions helped me learn which areas of business I liked and the issues that I’m passionate about,” Gatti says. “I overall gained more confidence in my skills and knowledge in business, as well as improved my problem-solving and public-speaking skills.”

• Third place in Sports Entertainment Marketing: Jeff Dai and Curtis Rines. The following students received medals for placing in the Top 5 of their individual categories: • Accounting: Neil Ahuja (Case 1 and Case 2), first place overall; Sehaj Deol (Case 2). • Corporate Finance: Lily Jayakaran (Case 1 and Case 2); Vansh Patel (Case 1). • Human Resource Management: Lam Tran (Case 2), second place overall; Emma Kairys (Case 1 and Case 2), third place overall. • Management Consulting: Mitchell Chan (Case 1 and Case 2), first place overall. • Restaurant Food Service Management: Jessica Foster (Case 2). • Travel Management: Manpreet Sandhu (Case 1 and Case 2), first place overall.

award OTHER COMPETITIONS Case Combat (Goodman Competition) • First: MSc students Mourin Mostafiz, Daniela Gatti, Aisha Aliyu and MBA (ISP) student Taniya Arora.

DECA students bring home record medal haul from virtual competition Competing in a virtual environment didn’t stop one of Goodman’s largest teams from bringing home a record 26 medals at the recent DECA U National Championships. The DECA Collegiate Competition, held in January, tested students’ analytical and communication skills in several business categories that mimic real-life situations they may face in the workplace. The Goodman team was led by co-presidents Manpreet Sandhu and Jessica Foster, who along with their executive team, spent months helping the delegates prepare for the competition. “The team did tremendously well at the national competition,” Sandhu says. “Seeing them perform with confidence, creativity and professionalism amongst seasoned competitors was truly mesmerizing. I could not have fathomed how successful our chapter was going to be this year.” The Goodman team was comprised mainly of first- and second-year students and first-time delegates. Their performance was a surprise but bodes well for the club’s future, Sandhu says. “We have such a young delegate chapter this year, with very few experienced delegates,” she says. “The tremendous amount of determination, enthusiasm and engagement they showed was more important than any medal count.”

• Second: MPAcc students Yarui Hou and Zeyin Ma. • Third: BAcc student Michael Cubelic, BA students Jordon Dumenil, Ben Atchison, Stefan Mahdessian.

Grant Dobson Case Competition • First place team of MSc student Owen Angus-Yamada and MBA student Syed Zarif Samdani.

Global Scaling Challenge at the University of New Mexico • Gold medal winner Brock University team of BBA students Megan Scheuring and Alpreet Kaur, MSc student Owen Angus-Yamada and Math and Science student Sidjon Sasso.

Summer 2022

Prof’s Perspective:

Welcome to the metaverse

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Prof’s Perspective is a Goodman: The Magazine feature that highlights the opinions of our researchers on timely topics.

By Joachim Scholz

ven if you follow marketing or digital technologies only a little bit, you’ve likely heard people talking about the metaverse. It’s the next big — nay! — massive thing. Enormous enough for Facebook to rename itself Meta. Gigantic enough for Nike and Ferrari to revise their marketing strategies. Astronomical in its potential with estimates of its market size ranging from $800 billion to $8 trillion. Here’s the first thing you need to know about the metaverse, however. Much of what you hear is hype. This doesn’t mean that you can ignore the metaverse. Depending on who you ask, the metaverse is often described as the “next evolution of the Internet” or the "next evolution of social connection.” The Internet and social media disrupted entire business models and, eventually, so will the metaverse. Nobody really knows what the metaverse will be, but let’s try to make sense of it anyway.

When will we enter the metaverse?

We already did. The first prototypes of the metaverse are already open for business. These proto-metaverses are gaming platforms, such as Robolox and Fortnite, as well as emerging virtual environments like Decentraland and The Mall. Nike opened NIKELAND on Roblox in November 2021 to create a branded environment in which players can explore Nike products, outfit their virtual avatar, and compete in mini-games. The proto-metaverse here is actually Roblox, a multiplayer, online platform with over 200 million active monthly users. Fortnite is another proto-metaverse with over 350 million users, who can wear virtual Nike sneakers while stepping into their Ferrari supercars. Other platforms, like Decentraland, enable brands to buy virtual plots of land to build their metaverse headquarters, and the aptly named Toronto company, MetaVRse, is building a metaverse mall where businesses can lease storefronts. These proto-metaverses need to find ways to attract consumers: I recently checked out Absolute Vodka’s home base in Decentraland and found it to be a ghost town.

Where will we enter the metaverse?

Most people equate the full-blown metaverse with a massive virtual reality (VR) environment that serves as a place we can visit to escape our more mundane, less glamorous lives. Brands will use this VR-leaning metaverse as showrooms and for advertising. They’ll also market it as spheres of consumption that need to be furnished with virtual products and experiences. New jobs and service industries will emerge, such as the metaverse home designer who creates your metaverse dream house. For myself, the more exciting development will be the real-world metaverse, which isn’t conceptualized as a separate place but as interwoven with our everyday world. In this augmented reality (AR) version of the metaverse, the entire world becomes enriched through geo-located content to create persistent and socially shared, branded experiences with direct, but augmented, access to our everyday environments and real-world friends around us. Imagine characters and buildings from a LEGO movie running around your neighbourhood! As someone who grew up with LEGO, I would love to have this kind of experience.

What do you do next?

Lego is one brand tapping into the augmented reality-leaning metaverse.

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For now, separate the hype from what’s possible today while keeping one eye on the future. If your company targets younger audiences or is active in certain industries, such as fashion, designing a proto-metaverse strategy to reach customers who play Roblox or Fortnite is a good place to start. To prepare your business for the metaverse today and in the future, you’ll need digital assets of your products, which can be used within virtual worlds and metaverse malls, but also as augmented reality assets to help consumers see products on their bodies or embedded in their real-life contexts. Most importantly, you’ll need to hire or train metaverse strategists who can transition your business into AR, VR, and the early versions of the metaverse. Goodman is one of the first places in the world that has embraced this new trend, offering the world’s first augmented reality marketing course I launched in 2020 in anticipation of these new worlds.

Your connection to Goodman doesn’t end at convocation Join the Goodman Alumni Network

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Summer 2022

Connect with the Goodman Alumni Officer to stay in touch: goodmanalumni@brocku.ca

The Last Word “The MBA changed my life for the better. It opened my eyes to financial concepts and business acumen I didn’t have before, and it surrounded me with people who I learned so much from in the classroom and still keep in touch with today.” Steven Latinovich (SPMA ’03, MBA ’05)

Managing Director Corporate Finance, BMO Financial Group

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