Dean's Advisory Board

Michael Pley

President, Pley Consulting Inc.

Michael Pley retired as CEO of COM DEV International in 2016 after a 30-year career, and is currently supporting technology SMEs and space companies through his management consulting company. COM DEV was one of the leading suppliers to satellite manufacturers and space agencies around the world, having supplied equipment to over 80% of all communication satellites ever launched and many international science and exploration missions.

Michael graduated Summa Cum Laude from McMaster University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and Management in 1983. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

In 2006, he was the inaugural recipient of McMaster's Les W. Shemilt Distinguished Engineering Alumni award. In addition to being a member of the Advisory Board to the Dean of Engineering at McMaster since 2002, he is involved in a number of charitable and volunteer organizations. In 2011, he was appointed to the Ontario Manufacturing Council for a two-year term by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade for the province.  He is an Executive Committee member of the Board of Directors of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and chairs its Space Committee.

Michael has been a registered member of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) since 1987. He obtained the Chartered Director (C.Dir.) designation from the Directors College (a joint venture of McMaster University and the Conference Board of Canada) in 2011.

Visit Honeywell Aerospace (Com Dev International)

Saud Adi

Chief Operating Officer, Adi Development Group Inc

Acting as COO, Saud is actively involved in key operations across the company with a specialized focus in construction, engineering and construction operations. With a Construction Engineering Technology designation from George Brown, and Bachelors in Technology and Civil engineering from the University of McMaster, Saud brings a wealth of knowledge to the construction process including building science and design, value engineering, bid procurement, subcontractor trade relations, scheduling, construction logistics, site engineering, and general construction management. Saud sat on the HHHBA board of directors for two consecutive years and continues an active role with the association.

Saud is an active member of the community and has shown continuous support and sponsored local causes and events like Burlington’s Candle Lit Stroll in the downtown, City of Burlington’s Rotary Ribfest, City of Burlington’s Downtown Business Association. As a company Adi has supported and raised funds for various charities and associations including the Canadian Diabetes Association for continued assistance in research, Halton women’s place, Ronald McDonald House, SickKids Hospital, and Frances Rose Foundation.

Visit Adi Development Group Inc.

Doug H. Barber (Former Dean's Advisory Board Chair)

Gennum Corporation (retired)

Doug Barber is the founder of Gennum Corporation (1987). The Burlington-based company designs and manufactures integrated circuits.

Barber was President and CEO of Gennum until he retired in 2000. Dr. Barber has been involved with McMaster Engineering since 1968, where he was a part-time Engineering Physics Professor until 1994. After retiring from Gennum, he was appointed Distinguished Professor in-Residence at McMaster in 2001.  In addition to being on the Dean’s Advisory Board (since 1995), Dr. Barber is also Chair of the McMaster University Commercialization of Research Results Task Force and is a Board member of the McMaster Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization.

Barber has authored 29-refereed papers and holds several patents on semiconductor devices. Throughout his career he has played an active role in the microelectronics industry in Canada. Dr. Barber is a past Director of the Strategic. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering

Microelectronics Consortium, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association, the Hearing Industries Association and the Alberta Microelectronics Corp. He was a member of the Sectoral Skills Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the National Innovation Strategy, the Ontario Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board and Vice Chair of the Ontario Science and Innovation Council. He was a founding co-chair of the National Information Technology Initiative that sponsored empowr Canada Inc. in 2001, and is a past director of the Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum.

Barber has received many accolades in recognition of his contributions to the industry and the fields of science and technology. These include the APEO Engineering Medal, the University of Saskatchewan C.J. Mackenzie Distinguished Graduate Award, the Professional Engineers of Ontario Gold Medal, honorary doctorate degrees from McMaster, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waterloo, the 1996 Hamilton Engineer of the Year, the 1999 Ontario Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2006 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the highest honours a Canadian can receive.

Visit Gennum (now Semtech)

Dr. Arthur Heidebrecht

Provost Emeritus, McMaster University

Dr. Art Heidebrecht has recently retired in 2016 from McMaster University after being involved since 1974 when he was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering. He was Dean of Engineering for eight years and was Provost and Vice-President Academic for five years. Art is also professor emeritus of Civil Engineering at McMaster. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Art played a pivotal role in establishing the Bachelor of Technology Program, which was launched in 2006. The B.Tech program is offered in partnership with McMaster and Mohawk College, with graduates receiving both a college diploma and a university degree.

Most recently, Art held the position of the Director of the Booth School of Engineering Practice at McMaster.

In addition to being a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, Art is a Board Member for IEC, and is a Scientific Advisory Board Member for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES).

Visit the W Booth School

Stephen Howe

Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Bell Canada

As Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Stephen Howe leads the Bell wireline and wireless network teams that develop, build and operate the company's high-capacity broadband networks.

Mr. Howe was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Bell Mobility where he led the rollout of Bell's world-leading HSPA+ wireless network.

Before joining Bell, Mr. Howe was Executive Vice President of Information Technology at Telus Mobility, and previously Vice President of Technology at Telus and Clearnet Communications (acquired by Telus in 2000), responsible for the design, development and expansion of wireless data, handset portfolio, switching systems and networks.

Mr. Howe has a Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering Physics from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Visit Bell Canada

Waguih Ishak

Division VP, Research Director, Corning West Technology Center

Dr. Waguih Ishak joined Corning in 2007 to head the newly formed Corning West Technology Center in Palo Alto, California.

From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Ishak was the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Avago Technologies, where he led the R&D efforts for new products in Consumer Electronics.

From 2003 to 2005, Ishak was the Vice President and Director of the Photonics & Electronics Research Lab (PERL) at Agilent Labs responsible for the R&D programs in photonics, high-speed electronics, sensors, semiconductor tests, wireless communications and consumer electronics.

From 1995 to 2003, Ishak was the Director of the Communications & Optics Research Laboratory (CORL), working on photonics and integrated electronics.

From 1987 to 1995, Ishak was the manager of the Photonics Technology Department, responsible for R&D programs in photonics for applications in measurements, communications and computer interconnects.

Ishak has authored approximately 80 journal and conference papers, and four chapters in the Handbook of Electronic Instruments.

He is a Fellow of the IEEE and was named an inventor on seven US patents. He is on the Technical Advisory Boards of USC, UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, Santa Clara University, NRC, and Panorama Venture Capital.

Ishak received a B.Sc. E.E. from Cairo University in 1971, a B.Sc. Math from Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1973, and M.Sc. E.E. and Ph.D. E.E. from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, in 1975 and 1978, respectively. In 1999, Ishak completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University.

Visit Corning West Technology Centre

Dr. Chandra Kudsia

President, Mantrix Inc., Former Chief Scientist, VP, Principal Engineer - COM DEV

Dr. Chandra Kudsia earned his M.Eng. in electrical engineering from McMaster in 1966. Chandra received a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1961 from Delhi University. He earned his Ph.D in electrical engineering in 1979 from Concordia University. He went on to become one of the founders of COM DEV International Ltd., a global designer and manufacturer of space hardware, located in Cambridge, Ontario. He started there as principal engineer in 1976 and retired in 2001 as chief scientist, and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in microwave design, particularly for satellite application. Prior to the founding of COM DEV, he worked as a Senior Engineer with RCA Limited.

His passion for space science has been recognized by his many awards and citations, including: the A.G.L. McNaughton Award & Medal, the highest honour given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for outstanding contributions to the field in Canada; the McCurdy Award, given by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI); one of only 20 Aerospace Communications Awards, which is sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of aerospace communications.

Chandra currently acts as President for his own company, Mantrix Inc., which provides full service environmental management and engineering consulting with multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, scientists and technologists. He founded Mantrix Inc. in 2001. He has also been an Adjunct Professor with the University of Waterloo since 2001.

In September 2008, he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Kitchener, Ontario. Chandra is a Fellow of IEEE, AIAA, EIC, CAE, and IETE.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Faizel Lakhani

CEO, CyberSecuriti.ai

Faizel is the CEO of CyberSecuriti.ai, a company that integrates into the Security Ops, DevSecOps and Development ops to provide API security natively in the workflow that all teams works in today.

Faizel formerly was CEO of Guavus : a Thales Company. Guavus is a streaming analytics and artificial intelligence company based in Silicon Valley, Montreal Canada and Gurgaon India. Prior to Guavus Faizel was the President, COO and Board Member of SS8; a network intelligence company. Prior to SS8,  Faizel was the vice president of Data Loss Prevention at McAfee, where he was responsible for the DLP business worldwide. Faizel joined McAfee through the acquisition of Reconnex, where he was the vice president of products and marketing. Prior to Reconnex, Faizel held executive leadership roles in product and marketing at ConSentry, Caspian Networks and Nortel Networks.

Faizel holds an MBA from The University of Ottawa, an MS in Engineering from Carleton University, and a Bachelor in Engineering from McMaster University.

Visit Guavus

Sonia Sennik

Executive Director, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)

Sonia Sennik is the Executive Director of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a seed-stage program for massively scalable, science-based companies. Sonia is responsible for the CDL’s strategic, operational and programmatic leadership, coordination and oversight to ensure the success of the Lab and its ventures across ten university-based locations in Canada, US, UK and France. The organization operates sites at the University of Toronto, University of Oxford, Georgia Tech, HEC Paris, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of British Columbia, University of Montreal, University of Calgary, University of Washingon, and Dalhousie University. Sonia is also the Executive Director of the CDL Rapid Screening Consortium, a not-for-profit organization focused on developing a cost-effective system for reopening the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having spent a decade managing large-scale capital projects (up to $500M) at Hatch Ltd., a leading global engineering firm, Sonia is well-established in guiding interdisciplinary teams of professionals working on multiple, complex projects. Their particular areas of interest include process optimization, finessing workplace culture, mentoring future leaders and actualizing the potential of their ideas.

In 2020, they founded the Sonia Sennik Resilience Fund at McMaster University to award an annual $8,000 entrance scholarship for an engineering student who has shown grit and strength of character in their life – whether that’s at school, at home, on the athletic field, or in their creative pursuits. This commitment grew into a $300,000+ endowed fund with more than 40 start-up founders, CEOs, world-leading scientists, engineers, and economists contributing to the effort.

Most recently, Sonia was named as Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, selected from hundreds of nominees by a respected and independent advisory board on four key criteria: Vision & Innovation, Leadership, Impact & Influence, and Social Responsibility.

Sonia previously served as vice-chair of the board of directors for ParticipACTION – a 50-year-old organization dedicated to helping Canadians sit less and move more. Sonia was the head coach of Rugby Ontario Senior Women’s Team from 2016 to 2018, winning bronze, silver and gold at the Canadian Rugby Championships. Sonia is a proud graduate of the MBA program at Rotman School of Management and was the first-ever recipient of the Social Impact Award. Sonia received the Rotman Emerging Leader Award to recognize their influential leadership talent to motivate, mentor and inspire others to reach their potential. They also hold a B.Eng degree from McMaster University.

Visit Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) 

Howard Shearer

Chairman, Hitachi Canada Ltd.

Howard Shearer is currently Chairman of Hitachi Canada Ltd. Previously, he served as CEO and President of the company. After joining Hitachi Canada Ltd. in 1984, Howard rose through the ranks to the position of President and CEO in 2001, and held that position until 2012. He has had a place on the Board of Directors since 1999. Prior to this, he served as Vice-President & General Manager of Hitachi Canada Ltd.’s Semiconductor division. Howard has been involved in both the high tech and energy sectors having also been employed by Texas Instruments and Murata Erie.

Howard received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University in 1977. He is very dedicated in his community involvement, as he serves on the board for large array of foundations and societies. In addition to being part of the McMaster Dean’s Advisory Board, he currently serves on the board for GE-Hitachi Canada Ltd., Metrolinx, Canadian Nurses Foundation, Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in Ontario, Canadian Nuclear Association, Energy Council of Canada, University of Toronto Governing Council and Japan society. He also serves on the Special Advisory Council to the League for Human Rights, B'nai Brith Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

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Kurt A. Strobele

Chairman of Board, Hatch (retired)

Kurt A. Strobele is currently chairman of the Hatch Group of companies. Hatch is a global engineering, technologies, and execution company with 11,000 employees working in three sectors: Metals, Energy and Infrastructure. During Dr. Strobele's tenure as Chairman and CEO (2003-2011) Hatch grew from 3,500 employees to 11,000. Service organisations were added in Brazil, Peru, the Middle East, Russia, and India. Kurt has held several senior positions within Hatch, including, Vice-President of Computer Systems; Vice-President of Engineering; Managing Director of Industrial Minerals; and Managing Director of Light Metals, which included scale-up and commercialization of new processes.

Kurt has been with Hatch since 1973, when he joined the firm after receiving his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, from McMaster University. He had received his B.Sc., Engineering, Cum Laude, from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1968. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Kurt has 40 years of design and project management experience and as a leader of scale-ups for innovative processes and technologies around the world.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

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Gina Succi

Executive Vice President, Westhill Innovation Inc

Gina Succi has over 30 years of experience in civil/structural and materials engineering, product development and construction project management. Upon graduating from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Engineering, she began her career working at Dofasco Inc in Hamilton, Ontario. Over the next 18 years, Gina worked in various capacities including leading engineering, product development teams, sales and marketing of steel-based products, and in the development of composite technologies that utilized a steel component. She is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

She left Dofasco in 2005 to pursue other interests working as a Director of Sales in the logistics industry and as Product Manager for Weir Minerals, a global mining equipment manufacturer. While in mining, she created platforms for growth for the company, and lead teams that designed and manufactured equipment to process tailings in the Oil Sands as well as traditional precious metals mining worldwide. 

Gina has several patents and continues to look for opportunities to develop new products in various fields and applications. She is now co-owner and Executive Vice President of Westhill Innovation. Westhill Innovation is a leading-edge composite materials designer and manufacturer of light-weight metal- skinned, and environmental/energy sustainable products for the commercial and recreational transportation sector.

Gina lives in Ancaster with her husband Morris and their four children. She enjoys spending time with her family in addition to her many hobbies, which include art, painting, mountain-biking and writing a cultural blog.

Visit Westhill Innovation Inc

Robert Tong

Vice President and General Manager of the Mobile, Computing, and Cloud Division, ON Semiconductor

From fledgling start-up to foreign-owned subsidiary, Robert Tong has spent 30 years navigating the waters of Waterloo Region’s tech sector.

Starting with Cambridge-based satellite company COM DEV in 1981, Tong joined Dspfactory, a spinoff of hearing-aid leader Unitron in Kitchener, in 1999. He grew the company from $250,000 to $15 million in annual sales by 2004, when it was acquired by U.S.-based AMI Semiconductor. AMI was then purchased by ON Semiconductor, a multinational based in Phoenix, in 2008.

As vice-president of ON’s medical division, with operations employing about 50 in Waterloo and 140 in Burlington, Tong has come to know the unique aspects of heading up Canadian operations for a parent company based abroad.

Mr. Tong holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University, Masters of Engineering from Waterloo University and MBA from Wilfred Laurier. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Visit ON Semiconductor

Lawrence Tse

Vice President of Engineering, Inphi

Lawrence Tse has more than 27 years of integrated circuits electronics design and development, test and product engineering and technical management experience. Mr. Tse has been with Inphi Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of High-Speed Interconnect solutions since 2010. Prior to joining Inphi, Mr. Tse was the CTO of Intremag Systems, an energy management consulting company. From 2000 to 2008, before Intremag Systems, Mr. Tse was the Vice President of Engineering of Wireless Products & Central Engineering at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. Mr. Tse 

also served as the Vice President of Engineering for Volterra Semiconductor Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of Advanced Power Management Products and previously, he held various positions at Chrontel, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of mixed-signal Visual Communication Products, including serving as Vice President of Engineering. Prior to Chrontel, Mr. Tse was with Nortel Networks, developing Optoelectronics products for SONET applications.

Mr. Tse holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University, Canada, and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

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