Nakisa has appointed Saleh Bahrololoum MBA’17 as Managing Director for the GCC region. In this role, Bahrololoum will shape Nakisa’s growth strategy, oversee regional operations, and deepen partnerships amid accelerating demand for AI powered enterprise solutions.
Since joining Nakisa in 2018, he has held several senior leadership roles, contributing to the company’s global expansion and enterprise platform scaling.
The McGill Desautels Faculty of Management MBA program is ranked 27th globally in the 2025 Corporate Knights Better World MBA ranking. This recognition highlights its leadership in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility through innovative teaching and learning methodologies. The Better World ranking evaluated 179 business schools worldwide based on the sustainability content of their core courses and the proportion of alumni working in impact-driven organizations.
McGill Desautels MBA student Kai Zhao (MBA’25) has been recognized by Poets&Quants as one of its “MBAs To Watch” for the Class of 2025.
A former Canadian Armed Forces Logistics Officer, Zhao has distinguished himself at Desautels through his leadership as VP External of the Graduate Student Society, co-captain of the MBA Games team, and organizer of major networking events connecting students with industry professionals. He also launched a free webinar series to help graduates transition smoothly to life and work in Ontario.
McGill MBA alumna Stephanie Shaw (MBA’10) is vice-president of human resources at Eldorado Gold, where she leads a global team supporting 5,000 employees. Based in Vancouver, Shaw is driving a new people strategy focused on inclusive leadership, employee experience and digital transformation.
Desautels has one of the country’s top MBA programs, and its students come from all over the world. But nearly half of this year’s cohort are Quebec residents. “This allows us to offer an experience tailored to the Quebec market, all while keeping the program’s international perspective,” says Prof. Demetrios Vakratsas, the program’s academic director.
Emotional intelligence is the cornerstone of true leadership, says Thomas Lecordier (MBA’97), the President and Director General of A2C, an association of more than one hundred creative communications agencies. The ability to manage your own emotions and understand the emotions of others can make you a better coach and a better collaborator.
Claudia Navarro (MBA’03) is Coca-Cola’s Chief of Marketing for Latin America, but her climb through the company’s ranks started out at their Toronto office. “We need to be part of the global conversation, but also be relevant locally,” Navarro told Forbes Espanol. One example is the brand’s famous Christmas branding. The Atlanta-headquartered soda company famously copyrighted the stereotypically ruddy and white-bearded Santa Claus, but in Latin America, that image is ‘tropicalized’ to better reflect local realities.
Susan Margles (BA’88, MBA’91) has been appointed President and CEO of the Ottawa International Airport Authority. Like other airports, Ottawa’s suffered during the pandemic, but it’s bouncing back with major infrastructure projects, like a new hotel and a connection to the city’s light rail transit system. Margles joins the Airport Authority after nearly two decades at Canada Post, where she—amongst other roles—served as chief people and safety officer and was responsible for human resources, labour relations and government affairs.
Kanuk jackets are made for Quebec winters—but Quebec winters aren’t as cold as they used to be. Bertrand Cesvet (BA’86, MBA’88) wants to make Kanuk jackets more versatile. Cesvet led a group of investors who recently bought the Montreal winter wear company from Champlain Financial, a private equity group. Cesvet shares with La Presse the company’s plans to sell jackets that are more suited to temperature fluctuation, making its products more appropriate for markets where it plans to expand, such as the United States.
After completing his studies at McGill, Jeremy Awori (MBA’90) worked briefly in the financial services sector in Canada before becoming head of retail banking for the Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya at just 28 years old. Today, he is director general of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, a pan-African banking conglomerate with operations in 33 countries. This year, Financial Afrik named Awori one of 100 people who are transforming Africa.
Bachir Sentissi (MBA’98) wants to make it easier to access the Internet of Things (IoT). After completing his MBA, Sentissi worked with Canadian National Railway, and became interested in how organizations collect and process information. His work with CN served as a springboard to return to Morocco to work with the Tanger Med Port Authority, and in 2011, he launched a startup called Oritech, which uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to trace shipments in supply chains. Then, in 2021, Sentissi co-founded another company called Teraflow.
Last year was one of economic uncertainty – and a challenging year for many small businesses. Despite this, small business owners demonstrated remarkable resilience, ingenuity and leadership, and looked for ways to turn obstacles into new opportunities, writes Don Ludlow (MBA’01) in CanadianSME Business Magazine.
After working in investment banking in Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo, Sarab Hans (MBA’00) returned to Canada to take the reins of the family business. Mississauga-based Hans Dairy specializes in South Asian dairy products, but Hans didn’t have experience in dairy food and beverage production and needed to learn about the manufacturing process. “Sometimes, when we come into a position where we’re expected to be a leader, we feel like we need to show we know everything,” Hans says in interview with Food in Canada.
Harriett Baldwin (MBA’85) is spearheading an extensive examination of the financial landscape for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom. Highlighting a stark gender disparity, she points out only 2% of venture capital funding in the UK goes to businesses run by women, while men fill 90% of all senior roles at hedge funds.
SALATA claims to be the ultimate destination for health nuts, and food delivery service Deliveroo UAE concurs, naming the leading built-to-order salad kitchen the best healthy restaurant in the United Arab Emirates. When Founder and CEO Georges Bandar (MBA’14) launched the delivery-only restaurant, he wanted it to offer more than leafy greens. “It was more than just a salad concept. It was a revolution,” he says. “A movement towards better living, better choices, and obviously, better tastes."
