Latest News
- Category: Business Analytics and Performance
Dr. Yeoh will be visiting from October 20 to 30, 2015 and will be engaged in BI research in collaboration with Greg Richards.
Dr. William Yeoh is a faculty member in Dept of Information Systems and Business Analytics (DISBA) at Deakin University. He is also the Co-Director for Australia's first IBM Centre of Excellence in Business Analytics housed at Deakin. His teaching experience includes Business Intelligence (incl IBM Cognos), Enterprise Systems (incl SAP), Information Systems Analysis and Design, Database Design, etc. He has been actively involved in supervision of HDR students. He has successfully co-supervised 3 Masters (by research) to completion, and is currently co-supervising 4 PhD students. His main research area includes Business Intelligence/Analytics, Information Quality and Information Systems. His research has appeared in high-tier journals and most competitive top five IS conferences (i.e. ICIS, ECIS, PACIS, AMCIS & ACIS). Recently he has been appointed as an International Collaborative Partner (ICP) of UTAR Global Research Network, as well as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow of University of South Australia. In his spare time, he enjoys playing badminton.
To contact Dr Yeoh during his stay, please contact Greg Richards at
- Category: Rising Stars
Marina Kidisyuk, co-president of the uOttawa International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) program, will be in Boston with the rest of her team presenting their synthetic biology project at The Giant Jamboree.
This year, the team will be creating a tri-stable switch, modelling cell differentiation in yeast that can ultimately lead to improved regenerative therapies using stem cells while the business outreach team will be exploring the fair use of genetic material between industry and academia via a policy paper all the while using art to create a platform for public engagement.
The uOttawa team typically consist of 20-25 undergraduate students with varying levels of experience, and 3-4 graduate and faculty advisors who work on aspects of one or more specific projects.
“I was always interested in innovative ideas and I saw iGEM as an opportunity to get involved in a project that is pushing the boundaries of future technology. The field of synthetic biology is still relatively new, but I find it exciting that it could hold many sustainable and non-invasive solutions to unanswered environmental and medical problems today,” says Kidisyuk. This is her second year involved in the program.
Marina, having a particular interest towards the biotechnology industry, chose to study at the Telfer School of Management for its focus on innovation and Ottawa’s multitude of biotechnology companies. She enjoys her field of study as she says: “It [Accounting] is the language of business, and business has the power to turn a creative idea into a real world application which can drastically change our future for the better.”
The class that has left the biggest impression on Marina so far has been Business Law with Gilles LeVasseur. “The biggest lesson I learned from him is to plan for and cover every single step in business no matter how trivial you think it is at first, which has served to be invaluable in my experience as someone who is interested in entrepreneurship and intellectual property,” she says.
Marina’s future goals are to bridge the gap between industry and academia. She hopes to be able to connect to students and industry leaders in science so that through collaboration, creative ideas can become reality. She says: “Today biotechnology is at the forefront of leading innovation, and as a business student I want to be involved in making sure that the right inventions can create solutions to unsolved real-world problems.”
Last year, the iGEM uOttawa team received the Silver Medal at the 2014 iGEM Giant Jamboree from among 245 universities world-wide. The Giant Jamboree is taking place at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston from September 24 – 28, 2015.
- Category: Latest News
On May 9, 2015 candidates from the Class of 2016 travelled to Silicon Valley as a part of Telfer Executive MBA's Innovation and Entrpreneurship Trip and Consulting Project.
Over the duration of the week, the teams of candidates will finalize their findings and will submit their final recommendations to their San Jose-based start-up client. The objective of the report is to address a business problem as well as to understand the challenges and opportunities of doing business in a highly innovative environment.
In addition, candidates will also visit several of the world's leading technology companies, attend private executive briefings with senior Silicon Valley leaders and see first-hand previews of the future technology and innovation. Technology companies on the agenda for this year include IBM, AVAYA Inc., Stanford University, Rocketspace, Google, Aruba Networks, and US Market Access Centre.
Teams will be contributing to a daily blog which will be featured on the Telfer Executive MBA webpage as well as the Ottawa Business Journal.
Anticipation for the trip
Published on Monday, May 14, 2015 by Salim Charabati, Telfer Executive MBA candidate
The return of Silicon Valley North?
Published on Tuesday, May 15, 2015 by Deepali Bhatt, Telfer Executive MBA candidate
Lessons learned on day one
Published on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 by Taylor Bildstein, Telfer Executive MBA candidate
Touring IBM and more
Published on Thursday, May 21, 2015 by Mathieu Leduc, Telfer Executive MBA candidate
- Category: Latest News
What do Queen’s, Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, Peking and the London School of Economics all have in common? These are just some of the schools who were surpassed by Telfer’s team in the 2015 Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC). Following an intense two days of competition (Feb. 20 – 21), among 50 different teams from across the globe, Telfer’s team emerged 9th. This is all the more impressive considering that the competition was largely made up of graduate-level students in finance and quantitative engineering.
This year’s team consisted of six of our highest-performing finance students: Ian Harten, Cassy Aite, Malanga Mposha, Ethan Zhang, William Tu and Daniel Shannon and coached by Pouya Safi, the Manager of the Financial Research and Learning Lab. The team was formed following their exceptional performance at the Telfer Trading Competition in October. Since then, the team had been meeting regularly to devise their strategies and practice on the RIT software. Anyone passing the Financial Research and Learning Lab was likely to have seen these team-mates preparing for the competition. This preparation only became more intense as the competition approached. By the time reading week had started, RITC team members could be found practicing round the clock. Even on the train ride down to Toronto, the team continued to fine-tune its strategies.
RITC is an annual competition that pits teams of finance, economics and mathematics students against one another in six intense competitive events.
First among them was the BP Commodities case. Here team members were assigned roles as traders, producers or refiners. The team had to work together to interpret market signals and trade various petroleum commodities and futures contracts.
The Optiver Options case, in which the team finished 9th, had the team analyze market data to trade different call options on a fictitious exchange-traded fund. Competitors devised a model that collected, interpreted and modeled this data and devised a strategy to successfully trade on this model’s data.
The Sales & Trading case, in which we finished 10th, required participants to take on the role of a trader and make rapid evaluations of liquidity risk. Throughout the case, the traders had to assess the value and risk level of dozens of tender offers and execute trades on the positions gained through these tender offers. Success was determined by the team’s ability to manage its market exposure while exploiting market-making opportunities.
The S&P Capital IQ Equity Valuation case consisted of building a discounted cash flow model for four companies. As news items were released during the competition, updates had to be incorporated in to the model. As these new data emerged, players traded all four stocks to exploit possible market mispricing.
The Algorithmic Trading cash, in which the team finished 9th , focused on the development of a trading algorithm that would analyze market data and trade on that data, all while avoiding market penalties. Requiring a tremendous amount of preparation, this case was carried out by a single team member, Ethan Zhang, sequestered in a closed room.
The most colourful competition was definitely the Quantitative Outcry Case, in which Telfer placed 2nd. This involved two team members acting as market analysts and incorporating market data in to a model of four countries’ GDP in order to price a market index. This estimate was then transmitted via silent hand signals to two other team-members working in an open-outcry trading pit. These players, dressed in bright costumes to make themselves more visible to the analysts, bought and sold based on the analysts’ instructions.
This was only the second time for Telfer to participate at the competition, and they saw a huge improvement from last years’ 40th place finish. The practice, hard work and dedication played an instrumental role. Those on the team that are not graduating are already thinking about next year’s competition. However, no one is guaranteed a returning spot, they must all earn their spot next year. The bar is set high for a top 5 finish in 2016. A special thanks also goes to the Telfer Marketing Department, SFUO and Career Centre for their help in funding the expenses of attending the competition.
- Category: Rising Stars
The University of Ottawa iGEM team traveled to Boston, MA for the annual iGEM World Jamboree competition which was held from October 30 to November 1. The team of students from science, engineering, and Telfer competed against hundreds of university teams from other parts of the world for the most innovative application of synthetic biology. This was a particularly successful year as our team took home the silver medal in the undergraduate division for our tri-stable switch, a system responsible for cell differentiation.
This was a successful year for the finance team as well. It reached out to sponsors and set up fundraisers to ensure sufficient funding so that as many of the team members as possible could attend the competition. This experience in Boston has helped students connect with many innovative students from all over the world, who have now become contacts for future collaborations.
iGEM will resume its activities in the new year and will be looking forward to more unique experiences on the team and establishing a closer link between business and science collaborations.
- Category: Appointments and Honours
Marvin Hough, Executive in Residence at Telfer and University of Alberta (BCom and MBA) graduate has spent a significant part of his career promoting Canada-India trade relations. He is also President of MIRA, an international consulting firm.
Marvin served 30 years at Export Development Canada (EDC) where he supported many Canadian firms selling to or investing in India through the provision of financing and insurance services. During his EDC career, he also undertook a four year assignment in India with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development as a Trade Commissioner in India to gain on the ground experience.
Since retiring from EDC, Marvin has continued to support the effort by teaching in the EMBA and undergraduate programs at Telfer (where he has developed courses on doing business in India and organizing the annual India Forum). He has also been active in supporting Indo-Canadian trade, through his work as a Director of the Canada–India Business Council (C-IBC) and member of the Indo-Canadian Ottawa Business Chamber (ICOBC). Marvin's long term efforts in supporting Indo-Canadian trade have recently earned him an Award of Excellence from the ICOBC.
According to Marvin, since his assignment in India 25 years ago, there have been some very positive developments in both the Indian business environment and the relations between Canada and India. He believes that, in many ways, the timing for Indo-Canadian commercial collaboration has never been better and the Indian market never more exciting.
The recent election in India offers great promise that economic reform will ramp up and that some of the red tape will be removed. Further, according to Marvin, government to government relations are also poised to bring us a free trade agreement as we move forward.
From Marvin's perspective, the big question is whether Canadian firms will get serious about India and make a commitment to the market. The modest level of two way trade between Canada and India ($6 billion) can be attributed to a considerable degree to the lack of commitment by Canadian firms. Canadian executives must understand that they not only need to commit time and money to penetrate the market, they need to adapt their approach from that used in the US and other developed markets.
In India, Canadian firms need a more flexible agenda, they need to connect and build trust and really focus on relationships. They need to understand that an effective presence in the market is crucial and adapt to the local business culture. They also need to be well prepared for tough negotiation and very price conscious buyers.
Marvin intends to continue his efforts to support the cause through his teaching at Telfer, his work at the C-IBC and his consulting advice to Canadian firms looking to penetrate the Indian market. "Above all, to realize the potential, we need to demonstrate that Canadians are committed to long term relationships with India and that we are willing and able to adapt to the market".
Photo: Indian High Commissioner Admiral (Retd) Nirmal Verma with Marvin Hough
- Category: Latest News
On October 17th, 15 students from the Telfer School of Management embarked on a journey to China that truly brought them a once in a lifetime experience.
Enactus uOttawa is a non-profit organization consisted of a community of student leaders who are committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world. With 5 incredible projects with this common goal, Enactus uOttawa is currently one of the top teams in Canada, thereby leading to the opportunity to attend and support Team Canada, represented by Enactus Memorial, at the 2014 Enactus World Cup Competition in Beijing, China! Thus, 15 representatives from Enactus uOttawa flew to Beijing, China on October 17 to participate in this Olympic equivalent of the Enactus world.
The experience that followed is one that we will cherish for our entire lives.
Our team arrived in Beijing and experienced numerous exciting tourist attractions: The Summer Palace, the lively markets, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and of course, The Great Wall of China. Not to mention the luging we did down the mountain from the Great Wall!
With 34 countries represented, ranging from Brazil and South Africa to Russia and Australia, the competition began with a fair that featured all the countries’ cultures, including clothing, food, and activities. It was an exciting experience to venture through this large room filled with people from, quite literally, all around the world!
The World Cup competition presentations showcased the teams’ outreach projects’ and their ability to positively impact people’s lives. Team Canada advanced as far as the semi-finals, with Ireland, China, Morocco, and Puerto Rico progressing to the finals which were held the following day.
In the end, China was named the 2014 World Cup Enactus Champions in front of a roaring crowd of over 5,000 student, academic and business leaders! Their project created a wind and solar generator system that supplied electricity to local herdsman and in turn, doubling their annual income. Throughout the competition, there were also some fascinating speaker panels, featuring the CEO of Walmart, the Executive Vice President of Coca Cola, President of the U.S. Foundation of KPMG LLP, as well as many others.
It was an experience to remember, and we were extremely excited to have had the chance to not only explore Beijing, but meet hundreds of incredible like-minded friends who are change-makers —just like us— from around the world.
by: Liora Raitblat
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Student Voices
The following article was written by a member of our student community. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Telfer School of Management. For more information or to flag inappropriate content, please