People

Dr. Bilal Farooq

Program Director
MEIE

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Growing up in Pakistan, Bilal Farooq was always taking things apart. “I have some pretty remarkable engineers in my family,” he says. “One of them brought me a computer. I treated it like the TVs, telephones and cassette players I had come across, and opened it right up. I always wanted to know how things work internally.”

Farooq calls this approach “learning through curiosity,” and it still drives him today. After earning a master’s in computer science – a new field at the time – he pursued a doctorate in transportation engineering. He knew little about it, but he was intrigued by the overlap between computer and transportation networks.

Now a Canada Research Chair in disruptive transportation technologies and services, Farooq’s spirit of inquiry animates his work in traffic flow simulation and prediction, connected autonomous vehicles, and urban congestion.

“In Toronto, we have existing transportation problems and new ways to solve them,” he says. “For example, connected autonomous vehicles that tap into distributed routing systems are highly effective in reducing travel time without creating additional complications. That’s one among my many research interests in traffic modelling, congestion relief and greener travel.”

Dr. Dan McGillivray

Distinguished Visiting Professor
Research & Innovation Office

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Dr. Dan McGillivray is currently a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, formerly Ryerson). He is also an Associate Member (Adjunct Professor) in the Yates School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies where he participates in two programs – Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEIE) and Environmental Applied Science and Management (EnSciMan) –

and teaches two graduate courses: Energy Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Responding to Climate Change. Prior to joining TMU, Dan held a number of professional positions, including: Sessional Professor of Geography at Trent University; Physical Oceanographer, and later Vice-President, with Metrological and Environmental Planning; CEO of Environmental Software Consultants; Principal of Proxima Innovation; and Managing Director of two centres at the Ontario Centres of Excellence (now Ontario Centre of Innovation) - the Centre for Energy and the Centre for Earth and Environmental Technologies. In 2011, Dan joined TMU’s Centre for Urban Energy (CUE) as the Toronto Hydro Distinguished Fellow and was later appointed Executive Director of that Centre. Having completed his term at CUE in 2016, Dan was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Tarek Sadek P. Eng. PhD 

Course EI 8004

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Tarek is the Executive Director, Center of Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Dr. Sadek is an experienced innovation and product commercialization leader; an expert in establishing entrepreneurial ecosystems and commercialization of research, with over 10 years of experience in new venture creation. He received his PhD in establishing entrepreneurial ecosystems. He has a demonstrated ability in mentoring entrepreneurs while they are commercializing novel solutions. Dr. Sadek has the refined ability to develop and present relevant business cases creating valued relationships with stakeholders. 

Martin Croteau

Course EI 8005

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As an Entrepreneur and Angel Investor, Martin is passionate about entrepreneurship. Throughout his career, Martin has worked with dozens of early-stage technology start-ups as a founder, an investor, a consultant and an academic, providing him with a uniquely diverse perspective on the factors that lead to startup success. Martin was the Director of Academic Entrepreneurship at the Ontario Centres of Excellence. He oversaw OCE’s SmartStart Seed Fund and GlobalStart Program which fuel the growth and global reach of Ontario’s top startup companies. Before joining OCE, Martin was the founder and Executive Director of Spark Centre, an innovation centre that helps new technology companies get off the ground. He was also a co-founder and board member of the Spark Angel Investment Network. As an entrepreneur, Martin was on the founding team of Slipstream Data Inc., a University of Waterloo Startup company that was acquired by Blackberry in 2006.

Rodrigo Madriz

Course EI 8006

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Rodrigo has led three technology startups from idea to commercialization. He has negotiated/closed over $200M in service-level contracts with publicly listed companies and governments within Canada and Internationally. Rodrigo has also led the development and commercialization of multiple digital initiatives in areas of technology, media, telecommunications and payments at TELUS, Bell Canada and others. Earlier in his career he worked on product management and sales with Husky Injection Moulding Systems and other leading power generation and system automation vendors. Rodrigo holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, (Class Rank 3rd out of 49) from the Central University of Venezuela, Master of Engineering Management (R&D Management track) from the Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and an M.B.A. (Strategy & Entrepreneurship) from York University’s Schulich School of Business. He is a World Bank Graduate Fellowship Recipient and a Canadian “Top 40 under 40” nominee.

Wesley Kossiba

Course EI 8007

  LinkedIn profiie (external link) 

As the director of programs for the Lab2Market Network, Wesley supports some of Canada’s most promising researchers in assessing the commercial potential of their innovations. With over six years of experience in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, as a founder, program developer and administrator at TMU, Wesley has situated himself at the forefront of research commercialization programming. Wesley is an alumnus of TMU’s Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship program and a Lean Startup and Customer Discovery lecturer

Michael McCarthy

Course EI 8009

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An Executive Advisor, board member and investor within the entrepreneurial community in Toronto, Michael works with diverse innovative entrepreneurial software companies to enhance profitability, develop products, expand markets, optimize operations and refine strategic direction. In addition to his roles mentoring entrepreneurial companies, Michael teaches leadership and entrepreneurship at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto and at the Faculty of Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University.

He is the former CEO of three business application software companies: Springer-Miller Systems, Vermont (ERP: Hospitality), MSI Solutions, Arizona (ERP: Hospitality), and Dealertrack Technologies Canada, Toronto (Fin-Tech: Automotive Retail). In addition to holding executive roles at both Davis+Henderson (DH: TSX) and Scotiabank (BNS: TSX) Michael has worked as a Venture Capitalist and Management Consultant in the technology sector. Michael holds B.Sc. (University of Toronto), B.A. (University of Toronto), M.B.A. (McMaster University & Manchester Business School) and M.A. (Royal Military College) degrees.