Building Digital Community

Welcoming my friend Andrew Dupuis to the podcast for the final interview of Building Digital Community! In the final week of his MBA, Andrew is excited to leverage his management experience at Enterprise Rent-A-Car and accelerate his career into the consulting industry. Andrew has a passion for triathlons and is always looking for people to run or cycle with! Message him on LinkedIn to connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-dupuis/

The featured charity for this episode is Suns of Sphairee. Check them out here: https://ponacka.com/suns-of-sphairee/

Gurveer Dhanoa is finishing up his MBA journey at the DeGroote School of Business. He has a background as a process engineer as well as a passion for entrepreneurship, having started up multiple small businesses. He also has a passion for technology and will be starting with Deloitte as a consultant this fall.

The featured charity for this episode is Khalsa Aid International. Check them out here: https://www.khalsaaid.org/

Lesleanne is a graduate from McMaster University's Life Sciences program (HBSc '10) and the DeGroote School of Business (MBA '13), and currently works in Operations on the Client Experience team at Wealthsimple. Since graduating from Mac, she has built a career working at technology startups in healthcare, enterprise software, and financial technology. From joining two early stage startups, to one of Silicon Valley's darling tech companies, to now joining one of Canada's leading fintech companies, Lesleanne has learned what it takes to leverage new-age technology to help solve some of today's toughest business problems.

The featured charity for this episode is the Ronald McDonald House (Hamilton Location). Check them out here: https://www.rmhcsco.ca/

On this episode we're welcoming Jacob Lechowicz. Jacob is an engineer turned MBA student who has found a passion for finance. He's currently completing his CFA designation, recently writing the level 2 exam. He is set to finish up his MBA this summer before heading out East with his fiancé.

The featured charity for this episode is the Mississauga Food Bank. Check them out: https://www.themississaugafoodbank.org/

Welcome to the podcast DeGroote alumnus, Justin Baker! Justin is a Hamilton native and loyal McMaster student, graduating from both the Kinesiology program and MBA program. He has 10+ years of experience in software sales, working for companies such as Salesforce, Perfecto and DocuSign. He is also the owner of two F45 training franchises in Downtown Hamilton and Alton Village. 

The featured charity for this episode is Empowerment Squared. Check out the great work they are doing here: https://empowermentsquared.org/

Stephanie is an MBA candidate at the DeGroote School of Business. She has over four years of building business intelligence in diverse industries and has directed international strategic marketing programs from initial conceptualization to program launch and success. Through team leadership skills and fostering positive environments, she led multiple product launches, website developments, market opportunity investigations, and corporate communication strategies. This was key in building internationally recognized brands and a portfolio of revenue-driving services and products. Throughout her career, she has been led by her ambition to solve complex business challenges and create positive change, using a drive for extraordinary creativity, data driven solutions, brilliant collaboration, and transformative teamwork. She believes that success, in its highest form, is always mutual.  In her spare time, she enjoys the outdoors, cooking, and creating positive change through her consulting business.

The featured charity for this episode is Roots to Harvest. Check them out here: http://www.rootstoharvest.org/

We're back with a brand new season of Building Digital Community! To kick off season 4, we've got Chris Pimentel. 

Prior to starting the MBA program, Chris worked as a reporter for five years in Peterborough, Six Nations (First Nation Reserve), and Milton. He is a massive sports fan, including a Leafs, Colts, Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs), Raptors, and Mets fan. Also, pre-covid he spent about 7 years coaching football in Mississauga at the high school and rep level.

The featured charity for this episode is the Terry Fox Foundation. Check the out here: https://terryfox.org/

Felipe Senisterra is a McMaster student to his core, graduating with a BA in Political Science and MBA with a double major in finance and strategic business valuations. During his time with DeGroote he held co-op roles with companies such as Ford and Eli Lilly before finding a passion for commercial real estate. Today Felipe is a mogul in the commercial real estate world having help roles with companies such as Cresa and currently with Colliers as a Commercial Real Estate Consultant.

The features charities for this episode are Habitat for Humanity (https://habitat.ca/en) and Options for Homes (https://www.optionsforhomes.ca/).

Reach out to Felipe at [email protected]

Jordan is a current MBA Co-op student at the DeGroote School of Business. Before entering the MBA program Jordan received his degree in Sport Management at Brock University in 2017. He worked in various roles before deciding that an MBA was the best course of action for his long-term career objectives. Having a passion for marketing, finance, and analytics, Jordan hopes to gain valuable knowledge throughout his MBA that will better equip him to invoke positive change in his future career endeavours. Outside of school Jordan is an avid sports fan, he loves both playing, and watching sports. One interesting fact about Jordan Is that he is a huge Marvel fan and has seen every movie more times than he can count.

The featured charity for this episode is Carpenter Hospice: https://www.thecarpenterhospice.com/

Joel graduated from DeGroote’s Co-op MBA in 2014. On the search for variety, his co-ops spanned the auto industry, ad agency world, and consulting. Upon graduating from DeGroote, he joined the Leadership Development Program at RBC, rotating through multiple roles in Personal & Commercial Banking over two years. From the LDP, Joel moved over to RBC’s Technology & Operations department where he held multiple roles in the Innovation space. This included leading tech talent programs and managing the banks tech ecosystem partnerships. In April 2021, Joel left the bank to move full-time onto his startup called Rise Market that he launched in 2020 with three business partners.