Speakers
NANCY MATHIS
MICHAEL SHUTE
Executive Director
Wallace McCain Institute at UNB
New Brunswick
www.Wallacemccaininstitute.com
nancy.mathis@wallacemccaininstitute.com
Nancy sees herself as a serial “founder”. Her role at the Wallace McCain Institute combines her experiences as the co-founder and innovative force behind Mathis Instruments with her teaching background at UNB. The role also enables her personal mission to “build and nurture the most highly connected community of entrepreneurial leaders in North America”. Her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering supports her calling to design practical systems, programs and frameworks necessary to undertake such a mission.
She has been recognized on a national scale with awards in innovation, entrepreneurship and engineering - as well as for supporting others in those fields. She has been deeply engaged in the economic development in the region through her support of the NB Business Council, NB2026, FutureNB, 21Inc, Junior Achievement, NBITC, PropelICT, the NB Securities Commission and the Pond-Deshpande Center.
Michael Shute is a full professor in the Religious Studies Department at Memorial University of Newfoundland and teaches courses in ethics and religion and culture. He author of numerous articles on the work of Canadian philosopher Bernard Lonergan and four books including Improving Moral Decision-Making (with William J. Zanardi), The Origins of Lonergan’s Notion of the Dialectic of History and Lonergan’s Discovery of the Science of Economics. He is also the founding editor of the Journal of Macrodynamic Analysis, an open source journal devoted to interdisciplinary methodology. He is currently working on a book, The Two-Circuit Approach to Economic Health.
SUSAN HOLT
Susan Holt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the New Brunswick Business Council, a unique group of 24 CEOs of the province’s largest and most successful businesses. She leads these titans of industry to help build a more competitive and growing economy in her home province. Prior to this challenging role, Susan led the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, where she elevated the organization to become the go-to voice for business issues in the province. She recently made the jump from the private sector to the non-profit sector after more than a decade of working around the world, from Toronto and Ottawa to Australia and India. After completing degrees in Chemistry and Economics at Queen's University, she has worked for some of the world's most successful firms - Xerox, Manpower, HP, Cognos/IBM and most recently Research In Motion, in sales, HR and management roles.
Susan was recently recognized as one of Atlantic Canada’s Top 50 Emerging Leaders, and exercises her passion for engaging youth to achieve their full economic potential as a board director for Actua, a national non-profit. She is also a council member of her local Junior Achievement branch, on the boards of the NB Lung Association, the Joint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI) and the Fredericton Playhouse, and a member of the sponsorship committee for the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival.
DR. YVES BOURGEOIS
Dr. Yves Bourgeois is director of UNB’s Urban and community studies institute, which seeks to promote better understanding of the challenges facing smaller cities. His own area of expertise is innovation, creativity and economic development, having authored several books, chapters and articles internationally. He holds a PhD in Regional and international development from UCLA, a Masters in technology studies from Edinburgh and a Masters in Philosophy and economics from Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar. Yves also worked for Microsoft in Australia and for the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. Originally from Grande-Digue, he and his wife Andreea are expecting their fourth.