Professors of Practice

GINA JENEROUX

Gina Jeneroux is on a mission to change how people learn and build new skills to prepare for a bold future – starting now. She is a business-focused professional, and she is passionate about the future of work. Through a career spanning more than 30 years in the financial services and learning industries, Gina has developed deep expertise in business leadership and human-centered design and predicting and developing skills for the future. She has a proven track record of creating and driving strategies and solutions that make an impact. Gina holds an MBA, Financial Services from Dalhousie University, and she has led her teams to win more than 20 global industry awards. Gina has been an active member of the World Economic Forum’s Reskilling Revolution since 2020, she is a Board Member for the Students Commission of Canada, and she sits on the executive advisory boards for various learning, technology and professional networks.

KAMAL HASSAN

Kamal Hassan is a Managing Partner at Loyal VC, an entrepreneurial CEO and angel investor. His professional and philanthropic experiences include time as a Global Director with the Founder Institute accelerator, former INSEAD Alumni Association President, a consultant at Bain & Co, and an engineer at IMAX. Kamal has an INSEAD MBA and a degree in engineering physics from Queen’s University. He has traveled to over 100 countries and speaks five languages.

MARC LIJOUR

Marc Lijour is the Vice-President at the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) and leads Capacity and Innovation Readiness initiatives. A certified educator with experience on several continents, he worked as Education Officer at the Ontario Ministry of Education, advising on policies such as the revision of the Technological Education curriculum (2009) and drafting the first RFP framework to procure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for the Ontario Public Service. Marc was instrumental in launching new programs such as Ontario’s e-Learning Strategy and Ontario’s equity and inclusive education strategy.

Ten years ago, Marc joined the private sector to provide consulting services, starting at Cisco to invent the future of education alongside world leaders, before moving to other industries while digital technologies continued to challenge the way every industry sector creates value for their customers, competes on the global scene, and grows sustainably. He joined ICTC to develop research-informed and evidence-based capacity building programs to help Canadians enjoy a rewarding career in the digital economy. ICTC’s iAdvance framework has been highlighted in a recent OECD report as one of the best practices for workforce development, to upskill and reskill for jobs in AI, Blockchain, IoT, Robotics, 5G,

and other emerging fields.

For the last six years, Marc has specifically focused on blockchain/Web3 technologies. He contributed to building the consulting arm at ConsenSys, launched the first college program for Blockchain Developers in Canada, co-founded DeFi Toronto, and took the lead of IEEE Blockchain in Canada. He participates in several industry program advisory committees (PACs) at leading Canadian post-secondary institutions.

Marc holds degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and the Management of Technology and Innovation (MBA). He serves on the board of multiple not-for-profit organizations in the tech industry, such as La French Tech Toronto, the Blockchain Education Initiative, and TechConnex.

CHRIS RING

Chris Ring is an Enterprise Agile Transformation Consultant in IBM’s CyberSecurity organization. Chris has developed significant insights into leadership and operational excellence through varied roles in his 37-year career.

He has led major business and operational transformations within IBM and with external clients, deploying industry-leading concepts to improve business outcomes simultaneously with increasing employee engagement. The key enabler of these transformations revolve around creating an environment where opinions are freely shared, evaluated, and implemented by all stakeholders.

Chris’ previous roles have afforded him a unique insight into today’s state of business. From his early days as a support technician, to his varied leadership roles in Service Delivery, Operations and Solutions clients that spanned the globe, all prepared him for his most recent roles driving business and digital transformation. He has had the good fortune to work, learn and partner with colleagues in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.

Chris is often called upon to share his insights at business transformation conferences where he shares that the best prepared businesses are comprised of people with a strong sense of intellectual curiosity leveraging technological levers like AI and ML to create a culture of continuous improvement, infused with a restless thirst for innovation, guided by a strong ethical framework and enabled with empathy.

Through this approach, Chris has been fortunate to work with colleagues that share his own personal vision that has yielded new global support models, innovative, bespoke tooling, and ground-breaking educational approaches to technical support that positively shaped business outcomes for clients.

Chris resides in Niagara Ontario with his wife of 36 years, where they enjoy the beauty of the region and the warm company of friends.

PROFESSOR JATIN NATHWANI

Professor Jatin Nathwani is the founding Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) and the inaugural Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy (2007- 2020) at the University of Waterloo. He co-directs, with Professor Joachim Knebel (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) the Global Change Initiative – Affordable Energy for Humanity (AE4H), comprising 150+ leading STEM experts, social scientists, and practitioners from 50+ institutions in 30 countries committed to eradicating global energy poverty. At the Balsillie School of International Affairs, he leads the research cluster ‘STEM for Global Resilience.’ At WISE, he led research initiatives on accelerating energy transitions for a zero-carbon economy through systems assessments of technology, financing strategies, risk management and public policy. Prior to his academic appointment, Professor Nathwani worked in a leadership capacity in the Canadian energy sector for 30 years. He has provided policy advice to the federal and the provincial governments. As a key contributor to Ontario’s electricity system plans, he has played an important role in advancing environmental sustainability at all stages of planning. As the inaugural member of the ‘Energy Transition Network of Ontario (ETNO), he remains engaged at the interface of power system planning and the emergent digital economy. Professor Nathwani serves on several Boards at the provincial and national levels and has appeared frequently in the media (print, TV, radio) and has more than 200 publications related to energy policy, environment, and risk management.

PROFESSOR WALTER LEAL

Professor Walter Leal holds the Chairs of Climate Change Management at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). He directs the Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainability Development and Climate Change Management”, is the founder of the European School of Sustainability Science and Research and of the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP). His field experience in over 70 countries, involves missions undertaken on behalf of various international organisations (e.g. European Union, World Bank, OECD, UNESCO, UNEP) and attendance to specialised events in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and Pacific Region, and the Middle East. Professor Walter Leal is also Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals currently being prepared. With 17 volumes, one devoted to each SDG, more than 1.700 chapters and in excess of 2.300 authors, this is the largest editorial project on matters related to sustainable development, ever undertaken. He has also contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a Review Editor (AR5) and Lead Author and Contributing Author (AR6), he is the founder and Chairman of the International Climate Change Research and Information Programme (ICCIRP), created in 2008. His main research interests are in the fields of sustainable development and climate change, also including aspects of climate change and health.

PROFESSOR ERIC TSUI

Professor Eric Tsui is Associate Director of the Behaviour and Knowledge Engineering (BAKE) Research Centre and a Senior Educational Development Officer in the Educational Development Centre at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a Regional Editor of Journal of Knowledge Management and has led and delivered a master Knowledge Management program for more than 15 years. He has also championed many technology-enhanced Teaching and Learning projects and is a crusader of blended learning at the university. His research interests include Knowledge Management technologies, blended learning, cloud services, and collaborations. He is also the leader of a Professional Certificate which is covered by two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on edX covering the topics of Knowledge Management, Big Data and Industry 4.0. Professor Tsui i provides consultancy and professional services to many private organisations, NGOs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Japan and Brunei. He has B.Sc. (Hons.), PhD and MBA qualifications. A recipient of various Knowledge Management and E-Learning international awards including the Knowledge Management Award for Excellence in 2021.