Dr. Ather Akbari

Faculty - Economics

Dr. Ather Akbari is a professor of economics at Saint Mary’s University. He is a labour economist with research interest in issues related to economics of immigration, who has been invited to Ottawa to present his research findings on Parliamentary Committees.. He has published in several major peer-reviewed journals on public finance and labour market impacts of immigration in Canada and has conducted many research projects for federal and provincial governments in Canada. His most recent work is entitled Immigration in Nova Scotia: Who comes, who stays, who leaves and why? His work has also attracted attention in national and international newspapers such as The Globe and Mail, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and The Economist magazine. Dr. Akbari chairs the Atlantic Research Group on Economics of Immigration, Aging and Diversity (ARGEIAD) and is also the Academic Director of the Master of Applied Economics (MAE) program at the Sobey School of Business. 

 

Featured
Dr. Ather Akbari
Dr. Ather Akbari

Labour Market Economics

Dr. Ashraf Al Zaman
Dr. Ashraf Al Zaman

Household Finance and Pension Planning

Dr. Najah Attig
Dr. Najah Attig

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Dr. Yigit Aydede
Dr. Yigit Aydede

Machine Learning & Big Data

Eleanor Beaton
Eleanor Beaton

Leadership

Dr. Matthew Boland
Dr. Matthew Boland

Advanced Data Analytics

Dr. Patricia Bradshaw
Dr. Patricia Bradshaw

Non-Profit Governance

Wendy Brookhouse
Wendy Brookhouse

Financial Advisor & Money Coach

Dr. Wendy Carroll
Dr. Wendy Carroll

Workforce Strategies, Employee Silence in Organizations, Evidence-based Management

Dr. Claudia De Fuentes
Dr. Claudia De Fuentes

Technology & Innovation

Rob Hunt
Rob Hunt

Consumer Insolvency - Grant Thornton Limited

Dr. Rahman Khokhar
Dr. Rahman Khokhar

Empirical Corporate Finance

Roger King
Roger King

Franchising and specialty retail

Dr. Margaret McKee
Dr. Margaret McKee

Organizational governance, Responsible leadership, Business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Karen Miner
Karen Miner

Humanistic governance and management, social economy and cooperative perspective, sustainable development goals

Karn Nichols
Karn Nichols

Talent Recruitment & Management and Mental Health

Dr. Sonja Novkovic
Dr. Sonja Novkovic

Cooperative economics and governance, economic participation, sustainability indicators from the cooperative perspective

Dr. Christine Panasian
Dr. Christine Panasian

FinTech and Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) criteria for Responsible Investing

Dr. Ethan Pancer
Dr. Ethan Pancer

Marketing Management & Consumer Behaviour

Dr. Mohammad Rahaman
Dr. Mohammad Rahaman

Syndicated Loans, Corporate Restructuring, and International Competitiveness

Dr. Majid Tajhavi
Dr. Majid Tajhavi

Stochastic Optimization & Data Analytics

Dr. Ramesh Venkat
Dr. Ramesh Venkat

Marketing & Retail

Dr. Hai Wang
Dr. Hai Wang

Advanced Data Analytics, SME (big data and knowledge management solutions)

Dr. Michael Zhang
Dr. Michael Zhang

Mental Health, Supply Chain Disruption, Advanced Data Analytics

Executive-In-Residence

Ian Smith headshot.jpg

Ian D. Smith | Chief Executive Officer

Clearwater Seafoods Limited Partnership

Ian D. Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of Clearwater Seafoods.  Mr. Smith joined Clearwater in May 2010 and has over 33 years of international experience in the food and consumer products industry.  Prior to joining Clearwater, Mr. Smith held senior leadership positions at the Campbell Soup Company within Canada, the United States and China.  Prior to his time at Campbell’s, Mr. Smith held various marketing, sales and international business development positions with Allergan, Colgate-Palmolive and the Gillette Company.

Mr. Smith currently participates as a director on a number of boards and advisory councils focused on international trade and public policy including; The Business Council of Canada and the Asia Business Leaders Advisory Council of the Asia Pacific Foundation.  He is a graduate of McGill University (BA Economics, MBA), a former Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve and currently serves as Honorary Colonel of 36 Canadian Engineer Regiment located in the Province of Nova Scotia.

Alumni-In-Residence

Wendy Luther | President and Chief Executive Officer

Halifax Partnership

Wendy Luther Proud Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University. EMBA’08

Wendy Luther is a leader in economic and export development, with vast experience promoting Nova Scotia and its assets globally. Halifax Partnership is Halifax’s public-private economic development

organization. Wendy joined as President & CEO in 2019. In 2023, Halifax

Partnership was honoured with four Excellence in Economic Development

Awards from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)

including Gold for Economic Development Organization of the Year. Prior to joining Halifax Partnership, Wendy was President & CEO of EduNova, a co-operative association of public and private-sector education providers committed to promoting Nova Scotia’s knowledge economy internationally. Under her leadership, EduNova was honoured with the prestigious international PIEoneer Association of the Year Award in 2017. Earlier in her career, Wendy worked in export development with the Atlantic Canada World Trade Centre and Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) where she led trade missions to over twenty countries and has mentored and advised hundreds of Nova Scotian exporters on how to be competitive in international markets. At NSBI, through her role as Nova Scotia’s first Private Sector Liaison Officer (PSLO), she was appointed by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank to connect entrepreneurs and institutions to opportunities funded by International Financial Institutions. Wendy has served on and led numerous boards and committees including advisory boards for two private sector companies (Canada and U.S. based). Currently, Wendy serves on the Board of Directors and the Management Resources and Compensation Committee of Canadian-owned LED Roadway Lighting; the Board of Directors and as Vice Chair of the Governance Committee of Mitacs, a national not-for-profit organization focused on increasing Canada’s innovation competitiveness; and is Membership Chair on the Executive Committee of the International Women's Forum (IWF) Atlantic Chapter. Born in Vancouver, Wendy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA from Saint Mary’s University. She holds a Certified International Trade Professional designation (CITP) and is an alumna of the Caribbean Canada Emerging Leaders Dialogue and Royal Canadian Navy Canadian Leaders at Sea (CLaS) Program. In November 2023, she attained her ICD.D designation through the Institute of Corporate Directors, Director Education Program and is really geeking out on governance! In March 2023 Wendy was honoured with Atlantic Canada's 25 Most Powerful Women in Business award.