Dr. Sonja Novkovic

Faculty - Economics

Academic director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management, Saint Mary’s university

Sonja Novkovic is a Professor of Economics and Academic director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management at Saint Mary’s.

She serves as Chair of the International Co-operative Alliance Research Committee, and a member of the NCBA-CLUSA Council of Economists.

Her research interests are in the field of economic democracy, including labor-managed and cooperative firms, social economy, and comparative economic systems. She is participating in a four-year research project on co-operative governance funded by FWO – Belgium. She also contributed to a project of the UNRISD working group on Sustainability Indicators from the social solidarity economy perspective. Her co-edited volumes include Co-operatives and the World of Work (Routledge, 2019); Cooperativism and Local Development in Cuba: An agenda for Democratic Transformation (Brill, 2018); Co-operative Governance Fit to Build Resilience in the Face of Complexity (ICA, Brussels 2015) and Co-operatives in a Post-growth Era (Zed books, 2014).

Featured

Dr. Ather Akbari

Labour Market Economics

Dr. Ashraf Al Zaman

Household Finance and Pension Planning

Dr. Najah Attig

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Dr. Yigit Aydede

Machine Learning & Big Data

Eleanor Beaton

Leadership

Dr. Matthew Boland

Advanced Data Analytics

Dr. Patricia Bradshaw

Non-Profit Governance

Wendy Brookhouse

Financial Advisor & Money Coach

Dr. Wendy Carroll

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

Dr. Claudia De Fuentes

Technology & Innovation

Rob Hunt

Consumer Insolvency - Grant Thornton Limited

Dr. Rahman Khokhar

Empirical Corporate Finance

Roger King

Franchising and specialty retail

Dr. Margaret McKee

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

Karen Miner

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

Karn Nichols

Talent Recruitment & Management and Mental Health

Dr. Sonja Novkovic

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

Dr. Christine Panasian

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

Dr. Ethan Pancer

Marketing Management & Consumer Behaviour

Dr. Mohammad Rahaman

Syndicated Loans, Corporate Restructuring, and International Competitiveness

Dr. Majid Tajhavi

Stochastic Optimization & Data Analytics

Dr. Ramesh Venkat

Marketing & Retail

Dr. Hai Wang

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

Dr. Michael Zhang

Mental Health, Supply Chain Disruption, Advanced Data Analytics

Executive-In-Residence

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.