Advisory Board
Charlene Zietsma - Assistant Professor, Richard Ivey School of Business
The Donald G. and Elizabeth R. Ness Estate Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship
Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario
Charlene Zietsma is an assistant professor of General Management (Strategy) at the Richard Ivey School of Business. She taught previously at Simon Fraser University, where she completed her MBA, and at the University of British Columbia, where she completed her PhD. Prior to her graduate education, Professor Zietsma established a corporate relocation consulting firm, ran a multicultural centre, acted as a career advisor at Wilfrid Laurier University, and worked in sales for Procter & Gamble. She has served on a number of boards and committees for non-profit, professional and government organizations.
Professor Zietsma's research interests focus on process research in two domains: 1) multilevel institutional entrepreneurship and change, especially in the context of stakeholder conflicts, and 2) cognition in entrepreneurship. She has previously examined processes of opportunity recognition and business start up; organizational learning, institutional change, and interorganizational collaboration. She has published research in the Journal of Business Venturing, the Journal of Management Inquiry, and the British Journal of Management, among others, and been awarded several best paper or symposium awards.
Rob Follows - Founding Partner
STS Capital
Rob Follows is Chairman of Altruvest Charitable Services, which he founded in Toronto in 1994 to support performance improvement for charities. Rob is also the Founding Partner of STS Capital, a merger and acquisition, equity investment firm. Rob was awarded Canada's Top 40 Under 40 award in 1999.
Rob is recognized as a leading authority on corporate philanthropy. In addition to a law degree from Osgoode Law School (1989), he holds an MSc in Management Research from Oxford University (2003), where he studied the processes underlying corporate decisions leading to philanthropic giving. Follows, who earned a PhD in strategic philanthropy from Oxford University, teaches his philosophy to entrepreneurs.
James Barnett - Director of the Master of Taxation Program
School of Accountancy, University of Waterloo
Barnett is director of the Master of Taxation Program and is associate director for master’s and professional programs in the School of Accountancy. In addition to his classroom and administrative duties, he found time last summer to share his teaching skills with colleagues on campus, assisting as co-facilitator in the Teaching Excellence Academy’s four-day course design workshop.
Mr. Barnett was a Governing Council, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and Seminar Leader, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario School of Accountancy 1986-2001. He was Formerly a tax partner with Delotte & Touche's London, Ontario office and a consultant to business owners and their advisors on succession, estate planning and tax matters
David Anderson - President
HRI Corporation
David Anderson leads an advisory firm dedicated to assisting corporate boards and management teams enhance leadership and governance performance. Previously, he served as Senior Consultant and National Practice Leader for a global HR consultancy. David has advised Canadian and US clients across industry sectors on key human capital management policies, practices and metrics. Directors and executives value his candid and challenging presentation of fact, perception and insight given in a spirit of respect.
David holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from The University of Western Ontario, where he instructed Organizational Behaviour and led numerous research initiatives with industry for the Research Unit on Work and Productivity. In addition, David is an active member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Corporate Directors and the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.
For two years, David has served upon request as Special Research Advisor to the Washington-based National Association of Corporate Directors' Blue Ribbon Commission. The Commission's 2002 report is entitled Risk oversight: Board lessons for turbulent times. The Commission's 2001 report is entitled Board Evaluation: Improving Director Effectiveness.
