The AccelerateU Team

Jessie Chahal

Jessie is an experienced entrepreneur, political strategist, and strategy consultant. His previous work experience includes being a founder of numerous successful start-up ventures, a senior advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office - leading strategy and outreach across western Canada and senior roles in the Aga Khan Development Network.

This will be the sixth year of teaching MGMT 5333 at the Bissett School of Business. He has previously taught Business Strategy at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University.

Jessie is a graduate from the London School of Economics (MSc. – Public Management), Simon Fraser University (MBA –International Business) and the University of Calgary (BSc. – Communications and Culture).

AccelerateU course: Strategic Management (MGMT 5333)

Dr. AnneMarie Dorland

AnneMarie is an Assistant Professor in the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University where she brings together her background as a graphic designer, brand strategist and qualitative researcher to develop innovative, creative and design-oriented undergraduate learning experiences. Her research explores creativity and creative problem-solving practices such as designed approaches to thinking in sectors ranging from oil and gas to healthcare, and she is obsessively curious about the role of designed approaches to thinking in undergraduate teaching and learning.

Dr. Dorland is a contributor to several international publications on design thinking and creative research practice, and she is relentlessly optimistic about the ways that the designed approaches to problem solving can help us create new and innovative ideas in marketing, branding and learning.

AccelerateU course: Professional Brand Studio (MKTG 4850)

Dr. Hadi Fariborzi

Hadi has extensive experience in conducting research and teaching workshops on the meta-analysis method. He is the Research Manager of the HubMeta lab at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. In this role, Hadi is responsible for completing the “HubMeta” platform through guiding the technical team and liaising with platform users. He also teaches meta-analysis and systematic review workshops and manages many research projects with research assistants from around the world to produce state-of-the-art meta-analysis and systematic review studies.

Prior to joining Mount Royal University, Hadi was a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Business at the University of Sussex Business School in Brighton, UK. In this role, he taught “International Entrepreneurship” and “Strategic Entrepreneurship” at the Undergraduate and Post-graduate levels, supervised undergraduate students’ final dissertations in the Strategy and Marketing department, and served as the Module convener (course coordinator) for MSc International Management dissertations. He also supervised multiple students during their placement (industry internship) year.

Dr. Fariborzi holds a PhD in Strategy and Global Management from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. His dissertation entitled “Three essays on early internationalization: antecedents, process and performance outcomes” was supervised by Professor Alain Verbeke. Hadi has also completed a Master of Business Administration from Sharif University of Technology and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) also from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

AccelerateU courses: DNA Of Selling, Sales And Business Development (ENTR 4420); Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Business (ENTR 3730 - Special Topics in Innovation & Entrepreneurship).

Dr. David Finch

David is the AccelerateU Program Director. Dr. Finch’s professional background reflects a commitment to the convergence of theory and practice. David possesses a PhD in management and is an active educator, scholar and practitioner. He holds several academic appointments including Professor at Mount Royal University, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Community Prosperity, and a Visiting Scholar at the Henley Business School in the United Kingdom.

Dr Finch is the Director of the CityXLab. The CityXLab explores the intersection between a city’s learning, creative and active experiences; community prosperity; and its ability to attract, develop and retain human capital. David has authored over 50 scholarly papers and published in journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Journal of Marketing Management, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Higher Education, the Journal of Marketing Education, the Corporate Reputation Review and the International Journal of Management Education.

AccelerateU courses: Marketing-Driven Strategy (MKTG 4858); Sport & Entertainment Marketing (MKTG 3730)

Julie Gathercole

Julie is an accomplished marketing communications leader with 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors. Having led communications for well-known organizations such as United Way, TD Bank, Molson Coors, the Government of British Columbia, and the 2010 Winter Games, Professor Gathercole is a passionate about delivering results and developing others. Professor Gathercole spends her time working on a variety of volunteer and consulting projects while teaching marketing and public relations courses to the next generation of business leaders as a faculty member with Mount Royal University.

Notable strengths and experience include:

  • Leading teams in complex organizations through periods of change

  • Planning and implementing large scale public relations and marketing strategies

  • Managing, and meeting, the needs and priorities of diverse stakeholder groups

  • Managing and responding to complex and sensitive issues for public and private sector businesses

  • Writing and editing publications in various business and media styles

  • Providing strategic communications counsel for Premiers, CEOs, and Cabinet Ministers

AccelerateU courses: Navigating Marketing Trends (MKTG 3558); Sport & Entertainment Marketing (MKTG 3730)

Patrick Moskwa

Patrick believes every experience heightens our understanding of the worlds Patrick Moskwa has been called a renaissance man, which sounds cheesy; BUT he’ll be embracing it until his business cards run out. He was trained as an architect and has been practicing design and entrepreneurship for over 25 years. His fingers reach into many areas of the creative industries, from buildings, visual art, and interiors to furniture, graphics, products, wearable design and fabrication, even motorcycles and performing arts. Patrick is a creativity and design instructor in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Information Design, Social Innovation, and Visual Art. He recently received a Master of Fine Art, applying a lens of human-centred architecture and spatial experience to material culture. His art practice is driven by place, autoethnography and queerness.

Patrick has been active with Vivacity as a mentor, guest speaker, and course development collaborator since its inception. He has lent his expertise in human-centred design, storytelling, and world-building to help craft a new learning experience for the students and communities to which the course is geared.  Patrick prefers to ask more questions than provide answers.

AccelerateU courses: Civic Innovation (SINV 4401) ; Human Centered Design For Social Impact (SINV 4402)

Dr. Catherine Pearl

Prior to joining academia, Dr. Pearl spent almost twenty years in the private sector; in corporate planning, finance and marketing. She has worked for a number of multinational and national firms honing her management expertise. She also spent considerable time in the not for profit sector as a volunteer, a consultant and as President and CEO of a registered charity, which operated a social enterprise.

Catherine has been active in the Mount Royal community and has served as a member of MRU’s Professional Development and Library Selections committees in addition to sitting on the Faculty of Business and Communication Studies’ Research Committee. Catherine also serves as Career Services Liaison for Co-operative student placement opportunities in social innovation. Dr. Pearl was a founding board member of the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (CCVO), and has also served on the board of a number of community organizations including: Propellus, YWCA Calgary, Lycee Louis Pasteur, Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre, and Lunchbox Theatre. Catherine also serves as a Board Governor for the Association of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER).

AccelerateU course: Civic Innovation (SINV 4401)

Dr. Amir Bahman Radnejad

Dr. Amir Bahman Radnejad is an entrepreneur, innovation consultant and scholar with more than a decade of experience in start-ups, business development and innovation research in Canada, United Kingdom and United State of America. Currently, Bahman is an Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Bissett School of Business, Mount Royal University, and president of 1388 consulting, helping individuals and corporations to develop Design Thinking and innovation leadership competencies. Prior to Mount Royal, Bahman was a business faculty member at State University of New York at Brockport and Susquehanna University in the USA. Bahman has published research articles, conference proceedings and book chapters on Design Thinking, Open Innovation, Innovation Management, and Sustainable Energy Development. Bahman has been actively involved in several start-ups in the energy, food, IT, and fashion industry. He also teaches courses as an adjunct faculty at University of Calgary and State University of New York.

Bahman has a PhD in Strategy, Energy and Environmental Specialization, from University of Calgary, Masters in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from University of Manchester, and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from University of Tehran. He has also received Design Thinking certification from Harvard Business School Online.

AccelerateU course: Business Plan Development (ENTR 4333); Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ENTR 4344)

Alexandra Swiston

Alex is the AccelerateU Alumni Liaison. The vision of AccelerateU is to use our City Hub as a vehicle to support the professional development of alumni, whether it be as a mentor for current students or attending conveniently located networking events. In this volunteer role, Alex will ensure that AccelerateU is optimized to engage MRU alumni. Alex is a graduate of the BBA in Marketing from Mount Royal. While at MRU, Alex was very active in the community through various roles at the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Since graduating, Alex has held progressively challenging roles at EY and TEKsystems.

Elaura Tait

Elaura is the AccelerateU Program Coordinator. If it is happening at AccelerateU, Elaura had a hand it it. In her role, Elaura is working to ensure the City Hub is optimized to support student learning and community engagement, whether it be through the design of the space or the events we are hosting. Elaura is in the final year of her BBA, majoring in International Business, with a minor in Finance and Economics. Elaura brings diverse experience in international development, project management, sales and marketing, and customer service. Elaura can be contacted at ecric457@mtroyal.ca.

Katherine Ziff

Katherine Ziff is always on the lookout for new ideas and approaches — particularly to use in motivating people to be more daring, creative, and ingenious in their approaches to social innovation. She has many years’ experience facilitating design thinking activities and leading teams of design thinking practitioners in science centres and children's museums in the United States and Canada and has brought design thinking practices to libraries, community groups, and innovative teams in municipal government. Her research uses tools from science & technology studies to understand the physical and organizational factors that contribute to the function (and dysfunction) of design teams.

AccelerateU courses: Facilitating Social Innovation (SINV 3203); The Art Of The Pitch (ENTR 3305); Creativity For Entrepreneurial Practice (ENTR 3302); Civic Innovation (SINV 4401); Human Centered Design For Social Impact (SINV 4402)