Maria Thomas
Chief Operating Officer, Etsy
Director, MBAs Without Borders USA
Maria is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Etsy. Previously, Maria was the vice president and general manager for NPR Digital Media, where she was responsible for the development and delivery of NPR content on new media platforms, including npr.org and mobile devices. In late 2001, Maria spent three years at Amazon.com where she played a key role in the launch and management of Amazon.com’s camera and photo store, including forging its partnership with Ofoto, a company engaged in the online photo services business. From 1992-1999, Maria worked as an investment officer with the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Her career at the IFC culminated with an appointment to the position of special assistant to the CEO. Maria holds a M.B.A. degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in accounting from Boston University.
Stephen Jones
Co-Founder & Partner, RPO Management Consultants
Director, MBAs Without Borders Canada
Stephen Jones is a founding Partner with RPO Management Consulting. He has over fifteen years of consulting experience – for much of which he has led large-scale strategy and business transformation projects. He has a broad base of project experience with public and private sector clients spanning healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, energy, primary resources, transportation and manufacturing industries.
Prior to RPO, Stephen was a co-founder and Associate Director of the Centre for Operations Excellence (COE), an industry partnership organization between the University of British Columbia and a number of leading North American businesses. While at the COE, he directed a wide variety of projects to develop and implement operations transformation solutions for COE partners, as well as original, applied business research and analysis.
Stephen holds three graduate degrees in Economics, Finance and Business from the University of British Columbia and McGill University and has conducted original research and published numerous papers in the areas of finance, economics and operations.
Anthony Ostler
Senior Vice President and Director, Group Risk & Capital Management, Canaccord Capital
Director, MBAs Without Borders Canada
Anthony Ostler is Senior Vice President and Director, Group Risk & Capital Management at Canaccord Capital, Canada’s largest independent full service investment dealer. The investor relations function reports to Mr. Ostler. He launched Canaccord’s new Group Risk & Capital Management function in 2006, and has been involved with a variety of key projects since joining the firm for its IPO in 2004.
Prior to joining Canaccord, Mr. Ostler held three roles at RBC Financial Group including Senior Manager, Investor Relations - where he was the co-recipient of multiple awards for best practices in disclosure - and two positions in the Corporate Treasury department.
Mr. Ostler holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, where he graduated with distinction and the honour of Ivey Scholar for achieving the Dean’s Honour List for both years of the program. He holds a BA in History from the University of Western Ontario, is a CFA charterholder, is a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and is an Associate of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (AICB).
In addition to his Board of Directors role at MBAs Without Borders, Anthony is the Treasurer of Family Services of Greater Vancouver, a not-for profit society with $22 million annual budget, and is on the Board of Directors of the Ivey Alumni Association.
Greg Hogan
Partner, Cassels Brock Lawyers
Director, MBAs Without Borders Canada
Greg is a partner in the Securities Group at Cassels Brock. His practice is focused primarily on securities transactions with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance transactions, and corporate reorganizations. Greg provides advice to senior management and boards of directors on the negotiation of key transaction documents, compliance and corporate governance matters, and corporate law issues.
He routinely acts for issuers and investment dealers in both private and public financings including structured products. He has worked on transactions in many industries including mining, oil and gas, utilities, telecommunications, financial services, retail and chemicals. Greg joined Cassels Brock after spending more than seven years at two other national law firms with offices in Toronto.
Clemens Kaiser
Executive Vice-President & Chief Marketing Officer Isotechnika
Director, MBAs Without Borders Canada
Before joining Isotechnika as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer in October, 2007, Clemens Kaiser was the Chief Executive Officer of Exatec LLC (a joint venture of GE Advanced Materials and Bayer Material Science). Before that, Mr. Kaiser has held numerous executive and international leadership positions within the Bayer since commencing with that company in 1984. Clemens has had major senior management responsibility in various Bayer business areas and held positions in the Philippines, South Africa, Canada, Greater China and Germany. His particular interest has always been in global markets, international business development, innovation and the use of science and technology to develop new products and markets. During the course of his various assignments he was involved in developing international HR policies and recruiting globally deployable Management personnel. Clemens (Kaiser) has a degree in Business and Economics from the Free University of Berlin.
Michael Brown
Strategic Buyer, Stryker Osteosynthesis
Co-Founder, MBAs Without Borders
Director, MBAs Without Borders Canada
Michael is based in Germany. Co-founding MBAs Without Borders, Michael Brown is a graduate of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University with a specialization in the Management of Innovation and New Technology. He also holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and Management. Michael is a recipient of the 2005 Arch Award and was nominated for the 2005 YMCA Peace Award and Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.
Michael has experience with large international corporations in technology strategy and operational development. In addition, Michael has worked as a consultant and teacher to non-profit programs that promote education in science and technology.
Liz Wald
Founder, Economic Development Imports
Director, MBAs Without Borders USA
Liz Wald is the founder and managing partner of Economic Development Imports LLC (EDImports) a Fair Trade import company that sources household goods, fashion accessories, jewelry and more from several countries in East and West Africa. Prior to founding EDImports in 2003, Liz spent ten years in strategic consulting and retail management. Liz’s professional history also includes work with The Disney Stores and Nike Inc., where she opened the first Nike Town superstore and developed procedures for launching and managing retail outlets nationwide. Liz holds a master’s of business administration (MBA) in marketing and finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, and a BA in sociology from Harvard University. A natural explorer, she has traveled to more than 50 countries gathering knowledge and experiences that have enhanced her global perspectives and shaped her desire to use her business talents to create positive social change. Liz also sits on MBAs Without Borders USA’s Board of Directors.