March/April 2025

Dear colleagues,

This month, I had the privilege of being a panelist at the AACSB International Conference and Annual Meeting (ICAM), where I addressed the future of business education in front of 1,300 peers. I emphasized that business schools play a crucial role in providing rigorous, practical and multidisciplinary education that equips our students with ethical and profound certified degrees, unlike the quick online/badge training that is currently trending.

As the only Canadian board member of AACSB, I also participated in serious discussions about the attacks on equity, diversity and inclusion in the US. I want to reassure you that AACSB and John Molson remain firmly committed to EDI, climate change and other areas that current US presidential orders are attempting to ban.

Fostering a sense of belonging and engagement

Dean’s Spring Celebration

It was a joy to see so many smiling face - over 100 of you attended our annual spring celebration.

This was an opportunity to connect, laugh and share our successes. I was also thrilled to see so many of you in the cabane à sucre uniform - plaid! 

You can see photos from the event on the JMSB Flickr here. Thank you to Kelly Hall for organizing another wonderful edition of this event, especially the last minute rescheduling.

Celebrating our success

Rankings

CEO Magazine ranked the John Molson EMBA 2nd in Canada and 30th globally. In addition, the magazine placed the MBA in Tier 1! This edition featured 284 MBA programs from 24 countries, making it the largest since the magazine started its rankings.

Case competitions

ENGCOMM

The Concordia team, made up of business and engineering students, earned 2nd place at this annual, student-led multidisciplinary case competition held from February 18-22, 2025. This was the first time our team reached the podium in ENGCOMM’s 13-year history. A huge thank you to Mary Perri who supported this competition since its inception and was a member of its board of directors before her retirement.

University of Navarra

Our students placed 2nd overall at the University of Navarra International Case Competition (UNICC) from March 23 to 28 in Spain. Bravo!

My thanks to the coaches and to Nora Baronian, faculty advisor and director of the undergraduate case competition program, for her continued support of the students.

Real Estate Games 2025

Our students earned 2nd place at the expert level at the 2025 Real Estate Games on March 29. The competition includes basic and expert levels for the cases. Congratulations to the students!

John Molson MBA students placed 2nd at the A4S International Case Competition (A4SICC). Congratulations to the students and coaches!

Students from the MBA in Investment Management program participated in the Global Case Competition at Harvard 2025. They made it into the top 10 finalists among 300 teams. Thanks to faculty advisor Gabriela Clivio for supporting them.

Congratulations to our graduate students who earned 2nd place in the Asper Business Case Competition at the University of Manitoba from February 21-25.

Our students were also named among the top seven teams (out of 45) at the Haskayne Digital Innovation Case Challenge at the University of Alberta. I'm so pleased to see our students performing so well. Thank you, Tim Field, MBA case competition program director, for your support of the students.

Be a catalyst for positive societal impact

Desjardins Group donation

On April 15, I had the pleasure of moderating a conversation between Concordia President Graham Carr and Guy Cormier, president and CEO of Desjardins Group (who was also the 2023-2025 EMBA Class Champion). The subject of the conversation was the impact of a generous $2.5 million dollar donation to our university from Desjardins.

This support will drive innovation, entrepreneurship, women in finance and career development through internships and our John Molson Career Management Services.

Annual Graduate Research Exposition (AGRE)

The 16th edition of the AGRE was a hit! Students, industry judges, faculty members, friends and community members gathered to learn more about research done by our MSc, MSCM and PhD students. You can see the winners here and photos from the event here. A big thank you to Linda Dyer, Cédric Lesage, Joel Bothello, Nathalie Repenning and Ulrike de Brentani for another fantastic exposition.

Promote collaborative and impactful research

Congratulations to Thomas Walker, Erkan Yonder, Mehmet Ozsoy (from the Department of Finance) and Adriane MacDonald (from the Department of Management), who are among the recipients of Volt-age's new Impact funding. The investment of over $40 million will support 11 selected Impact Projects and three Living Lab Projects. You can see all the selected projects here.

Enhance the John Molson School experience

JMSBuddy

We are excited to announce an initiative designed to support new staff members. It’s called JMSBuddy and the idea is to assign a new hire a current employee or buddy that can provide guidance and information to help them settle into their new role. I want to thank Barbara Henchey, director, administration and strategic development, for introducing this initiative. You can see the qualifications to become a JMSBuddy here and can reach out to Selina Leone, administrative coordinator, to add yourself to the list to be paired with future hires.

New hires

Join me in welcoming Linthuja Nadarajah and Larissa Yousoubova!

Linthuja joined Accountancy as department administrator on March 19. She was previously with the Faculty of Arts and Science as faculty affairs officer. She’s an alumna of ours, holding a Master’s in Human Systems Intervention and a BComm in Human Resources Management. Welcome!

Larissa is the assistant director of the MBA and graduate programs in business administration. Previously, she held several administrative and faculty roles at Concordia. She holds a PhD from McGill in systems approaches to understanding the transformative nature of expert learning, specifically as related to research funding. Welcome!

Closing remarks

Please continue to keep in touch about successes happening in your unit by contacting our Communications Manager Taylor Tower at taylor.tower@concordia.ca.

I look forward to seeing you all at convocation on June 11. Until then, be well.

Take care,
Anne-Marie Croteau, PhD, CDir
Dean