January 2026

Dear colleagues,

I want to wish you a warm welcome back. I hope the start of the term is going smoothly for everyone.

Celebrating our success

25th anniversary

Before the holiday break, we marked the 25th anniversary of the John Molson School of Business name. You may have noticed decals on the lobby elevators and the pillar at the front entrance of the building acknowledging this important milestone. Let’s continue to take pride in how far we’ve come. I know the next 25 years will bring continued growth thanks to you, our community.

Rankings

The Eduniversal international ranking of the world’s best business schools has awarded John Molson “5 palmes of excellence,” the highest rank. This ranking recognizes a school’s global influence and is based on votes from business school deans globally as well as quantitative and qualitative data.

External recognitions

Congratulations to Steve Granger, assistant professor in the Department of Management, on winning the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award from the Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He was recognized for his impressive publication and funding record. Congrats Steve!

For the third year, Alexandra Dawson, professor in the Department of Management, has been named among the top 50 most productive scholars in family business globally, according to the Texas State University Family Business Research Productivity Ranking. The rankings are based on the last five years of publications featured in the top three academic journals dedicated to publishing family business research. Bravo!

Nora Baronian has been recognized by Jeux du Commerce (JDC) as Faculty Advisor of the Year. This award is a true testament to her dedication, leadership and the countless hours she invests in supporting our students and the John Molson Case Competition (JMCC) program. Congratulations on this well-deserved honour, Nora! We’re lucky to have you.

Case competitions

JDC Central

Our undergraduate students earned 3rd place overall in academics at the Jeux de Commerce Central case competition, which took place from January 16-18. Congrats to the students and thanks to coach Dan Silverman and to faculty advisor/undergraduate case competition program director Nora Baronian and everyone involved in helping our students shine.

MBA ICC

We were proud to host the 44th edition of the John Molson MBA International Case Competition from January 4 to 9. Thirty teams competed from around the world. Congratulations to Lund University for earning first place. I want to give special thanks to Bill Meder, Cynthia Law, Guy Barbeau and Li Yao for their support of the MBA ICC.

Open House

We're preparing to welcome prospective students on Saturday, February 21 for the Winter Open House. Students often decide to attend a program or university based on their positive experience during such visits so I want to thank everyone who will be taking the time to volunteer in support of our School.

Events

In collaboration with 4TH SPACE, the Department of Marketing launched a live podcast series featuring conversations between academics and industry on a variety of topics. The first edition, Talking Shop: Innovating in the Age of AI, welcomed David Usher, Nectarios Economakis and Ben Rodier to chat with Richard Sejean, marketing department lecturer, on how AI is sparking creativity, boosting productivity, and reshaping the human side of work. You can watch the event on the 4TH SPACE YouTube channel here.

Alumni, Great Concordian and major figure in the world of wealth management Ajay Gupta will visit John Molson on February 26 for a conversation with me to discuss his career and lessons learned from managing multi‑billion‑dollar portfolios. I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a truly inspiring conversation; reserve your spot here!

Internal and external appointments

Claudine Mangen, professor in the Department of Accountancy, recently joined the Publication and Research Committee of the CAAA Canadian Academic Accounting Society. Félicitations!

I would also like to congratulate Suchit Ahuja on his appointment as co director of Concordia’s Applied AI Institute. As he takes on this new leadership role, he will be stepping down from his position as graduate program director of the MSc in Business Analytics and Technology Management and will be replaced by Mahdi Mirhoseini, assistant professor in SCBTM until June 30, 2026. Note that Mahdi was already assuming this role while Suchit was on sabbatical last year. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Suchit for his exceptional leadership and dedication in developing and guiding this MSc program. His vision and hard work have been central to its success. I am confident that Mahdi will continue to build on this strong foundation and support the program’s ongoing growth.

Staff changes

Victoria Aimar joined the Faculty Relations team as the advisor, faculty relations while Cara Stuckey is on maternity leave. Victoria has worked in various roles within Arts and Science and Fine Arts. She comes from the Studio Arts department where she was coordinator of administrative services.

Abigail Koff returned to the graduate recruitment team as officer, graduate student recruitment in replacement of Corey Hoare, who is assuming the role of senior analyst, strategic enrolment management in the Provost’s office.

Sabrina Catalogna will be replacing Kelly Hall, who is on maternity leave, as the coordinator of special projects and events planning. She joins us from the Dean of Students Office where she has been the student life and co-curricular record program assistant since 2018.

Sepideh Eghtedari has left her role as C-RISE program coordinator in Career Management Services and is now the program officer at Concordia’s Volt-Age.

We wish them all the best and great success as they embrace these new responsibilities!

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 another year of working in pursuit of our vision to be one of the world’s most relevant, responsible and respected business schools.

Warm regards,
Anne-Marie Croteau, PhD, CDir
Dean