Career Conversations: Hiring Managers Tell All!

Thursday, July 21 — 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern Time

Hiring managers from six industries answer your questions.

Marketing and Public Relations

Patrick Van De Wille, BA 90, Chief Communications Officer at InterDigital Communications

Patrick's responsibilities cover all public communications, interfacing with institutional and retail investors and analysts, as well as managing market intelligence internally. In addition, he was an expert analyst for many well-known broadcast stations for 8 years, including RDS, TSN, and CBC, and has had substantial experience in business planning and development in his previous positions at Ketchum PR and Cellum International.

Engineering and Computer Science

Alessandro Faraci, BEng 98, Manager of Systems Design, Wind Tunnel, Dynamics and Integration at Bombardier Aerospace

Alessandro's responsibilities focus on designing, developing, managing, testing and supporting a multitude of test rigs and activities used for the development and certification of new products as well as in-service aircraft support.

He worked for Pratt and Whitney Canada for more than 10 years, designing and testing a variety of specialized aerospace equipment, as well as serving as project manager on many projects with complex technical content, including the implementation of modern simulated throttle systems and the coordination and responsibility for electrical, controls, automation and instrumentation of an altitude test system.

Journalism and Communications

Karen Macdonald, BA 82, Station manager and news director at Global News Montreal.

Throughout Karen's career, she has worked in a variety of roles, serving as reporter, anchor, and eventually station manager of CKMI. She and her husband were also the owners and publishers of the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph newspaper for nearly 15 years, the oldest newspaper of North America.

Business and Finance

Allan Benchetrit, MBA 91, President and CEO of Algolux

Immediately after graduating, Allan began working for Hewlett Packard Enterprise in telecom sales, marketing and business administration. He went on to co-found Vantrix, a company specializing in mobile video optimization, and was president and CEO for over 4 years. During this time, he led its expansion into emerging markets and implemented its solutions in over 60 mobile operators worldwide. He is now the president and CEO of Algolux, which  strives to develop state-of-the-art algorithms to enhance computational imaging.

Fashion

Amanda Rania, BComm 11, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Patty Shapiro & Associates

Amanda began her career as a corporate retail recruiter. Her passion for fashion and skills as a recruiter later led her to join the team of modeling and apparel headhunting agency Patty Shapiro & Associates. Among the services she offers are trend forecasting, freelances opportunities, as well as retail and wholesale recruitment.

Arts and Culture

Rina Albala BFA 05 & MBA 10, Marketing professional

In 1999, Rina started her own business — Marsu Designs — where she designed, produced and sold wholesale turbans for women. There she learned about market research, translation and ad design for print and web. She worked briefly at CVL Cosmetics Inc. where she was in charge of public relations, media relations, event planning, marketing, and communications, before moving on to the John Molson Executive Centre to oversee production of a series of promotional videos. In 2014, she decided to leave her position to look after her daughters, and is now working on writing a gluten-free cookbook, editing a non-fiction book and developing an online platform to teach beginners sewing and clothing design.