Entrepreneurial Leadership Chair and Associate Professor of Strategic Management, DeGroote School of Business
Dr. Goran Calic is the Entrepreneurial Leadership Chair and Associate Professor of Strategic Management at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, where he also served as the Director of MBA Programs. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School. Dr. Calic holds a PhD in Strategy and an MBA from Purdue University, complemented by a postdoctoral fellowship in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience. His research explores the drivers of creativity and innovation in individuals and organizations, with a particular focus on early-stage entrepreneurship. His work has been featured in leading journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Nature Scientific Reports.
Associate Professor & Canada Research Chair in EDI issues in AI & Area Chair in Information Systems, DeGroote School of Business
Dr. Maryam Ghasemaghaei is an Associate Professor and Area Chair of Information Systems at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. She holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Issues in Artificial Intelligence and is a 2022 University Scholar. Her research focuses on data analytics in organizations, algorithmic bias, and ethical AI. Her work has been published in leading journals such as MIS Quarterly and the Journal of Management Information Systems. Dr. Ghasemaghaei serves on the editorial boards of Decision Support Systems and Internet Research, and is an associate editor for ICIS. She is also affiliated with the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging.
Dean and Professor of Information Systems, DeGroote School of Business, Co-Founder, MDTRC
Dr. Khaled Hassanein is the Dean of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and a Professor of Information Systems. Since joining McMaster in 2000, he has held several leadership roles, including Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research and Director of the McMaster Digital Transformation Research Centre. His interdisciplinary research spans digital transformation, data analytics, e-health, artificial intelligence, decision support systems, and neuro-information systems. Dr. Hassanein has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and is a joint holder of several U.S. patents. He is a senior member of IEEE and a Professional Engineer in Ontario. His academic background includes a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and degrees in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and Kuwait University, respectively. He has also served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at institutions in Egypt, Colombia, and France.
Professor and Chair, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, President of the Council of Canadian Departments of Psychology
Dr. Mel Rutherford is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University. His research, grounded in evolutionary psychology, focuses on social perception and its development, including animacy detection, face perception, and moral cognition. Through the Rutherford Lab, he employs eye-tracking and developmental methods to investigate early markers of autism and the broader autism phenotype. His work also explores how social categorization and essentialist thinking influence equity, diversity, and inclusion. Dr. Rutherford holds a B.A. from Yale University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is affiliated with the McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind.