Staff Announcement: Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Dear Members of the Schulich Community,
I wish to inform you that Chris Carder, Schulich’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Co-Director of the School’s Entrepreneurial Studies Program, has been named Executive Director of the newly established Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
The Office will lead the development of accelerator/incubator services for the School and its various programs, build new partnerships throughout the wider innovation ecosystem and continue its work designing innovation-centric Work Integrated Learning programs.
The Office will also lead the continued expansion of the ‘Schulich Startups’ Community, which now has more than 3,000 members and is supporting more than 150 companies started by our students and alumni.
As a platform, ‘Schulich Startups’ has enabled the School to rapidly launch initiatives such as the ‘MBA in India Summer Internship,’ the ‘MGMT 4850 Startup Placement Team-up’ and a series of high-impact events including the bi-annual Schulich Startup Night (now in its 14th Edition), the Schulich Idea Jam and the Schulich VIP Series.
Additionally, the Office will manage the soon-to-be-launched Schulich ‘Startup India’ bootcamp/hackathon in partnership with the Government of India – with further details to be announced in the weeks ahead.
The newly created Office recognizes the growing importance of the Innovation and Startup Sectors (particularly during the post-pandemic recovery), Toronto’s emergence as a leading global innovation and startup hub, and the growing desire of Schulich students to acquire entrepreneurial skills and networks.
Since joining Schulich as Entrepreneur-in-Residence in 2013, Chris has helped hundreds of students and alumni conceptualize and launch their own businesses and has coached hundreds more on pursuing careers in the Innovation Sector.
In March of this year, Chris led Schulich’s participation in a major new initiative with the City of Toronto and a team of leading global technology companies (including Shopify, Google and Facebook Canada) to help main street retailers survive the
COVID-19 crisis. As part of the initiative, 100 students from Schulich’s MBA, Masters’ and undergraduate programs received paid summer placements and helped small retailers move their businesses online at no cost.
He will continue to serve as Co-Director of the Schulich Entrepreneurial Studies Program alongside Professor Moren Lévesque, the CPA Ontario Chair in International Entrepreneurship, where together they have built innovative concepts such as the In-Class-Entrepreneur Program, supported the design of a new Entrepreneurship stream in the Master of Management Program, and launched the award-winning ENTR 6960 (Mentorship Match).
We are also pleased to announce that in addition to his role as Executive Director, Chris will serve as Special Advisor on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to the Office of the President at York University.
Please join me in wishing Chris the very best in his new role.
Sincerely,
Detlev Zwick
Interim Dean
Office of the Dean, Schulich School of Business