ILead Podcast Troost ILead

In this episode, we learn about the importance of building strong, authentic relationships, and taking care of organizational culture both personally and structurally from Ashley Lawrence, the CFO of one of the largest online classified sites in the world. We hear about Ashley's non-linear career path from engineering into the world of tech and finance and how he squeezes in his love for running and care for his family into the work that he does every day, while offering insight into practical ideas around the future of work for both senior leaders and junior staff alike.


About Ashley
Ashley Lawrence is a member of Troost ILead's Board of Advisors and the CFO of both Kijiji and International Markets and Advertising for Adevinta. Ashley has a BASc from the University of Toronto in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prior to becoming CFO, Ashley headed Kijiji’s Analytics and Strategy team. Ashley has previously worked for one of Canada’s largest private equity firms, EdgeStone Capital Partners on their venture team, and for MMV Financial, a leader in venture debt lending. Ashley began his professional career with IBM Canada, first as a market and competitive analyst for one of their leading server brands. While at IBM Ashley developed his consulting skills (culminating in becoming a certified IBM consultant) with their Global Services division in their Information Security and Emerging Technologies practice. His clients included many financial services firms and two central banks. Ashley has completed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analytics (CFA) program.

In this episode, ILead brings you a conversation with organizational development specialist Jordan Daniow, P.Eng.  We dig into the top leadership skills Jordan has drawn upon to support healthcare teams as they navigate the  COVID-19 at Baycrest and Scarborough Health Network in Toronto, Canada.

This episode offers a timely look at the practical application of compassion, reflection and deep listening in chaotic times.

About Jordan
Jordan spent the first several years of his career as an engineer and engineering sales manager in the manufacturing sector. He gradually moved his career away from technical roles towards more people and business oriented roles. Eventually working directly in his field of passion in Leadership Development at ILead in 2015. His varying experiences along the way include a year in Malawi with Engineers Without Borders, leading professional-level dance teams, and a lot of Charitable strategy and board work. He holds a Master's Certificate in Organizational Development & Change, and a Coaching Designation from the International Coaching Federation. Jordan transitioned to the healthcare sector in the past 2 years, now working as a Leadership and Organizational Development consultant, supporting leaders to engage their people through change within highly complex hospital settings.

Dive into the world of Three Ships Beauty co-founder, Laura Burget, for some words of experience on taking the entrepreneurial leap. How does a successful founder start from scratch? How do they think, build a team and lead? Laura brings her passion and reflections on success and struggle to this candid conversation about her leadership practices and her unique entrepreneurial path.


About Laura and Three Ships

Laura Burget is the co-founder of Three Ships, an all natural, vegan skincare brand on a mission to make clean beauty accessible for all women by providing 100% plant-derived, certified cruelty-free skincare products all under $40. At Three Ships, Laura spearheads product innovation and formulations, operations, back-end production, and financials.
Laura is a life-long supporter of businesses with high ethical standards. Her journey into entrepreneurship began at the ripe age of 9 when she sold handmade crafts and jewelry at her elementary school to raise money for endangered animals. While in school at the University of Toronto for Chemical Engineering, she even ran two businesses on the side. It was through these experiences that she fell in love with entrepreneurship and became fascinated with creating something from nothing.
She began using coconut oil to remove makeup naturally but was frustrated by the mess it created. After looking for a natural, yet effective and more convenient alternative, Laura was unable to find anything on the market. In 2016, a mutual friend introduced Laura to Connie Lo. Both frustrated about the lack of affordable, clean skincare on the market, the two took their $4,000 CAD and began creating their own formulations in their apartment kitchens with the goal to one day create the most transparent natural beauty brand in the world. In 2017, Three Ships was officially born.
When Laura is not focusing on Three Ships, she enjoys hikes outside of the city, going to the gym, exploring new restaurants with friends, and participating in any form of competition (especially board games). 

Tune in for a conversation with coach, consultant, and engineering leadership instructor, Samina Hashmi. A former engineer, Samina is the founder of Drop Ocean Consulting, a boutique practice that specializes in executive coaching, team development, strategy, and  culture transformation. Listen for her take on why encouraging students to pursue self-knowledge as part of their engineering education is critical for an equitable future.

“The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

On this episode, Albert Huynh is in conversation with Ashley Good, CEO and founder of Fail Forward. As a full-time coach in the art of failure, Ashley shares her perspectives on recovery and why learning to fail can be so important for engineering professionals. Let’s have a listen.

Ashley Good is the CEO and Founder of Fail Forward, which supports organizations to learn, innovate and build resilience. Before becoming a full-time failure coach, Ashley worked in Cairo with the United Nations Environment Programme, as a management consultant in Vancouver, and as head of organizational learning for Engineers without Borders Canada.

This podcast is brought to you by Troost ILead in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, at the University of Toronto. 

Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women falls on December 6th. This somber memorial marks the anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre, when a man entered a Montreal classroom in 1989 and shot and killed 14  female engineering students.  Dr. Emily Moore,  Director of Troost ILead, was a chemical engineering student at Queen's University, writing her own engineering exams at the time of the shooting.

In this podcast, Dr. Moore and Troost ILead Associate Director, Annie Simpson, honour the legacy of  these 14 women through conversation. She answers our questions about the impact of December 6th on her leadership journey, and how its legacy has informed her choices as a professional, teacher, community-builder, parent, and leader in industry and academia.

Professor Emily Moore was appointed Director of Troost ILead in October, 2018 after more than twenty years in industry. Emily started her career at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada scaling up new materials and processes from the lab to manufacturing. In her 11 years at Xerox, Emily learned a great deal about leading teams and developing new products, becoming a manager and Principal Engineer. Emily then spent 10 years at Hatch, a global engineering firm serving the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors. Emily led international teams to develop new product and service offerings and to deliver major projects, first as the Director of Technology Development and then as Managing Director, Water. Emily was also the inaugural chair of Hatch’s Global Diversity and Inclusion efforts. Emily holds a Bachelor Degree in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University and completed a Doctorate in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. In 2016 Emily was recognized as one of 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining and received the SCI Canada Kalev Pugi Award.

This podcast is brought to you by Troost ILead in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, at the University of Toronto.