Full Time Exec Council 2018

Matthew Sebastiani is a born and raised Vancouverite, who has worked in both the public and private sector. Most of his experience has been in the realm of politics as a staffer to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Yonah Martin. Most recently, he served as her Economic and Issues Advisor and previously worked on Parliament Hill in Ottawa as her Special (Legislative) Assistant. He has legislative experience in financial, infrastructure and international issues having analyzed many government budgets, infrastructure projects and free trade agreements. Matthew is a passionate community leader and enjoys volunteering in his spare time. He is the Vice-President of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada – Vancouver Chapter, and is an appointed representative on the City of Coquitlam’s Universal Access-Ability Advisory Committee.

Matthew is honoured to have been elected to serve the MBA Class of 2019 as President. Contact him if you have any questions about the program; he would be happy to assist you!

Contact Matthew at president@mbasociety.ca

Energetic, curious, and passionate about new challenges, experiences and learning every day. Nanette is a marketing professional with over six years of experience in strategic marketing, market research, brand strategy and advertising. A dual citizen, taking the best of both worlds, she was born in Venezuela and lived between Venezuela and Canada over the last 10 years achieving a BA in Political Science and Communication Studies from Carleton University and a Master’s in Marketing from IESA. Driven by making a difference and having positive impact, Nanette is a team-player who enjoys bringing the best out of people and things.

As VP Academic, she will act as the bridge between students and faculty by raising concerns, providing support and promoting solutions that can help improve the MBA experience and program.

Contact Nanette at vpacademic@mbasociety.ca

One of the few local Vancouverites in the MBA program, Jeff enjoys spending his spare time roaming the city for hidden gems serving good food and desserts as well as getting cozy during patio happy hours in the summer.  Prior to the MBA, he worked in a combination of industries ranging from project management at a tech start-up to wealth and portfolio management at an investment firm.  He also enjoys playing basketball, badminton and there will be a good chance that you may bump into him at a local gym.

As Vice President – Internal, Jeff is responsible for working with the MBA club presidents, perpetuating a healthy MBA cohort culture, managing MBA facilities, as well as connecting the different graduate programs at Robert H. Lee (FT + PT MBA, MM, & MBAN).  Feel free to contact him if you have any inquiries regarding the aforementioned details as he’s always up for a friendly conversation.    

Contact Jeffrey at vpinternal@mbasociety.ca

Vale, as she likes to be called, is an Audiovisual Producer with broad experience in Marketing Communications and Public Relations for all things entertainment. Born and raised in El Salvador, she graduated from her Bachelor's Degree in Film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Afterwards, she worked in various film and television projects in the United States until she decided to move back to her home country. There, she was head of the production team in the leading corporation in Central America for film distribution and cinema advertising. Vale has solid experience in event production, including fashion shows, red carpets, and corporate events. Her biggest passions are Graphic Design, Traveling and Cooking.

Contact Valeria at vpevents@mbasociety.ca

Having lived in 6 countries across 4 continents, Kookai has an exceptional ability to bridge the gap between the East and the West. Her background is in startups, social enterprise, and all things related to CSR and social innovation. Currently a partnership consultant for the United Nations (UNDP) in Thailand, Kookai is adept at forging lucrative partnership that led her to successfully launched several campaigns to promote UN’s sustainable development goals in Asia. She’s also known for launching a startup social enterprise in Thailand that won 7 awards globally. When she’s not working, she is off with her backpack to explore new places and meet new people while documenting her journey on her travel blog.

As VP Communications, Kookai manages the MBA Society Website and is responsible for to keeping the MBA students informed and updated. Please feel free to reach out to her anytime!

Contact Kookai at vpcommunications@mbasociety.ca

Born and raised in the “Land of the Midnight Sun”- the Yukon Territory, Rahul moved to the big city of Calgary, Alberta to pursue his Bachelors of Commerce (Finance). For the past 5 years he has worked at a large energy infrastructure company in various treasury roles managing the short-term liquidity of the company. Rahul enjoys playing sports, spending time with friends and trying different cuisines from around the world. And of course, he loves to travel. He is excited to learn more about his international cohort and the different perspectives they bring to the classroom.

Teri earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Global Students in Ontario before moving out to Vancouver almost a decade ago. Since then, she has worked in a variety of roles at the University of British Columbia including at UBC Library and at the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers. Teri began her MBA journey because she believes that "every knot can be untangled" - and the MBA program is the best kind of training to untangle complex process-and-people knots in organizations.

In her role as VP Finance, Teri does budget forecasting and live budget updates throughout the program. She provides support for each student club within the MBA Society to reconcile their budgets, to coordinate their internal finances, and to remain compliant with student union financial policies.

Contact Teri at vpfinance@mbasociety.ca

Simon grew up in Toronto, Ontario and graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Unsurprisingly, he has always been interested in understanding people and what makes them tick. Before coming to the MBA program, he worked in the non-profit and education sectors. He helped graduate students to develop transferable skills that they didn’t have the opportunity to learn in a lab or library. Simon has been inspired by role models in his career and hopes to carry on a tradition of professional mentorship. Simon has a love of languages and in his spare time can often be found watching documentaries on Netflix. He is very excited for the opportunity to make the MBA program as successful as possible. Excelsior!

Stuart came to the MBA program after an exciting career in the Food & Beverage industry felt like it had hit a dead end. While working in marketing for a national brewery might seem exciting, he felt that there were more impactful things out there waiting for him. Since the start of the program, he's led UBC to a 1st place finish at the BC MBA Games and a 3rd place finish at the Canada MBA Games, co-founded the MBA Beer Club, consulted for multiple startups for his internship, and has now taken over as VP Student Development to help ensure that our MBA family has what they need to succeed both in the final leg of the program and in the future. In his spare time, Stuart loves to play hockey, volleyball, and softball, and will never turn down a beer.

Contact Stuart at vpstudentdev@mbasociety.ca

Tobiah holds a chemical engineering degree from Queen’s University. Before deciding to pursue an MBA, he managed remediation projects for an oil & gas company. Tobiah was raised in Calgary where he developed an appreciation for the mountains. On his free time, he can be found backcountry skiing, hiking and canoeing.

Speak to Tobiah for assistance in organizing networking or career events. He is responsible for liaising between the program and the external business community.

Sheldon graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Systems Design Engineering, having worked co-ops for government, NGOs, and consultancies. Prior to starting his MBA at UBC, he spent 3 years with an energy and environmental consultancy in Toronto, working largely on climate change and carbon market policy and energy efficiency programming for clients across Canada and the US. Sheldon's known for his obsession with orcas and is a big fan of the outdoors - hiking, skiing, running, kayaking. He's also a certified yoga teacher.

Sheldon works on creating connections and developing stronger relationships between employers, students, and the Business Career Center, in order to get students to where they want to be in the working world. Any and all feedback is always welcome - as he says "I work for you".

Contact Sheldon at vpexternal@mbasociety.ca