Top row, l-r: Alyza Keshavjee, Anuj Chandarana, Candice Faktor, Dev Saxena, Fab Dolan, Jaime Tatis, Janet Bannister, Karthik Ramakrishnan. Bottom row, l-r: Melissa Hartwick, Michael Pelosi, Neha Khera, Neil Bunn, Niraj Bhargava, Paul Atkinson, Sam Ramadori, Salim Teja.
Ivey Business School (Canada) has introduced an AI Fellows Programme, drawing on senior AI practitioners from companies such as Google, Cohere, Radical Ventures, and Boston Consulting Group to help guide how the school approaches teaching, research, and day-to-day operations in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.
The initiative brings sixteen experienced professionals – the majority of them Ivey alumni – into closer contact with the school community, with the goal of keeping Ivey’s curriculum and scholarship aligned with how AI is actually being deployed across sectors.
Bridging practitioners and the classroom
Acting in an advisory capacity, the Fellows will contribute their industry experience through guest lectures, panel appearances, direct classroom involvement, joint research projects, and the creation of new case studies and course materials. The aim is to keep Ivey’s academic work tethered to real-world applications of the technology rather than purely theoretical discussion.
Dean Julian Birkinshaw described AI as reshaping business and leadership at a rapid pace, and said drawing practitioners at the leading edge of the field into Ivey’s classrooms and research activity would help the school keep its research grounded in practice, maintain strong operational standards, and equip students to lead in organisations where AI is becoming deeply embedded in how work gets done.
Beyond individual classroom sessions, the programme is intended to widen ongoing discussion at Ivey around how AI is changing strategic thinking, decision-making, and organisational leadership more broadly. Insights from these relationships are expected to feed into new teaching materials, joint research, and learning initiatives designed to keep the school near the front of AI-related business education.
The move also reflects Ivey’s broader emphasis on experiential learning and linking scholarly work with real-world practice. By working alongside people actively involved in deploying AI within organisations, the school hopes to better equip future leaders with the judgement needed to navigate a fast-changing technological environment.
Real-world perspective for students
Salim Teja, an Ivey HBA graduate and Partner at Radical Ventures, who is among the inaugural Fellows, said AI is transforming every part of the economy, and that the leaders best placed to succeed will be those who grasp both what the technology can do and what it means in practice. He described programmes like this as a valuable link between those building AI tools and the leaders who will eventually put them to use.
The inaugural cohort spans technology firms, venture capital, financial services, and consulting, and includes figures such as Janet Bannister of Staircase Ventures, Niraj Bhargava of NuEnergy.ai, Candice Faktor of Disco, Jaime Tatis of CIBC, and Dev Saxena, who works on global policy and partnerships at OpenAI, among others.
The AI Fellows Programme forms part of a wider AI strategy at Ivey, which also recently saw the school roll out Cloudforce’s nebulaONE® platform, giving faculty, staff, and students secure, school-wide access to an enterprise-grade generative AI tool.
