Professor of Strategy and Organization and the Desmarais Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Ottawa.
Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurship, Gender and Family Business within the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta
PhD Candidate in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa
Madeline Toubiana is a Professor of Strategy and Organization and the Desmarais Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Ottawa. Her research is focused on what stalls and supports thriving for individuals, organizations, and communities. To do so she examines the struggles between people and institutions, with a particular emphasis on the role that emotions, stigmatization, and entrepreneurship play in either impeding or catalyzing social change.
Her research extends across diverse domains, ranging from academia to marginalized and stigmatized populations. As such her research portfolio encompasses a wide array of subjects, including social enterprises, the criminal justice system, the sex trade, unemployment, non-profit organizations, cannabis, and taxi-driving. Within these contexts, she focuses on amplifying the voices and experiences of underrepresented groups such as women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, seniors, and immigrants.
Her interest in starting the menopause project was triggered by awareness of the stigma facing many women in the workplace when it comes to women’s health and bodies. After spending two years speaking with women in Canada, she become interested in directly addressing the lack of awareness about the challenges of menopause, and the lack of supports available to women.
Her research has been published in the top journals in the field including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Annals, Annual Review of Sociology, Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Management History, and Journal of Management Learning, among others. She is the associate editor for Organization Theory, a field editor for Journal of Business Venturing, and on the editorial review board for Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal and Organization Studies.
Jennifer Jennings is a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurship, Gender and Family Business within the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta. Over the course of her 25-year academic career, she has published two edited books, 40 scholarly articles and book chapters, and 11 outreach-oriented articles on these and other topics. Jennifer has played an integral role in strengthening the global profile of scholarly research on gender and entrepreneurship in particular.
Jennifer’s research has received numerous honours, including a Foundational Paper Award from the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management (in 2021) as well as inclusion in the Responsible Research in Business & Management Honor Roll (in 2022). She has served as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Business Venturing, on the editorial boards of several journals (including the founding editorial board of the International Journal of Gender & Entrepreneurship), and on the Executive Committee of the Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Division.
Jennifer’s interest in the menopause project was triggered by the various challenges that she experienced during perimenopause—and by how unexpected these were given that so few women in the workforce felt comfortable talking about their experiences at the time. As a result, she is passionate about normalizing such experiences and helping to break down the still-taboo nature of this natural and irreversible life stage.
Trish Ruebottom is an Associate Professor of HR and Management at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. Her research focuses on oppression, marginalization and social change. She has studied these processes in a wide range of contexts, including the role of entrepreneurship for women and transgender sex workers, the formation of collective identity in a women’s rights movement in Libya, the transformative power of the neo-burlesque movement, the role of emotions in motivating participation and the struggles for legitimacy within social entrepreneurship; she has also explored what prevented entrepreneurs from creating change in the clean tech sector in Canada, how leaders avoided change after the 2008 financial crisis, and the role of the media in perpetuating gender stereotypes. Most recently, her research has focused on three core overlapping areas within this broader research agenda: stigma, emotions, and embodiment – elements used in oppression and marginalization and also in resistance.
Her work has been published in numerous academic and practitioner outlets, including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Organization Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review. She is also on the editorial board at Organization Studies, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Journal of Business Venturing. Trish also has extensive experience working with a range of social enterprises and non-profit organizations, focusing on strategy, partnership development and social innovation.
Mikaila Ortynsky is a PhD Candidate in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. Her research interests include women’s health, mental health, gender, and leadership at work. She is passionate about advancing knowledge about women’s health at work so women can better understand their bodies and workplaces can be more inclusive of all forms of health. Her current research projects include investigations of menstruation and its impact on performance and leadership. Mikaila is an Ontario Women’s Health Scholar and holds a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship.
Yaqi Yu is a Research Assistant with an Honors degree in Business Commerce, specializing in Business Technology Management from the University of Ottawa. Passionate about research, she enjoys breaking down complex topics and summarizing key findings into clear, useful insights. Her previous work includes a project on "Understanding Inclusion in the Skilled Trades," where she explored ways to improve diversity in the industry. She also gained valuable experience as a Research and Analysis Officer at Transport Canada, further developing her analytical skills and contributing to important research efforts