ADVISORY COUNCIL.
Natasha Kassim
Natasha Kassim is the director of diversity and inclusion at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Financial Group. She is a human resource professional with a background in the financial services industry. Natasha received her MBA from Athabasca University. She is experienced in diversity & inclusion, talent management, human resources management, banking, business, and leadership.
David Thomas
David C Thomas (Ph.D. University of South Carolina) is a professor at the Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria and professor emeritus of international management at Simon Fraser University.
He is the author of a dozen books, including (with Kerr Inkson) the bestselling Cultural Intelligence, Berrett-Koehler Publishers. His book Cross-Cultural Management: Essential Concepts (2008, Sage Publications) was the winner of the R. Wayne Pace Human Resource Development book of the year award for 2008. In addition, he has recently edited (with Peter B. Smith and Mark Peterson) The Handbook of Cross-Cultural Management Research from Sage Publications. His research on cross-cultural interactions in organizational settings has appeared in the leading journals in the field. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and the European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management.
Professor Thomas’ previous academic postings have included positions at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), the University of New South Wales, the Pennsylvania State University and The University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he was also director of the Master of International Business Program. He has held visiting positions at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey; the Chinese University of Hong Kong; the University of Hawaii; Massey University, New Zealand; and École supérieure de commerce et management (ESCEM), Tours, France. In addition to teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Professor Thomas has consulted on cultural diversity issues with numerous organizations, including Tech Resources, Rio Tinto Group, Sun Microsystems, the Canadian Police College, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Correctional Service Canada.
David Newhouse
David Newhouse is Onondaga from the Six Nations of the Grand River community near Brantford, Ontario. He is a professor of Indigenous studies at Trent University in the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies and has been chair of the Department of Indigenous Studies, now the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, since 1993.
His research interests focus on the emergence of modern Aboriginal society. He is the founding editor of the CANDO Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, the first peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to Aboriginal economic development issues and a founding editorial board member of aboriginal policy studies, an academic peer-reviewed journal focusing on urban Aboriginal issues.
He was awarded the Trent University Teaching Award for Educational Leadership and Innovation in 2016. He has served for the last decade on the executive committee for the Trent University Faculty Association: for three years as president. He currently serves as a grievance officer. He serves on the board of directors for the Nogojawong Friendship Centre in Peterborough.
He has taught a fourth-year course on reconciliation for the last four years. He is a board member of Katimavik, which relaunched on July 1, 2018, with a focus on reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.