Meet Ivey’s MBA Class Of 2025

THE CASE METHOD

Among alumni, 24-Hour Reports ranks among the most popular activities of their MBA experience. However, it is the outgrowth of the larger approach to teaching business at Ivey: the case method. Basically, students read and analyze stories about business. However, don’t expect students to be reading Forbes and Fast Company in the library. In cases, students take on the role of managers knee-deep in real-life events ranging digital transformations to new product rollouts. In every case, let’s just say these situations are going poorly for the protagonists.

As a whole, cases are a means of teaching students a problem-solving methodology. Students read, reflect, analyze, and decide. They identify knowns and unknowns, weigh tradeoffs and alternatives, and devise holistic solutions that mitigate the biggest risks and address the largest stakeholders. From there, students meet with their teams to gain additional insights before heading to class to defend their positions – no different than a board room. With each case, students repeat this process until it becomes second nature. For the Class of 2025, the opportunity to master this process was one of Ivey’s biggest attractions.

“The process of learning through the case-based method has provided me with the opportunity to problem-solve, fail quickly at building a solution, and learn from my peers,” explains Jessica Confalone.  “During the case method, you learn by doing it on your own (60% of the process), then learn through collaborating with your peers (another 30%), and then cement that learning in class (the last 10%), which is so important. It helps you form the building blocks of independent thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It also demonstrates how you can learn from others in small groups and larger settings, all while giving you the grace to fail quickly and start again with minimum risks.”

Confalone’s class cite addition benefits of the case method. Daniel Zahradnik, who previously worked in construction management, loves how cases expose him to a wide variety of markets, industries, and companies. Nuria Teodorescu, most recently a business analyst for the Canadian Red Cross, appreciates how cases enable her to apply what she has already learned from previous courses. Even more, she adds, the case method provides a platform where she can absorb the “vastly different experiences and perspectives” of her classmates. With Ivey integrating a number of international cases, adds Mayeesa Shamiha, students can gain a more global outlook without leaving the classroom.

“What I love about the case method is that it is such an engaging way to learn,” observes Christina Gucciardi. “I’m constantly pulled out of my comfort zone to make decisions within industries where I have zero experience in. In the moment, it can feel like you’re running a mile a minute, but when you stop to look back at how much you’ve learned, it kind of takes your breath away.”

If anything, adds Folahan Ajayi-Femi, the case method teaches Ivey MBAs to be resourceful. “Initially, the case briefs may seem ambiguous, prompting thoughts like, “What am I supposed to do with this?” However, this ambiguity encourages deeper thinking and consideration of various possibilities and reasons behind actions…Class discussions further stimulate learning. For me, the case method has transformed my approach to problem-solving from a rigid method to a more diverse and comprehensive one.”

A CLASS PROFILE

Beyond the case method, the Class of 2025 also lauds the Ivey MBA’s one-year format, which Oyinda Giwa says frees her to “concentrate on learning without significant work interruptions.” Others point to Ivey’s alumni network, 34,000 strong in 100 countries. Among the alumni luminaries, you’ll find Fairfax Financial CEO Prem Watsa and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary. That doesn’t count leadership programming like Leadership Under Fire (LUF), a four-day boot camp conducted by members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Working in ten-member teams, students complete exercises like moving large objects where they can practice leadership concepts, test their mental and physical limits and gain self-awareness through coaching. Another popular opportunity is the LEADER project. Here, students head overseas to teach business schools, says Sara Harper.

“This opportunity not only allows you to put what you learned into practice but allows you to learn about the challenges and nuances that businesses in other countries are facing while making positive social impact,” she adds.

Overall, the Class of 2025 features 150 MBA candidates who bring a 655 average GMAT to London (with scores ranging from 540-740). The class features students from 25 countries, with international students and women making up 40% and 37% class shares respectively.

As undergraduates, 38% of the class majored in Business with another 34% holding Engineering-related degrees. The remainder of the class is split evenly between students holding degrees in the Arts and the Sciences. As professionals, the largest segments of the class hailed from Finance and Insurance (22%), Consulting (15%), Engineering (7%), and Technology (7%). The remainder of the class includes representatives from Accounting, Healthcare, Energy, Retail, Manufacturing, Marketing and Public Relations, Mining, and the Non-Profit and Government sectors.

Last month, Ivey made headlines in Bloomberg Businessweek, ranking as the #1 MBA program in Canada. In February, Ivey recruited Julian Birkinshaw away from the London Business School to be its new dean. Call it a homecoming for Birkinshaw, who earned both his MBA and PhD from Ivey. Those aren’t the only developments at Ivey. This summer, P&Q reached out to Martha Maznevski, MBA Program Faculty Director, to learn about what is coming up at Ivey. Here are her thoughts.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA MAZNEVSKI

P&Q: What have been the two most important developments in your MBA program over the past year? What type of impact will they have on current and future MBAs?

Maznevski: “This past year, we renewed the capstone experience with a focus on the commercialization of cutting-edge sustainable technologies. Coined Leading Critical Issues, the course engages our students with business leaders who are grappling with the challenge of getting their technologies to market, despite the benefits that they can bring to society and the environment. Students tackle these challenges in both a case competition and an intensive, week-long project where students themselves need to develop a product to take to market.

This year we have also launched a Capital Markets Internship for those students seeking to pursue careers in Finance. Internships are a challenge in a one-year program, but we have worked with our Corporate Partners to craft an opportunity for interested students to develop relevant, on-job experience at Investment Banks, Private Equity firms, and Pension Funds.”

P&Q:  Every year, P&Q publishes a “10 Business Schools to Watch” feature that highlights how schools are raising the bar and enhancing the student experience through innovations or expansions in programming or resources. What is one thing that sets your school apart from your peer programs and makes you a business school to watch?

Maznevski: “We have worked with our Career Management team to transform our career development curriculum, setting us apart from peer institutions. Initially, our approach, like many business schools, emphasized connecting students to typical roles through standard assessments and tactical job search strategies. We have moved beyond this traditional model, teaching students to think about career exploration using a challenge mindset and help them develop the skills and knowledge needed to navigate their careers over the long term. By shifting focus from conventional career paths to addressing the critical issues facing boardrooms and society, Ivey prepares its students for a dynamic business environment, including roles that may not yet exist. This forward-thinking approach equips students with the resilience needed to navigate an ever-evolving professional landscape and drive positive change in the business world.”

P&Q:  What types of programs do you offer to sharpen your students’ soft skills? What areas do you emphasize and how do you instill these skills in your students?

Maznevski: “As a case-based school that is focused on profound, in-class conversations Ivey students are working on their soft-skills daily. Our approach to case learning prioritizes the building of strong arguments to support great business decisions. Our faculty team in Management Communications work with students to hone their skills and students are given the chance to use the classroom to take risks that will payoff upon graduation.”

P&Q: What types of programming, through classroom instruction, extracurriculars, and treks – does your school offer to expose students to country-specific and global business practices? What have students told you were the most educational and fun aspects of these activities?

Maznevski: “The Ivey MBA Program offers a series of international experiences that exposes our students to the world. During the program, students have the opportunity to go on week-long study trips to Silicon Valley, Portugal and Costa Rica. Ivey also has a deep set of exchange partners that provides those students seeking a more immersive experience to go away for a term. We also support the LEADER project, which sends teams of Ivey students to act as volunteer instructors that teach foundational business administration and entrepreneurial skills to promising businesspeople around the world. Locations for the LEADER Project include India, Nepal North Macedonia, Serbia, and Vietnam.”

P&Q: Tell us about Ivey’s Field Project. What does it involve? What are some examples of company projects that your MBAs have completed? What issues did they tackle? What successes have they had? What did they learn from the experience(s)?

Maznevski: “The Ivey Field Project is a course that allows our students to take on a consulting engagement with an organization that is seeking support on a strategic problem or opportunity. Clients range from mid-sized firms to global giants and have included companies like 3M, AT&T, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, General Motors, IBM, and Virgin Mobile. The issues covered in the project can range widely and have covered topics like digital transformation to geographic or product expansion to spinning off a business unit.”

P&Q: What makes London, Ontario such a great place to earn an MBA? How does the Ivey MBA leverage your local ecosystem to provide opportunities for your students?

Maznevski: “London is a mid-sized Canadian city that not only has a college-town feel, but is large enough to support a thriving business ecosystem. The campus provides a residential environment that is great for students that are looking to fully immerse in their MBA and get away from a commuting environment. This allows our students to build strong relationships as they engage the thriving local business environment. London is also conveniently located only two hours away from Toronto and our students are but a short train trip away to the many opportunities and our large alumni base that is located in Canada’s largest city.”

P&Q: What are the most exciting new courses that your school is offering to MBAs this school year? What makes them so unique and valuable?

Maznevski: “We have several exciting new courses for this coming year. One of particular note is “Advances in Strategic Thinking and Decision Making”, which seeks to build the capacity of future managers to build deeper foresight, critical judgment, and enhanced creativity to tackle the challenges of today. In particular, the course is aimed at developing paradoxical thinking capacity, which is the ability to apply judgment in face of tensions and paradoxes such as profit-purpose, digital-material, stability-change, local-global, explore-exploit, integration-differentiation on (in platforms and ecosystems), and competition-collaboration. This course is necessary now more than ever as leaders are being pressed to consider how best to make great decisions where information is fluid and context is constantly changing.”

To learn more about the Class of 2025, click on the links below.

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Alma Mater	Last Employer
Folahan Ajayi-Femi	Lagos, Nigeria	University of Lagos	Coca-Cola Company Africa
Jessica Confalone	Oakville, Ontario	University of Western Ontario	Rowan William Davies and Irwin Inc.
Mackenzie Fulton	Tisdale, Saskatchewan	University of Saskatchewan	Water Security Agency
Alexis Gantous	Toronto, Ontario	University of Guelph	Psiphon, Inc.
Oyinda Giwa	Oakville, Ontario	McMaster University	Procter & Gamble
Sarvie Golestaneh	Ottawa, Ontario	Carleton University	Evolution Architecture
Christina Gucciardi	Mississauga, Ontario	University of Western Ontario	TRIO Fertility
Sara Harper	Whitby, Ontario	Queen’s University	PepsiCo
Mayeesa Shamiha	Waterloo, Ontario	University of Alberta	GHD Limited
Nuria Teodorescu	Ottawa, Ontario	Carleton University	Canadian Red Cross
Daniel Zahradnik	Peterborough, Ontario	Trent University	Bird Construction
Carmichael Norton	Toronto, Ontario	McGill University	TouchBistro