Meet Toronto Rotman’s MBA Class Of 2026

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LAB

Another popular fixture is the Leadership Development Lab (LDL). Like the SDL, his lab leans heavily on self-exploration. Underpinning the course is a belief that students must first learn about themselves before they can practice leadership. This includes dissecting their experiences and mining their belief systems to better understand the why’s behind their reactions, values, and motivations. In the past, students have equated the LDL to therapy, a transformative time where they confront and gain control over what’s hindering them.

For Faisal Fakhani, the LDL is a platform to enhance his leadership style, be it through introspection, simulations, and coaching. For ’25 grad Sanchaita Kohli, the LDL Retreat was one of the best moments of the Rotman experience altogether.

“The course was set in the serene backdrop of a quiet and beautiful resort, an hour away from the bustling noise of city life on a snowy weekend. It was structured to detach students from the stress of school deliverables, electronic devices, and tight schedules in the spirit of facilitating meaningful and engaging conversations. The two-day course involved a series of deep and open reflections into the root causes of the irrational fears that hold us back as leaders and it helped us find their own distinct ways of quashing them. What moved me the most about this course was its unique ability to deliver a personalized learning experience to each student and its focus on finding and strengthening one’s individual leadership style.”

EXPERIENCING EVERY FACET OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

To round out the lab trio, there is the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). Running almost a year, the program pairs MBAs with founders who are looking to commercialize their ideas. In the process, it exposes them to the stakeholders involved in getting a venture off the ground: investors, subject matter experts, prospective customers and partners, and mentors. At Rotman, MBAs get involved in specific fields: Artificial Intelligence, Space Exploration, Quantum Computing, Healthcare, and Neurosciences. By acting in an advisory capacity, MBAs enjoy an active, front row seat to the practices and decisions that can build (or crush) ventures.

“CDL offers an opportunity to apply what we learn in MBA courses,” explains Macie Fang. “Even more, it enables us to collaborate with technology startups and entrepreneurs at the seed stage to support their growth and bring innovations to market. This program fuels my passion for bridging business and technology.”

What else distinguishes the Rotman MBA program from its peers? Earlier this year, Rotman rolled out an AI-driven teaching tool, All Day TA. Not only does it provide support like exercises to students in areas where they struggle, but also reports back to faculty to show them where to best invest their classroom and office hours time. That’s just one of the recent innovations at Rotman, explains Joseph Milner, the school’s Vice-Dean of MBA Programs. From additions to the Leadership Development Lab to expanded global programming, here is what students and applicants alike can expect from the Rotman MBA.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE VICE-DEAN

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?

Milner:

New Emphases (Majors):

“We have expanded of our emphases (majors) to include an emphasis in Real Estate and an emphasis in Health Sector Management. The addition of Real Estate follows the creation of the David Feldman Centre for Real Estate and Urban Economics. The David Feldman Centre establishes Rotman as the place to learn about the fast-paced and exciting world of real estate. Courses in the emphasis push students to the frontiers of thinking about real estate and urban economic issues in a way that only research-driven education can do.

By completing the emphasis in Health Sector Management, students acquire a working knowledge of the healthcare delivery system, including the publicly-funded and privately-funded sectors, funding models, technology and digital elements, innovation models, and unique consulting practices. The courses in the emphasis are supported by research conducted at the Sandra Rotman Centre for Health Sector Strategy. The emphasis prepares students for leadership roles in healthcare management, the life sciences, insurance, government, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and health sector consulting.

TEDx x Rotman

Rotman’s Graduate Business Council (GBC) has become a Conference Gold Sponsor and Salon Event Partner for TEDxUofT. This new partnership will support the development of a multi-year platform to cultivate opportunities for student involvement in career and community initiatives including presentations about the MBA experience by Rotman students. As part of the partnership, Rotman hosted its first TEDx experience in March 2025. Speakers connected to the Rotman community were invited to share their thoughts, experience and insights to an audience of students, alumni, faculty and staff.”

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

Milner: 

Leadership Development Lab (LDL): The Hero’s Journey

“We launched, as part of the Rotman orientation camp experience in 2024, “The Hero’s Journey”. This workshop, designed by LDL Professor Scott Rutherford, allows students to reflect on their reasons for pursuing the MBA, the challenges they will face, the choices they will make, and the impact they will have as they move throughout the MBA program. Students set a commitment for themselves as part of the journey and are connected with one of their peers to support them in their commitment as well. This helps to set the stage for the student’s development as a leader throughout the program and also highlights their responsibility in supporting the journeys of others that are within their community. Students learn not only the importance of setting their own goals, but supporting others in achieving their goals as well which is ultimately what excellent leaders do.”

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?

Milner: The Self Development Lab (SDL)

“The Self Development Lab (SDL) at Rotman offers transformative programs to hone the soft skills, resilience, and self-awareness of our students necessary to thrive in their careers. Through the SDL, students receive personalized feedback on their behavioural performance, communication style, and personal presence. A series of intensive, individual coaching sessions and small group modules are designed to help them express themselves effectively, understand their own motivations and those of others, and achieve their goals in complex, high-stakes environments. The skills developed within the SDL complement the knowledge and set of technical, analytical and targeted problem-solving skills that are the main areas being developed in the classroom.”

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?

Milner: “At Rotman we offer multiple courses to expose students to global business.

Unique to Rotman, the Global Manager Initiative was developed by the Rotman Institute for International Business in collaboration with the Ontario government and Global Affairs Canada. It is comprised of a set of courses that teach MBA students the intricacies of global business, and 12 hours of training with the Toronto Board of Trade on practical matters of how to prepare a company to participate in international trade. After that, the students apply their knowledge by helping a company prepare for and accompany them on a Trade Mission organized by the Toronto Board of Trade. Here is what students say about the program:

“My biggest takeaway is recognizing how interconnected we are worldwide. Despite differences in capital markets, labor markets, and production capabilities, these variations present unique opportunities to leverage global strengths and drive the expansion of the Canadian economy.”

“These learnings really translate to exactly what I wanted to do out of my MBA, which was to get in the tent with companies and help them in both structuring and devising their financing and strategic objectives in order to develop long term value creation and to help them evolve and succeed in the future.”

Rotman global programming also includes:

Global Practicum Courses

Global Practicum Courses provide students with an opportunity to go deep on an academic topic such as Business Design, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability or Social Impact Investing (to name a few), and compare international approaches by visiting relevant regions.  The global practicum courses change on a yearly basis, and have been offered in the following regions:

Southeast Asia
East Asia
Latin America and South America
Silicon Valley

Global Consulting Projects

As part of our Global Consulting Project opportunities, students have worked with Human Rights Watch on such diverse topics such as creating an awareness for mental illness in conjunction, setting up a micro-financing system, or helping to improve entrepreneurial opportunities for at-risk communities. Our students completed projects in the following locations:

Nigeria
Myanmar
Malawai
Seattle
Silicon Valley
Tanzania

Courses on International Business

While we encourage all students to seek out global experiences, we also offer classroom courses including International Strategy, Strategy in Emerging Markets, Economic Environment for International Business, Managing Talent for Global Operations, and Inclusive Global Development.”

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?

Milner:

Business Operations for Sustainability

“The course provides students with the tools to analyze, evaluate, improve, and create the operations of business models that address some of the major challenges faced by humankind: climate change, energy, waste, labour, and poverty. Topics include building a circular economy, scaling business that address social challenges, creating access to healthcare, developing industry self-regulation, decarbonization, and digital transformation. The course presents the research of Professor Gonzalo Romero who studies sustainable operations, healthcare analytics, and operations management in developing countries.

Accounting for Entrepreneurs

The course introduces the accounting tools and develop the accounting skills related to the role of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at a private, entrepreneurial company. The structure of the course will follow the life-cycle of a company that begins as a start-up, and will cover the tax, managerial, and financial accounting related issues of key importance at early-stage private companies. As Toronto has become one of the top destinations for entrepreneurs to start their ventures, students find value as they take positions in these early-stage private companies.”

P&Q: Who are two new professors who’ve joined your faculty in the past year? What do they teach and how will they be difference-makers in your MBA program?

Milner:

Professor Susan Feng Lu is a Professor of Operations Management and Statistics and holds the Alan Hudson Chair in Economics Health Policy at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She earned her Ph.D. from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and has established herself as a leading researcher at the intersection of health economics, operations, and analytics. She has recently joined Rotman from Purdue University. Professor Lu’s research explores the operational drivers of healthcare delivery, focusing on how public policies and technological innovations influence the efficiency, quality, and equity of healthcare systems. With expertise spanning health technology, nursing home operations and cardiac care delivery, she employs empirical methods and machine learning to address pressing challenges in healthcare operations. Students in the MBA program will learn healthcare analytics and healthcare operations based on her deep research.

Professor Victor Couture is an Associate Professor and Camrost Feldcorp Chair in Real Estate. He studies urban issues like housing, gentrification, transportation, homelessness, remote work, and residential segregation. His work, funded by the Gates Foundation and the NSF, has been featured in major publications like the New York Times and The Economist. He co-founded Cities in Motion Lab, which helps cities worldwide compare their transportation and accessibility performance with peer cities and improve policy based on best practices. At Rotman he teaches real estate investment and brings his wealth of knowledge to the classroom.”

Next Page: In-depth profiles of 11 members of the Class of 2026

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