May El Damatty

Ivey Business School at Western University

“Curious, analytical, and creative. Energized by people, big challenges, and constant learning.”

Hometown: London, Ontario (originally from Cairo, Egypt)

Fun fact about yourself: I’ve always been very visually inspired. Fashion and interior design are my favorite creative outlets. Fashion makes everyday life more fun, and I love experimenting with unexpected looks and matching my style to my mood. Interior design lets me combine my structural engineering instincts for space and proportion with creativity. Even small things like making a presentation deck or graph more visually appealing give me a surprising amount of satisfaction and make analytical work more enjoyable.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Western University, Civil Engineering

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? GHD Engineers – Senior Project Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? NA

Where will you be working after graduation? I’m currently exploring strategy and consulting roles where I can tackle complex challenges and continue learning across industries. During the MBA I’ve also developed a strong interest in finance, so I’m exploring opportunities in that space as well.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: President of the International Business Club at Ivey Business School, organizing speaker events connecting MBA students with global business leaders and alumni. Forté Fellow and Dean’s List recipient.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m most proud of maintaining strong academic performance while raising my two young children during the MBA. Business school moves quickly, but I approached it as an opportunity to soak up as much learning as possible from the case discussions, professors, and classmates. Finding that balance showed me that I’m capable of more than I ever thought possible.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? The achievement I’m most proud of is contributing to the design of major transit infrastructure projects in Toronto, including subway stations that will ultimately serve millions of people each year. Watching complex designs move from drawings to structures that will shape how a city moves is a special experience. Knowing that something you helped design will become part of millions of daily routines is incredibly rewarding.

Why did you choose this business school? I couldn’t picture myself returning to a traditional classroom where learning meant sitting through lectures. I wanted an experience that was dynamic, engaging, and closer to the way real decisions are made in business. Ivey’s case-based method immediately stood out. Every class is a discussion where you are challenged to analyze complex problems, defend your perspective, and learn from the perspectives of others.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? This is another tough choice because I genuinely enjoyed so many courses at Ivey. If I had to choose one, it would be Anomalies in Strategy taught by Professor Joshua Foster. The course explored behavioural economics and how cognitive biases influence the decisions people make in business. I loved how it blended psychology with strategy and real-world examples. I found myself applying the ideas across many other classes, particularly in finance, where understanding investor behaviour helps explain market outcomes. It gave me a much deeper appreciation for the human side of how organizations and markets function.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? One of my favourite moments at Ivey was the evening our Section 2 gathered on a patio to celebrate finishing our core courses before starting electives. After months of intense classes and balancing the demands of the MBA with motherhood, it was the first moment I felt like I could really pause and breathe. In that moment, it hit me how incredibly fortunate I was to have built such meaningful friendships in such a short time. Many of us had moved to London from different cities and countries; we all lived within minutes of campus, and we spent hours every day debating cases and working closely in teams. Somewhere along the way, classmates had become the kind of friends who cheer you on and support you through the tougher moments. That evening made me realize how unique the Ivey experience is. The intensity of the program and the way we work together every day creates friendships that form quickly and last well beyond the MBA.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? During the first few months, I was still figuring out how to balance the demands of the MBA with my family responsibilities. As a result, socializing with classmates was not my top priority early on. Later in the program, I realized how much the people around you shape the experience. I also realized how much time with my classmates energizes me. I’ve always been a people person, and those moments of connection made the MBA experience richer. If I could do it again, I would be more intentional about carving out time for those friendships from the very beginning of the program.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? One of the most impactful experiences for me was the live valuation work in the Value Investing course. We were valuing a real company in real time, and what surprised me was how much the exercise pushed me beyond finance alone. To estimate what the business was truly worth, I had to think about strategy and competitive advantage, assess the quality of management and leadership, understand operational strengths and weaknesses, and interpret the financial statements closely enough to identify potential red flags. It also required thinking about the broader macroeconomic environment and how investor behaviour can shape market outcomes. It was a moment when everything I had been learning throughout the MBA came together into a single toolkit for understanding real businesses.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? I grew up in London, Ontario, so coming back for my MBA felt like returning home. Experiencing the city as an MBA student gave me a new appreciation for it. Having also studied in Toronto, I’ve come to see how special it is to study in a smaller city. Because most students move to London for the program and live close to campus, people spend a lot of time together both in and outside the classroom. It creates a sense of community that’s harder to replicate in larger commuter cities, where people often attend class and then head back to their separate lives. London also has beautiful green spaces and trails that make the city especially enjoyable in the summer. One of my favourite things to do is go for a walk through Gibbons Park.

What business leader do you admire most? One business leader I admire is Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo. What stands out to me most about her leadership is the way she combined strong strategic thinking with genuine humanity. She often spoke about the importance of remembering that employees are not just workers, but people with families, aspirations, and lives beyond the office. One example that always stayed with me was her habit of writing letters to the parents of senior executives thanking them for the role they played in raising such talented leaders. It’s a small gesture, but it reflects a leadership philosophy rooted in respect and empathy. I admire leaders who understand that strong organizations are built not just through strategy and performance, but through trust, care, and human connection.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? One way Ivey integrated AI into the MBA experience was through a three-day generative AI workshop. During the workshop, my team built an app that allows users to upload a video of their own golf swing, which the system analyzes to assess form, suggest drills, and track improvement over time. We trained the model using swing videos from a few of my classmates who are golfers. Once it started working, several classmates began uploading their own swings and comparing their scores, which quickly turned into some fun rivalry.

What struck me most was how quickly we were able to turn a simple idea into a working application. It made me realize how dramatically AI is lowering the barriers to building and testing new business ideas. At the same time, lower barriers to entry will likely mean more competition, which raises interesting questions about how companies will continue to differentiate themselves.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? One classmate who has really inspired me during the MBA is Ishi Khamesra. Working with Ishi showed me what great teamwork should look like, when what you create together ends up being far better than what either person could have done alone. We constantly bounce ideas off each other and challenge one another’s thinking. Ishi is incredibly intelligent but also very humble, and she often helps me see problems from perspectives I had not considered before. Having spent most of my career in a very male-dominated field, it has been refreshing to work alongside such talented women during the MBA. Even in the most stressful moments, Ishi stays calm, thoughtful, and kind to everyone around her. That combination of brilliance, humility, and grace is rare, and I feel very lucky to have worked alongside her during this program.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? One item on my professional bucket list is to work in consulting, where I can continue feeding my curiosity by solving complex problems across industries and learning from brilliant people.

Another is to start a business with my sisters. We have always talked about building something together, and the idea of combining our different strengths to create something meaningful is incredibly motivating.

What made May such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“In my many years of teaching at Ivey Business School, and previously at Olin Business School and Carnegie Mellon University, I have had the privilege of working with many exceptional students. Very few, however, combine the intellectual curiosity, diligence, and charisma that May El Damatty consistently brings to the classroom.

What distinguishes May is not simply the quality of her insights, but the way she arrives at them. She is deeply inquisitive and perceptive, and she does not hesitate to challenge conventional assumptions in economics and management when the evidence or logic invites it. Her questions are deeply exploratory, and she pushes discussions beyond the surface of a case or concept, asking why a framework works, when it might fail, and how it connects to real-world developments.

Equally impressive is her ability to bridge theory and practice. May has a natural instinct for connecting abstract concepts with real-world phenomena, often drawing links that help her peers see familiar material in a new light. Her curiosity also extends beyond the classroom. It is common for her to follow up after class with thoughtful observations and questions that reach well beyond the scope of the day’s discussion—clear evidence of a voracious appetite for learning.

Just as important is May’s generosity as a learner. She is empathetic and deeply invested not only in her own intellectual development but also in the success of her peers. She contributes in ways that encourage others to participate, helping foster a classroom environment where ideas are explored collaboratively rather than competitively.

If the tone of this letter is not suggestive enough, let me say it frankly: I am genuinely excited to write this nomination. May El Damatty stands out as a student whose intellectual curiosity, thoughtful engagement, and collaborative spirit leave a lasting impact on the learning community. I am confident she will continue to distinguish herself and contribute meaningfully in whatever endeavors she pursues.”

Romel Mostafa
Assistant Professor, International Business
Director, Lawrence National Centre for Policy & Management
Ivey Business School at Western University

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2026

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