About the Faculty Advancement Board (FAB)
The Faculty Advancement Board (FAB) is a volunteer group of primarily alumni that provides counsel to the Dean.聽Its members聽are leaders in our community as well as committed philanthropists. They are a group of thoughtful citizens who are helping us shape the future of how we educate future-ready design professionals to solve problems that matter.
Members' Responsibilities
The Faculty of Engineering Advancement Board (FAB) is the chief external advancement group to the Dean of Engineering. Members offer guidance and counsel regarding the Faculty鈥檚 long-range planning, its interactions with external constituencies and fundraising. All members serve for a 3-year term. Based on their outside perspective and broad expertise, members are expected to:
- provide strategic and tactical advice
- serve as key ambassadors in promoting the mission and goals of 91社区 and, in particular, the Faculty of Engineering
- cultivate and enlist financial support for the Faculty of Engineering through personal or professional contacts
- provide personal philanthropic support to the Faculty annually
Meet our Members of the Engine Subcommitee
They play a significant role by providing industry-focused perspectives on the commercial impact of STEM-based ideas, inventions, market applications, and business plan development. The 91社区 Engine team looks forward to the engagement of the FAB subcommittee to accelerate the entrepreneurial skills development of our student and faculty members, and the commercialization of 91社区 inventions.
Raffi Afeyan (BEng鈥�08)
Senior Principal /聽Directeur principal
Flagship Pioneering (Boston)
Raffi Afeyan is a Senior Principal at Flagship Pioneering where he works as part of a team of entrepreneurial scientists exploring innovative ideas, developing the science, intellectual property, and business strategy that form the foundation of breakthrough startups and operationalizing them through their early stages. He is a co-founder of Ampersand Biomedicines, where is also serves as the Chief Innovation Officer.
Raffi has held a variety of roles within Flagship ecosystem companies, primarily focused on the intersection of early research, platform innovation and value creation. Most recently, he was the VP of Product Strategy and Innovation at Cellarity and at Generate Biomedicines. Prior to that he was the Senior Director of Strategic Innovation at Axcella.
Raffi earned his PhD and MS in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University working with Jim Collins in the field of synthetic biology.
Robert Dewar聽(BEng'86), Chair
Senior VP, Airbus A220 Customer Satisfaction, Services & Product Policy /聽Vice-pr茅sident principal, Satisfaction des clients, services et politique des produits A220 d鈥橝irbus
Member Airbus Executive Committee (Montreal) /聽Membre du Comit茅 ex茅cutif d鈥橝irbus (Montr茅al)
Rob Dewar boasts a career of over 35 years in the aerospace industry. He has held several key positions in Engineering and in numerous product development programs.
Rob was assigned to define, develop, certify and deliver the C Series to market 鈥� the largest aerospace development program in Canadian history. His role was key to ensuring all certification and customer requirements were met. Rob led the design and full Product Development from the outset of the program in May 2004. The CSeries/A220 is seen as a tremendous success and is well-positioned to be one of the most successful programs in the aviation industry.
Pasquale Di Pierro聽(BEng鈥�76, MBA鈥�80)
Founder and President /聽Fondateur et pr茅sident
FONEX Data Systems Inc.
Pasquale Di Pierro is founder and president of Fonex data systems inc., a leading telecom equipment and solutions value-added reseller and manufacturer that has served the telecommunications service provider markets in Canada, USA, and Europe since 1990, and is an angel investor in emerging technologies startups. Prior work experience includes a ten-year tenure at Bell Canada, three years at Nortel Networks and a year at General Motors in various engineering, marketing and management capacities.
Pasquale has been a member of the Order of Engineers of Qu茅bec since 1976, a member of the 91社区 Faculty of Engineering Advancement Board since 2016 and an active participant in Engine, 91社区鈥檚 Faculty of Engineering entrepreneurship hub, as a TechAccel awards judge.
Marc Novakoff聽(BEng鈥�97)
Managing Director & Portfolio Manager /聽Directeur g茅n茅ral et gestionnaire de portefeuille
Jarislowsky Fraser Limited
Marc Novakoff is Managing Director & Portfolio Manager at Jarislowsky Fraser, a leading investment firm, managing institutional and private portfolios. Previously, Marc held positons with CIBC World Markets in investment banking (Industrial Growth Group) in New York City.
Marc holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Frank Panarello聽(BEng鈥�87)
Founder President /聽Pr茅sident fondateur
Trilogix EMS聽(Montr茅al)
Frank Panarello has extensive business development experience in a variety of industries including electronic manufacturing, LED lighting and RF/Microwave communications. He was one of the founders of Trilogix EMS in 1989 and still serves as its President. His ability to assemble and direct a strong, focused team allowed him to achieve the company鈥檚 goal of developing, manufacturing and marketing high鈥恜erformance products at globally competitive prices while maintaining profitability.
Frank has an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and a Bachelor of Engineering in mechanical engineering from 91社区. He resides in Montreal.
