Faculty of Science, DeGroote School of Business

A two-time McMaster graduate – from the Faculty of Science and the DeGroote School of Business – Ken Lancaster is a financial planner with RBC Dominion Securities, delivering comprehensive integrated wealth management and financial solutions. Previously, Ken was a tax partner with Grant Thornton where he held a number of leadership roles. In 2021, Ken became a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, an honour that reflects his years as a tax accountant where he specialized in tax and succession planning for business owners.

For over 30 years, Ken has built a remarkable legacy as a Hamilton-based volunteer. He has contributed his accounting and business expertise to organizations including the Canadian Tax Foundation, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and the Estate Planners’ Council of Hamilton while also giving back to the local golf community as a board member of the Hamilton Golf & Country Club Foundation, as chair of the Hamilton Halton Junior Golf Tour and as a volunteer with Golf Ontario. Ken is currently treasurer for Habitat for Humanity Hamilton and he was a long-serving board member for the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton where he was chair of the board. 

Ken’s induction is a milestone for the Alumni Gallery as he joins Bobbi Lancaster ’73, ’78, ’80 and Ron Lancaster ’75 in becoming just the second set of three siblings to become Gallery members.

Faculty of Science, DeGroote School of Business

Lisa Mattam graduated from McMaster with two degrees and has since carved out a professional path establishing herself as a successful entrepreneur. Named by Profit Magazine as one of the Top Ten Emerging Women Entrepreneurs in Canada and recognized by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce as Female Entrepreneur of the Year and is a frequent commentator on the topics of entrepreneurship, resilience, the advancement of women and diversity, quoted in variety of media including Fast Company, The Globe and Mail, CBC, and The Toronto Star. Lisa launched Sahajan, an evidence-based natural skincare line based on the Ancient Science of Ayurveda. With Sahajan, Lisa brings together her entrepreneurial background and her knowledge from over 15 years working in and consulting to the pharmaceutical industry to create a skincare collection that since its launch has been featured in Vogue Paris, Chatelaine and Forbes and is distributed in Canada and the US in retailers such as Indigo, The Shopping Channel and the Home Shopping Network. Lisa was the only Canadian to be selected for Sephora’s Inaugural Beauty Accelerator.

Faculty of Engineering

Aly Orady is the CEO and Founder of Tonal, the first in-home smart gym and personalized approach to strength training. A 20-year Silicon Valley veteran, engineer and serial entrepreneur, Aly started his career at Hewlett-Packard’s Computer Systems Laboratory designing super-computers, followed by technical leadership roles at a series of startups, including Kealia, Inc. He earned his BEng Computer Engineering degree from McMaster in 1998 at just 19 years of age. He continued forward, enrolling part time at Stanford University. He worked on his master’s and completed it in 2003, receiving his M.S. E.E.Networking, Computer Architecture degree at the age of 23. With both degrees in hand, Aly Orady founded Pano Logic, where he served as the company’s Chief Technology Officer and oversaw core technology development, architecture, and patents. He leveraged his extensive product and technology background with his own fitness journey and 70 lb weight loss to invent Tonal. His goal is to help enable people to lead healthier lives by providing them with the technology, guidance, and support to effectively reach their fitness goal.

Faculty of Health Sciences

James Tomarken, who earned his MD at McMaster, was Commissioner of Health for Suffolk County, New York from 2010 to 2020. In that role he was responsible for 1.6 million residents and nine divisions ranging from environmental protection to disaster preparedness to emergency medical services. Under his leadership, his teams were recognized for their exceptional work by organizations including the New York State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In March 2020, he returned to his former department as director of public health to support Suffolk County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
From 2007 to 2010, James was the senior fellow for international healthcare management as well as hospital and outpatient administrator for the William J. Clinton Foundation/Yale University partnership working to rebuild the healthcare system in Liberia. Previously, he had been Medical Director at Metlife Insurance, Director of the Head Injury Program for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and Vice President and Medical Director of Cigna Healthcare of Ohio among other medical posts in Pennsylvania and Ontario.
 
James has been a member of boards and advisory boards with organizations including the Barbara H. Hagan School of Nursing and the Hofstra University Master of Public Health Program and was elected to the Delta Kappa Chapter of the Delta Omega Public Health Honorary Society. He currently has an appointment with New York State University at Stony Brook as Assistant Professor, Department of Family, Population & Preventive Medicine after previously spending more than a decade with the University of Toronto Department of Medicine.

He established The Pearl and Barnet Tomarken Excellence Fund at McMaster, supporting Dr.Sheila Singh, Director, McMaster Surgeon-Scientist Program, Canada Research Chair in Human Cancer Stem Cell Biology applying development neurobiology to the study of pediatric and adult brain tumors.

Faculty of Humanities

Twenty-one years after Bruce Stock left the forces, the Department of National Defense asked him to re-enlist as a Public Affairs Officer and to join the Canadian peacekeepers during the Bosnian war. After the Dayton Accord, he returned to Bosnia as a UN Public Information Officer with the UN International Police Force.
While working as a media relations officer for Emergency Measures Ontario, Bruce played a key role in the Provincial Operations Centre during the devastating ice storm of January 1998. He subsequently received the Provincial Government's Amethyst Award, to recognize his outstanding achievement as a public servant. In recognition of his years as a practitioner, teacher, mentor and visionary in public relations, he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the Canadian Public Relations Society. Bruce was presented with a "Special Edition Regimental Commendation" by the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in recognition of his contribution as a writer, and idea-generator for the successful celebration of the Regiment's centennial celebrations.

Arts & Science

Farzana Doctor is a writer, activist, and psychotherapist. Born in Zambia to Dawoodi Bohra Muslim expatriate parents from India, Farzana immigrated to Canada with her family in the early 1970s. She has published four novels to date and won the 2011 Dayne Ogilvie Grant from the Writers' Trust of Canada for an emerging lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender writer. In addition to her writing career, Doctor works as a registered social worker, in a private psychotherapy practice, coordinates a regular reading series in Toronto's Brockton Village neighbourhood, and coproduced Rewriting The Script: A Loveletter to Our Families, a documentary film about the family relationships of LGBT people in Toronto's South Asian immigrant communities. She currently volunteers with WeSpeakOut, a global group that is working to ban female genital cutting in her Dawoodi Bohra community. Farzana is also the Maasi behind Dear Maasi, a new sex and relationships column for FGM/C survivors.

Faculty of Humanities

The list of Roy Lewis’ accomplishments runs long showcasing his wide range of artistic talents and demonstrating what a Humanities education is all about. He is an accomplished actor who has worked in television, film, and radio; has been a long-time member of the Stratford Festival Acting Company; is a published author; has been a guest lecturer at universities in Southern Ontario and taught at acting and Elizabethan Texts at York and Concordia Universities. In addition, he is also a founding member of Shakespeare in the Rough and the Obsidian Theatre in Toronto. Roy has played Claudius in Hamlet, the Stage Manager in Our Town, and Prospero in the Tempest and has directed ten plays professionally. He has a BA from McMaster University in Painting Sculpture and Art History and a Master of Fine Arts (Acting) from York University, Toronto.