DENISE GHANAM, PhD (ABD), CHRP

Denise is currently involved in strategic management consulting, drawing on more than twenty years of broad business experience, and her recent six years teaching full-time at the Odette School of Business, University of Windsor, in management studies. She has assisted a wide variety of organizations (see client list for a sample) with issues related to effective human capital utilization and focused planning.

Her educational background includes an Honours Commerce degree in finance from St. Mary's University in Halifax, and an M.B.A. from Windsor in strategic planning. She is currently completing her doctoral thesis at the UWE Bristol Business School in England. This research was funded by a federal grant through the AUTO21 Network of Excellence. Defence of her thesis is anticipated shortly. Presently, her research work is focused on business strategy, and the impact of human resources on organizational effectiveness. Using the resource based view of the firm, she is assessing the role of dynamic capabilities on the utilization of human capital, by viewing the impact of outsourcing of the HR function through a series of case studies. She is also involved in a comprehensive project to analyse HR issues in the bus, truck and auto sector.

Denise holds the Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) designation, achieving the highest score in Canada on the national exam in the year in which she qualified. She is involved as a member with the International Academy of Management and Business, the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, and the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario. She has served as the first chair and founding member of the Windsor-Essex Equity Network, as chair of the Board of Governors for St Clair College, and as Vice Chair of the Association for Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario. Her community service work also includes two terms as the chair of a school council, and ongoing service with the Windsor Fire Department Benefit Fund and as Director of her church folk choir.

Her work experience spans five years of financial analysis as a Commercial Account Manager in the banking sector, and almost a decade in the automotive industry in a variety of management positions (including several years in front line supervision), and includes more than ten years in Human Resource Management roles in the public and private sector. In all those positions, she demonstrated a focus on outcomes and an ability to garner support for positive change. Her experience, with both small and large firms and with the variety of roles she has performed, allows her to bring insight to whatever client needs she is serving. In her role as an academic, she won three teaching awards, published numerous journal articles and conference papers, and garnered substantial federal grants to support her research work. This experience helps to make her a dynamic presenter for training workshops and allows her to bring together differing viewpoints in a facilitator role.

Denise is married with three children (and still alive to tell the tale!!). She resides in Windsor, Ontario, but has not forgotten her East Coast roots, as she knows all the words to “Barrett’s Privateers” and can still play a mean pair of spoons.