Andrew Aziz
Founder & CEO, Bear Bull Traders, Trading Terminal. Managing Partner, Peak Capital Trading
Andrew Aziz completed his PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia from 2009 to 2013 under Professors Elod Gyenge and Colin Oloman, focusing on electrochemical reactors. Originally an international student from Iran, he served as President of the CHBE Graduate Student Society in 2010 and 2011. He credits UBC for teaching him not just technical knowledge, but how to master unknown problems through disciplined research, critical thinking, and persistence. After working as a research scientist in industry and contributing to government-supported research programs, Andrew was laid off in 2015 and made an unexpected pivot into entrepreneurship and finance. With no formal academic background in business or trading, he applied the same PhD mindset, studying markets as an unknown system, building models, testing hypotheses, and iterating relentlessly. He went on to become a full-time trader, investor, and the best-selling author of How to Day Trade for a Living, which has sold over one million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages over the past decade. In 2025, he established the Andrew Aziz Graduate Award in the UBC Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering to support international students who demonstrate initiative in expanding their skills beyond their primary field of research, reflecting the broader mindset he believes UBC instilled in him. Andrew is now a recognized speaker, entrepreneur, and high-altitude climber. He has summited Mount Everest and multiple 8,000-meter peaks in Nepal and is the first Iranian man to climb the Seven Summits, the highest peak on each continent, including Antarctica.
Véronique Lecault
Co-Founder & CTO, Abcellera
Dr. Véronique Lecault is Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer, and member of the Board of Directors at AbCellera, a Canadian biotechnology company that discovers and develops antibody medicines. Dr. Lecault has guided AbCellera’s growth from six co-founders in an academic lab at the University of British Columbia to a publicly traded company with a team of ~600 people across three global locations. Dr. Lecault is a co-inventor of the high-throughput screening platform that is now part of AbCellera’s core technology. This technology has been used in more than 100 drug discovery programs, resulting in more than a dozen reaching clinical trials. The most notable program to date has been AbCellera’s pandemic response to COVID-19, which included discovery and development of two antibody medicines that treated an estimated 2.5 million patients and saved tens of thousands of lives.
Dr. Lecault holds an Honours BSc in Biochemistry and a BASc in Chemical Engineering (Biotechnology) from the University of Ottawa, and a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of British Columbia. She is currently responsible for technical operations at AbCellera, and has overseen the build of AbCellera’s process development and clinical manufacturing capabilities, including a recently opened GMP facility in Vancouver that enables AbCellera to discover, develop, manufacture, and deliver innovative antibody medicines to patients in Canada. During Dr. Lecault’s tenure, AbCellera has received many awards, including The Scientist’s Invention of the Year, Fast Company’s Best Workplace for Innovators, Most Innovative Biotechnology Companies, and Innovative Team of the Year, Deloitte’s Fast50, and The Globe and Mail’s Top Growing Companies.
Dr. Lecault is one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, the University of Ottawa’s Alumna of the Year and the recipient of the Dean’s Medal of Distinction from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Applied Science.
Karl Zimmermann
EIT, WSP
Dr. Karl Zimmermann is a water researcher, water lover, and a Water Treatment Engineer EIT with WSP Canada in Vancouver where he fosters partnerships to establish water solutions alongside rural and First Nations communities in western Canada. During his PhD studies at UBC, Zimmermann researched biological ion exchange drinking water filters before wading into the social side of the water sector when he learned from water leaders on five continents about what is important for the long-term success of drinking water solutions. Zimmermann continues to support research and training opportunities with students worldwide, especially in the south of Madagascar.