Academic Board

Dr. Ruhai Wu is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, and the Academic Director of the Digital Marketing Lab. His research focuses on digital marketing strategy, digital platforms, pricing, influencer and livestream marketing, and data-driven decision making, with publications in leading academic journals and support from competitive research grants. Dr. Wu works closely with industry partners to guide student teams in delivering practical, data-informed digital marketing solutions that create measurable value for organizations while enhancing student professional development.

Professor Mandeep Malik is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Area Chair of the Marketing Area at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. He brings extensive experience in guiding real-world, practice-oriented student projects in digital marketing, sales management, business-to-business marketing, and marketing strategy. In his teaching, Professor Malik emphasizes applied decision making through case-based instruction and industry engagement, enabling students to develop strategic marketing and sales capabilities. His academic expertise and leadership enrich the Digital Marketing Lab’s mission to connect rigorous marketing scholarship with practical business impact.

Dr. Sanghwa Kim is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, in Canada. He blends econometric and quantitative analysis with experimental techniques to understand how online and offline business environments impact consumer behaviour and retail demand. He is also broadly interested in the macroenvironmental impacts on the marketing domain. His research aims to provide managerial and societal implications that enhance environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and corporate governance beyond retail performance in both online and offline contexts. Dr. Kim’s research has appeared in premier academic outlets, including the Journal of Marketing (Q1, Impact Factor: 11.5), Journal of Interactive Marketing (Q1, Impact Factor: 6.8), and Journal of Business Research (Q1, Impact Factor: 10.5).

Dr. Kai Christine Lesage is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. Her research focuses on the intersection of marketing, sustainability, and innovation, exploring how firms and stakeholders navigate decisions surrounding green innovation and sustainable practices. Guided by a strong commitment to environmental stewardship, business improvement, and societal well-being, Dr. Lesage strives to provide actionable insights for industry leaders, marketers, and policymakers. 

Before transitioning to academia, Dr. Lesage gained over a decade of marketing leadership experience in the consumer packaged goods and food industries across North America. In these roles, she successfully led innovation initiatives, sustainable program development, and global commercialization strategies with P&L responsibilities. 

Dr. Lesage’s unique blend of industry expertise and academic insight equips her to address real-world challenges with a holistic and impactful perspective. 

Dr. Yang Pan is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at McMaster University. Her research focuses on the marketing-finance interface (pricing power, customer satisfaction, and social media) and retail analytics (basket analysis and choice modelling). She has published in the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, and the Marketing Science Institute working paper series, and she has presented her projects at Marketing Science conferences and American Marketing Association conferences. She has also served as an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and the European Journal of Marketing. 

Dr. Ashish Pujari is a Professor of Marketing at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, and a member of the Michael Lee-Chin and Family Institute for Strategic Business Studies. His research spans sustainable and green product innovation, strategic partnerships, crowdfunding dynamics, and the role of narrative and quality signals in market outcomes, with publications in leading academic journals. Drawing on deep scholarly expertise, Dr. Pujari contributes academic oversight to the Digital Marketing Lab, ensuring that student projects are informed by rigorous research and real-world relevance, particularly in areas that intersect sustainability, innovation, and market strategy.

“I’m currently exploring the discipline’s interfaces as I build on my dissertation, entitled “Interface of Salesforce with Marketing and Digital”. Dr. Vaid’s research focuses on marketing interfaces along two dimensions that are somewhat intrinsic and extrinsic to the firm, specifically functional and technological. The first dimension explores marketing’s interfaces with other functions (sales, operations, finance, human resources) within the firm (mainly) in the context of managerial successions. The second dimension investigates marketing’s interfaces with technologies (sales lead nurturing, sales lead generation, marketing automation systems, AI, healthcare, consumer policies, data breaches, and mobility/geodata), sometimes outside the firm (broadly) in the context of technology supply and acceptance. The dimensions also intersect with each other.”

Dr. Michael Wu is an assistant professor of Marketing at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. His work is housed in empirical modelling, with his substantive research fields of interest being live streaming, social and digital media marketing, and data analytics. The methodological tools he utilizes are based on applied econometrics and causal inference, applied machine learning, empirical industrial organization (IO) and randomized control trials.

Dr. Ji is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph. Her research focuses on emerging issues in the digital marketing landscape, including influencer marketing, livestream shopping, and platform businesses, using empirical econometric methods and game-theoretical models. She was awarded an SSHRC Insight Development Grant ($68,564) to support her research on brand–influencer collaboration.

With teaching experience in Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Strategy, and Introduction to Marketing, she is passionate about connecting students with industry partners through applied marketing projects. She also pursues partnership opportunities through Mitacs programs and SSHRC Partnership Engage Grants to promote experiential learning and industry-engaged research.

Hassan Babapour is a PhD student in Marketing at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, with a decade of industry experience in digital marketing and business development. Before transitioning to academia, Hassan held leadership roles as a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Digital Marketing Manager, and Business Development Director. He has driven success across various industries through data-driven strategies, digital transformation, and e-commerce.

Throughout his career, Hassan has interviewed over 1,000 candidates and hired around 100 professionals, demonstrating his leadership and mentorship capabilities. His contributions to digital marketing include spearheading campaigns that significantly increased user leads and reduced churn rates.

Hassan holds a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Tehran and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Mazandaran. His research interests focus on e-commerce and digital marketing, where he aims to blend academic insights with practical marketing applications.

(Lan Yu’s Bio)