Meet the Executive Committee

President: Dr. Laura Reimer, BA, MPA, PhD

Dr. Laura E. Reimer is Director of Program Development at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law and Director of the Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law, where she has been the lead on innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives, particularly for the business law program. She brings extensive experience in conflict transformation and policy development across public and private sectors, offering a distinct and practical lens on legal education. A passionate educator, Laura received the Clifford J. Robson Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence from the University of Winnipeg, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Her scholarship focuses on access to justice, innovation, reconciliation, and systems change. Dr. Reimer has served on the University of Manitoba Board of Governors, the Manitoba Law Reform Commission, and currently as President of the Canadian Academy of Legal Studies in Business. She is an avid and licensed sailor.

Vice-President and Co-Chair: Dr. Patricia Hania, BAS, MBA, MES, LLM, PhD

Patricia holds a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (York), Toronto. She also holds a LL.M. (Osgoode), LL.B. (Osgoode), M.E.S. (Faculty of Environmental Studies, York), MBA Grad. Dipl. (Schulich, York) and BAS, York.

As an interdisciplinary social-legal-ecological researcher, Patricia is interested in the interaction of market actors in natural resource governance regimes – in particular, water governance in Canada. Her research considers the intersection of law and policy to understand how norms interact, regulate and become embedded in legal sites of contested and complex decision-making.

Past-President/Secretary: Brandon Mattalo, JD, LLM

Brandon Mattalo is an assistant professor in the Strategic Management area of the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a lawyer holding a Juris Doctor (JD) from Queen's University and a Master of Laws (LLM), with a specialization in business law, from the University of Toronto. Brandon Mattalo is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and continues a part-time practice as a freelance litigation lawyer, practicing primarily in commercial litigation. Brandon Mattalo is interested in researching business law, with a focus on the intersection of law and technology. Brandon Mattalo is also interested in pedagogical practices, and particularly, the use of technology in teaching.

Treasurer: Evguenia Iskra, JD, LLM

Evguenia Iskra is a tenured Associate Professor (Teaching) at the Haskayne School of Business. She teaches and coordinates SGMA 395 Business Law for Strategic Decision-Makers, SGMA 595, and teaching in the EMBA program as well. She served as the CALSB Conference Co-Chair in 2023, as President in 2024, and is currently serving as Treasurer.

Evguenia earned Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts (International Relations and Spanish) degrees from the University of Calgary and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Vienna. These achievements guided her course into academia.

Before joining the University of Calgary, Evguenia was an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University, Edmonton, where she taught several courses at the School of Business, including business law, international business transactions, commercial transactions, and employment law. She is committed to ongoing professional development, currently completing her doctorate in education and continuously implementing new instructional techniques.

Evguenia is the author of Legal Aspects of International Business: A Canadian Perspective 5th edition textbook. This textbook is widely used across Canada by universities and colleges for the International Business Transactions course.

Co-Chair: Nikki Kowalski, BA, JD

Nikki is an instructor in the Donald School of Business at Red Deer Polytechnic, teaching classes in the Business and Legal Assistant programs. Nikki has a Juris Doctor (JD) Degree from the University of Alberta and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Winnipeg. She is currently serving as Co-Chair for the Canadian Academy of Legal Studies in Business (CALSB) conference, as a Faculty Supervisor for the Legal Assistants Students’ Society (LASS), and as an member at large for the Executive Committee of the Faculty Association at Red Deer Polytechnic (FARDP).

She is originally from Winnipeg, returning there briefly after law school to complete her articles, prior to moving to Red Deer as a junior lawyer. As a lawyer, Nikki mainly practiced in the area of family law, leaving private practice to teach at Red Deer Polytechnic starting in the Fall of 2021, and is currently an inactive member of the Law Societies of both Alberta and Manitoba.

Nikki loves using real life examples to get people to relate to the law, is curious about how changes in technology are impacting education, and loves incorporating humour into her classes.