About the BDL

Stephen is a key member of the Chamber’s executive leadership team, responsible for the operations of the Business Data Lab as well as economic analysis and research.

Stephen is also the President of the Canadian Association for Business Economics and a member of the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council.

He has over 20 years of experience at many of Canada’s top economic organizations including at: Export Development Canada as the Deputy Chief Economist, the Bank of Canada, Parliamentary Budget Office, Finance Canada, think tanks as well as academia.

Stephen’s research was awarded the Purvis prize for Canadian economic policy. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Queen’s University.

As a career-long innovator and intrapreneur, Patrick has founded five national projects designed to help Canadian businesses compete and prosper globally. Among these projects, Patrick co-founded the Canadian Chamber’s Business Data Lab (BDL) to democratize data for decision-making and to advance the country’s understanding of Canadian business conditions and trends. Patrick’s experience has firmly established him as a thought leader often featured in media and think tank publications. Most recently, Patrick authored a study for the BDL on business adoption of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) called “Prompting Productivity.” Patrick holds a master’s in public policy and an advanced certificate in public administration and governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.

With a career that spans more than 15 years, Marwa has worked with and within some of the world’s most renowned multilateral organizations, private sector organizations, and country governments. As she now leads the BDL’s Research Center of Excellence, she continues to purse the championship, advocacy and catalysis of impactful interventions for vulnerable groups and marginalized communities, especially SMEs, through rigorous data analysis, inventive research and storytelling. This is exemplified by her most recent publications “A Portrait of Small Business in Canada: Adaption, Agility, All At Once” and “Barely Breaking Ground: The Slow Stride of Progress for Women in. Business Leadership and Entrepreneurship”. Marwa received her master’s degree in international relations and international economics from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She received her bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Queen’s University Smith School of Business.

Andrew has spent his career as an economic storyteller, distilling signal from the noise. At the Chamber, he’s focused on helping businesses navigate changing economic conditions. Andrew is responsible for developing the Chamber’s economics and forecasting capabilities. He contributes to the Chamber’s economic outlook and regularly conducts economic analysis on developments impacting Canadian business. Andrew has led many engagements to support the business community in shaping policy discussions to drive economic growth.

Before joining the Chamber, Andrew worked at Export Development Canada (EDC), where he forecasted the Canadian economy and Bank of Canada’s monetary policy. He also oversaw the planning of EDC’s economic publications. Andrew’s career began in Ottawa as a trade consultant, where he advised international companies on trade regulations and represented clients in trade disputes before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.

Andrew holds a Bachelor’s degree (Honours) in Economics from Queen’s University, where he was an active member of the campus community.

Kaviraj brings nine years of experience working in statistics, machine learning, and data analysis across diverse industries like banking, finance, media, retail, and e-commerce. Prior to joining the Chamber, he worked as a Senior Data Scientist with The Economist Group. He has also worked for a startup in management consulting and Infosys as a system engineer, where he has successfully managed projects that significantly improved business outcomes, including a nowcasting model for GDP and inflation, and a geospatial analysis project that generated substantial revenue.

Kaviraj has a strong background in handling structured, unstructured, geospatial, and telecom data, applying advanced techniques to deliver actionable insights. Kaviraj excels in developing cloud-based enterprise solutions and data ingestion pipelines using tools like Azure Data Factory and Databricks. Kaviraj holds a bachelor’s degree in software engineering and a post-graduation diploma in computer applications.

Alissa Gorelova is the Economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Business Data Lab. Prior to joining the Chamber, she worked at the OECD within the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities conducting geospatial analysis on topics related to regional growth and development. She also has experience in macroeconomic research, particularly in forecasting commodity prices with a focus on gold. Earlier in her career, Alissa spent two years as a Research Assistant at the Bank of Canada, working in the financial policy space.

Alissa has a B.Com. from University of Toronto and M.Sc. in Economics from Barcelona School of Economics.