Meet Our Team
The iLEAD@Work Team
Lead Researcher
Arla Day
Dr. Arla Day is a Professor in Occupational Health Psychology at Saint Mary's University and Director of the CN Centre for Occupational Health & Safety, a training, research, and community outreach centre at Saint Mary's. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and was a Canada Research Chair for 10 years. She was awarded an Erskine Fellowship from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, to teach and conduct research on psychologically healthy workplaces. Arla served as an international advisor on the Stockholm Stress Center's Advisory Board and was on the American Psychological Association's Psychology in the Workplace Committee. She also chaired the Nova Scotia Psychological Healthy Workplace Program committee for 15 years. Arla's research and consulting work revolves around developing and validating effective organizational initiatives to create healthy workers and workplaces. She has authored articles, books, and book chapters on psychologically healthy workplaces, workplace respect and civility, leadership, employee stress and well-being, and work–life balance. She works closely with organizations to share best practices to help them develop their workplaces.
Senior Researchers
Kara Arnold
Dr. Kara Arnold is a professor in organizational behaviour and human resource management at the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University in St. John’s, NL, Canada. Her research focuses on leadership, employee well-being and gender & diversity issues in organizations. Her work has been published in a number of leading journals and presented at international conferences. She also consults and delivers management training to private and public sector organizations on leadership, women in leadership, team building and healthy work.
Catherine
Loughlin
Dr. Loughlin received her PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Queen's University and taught in the Queen's School of Business in 1999 before joining the Faculty of Management at the University of Toronto, later that year. In 2005, she was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Management and joined the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University. She is currently Associate Dean, Research and Knowledge Mobilization at the Sobey School of Business. She supervises graduate students in Management and Psychology, publishes widely, and has consulted for the Government of Canada and private industry in the areas of management leadership development and work stress. She coaches Senior Executives on leadership development at the individual and team levels and has co-ordinated large scale change initiatives across provinces in industries as diverse as Emergency Medical Services to Shipbuilding.
Junior Researchers
Rachael
Jones-Chick
Rachael is currently a PhD student in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Saint Mary's University. Rachael earned a MSc in Applied Psychology (Industrial/Organizational Psychology) from Saint Mary's University and an Honours BA in Psychology from the University of Guelph. Rachael's research interests focus on occupational health psychology, with a special interest in creativity and innovation in the workplace, leadership, and safety.
Robert Murray
Dr. Robert Murray has been teaching at Saint Mary’s University in the Sobey School of Business since 2014. Robert has also taught at the Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai, China over several years. His teaching focus includes business ethics, leadership, and training and development, with research interests including voice in organizations/workplace democracy, artificial intelligence (future of work), and leading organizations for equity diversity and inclusion. Robert was also a co-founder of a Sudbury Valley School in Toronto (i.e., a democratic school).
Project Manager
Audrey Kruisselbrink
For the past 15 years, Audrey has worked as a research coordinator at the following organizations: Acadia University, University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University, Saint Mary’s University, and the Nova Scotia Health Authority. She has worked on the CREW project, the Leading Workplace Communities project, the Employment-Related Geographic Mobility of NS Healthcare Workers project, the EMPOWER project, the Understanding Feeding in the Early Years project and the Healthy Professional Workers Partnership.
Coaches
Mark MacIsaac
Mark is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Gerald Schwartz School of Business at St. Francis Xavier University and a doctoral candidate at Saint Mary’s University. Mark teaches Introduction to Business, Business Decision Making, Organizational Behaviour, Leading Organizational Change, Strategic Management, and the Advanced Majors Consulting Project. His research interests include leadership and management history. Mark has also co-authored business cases for the Workplace Review and Ivey Publishing. Prior to joining StFX, Mark worked for 20 years in financial advisory services, management consulting, and post-secondary education. He had six years of international work experience based in Doha, Qatar.
Karen McEwan
As a Certified Clinical Research Professional working at the IWK Health Centre, Karen has over 15 years’ experience conducting large randomized trials examining the effectiveness of online coached interventions. Karen is completing her Master’s degree in Applied Health Services Research at Saint Mary’s University. Her research explores the relationship between work and family demands and resources, employment status and well-being for parents of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Karen is the proud mom of two grown children, she enjoys rejuvenating in nature, hiking and yoga and is very much looking forward to the world opening up to travel again!
Vanessa Myers
Vanessa is currently a PhD student in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Saint Mary's University. Vanessa earned a MSc in Applied Psychology (Industrial/Organizational Psychology) from Saint Mary's University and an Honours BA in Psychology from the Carleton University. Vanessa's research interests focus on occupational health psychology, with a special focus on leadership, incivility, and customer service.