Sonia Sennik

Sonia Sennik is the Executive Director of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a seed-stage program for massively scalable, science-based companies. Sonia is responsible for the CDL’s strategic, operational and programmatic leadership, coordination and oversight to ensure the success of the Lab and its ventures across ten university-based locations in Canada, US, UK and France. The organization operates sites at the University of Toronto, University of Oxford, Georgia Tech, HEC Paris, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of British Columbia, University of Montreal, University of Calgary, University of Washington, and Dalhousie University. Sonia is also the Executive Director of the CDL Rapid Screening Consortium, a not-for-profit organization focused on developing a cost-effective system for reopening the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having spent a decade managing large-scale capital projects (up to $500M) at Hatch Ltd., a leading global engineering firm, Sonia is well-established in guiding interdisciplinary teams of professionals working on multiple, complex projects. Their particular areas of interest include process optimization, finessing workplace culture, mentoring future leaders and actualizing the potential of their ideas.

In 2020, they founded the Sonia Sennik Resilience Fund at McMaster University to award an annual $8,000 entrance scholarship for an engineering student who has shown grit and strength of character in their life – whether that’s at school, at home, on the athletic field, or in their creative pursuits. This commitment grew into a $300,000+ endowed fund with more than 40 start-up founders, CEOs, world-leading scientists, engineers, and economists contributing to the effort.

Most recently, Sonia was named as Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, selected from hundreds of nominees by a respected and independent advisory board on four key criteria: Vision & Innovation, Leadership, Impact & Influence, and Social Responsibility.

Sonia previously served as vice-chair of the board of directors for ParticipACTION – a 50 year old organization dedicated to helping Canadians sit less and move more. Sonia was the head coach of Rugby Ontario Senior Women’s Team from 2016 to 2018, winning bronze, silver and gold at the Canadian Rugby Championships. Sonia is a proud graduate of the MBA program at Rotman School of Management and was the first-ever recipient of the Social Impact Award. Sonia received the Rotman Emerging Leader Award to recognize their influential leadership talent to motivate, mentor and inspire others to reach their potential. They also hold a B.Eng degree from McMaster University.