Adetoro Abass
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
Age: 35
“Purposeful and grounded; bold, engaging, and reflective, with a love for people and meaningful connections.”
Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria, but recently relocated to Toronto, Canada.
Family Members: Husband and two kids.
Fun fact about yourself: I really enjoy cooking, baking, and reading. I’ve been digging into contemporary African literature lately and loving it. I also love documentaries, especially anything around science, space, and biotechnology.
Undergraduate/Graduate School and Degree: Covenant University (Nigeria), Bachelor’s Degree
Where are you currently working? Util-Assist Inc. – Director, Digital Transformation
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles: I do a lot of career coaching and advisory, especially for individuals from minority or visible minority backgrounds.
Earlier in my career in Nigeria, I was actively involved with the Bonny Youth Resource Center (BYRC), an initiative focused on development through education, skills-building, and programs for youths in an underserved community in Bonny Island, Rivers State.
Over the years, I’ve also held various project and functional leadership roles that have shaped my leadership style into the bold, assertive, and authentic leader I am today.
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? In our first term, my team and I conducted an ethical audit of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
It was one thing doing the research and speaking with the ethics team, but it was a completely different experience visiting the hospital, meeting the nurses and practitioners, and immersing ourselves in the reality of their day-to-day work in such a large organization.
That experience stayed with me. I’m proud that we were able to take what we learned in the classroom and apply it in a meaningful way to an organization like SickKids.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Being a founding member of the Digital & Innovation team at NLNG Limited is something I’m very proud of (NLNG is a joint venture between Shell, Total LNG, Eni, and NNPC and a leading exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas globally with about 5% of global market share).
We had to build the team from the ground up, putting structure in place, defining frameworks, communicating the mandate, securing early-wins, and navigating a lot of ambiguity along the way. There were moments of uncertainty, but also opportunities to experiment, learn, and keep things moving forward.
Looking at the team today and all they are accomplishing, it’s incredibly rewarding to know that those early efforts helped lay the foundation.
Who was your favorite MBA professor? Professor Mikhail Simutin, who taught Finance 1, stands out. Coming from a science background, I initially felt a bit anxious about Finance, but he made the subject engaging and easy to follow.
I also really enjoyed Professor Harry Krashinsky’s Quantitative Reasoning for Management course.
Why did you choose this school’s executive MBA program? It was important to me to pursue an MBA at a prestigious institution. Having recently relocated to Toronto, it also felt like a great opportunity to build a network here.
I had known about the strong reputation of the University of Toronto since I was a child, so being here in person felt like it was meant to be.
Rotman’s 13-month EMBA program made it even more compelling, as it allowed me to pursue my MBA while continuing to work full-time. It was the right fit for me.
What is the biggest lesson you gained during your MBA and how did you apply it at work? I thought I had multitasking figured out before my MBA, but this experience really tested that.
Balancing school, work, family life, and relationships pushed me to my limits. The biggest lesson for me was not just about doing more, but about being more intentional with my time and energy.
I’ve taken that into my work by becoming more focused and deliberate in how I manage priorities.
Give us a story on how you were able to juggle work, family, and education. During the program, I was working remotely in Canada, but aligned to the Nigerian time zone, which meant my workday started at 2:00 AM in the morning.
On Fridays, I would start work at 2:00 AM, use my lunch break between 6:00 and 7:00 AM to get ready, catch the 7:11 AM train to campus, and try to wrap up as much work as possible before classes began at 8:30 AM.
By the time class started, I was already exhausted, but I would push through the day, get back home, and still show up for my family as best as I could.
Those days were very long, but I’m really glad I pulled through.
What advice would you give to a student looking to enter an executive MBA program? It’s not as hard as you think, but it’s hard though!
You’ll be stretched, but you’ll also surprise yourself with what you’re capable of doing.
What was your biggest regret in business school? I try to live my life without regrets, so nothing major comes to mind.
If anything, I wish I had spent a bit more time socializing outside of class and doing more of the fun stuff with my classmates, but I had lots on my plate to juggle and did the best I could.
What is one way your business school has integrated AI into your program? What insights did you gain? We had built-in AI agents within some of our course content, which helped me understand concepts better. Beyond that, I also used generative AI tools to create course notebooks and podcasts so I could interact with the content even more. It really helped me test and deepen my understanding of the core concepts. Even now, I still go back to those course notebooks on ChatGPT and Gemini for quick refreshers and reminders of key content. Incorporating AI into my MBA journey was a game changer.
What was the main reason you chose an EMBA over part-time or online alternatives? Online or part-time options were never something I seriously considered. I wanted the in-class experience, the conversations, the energy, and the opportunity to build real connections with professionals here in Toronto.
I also felt the EMBA was the right fit for where I am in my career. I wanted learning grounded in real-life experiences and shaped by diverse perspectives from classmates who are already established professionals.
That was important to me, and something I knew I wouldn’t get in a traditional MBA program.
How did you finance your EMBA? I financed my EMBA through personal savings, as this was something I had planned for over the years.
I also received support through a bursary from my employer at the time, entrance awards from the University of Toronto, and I was honored to be selected as the Forte Fellowship Award recipient from my cohort.
What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? I want to grow into executive leadership roles where I can shape direction, drive meaningful change, and build things that truly matter.
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