At their regular Wednesday morning meeting on April 23, 2025, Hamilton AM Rotary club members were pinning their hopes on some clear, succinct answers to such questions as “what in heaven's name is Donald Trump planning to do with his global tariff war” or “is Canada going to end up as the 51st state of the USA”, or at least “will it help our country; if we only BUY CANADIAN”?
Truly, I am not sure we got those questions answered but as always, we were royally entertained by McMaster School of Business whiz and entertainer, Marvin Ryder. We did have a fascinating discussion that went “overtime” (which is not usually done in Rotary) because we kept asking and he kept talking! I’m not sure he was able to calm the waters by telling us we were currently in an “economic pandemic” but this concept did illustrate the tremendous challenges posed for government and business with all the uncertainty caused by Trumps daily tariff “flip flops”.
Until the USA stops negatively shaking up the global economy, the future is very unclear. Marvin did feel Canada may not be as negatively impacted as some nations. Club members in person and online were fascinated by Marvin’s excellent understanding of the economic issues that were being affected. So why were club members so impressed by Marvin Ryder, you may want to read below?  |
Speaker Biography
Marvin Ryder has taught for 40 years and has mentored more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students.
In 2000, Marvin was named as Chair of the Transition Board for the new City of Hamilton. During the Board’s one-year life, it organized the municipal election, created a new Hamilton Hydro corporation, and set service levels and budgets for a new, larger City of Hamilton.
In 2001, Marvin was announced as Chair for the Hamilton Health Sciences Board of Directors responsible for operating the second largest hospital in Ontario with an annual budget over $1.0 billion. He became Past Chair of the Board in 2003 and retired from the Board on June 30, 2010.
Marvin Ryder has taught for 40 years and has mentored more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students.
In 2000, Marvin was named as Chair of the Transition Board for the new City of Hamilton. During the Board’s one-year life, it organized the municipal election, created a new Hamilton Hydro corporation, and set service levels and budgets for a new, larger City of Hamilton.
In 2001, Marvin was announced as Chair for the Hamilton Health Sciences Board of Directors responsible for operating the second largest hospital in Ontario with an annual budget over $1.0 billion. He became Past Chair of the Board in 2003 and retired from the Board on June 30, 2010.
Marvin serves on the Hamilton Health Sciences Research Institute Board of Directors and has served as Chair for the past four years. The Board oversees an endowment of $450 million with the proceeds of investment activities going to fund over $25 million of research at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University
He has written more than seventy case studies illustrating marketing, business strategy, and entrepreneurship problems Half of them have been published in leading Canadian marketing texts including case studies on Porsche, Union Gas, Crayola, and Molson Breweries.
Today, Marvin is most recognized for nearly 250 appearances annually on television and in newspapers (National Post, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and the Hamilton Spectator) commenting on business issues of the day.He has written more than seventy case studies illustrating marketing, business strategy, and entrepreneurship problems Half of them have been published in leading Canadian marketing texts including case studies on Porsche, Union Gas, Crayola, and Molson Breweries.
