Meet the Faculty

Thomas Gomes is the Director for the Bachelor of Hospitality Management program at Acsenda. Thomas recently completed his PhD thesis from Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. He received a scholarship for his PhD. The PhD thesis in relating with tourism value chain and poverty reduction in the context of Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar as a case study. He holds MBA, MSc and B.Com from Anglia Ruskin University and London South Bank University, United Kingdom. In addition, he has over 7 years’ experience working in the hospitality industry for major brands such as Hilton, Marriott and Holiday Inn.

He was a full-time Lecturer in Hospitality and Tourism Management for undergraduate students from September 2016 to March 2020 with New Bucks University, UK. Previously he taught at University of Greenwich for BA (Hons) students from September 2018 to April 2019 and at Bournemouth University from November 2015 to April 2016 for BA (Hons) and Masters students. His recent paper “Bede -Travels with the river Gypsies of Bangladesh” was short-listed for Journey for lifetime award by Royal Geography Society –IBG and BBC Radio-4. He attended CHME (Council for Hospitality Management Education) conference at Bournemouth University in May 2018. He attended IATE (International Association of Tourism Economics) conference in Italy in 2017.

He is a member of the International Association for Tourism Economics. His research interests are economics of tourism, pro-poor tourism, poverty alleviation, and women empowerment at tourism value chain in developing countries. He publishes in the area of Tourism as a driver for promoting gender equality, perception of working in the hospitality industry as a new immigrant, sustainability tourism.

Thomas has a track record of research skills and engaging students in industry-relevant learning activities. He has a strong commitment to equality and diversity and supporting students to achieve their potential.

Ray Rahimi is a versatile educator specializing in teaching English to speakers of other languages. With two decades of experience in helping learners in different parts of the world to improve both their language and life skills, Ray is no stranger to the linguistic and cultural challenges of mastering a foreign language as an adult, particularly for academic pursuits. Through the years, he has developed a unique pedagogy that addresses the main issues ESL/EAP learners often face today. The guiding principle in his approach is an inspiration through cognitive engagement.

Ray also sets great store by what students bring to the table, most importantly their intuitive knowledge and culture of learning. Striking a balance between achieving specific objectives and appreciating the process, Ray creates a safe yet exhilarating environment where intellectual stimulation sparks curiosity and emotional involvement promotes risk-taking, paving the way for autonomous discovery, creative self-expression, and fruitful collaboration, qualities essential for academic and professional success in the real world.

Ali de Haan has a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and a BFA in Art History from Ohio University. She has over 10 years of library experience with a focus on Academic libraries and special collections. Ali plays a wide variety of roles at Acsenda, where she also teaches information literacy, research skills, and helps students understand plagiarism and how to use the APA citation style. Previously she was the Director of Library Services at University Canada West.

Ali is also active in many professional library organizations and including BCLA, BCOEL, BCELN, and BUSLIB -BC.

Pomponia Martinez is presently the Department Head, Human Resources Management of Acsenda School of Management, having been in this position since 2010. She has taught with Acsenda since 2007 and was a Faculty Representative for the Academic Council from 2007 to 2012.

Ms. Martinez holds the CPHR designation and is a long-time member of CPHRBC and recently recently certified in EQi2.0, an emotional intelligence inventory tool. At Acsenda, Ms. Martinez teaches a variety of Human Resources and Management courses including Managerial Skills, Organizational Behaviour, Human Resources Planning, Recruitment and Selection, Organizational Change, Compensation, Training and Development, and HR Strategy.

Ms. Martinez is also a private sector practitioner in staffing and provides a wide variety of HR Consulting. Ms. Martinez brings over 20 years of experience in the private sector in information systems, strategic planning, operations management and human resources.

An amateur astronomer, Ms. Martinez is past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Vancouver).

Pat Banerjee is a Business Faculty at Acsenda School of Management. He has an Economics Honours with Mathematics (First Division) Degree from Delhi University (St. Stephen’s College); BBA (Accounting) from Deakin University (Australia) and MBA (First Division) from Amity University New Delhi. Pat is currently doing his PhD in Business (Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility & SDG). In addition, Pat is a CPA (Canada) CPA (USA), CPA (PWC Australia) & FCA (PWC India). Pat is an award-winning founding teacher at Hanson College (at Cambrian College) in New Westminster, B.C. since April 2013. Pat has also taught Advanced Internal Auditing at Sauder School of Business, UBC from 2013 to 2015 and all Business subjects at Winston College in Burnaby fro