Meet the Faculty

Aaron Forbes Attended the University of Calgary, majoring in Economics and became a CFA Charter holder in 2013. He is a licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta and has completed the Mortgage Associates Program and is currently a Senior Director with MCAP’s Development Finance Group. To date, he has been involved in the structuring of over $3.0 billion of real estate transactions throughout Western Canada, including 1st and 2nd mortgages and has completed syndications with most major Canadian Banks, Alberta based lending institutions, pension funds and life insurance companies. Aaron currently sits on the Board of Directors for KV Mortgage Fund Inc., a private Edmonton based lender, as an independent member and a member of the Lending Review Committee.

Candace is a partner and the practice lead of the Daoust Vukovich LLP commercial real estate department. Considered one of the best law firms in Canada for commercial property, leasing and development, Daoust Vukovich LLP has a team of highly qualified lawyers and ​paralegals serving the specialized needs of clients who acquire, develop and use commercial real estate. Candace’s practice encompasses all areas of commercial real estate law, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing and development of land involving commercial, retail and industrial properties. Her clients are diverse, and include entrepreneurial and institutional land developers, construction companies, commercial landlords, property managers, space users and commercial tenants. 
 
Candace is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars including the Law Society of Ontario, the Land and Development Conference, the Canadian Apartment Investment Conference, and the International Council of Shopping Centres Law Conference. 
 
Candace joined Daoust Vukovich in July 2012 after practicing for several years at a full service Bay Street firm. Following her graduation from the J.D./L.L.B. joint degree law program at the University of Detroit in 2006, she was called to the bar in Ontario in 2007 and admitted to the New York State Bar in 2008. Prior to law school, Candace obtained her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.   

Emma MacKenzie is Director, Creative & Strategy at Chatterson, a Calgary-based performance marketing agency. Emma has spent the last 12 years at Chatterson, planning and executing strategic marketing for a multitude of real estate development clients across Western Canada. Emma specializes in strategy development, project visioning, creative execution and the important connections between buyer motivations and marketing success.

Mark Seasons is a Professor and the Director of the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo, which he joined in 1998 following almost 20 years in planning practice. He is a Fellow, Canadian Institute of Planners and a Registered Professional Planner (Ontario). Mark’s education includes a BA (Honours Geography – Queen’s); MEnvDes (Planning – Calgary); and PhD (Regional Planning – Waterloo). Mark has practiced as an urban planner with the City of Calgary, the New Zealand federal government, the Province of Ontario, and the Canadian federal government’s National Capital Commission. Throughout his professional career, he has worked in the areas of urban renewal, long-range planning, neighbourhood revitalization, regional planning, and non-profit housing. Mark’s research interests include plan evaluation, planning for climate change, strategic planning, and planning for slow-growth or declining cities. He has designed and delivered courses in land use planning, research methods, planning theory, program evaluation and regional planning. As a researcher, Mark has written and had published numerous articles in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. He’s also a member of the editorial boards of several academic journals for which he regularly reviews and evaluates articles that are submitted for publication. Mark was editor-in-chief of Plan Canada, the Canadian Institute of Planning’s practice-oriented journal, from 2005-10. In 2021, he published a sole-authored and peer-reviewed text on plan monitoring and evaluation (Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans: From Theory to Practice, UBC Press).

Rob Spanier is an international real estate development expert with two decades of experience dedicated to creating innovative, next-generation destinations and places. By playing an integral role on multi-disciplinary project teams, Rob commits his extensive knowledge in large-scale mixed-use development, master planning, specialty leasing and deal making as well as programming and activation in order to create vibrant and prosperous communities. Most notably, Rob has helped to develop Lakeview Village on Mississauga’s waterfront, the Woodbine Districts in Toronto, and the Canary District, the 2015 PanAm Games Athletes Village. Rob is an active member and leader with the Urban Land Institute (ULI).