Skip to McMaster NavigationSkip to Site NavigationSkip to main content
The Forge Logo

Built by McMaster University

The Forge


Our Team

Our team is here to support innovators as they grow and succeed.

Leigh Wilson

Leigh Wilson

Interim Director

Leigh is the Assistant Director, New Ventures for the McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO).  Over her 17 year career at MILO, Leigh has driven the commercialization of McMaster life sciences technologies, including negotiating license agreements, securing commercialization funding and supporting emerging McMaster Start-ups.  Leigh’s role as Assistant Director has turned her focus onto start-up support, including management of the McMaster Seed Fund (MSF).  The MSFis a start-up/early-stage, seed investment fund initiated to foster research-intensive and innovative start-up companies that will have a significant economic and societal impact in the Greater Hamilton Area (GHA). The MSF has deployed over 3M in investment funds to McMaster based companies over the past 3 years. Leigh is currently appointed as an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at McMaster University and teaches a commercialization and entrepreneurship course to Biochemistry graduate students.

Leigh holds a PhD in medical sciences from McMaster University.

Lauren Brown

Lauren Brown

Business Incubator Manager

Lauren Brown manages the Business Incubator at The Forge, where she works closely with our mentors, service providers, and innovation ecosystem partners, to provide hands-on support to the startups in our Business Incubator program to accelerate their growth. Lauren has 15 years of experience driving special projects and programs for diverse organizations, from startups to Global Fortune 500 companies. She is also a former entrepreneur, herself, having co-founded and built two companies. Lauren is a McMaster University alumni, with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the DeGroote School of Business, and also holds an MBA in the Management of Innovation and Technology from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Mariya Leslie headshot

Mariya Leslie

Manager of Student Entrepreneurship

Mariya Leslie is the Manager of Student Entrepreneurship at McMaster University, where she focuses on helping campus entrepreneurs launch and grow their startups. Originally from Ukraine, Mariya is now a proud Hamiltonian whose mission is to help build and strengthen the local entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. Prior to her role at McMaster, Mariya led the operations of Altitude Accelerator, Peel Region’s hub for innovative technology startups. Mariya received a Master of Biotechnology from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Waterloo.

Jessica Rudden

Jessica Rudden

Program Coordinator

Jessica is The Forge’s office & finance manager and ensures that operations run smoothly. She joined The Forge back in 2015 as one of the first team members and is proud to have helped form The Forge into the successful program it is today. She believes everyone should spend their lives doing what sets their soul on fire and she is delighted to support entrepreneurs doing just that. Prior to her role at The Forge, Jessica specialized in sales in both the hospitality and retail sectors.

Marissa Principato Headshot

Marissa Principato

Marketing & Communications Manager

Marissa Principato is the Marketing and Communications Manager for The Forge. She is responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating the marketing and communication efforts of The Forge. She facilitates a variety of student-focused events and programs through The Forge, including Startup Survivor and McMaster’s Entrepreneurship Week.

A proud McMaster Alumni with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce, Marissa is passionate about helping other McMaster students achieve their startup dreams at The Forge.

Stefan Lombardi

Stefan Lombardi

Communications Assistant

Stefan Lombardi is the Communications Assistant for The Forge, where he is responsible for supporting the marketing team with social media, outreach, and communications, as well as analyzing existing client data to strengthen metrics for reporting. He also assists with the planning and organizing of events, workshops and community engagement, while supporting various administrative projects for all Forge programming.

Stefan just completed his second year of Commerce at the DeGroote School of Business and plans to continue his education in business. He is excited to be supporting startups and collaborating with The Forge.