Concordia awards two honorary doctorates this fall
On October 30, Concordia University will award two honorary doctorates during its convocation ceremonies, to be held in the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts. The distinguished recipients, Elsa Bolam, founder of Geordie Productions, and Aldo Bensadoun, founder and CEO of the Aldo Group Inc., will join more than 1,800 students from across Concordia’s four Faculties and the School of Graduate Studies who are graduating this fall.
The fall 2012 convocation ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. with the Faculty of Arts and Science (there will be no presentation of an honorary doctorate at this ceremony). At 3 p.m., a joint ceremony is being held for the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and Faculty of Fine Arts, including the presentation of an honorary doctorate to Elsa Bolam.
Convocation ceremonies for the John Molson School of Business begin at 7:30 p.m. and will include the presentation of an honorary doctorate to Aldo Bensadoun.
3:00 p.m. – Joint Ceremony of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and Faculty of Fine Arts
Esla Bolam, CM, MA, BA
Elsa Bolam, the founder of the non-profit professional theatre company Geordie Productions, is being honoured not only for her great contributions to the arts, but also for using theatre to bring communities together for the past 30 years. Geordie Productions has made live theatre accessible to Montreal youths as well as isolated English speaking and aboriginal communities across Quebec, including the Far North, and regularly tours Eastern Canada and the U.S.
Bolam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, a part of the country where the people are known as Geordies. The name was to come in useful later.
A graduate of the University of Leeds, Durham University and Syracuse University, she spent two seasons at the Royal Shakespeare Company, first as assistant stage manager, and later as assistant director at the Aldwych Theatre in London. During the 1960s, she directed over 20 productions at theatres in the U.K. before becoming a BBC Television producer in the Plays Department. In 1968, she emigrated to Canada, and with her husband, Maurice Podbrey, helped found Montreal’s Centaur Theatre the following year.
She has directed and taught at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Concordia University's Department of Theatre and the National Theatre School of Canada, where she was head of the English Technical Section from 1975 to 1980 – in addition to directing more than 80 productions across Canada.
In 1980 she founded Geordie Productions, a non-profit professional theatre company primarily devoted to touring plays to local elementary and high schools. Under her leadership, the company expanded its operations, and while remaining very rooted in Montreal, proudly served isolated English-speaking and aboriginal communities across Quebec, including the Far North.
In the spring of 2006, after 25 years with Geordie, she resigned from her position as artistic director, but is still very active in the Montreal theatre milieu. She has received numerous awards and honours including the American Film and Video Association Blue Ribbon Award, the 2002 Avon Canada's Women of Inspiration Award for Arts and Culture, a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, and the Sheila and Victor Goldbloom Distiguished Community Service Award. She is a member of the Order of Canada.
7:30 p.m. – John Molson School of Business
Aldo Bensadoun, O.C., BComm, LLD
Aldo Bensadoun, founder and executive chairman of the ALDO Group, will be receiving an honorary doctorate for his entrepreneurial spirit in transforming a local shoe store into one of the world's leading fashion footwear and accessories retailer. He has also demonstrated leadership in sustainable business practices and is active in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The son of a shoe merchant and grandson of a cobbler, Bensadoun completed his primary and secondary education in France, studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and completed his studies at McGill University in Montreal. A degree in economics led him to a marketing research position that, as serendipity would have it, had Bensadoun doing a project for a regional shoe chain. Eventually, the combination of his inherent understanding of the shoe business, passion for creative freedom and trailblazing spirit led him to open his own company.
Today, the ALDO Group operates more than 1,000 retail stores across Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland, under four distinct brands: ALDO, Call It Spring, Little Burgundy and Globo. Internationally, the ALDO Group has successfully expanded into 76 additional countries with over 600 franchised stores.
In addition to his involvement with various industry associations such as the Retail Council of Canada, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Retail Federation, he is a board member of Aritzia — a Canadian fashion brand with increasing international and celebrity appeal, and Hope and Cope — a Montreal based, non-profit organization that has served as a model for its unique psychosocial approach to cancer care.
Long before the term was known, Bensadoun was determined to make corporate social responsibility and citizenship a core element of his business, placing a premium on working to enrich the communities in which we live and work. Most notably, the ALDO Group joined the fight against AIDS in 1985, long before it was fashionable, making it one of the first companies to openly support the cause. The company's commitment to the fight against AIDS has generated over $10 million in donations to various AIDS organizations and charities around the world.
He has been recognized for his lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation with several awards, including being appointed as a Companion to the Order of the Business Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2012, he was named as an Officer of the Order of Canada. He also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree (Doctor of Laws honoris causa) from McGill University.