Engineering grad at the helm of Cadillac Fairview remembers the learnings and friendships of his Concordia years

In fact, they’re generally performing better than they were before the pandemic. Back then, many retailers were planning to close most or all of their brick-and-mortar stores in favour of e-commerce, Iacono explains. “And when COVID happened, digital-channel sales obviously did shoot up, because stores were shut,” he says.

“But subsequently, the learnings were that when you do only digital sales as a retailer, it’s incredibly promotional all the time. You don’t have a physical link to help establish and maintain your brand and your emotional connection with your clients. People realized you need a balance of both.”

In the overall retail real-estate market, many spaces remain vacant to this day, Iacono observes. But environments that offer good shopping experiences can flourish in the post-pandemic era when people are looking for enjoyable ways to get away from their computer screens and be among other humans.

‘We hope this will inspire future students’

Despite his professional accomplishments, Iacono cites his marriage of nearly 34 years and his three sons as his greatest points of pride. “As a young person growing up in the Villeray area of Montreal, I wouldn’t have dreamed of being able to do the things I’ve done,” he adds. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work, but I was also given opportunities to do so, and I’m very thankful.”

Iacono credits his MBA from McGill University with opening the real-estate field to him and his electrical engineering training from Concordia with helping him to excel in it. “Had it not been for the engineering discipline and the problem-solving framework I learned from it, I don’t think I would’ve been as successful,” he says.

“In addition, we were problem-solving under conditions of pressure and discovery,” he recalls. “There were the pressures of scheduling our time, thinking on our feet during challenging exams and figuring out how to work with people from many different backgrounds. How could I have had better preparation than that?”

Iacono completed his bachelor’s degree alongside five of his best childhood friends, and the shared experience made them feel even closer. “We graduated more than 35 years ago and we still see each other as family,” he says.

When one of these grads, Peter Haniak, BEng 87, died of cancer last summer, the others needed a way to express their grief. The group decided to seed a scholarship for Concordia electrical-engineering students in Haniak’s memory.

“We all recognize that we got our career success through Concordia, and we hope this will inspire future students,” Iacono says.

Others have also now contributed to the scholarship, either because they had similarly formative experiences at Concordia or because they wished to honour Haniak.

“We wanted to create a proper tribute to Peter, for being a great husband, a great father, a great engineer and most importantly to us, a great friend,” Iacono says. “It’s a really gratifying thing to do.”

Learn more about the Class of ’87 Peter Haniak Memorial Scholarship in Electrical Engineering