Grads in the News: October 27, 2010
Appointments:
Brian Chan, BComm 08 (finance), has been promoted to Investment Analyst, Equities, at Standard Life Investments. He is responsible for investment research on small cap resource stocks. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Concordia University. At Concordia, he was a member of the Golden Key Honour Society and was a founding member and former President of the Concordia Canadian Asians Society. In 2007, he participated in the Omnium Financier Case Competition where his team won gold.
Jeremy Daoust, BEng 07 (mechanical engineering: aerospace/vehicle), is joining Cummins Canada as territory manager and technical support manager for Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from Concordia University will be based out of Montreal. Daoust has spent the last three years with CEC in Montreal. Cummins Inc. designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems.
Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti, BSc 80 (biology), a physician and crusader for injury prevention, has assumed the role of the 41st president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is a renowned educator and physician, having won numerous teaching and service awards during his career. In 2005, he was named one of Alberta's 100 most influential physicians of the past century by the Alberta Medical Association and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.
Louis is also the founder of the Coalition for Cellphone-Free Driving, former director of the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research and founder of HEROES, a multimedia head and spinal cord injury prevention project for teenagers. He has lectured internationally and helped develop several award-winning injury control programs.
He completed his MD and PhD at the University of Alberta, later followed by training at Johns Hopkins University, where he obtained a Master of Public Health degree and a preventive medicine residency.
Philippe Jordan, BComm 94 (finance), GrCert 03 (management accounting), has been named a partner in the Deals practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, working in the Montreal office. He is part of the Corporate Advisory & Restructuring team. Philippe has more than 15 years of experience working for small- and medium-sized public and private companies in matters of restructuring and insolvency. Philippe is a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Practitioner as well as a Certified Management Accountant. He has made speaking appearances at the Canadian Institute and the National Association of Credit Managers and at universities across Quebec. He has also sat on various committees for the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals.
Madhavi Mantha, BCompSc 90 (information systems), is joining Novarica as a principal and head of banking research. Previously, she worked at Accenture, where she focused on distribution channel strategies and marketing, sales, and service transformation for retail banks. Prior to Accenture, she was a senior analyst at Celent, where she focused on IT strategies to support retail banking multi-channel and self-service capabilities. Madhavi has held positions at banking e-business systems vendor Emergis and various strategic and technology positions at other firms. In addition to her computer science degree from Concordia, she also holds an MBA from McGill.
Joseph McCoy, BComm 82, MBA 88, has been appointed Chief Financial Officer at Orezone Gold Corporation. Joe brings over 25 years of financial and operational experience gained from small high technology companies to large manufacturing firms. He was previously CFO and COO at AutoSkill International Inc. and has held senior positions with Lockheed Martin and Canadair. Orezone is a gold exploration and development company with significant gold resources in Burkina Faso and more than 15 years of operating experience in West Africa. Joe holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia as well as a project management diploma from McGill University.
Terry Rogers, S BComm 67, is to remain on the Board of Directors of Tajac Capital Inc. upon completion of the firm’s acquisition of Kwick Clean and Green Ltd., a Surrey, British Columbia-based company which manufactures and distributes Envirobrush patented environmentally friendly paintbrushes. Despite having retired in 2002, Terry is currently President, CEO and a director of Tajac Capital Inc. He was President, CEO and a director of Ryjencap Inc. from 2005 to 2006. Prior to retirement, Terry was Vice President of Ezenet Inc. He received his BComm from Concordia in 1967 and his chartered accountant designation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia in 1972.
Naoum Tabet, BComm 03, MBA 06, has been named Managing Director and Vice President, Institutional Sales, at Aviva Investors, working out of the Toronto office. He joined Aviva Investors in 2008 in the UK, where he was a client portfolio manager for fixed income. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Naoum held several business development roles at Standard Life Investments and CIBC Global Asset Management, both in Montreal. He is a member of the CFA Institute and the Montreal CFA Society.
Francis Veilleux, BComm 93 (accountancy), has been appointed Senior Vice-President, Client Services, at Standard Life Investments Inc. He will oversee all servicing activities for Canada. Francis holds the CFA designation and has over twenty years of experience in the investment industry. He has worked for investment organizations of national and international scope in institutional services-related positions both in Eastern and Western Canada. Francis has a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Concordia University.
Articles/Media:
Michel Arcamone, BComm 80, was interviewed in “For GM Daewoo president, bossam was love at first bite”, Korea Joondang Daily, October 20, 2010. Recently named President and Chief Executive Officer of GM Daewoo Auto and Technology in Korea, Michel has 30 years’ experience with General Motors. Since 1980, he has worked his way up from manufacturing positions to plant manager to senior management positions, most recently Vice President of GM Powertrain Europe, where he was responsible for 10 manufacturing plants and five engineering locations. A Montreal native, Michel holds a bachelor of commerce degree in business administration from Concordia University and a diploma in business management from McGill University.
Denis Beauchamp, BA 75 (visual arts), was featured in “Exposition de Denis Beauchamp à la Bibliothèque Christian-Roy’’, Hebdo Rive Nord, October 19, 2010. An exhibition of Denis’s paintings is being held this fall in L’Assomption, Quebec. Born in Montreal, Denis has lived in the Laurentians for 20 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Concordia and a master’s degree from Boston University, both in visual arts. He has also done postgraduate work at the New York Studio School for Drawing, Painting and Sculpture in New York. Denis has received numerous awards, including the Captain Melville Greenshields Scholarship, the Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Award (Boston), the Board of Governors’ Medal for Creative Work in Visual Arts and the Bourse du Ministère des Affaires Culturelles. His work has been exhibited in Canada and the US and is included in a number of private collections.
Antoine Fournier, BSc 90 (geology), was mentioned in the business press after preparing a technical report on the the Banda Raya/Halimon (mining) Project in Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Antoine Fournier, P. Geo., is a Quebec Registered Independent Consulting Geologist and principal of Nievex Geoconsultant Inc as well as Vice President, Exploration, and Chief Operating Officer at Threegold Resources. He is a graduate of Concordia University, with a BSc in Geology, and of McGill University of Montreal, with an MSc in Economic Geology. Antoine has been involved in the exploration for precious, base, industrial and high-technology metals and diamonds since 1990.
Brenda Gewurz, MBA 92, was quoted in a Montreal Gazette article about her firm’s development plans for Nun’s Island. She is Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Proment Corporation, a residential real-estate company in Montreal.
The first female president of the Hebrew Academy from 1987 to 1991, Brenda was president of the Jewish Education Council from 1997 to 2001, where she is still involved. She is also involved with the Bronfman Israel Experience Centre and has led the Montreal delegation of the March of the Living. She is Vice President of United Israel Appeal Canada, chair of the planning and allocations committee, VP of Quebec-Israel Committee, as is also a member of various boards. She holds a BSc from McGill and an MBA from Concordia.
Miriam Glassman, BComm 99 (marketing), was featured in “One word for you: Terrific!”, The Gazette, October 19, 2010. Miriam is President & Flattery Specialist at Flatter Me and can barely keep up with demand. For $5, she will call up a person and tell them they're great, outstanding, the best at what they do, irreplaceable, spectacular, attractive, witty, etc. Her email inbox is overflowing – she can spend 60 hours a week on the phone and is in danger of losing her voice. She won't do offensive messages or break-up calls, and tries to stay away from a script, tailoring her call to the vibe she picks up at the other end.
Glassman earned a BComm at Concordia and worked in corporate marketing for a decade before deciding to venture out on her own last year. She set up her own website, contacted an international trend-spotting magazine and lo and behold, the requests came pouring in.
Nadine Léonard, BEng 92 (building engineering), was featured in “Batîr un avenir durable”, les affaires, October 23-29, 2010, one of a series of articles about the winners of the Prix Femmes d’affaires in les affaires. Having received her award in 2007, Nadine is Director, Public Infrastructure Development, at Pomerleau Inc., number one in Quebec’s construction industry and among the top prime contractors in Canada. She also is President of the Executive of the Canada Green Building Council, Quebec Chapter. She earned a BEng at Concordia and an EMBA at McGill-HEC Montréal.
Allison Moore, BFA 92 (design for the theatre), was featured in “Miller murals get a touch of nostalgia”, The Red River Valley Echo, October 17, 2010. Since graduating from Concordia, Allison worked in Toronto theatres as a scenic artist, did some set work for New York musicals and painted scenery for the original X Men movie. She completed her Bachelor of Education at the University of Manitoba five years ago and has worked with the Artist in the School program in Winnipeg ever since, doing about 13 residencies at different schools every year. Sponsored by the Manitoba Arts Council, the Artist in the School program enhances arts education in Manitoba schools by bringing together practising professional artists of all artistic disciplines with students and teachers from kindergarten to grade 12.
Marco Navarro-Génie, BA 90 (political science), was featured in “Salary Abuses Do Not End With Disclosure Rules”, Frontier Centre for Public Policy Notes, October 19, 2010. He is Director of Research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and teaches political science in the Department of Policy Studies at Calgary’s Mount Royal University. He has taught at St. Mary’s College, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), the University of Calgary, and Concordia University.
He has received several awards and is a fellow at the Latin American Research Centre at the University of Calgary, and is author of Augusto "César" Sandino: Messiah of Light and Truth. Marco is a member of the Board of Directors for The International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. He regularly comments on Canadian and Alberta politics for various local, national, and international print and broadcast news outlets including CTV News and RDI. He holds a BA from Concordia and an MA and PhD (political science) from the University of Calgary.
James O’Grady, GrDipl 98 (communication studies), was interviewed in “Survey: James O'Grady, Knoxdale-Merivale”, Ottawa Citizen, October 15, 2010. James ran for city councillor in the Knoxdale-Merivale ward of Ottawa. He is an elementary school teacher in the Ottawa-Carleton and Upper Canada District School Boards. Previously, he spent eight years in Toronto working in the media and technology industries. He joined the Green Party in 2005 and a year later managed David Chernushenko’s interactive communications campaign for the national party leadership. In 2007, the Green Party of Ontario hired O’Grady to be the Director of Campaign Communications for the provincial election. James holds a BA honours degree from Trent University, a graduate diploma in communications from Concordia and a bachelor of education from the University of Windsor.
Dawit Petros, BFA 03 (photography), is a featured contemporary artist at the The Royal Ontario Museum’s presentation “Position As Desired/Exploring African Canadian Identity: Photographs from the Wedge Collection”. Dawit was born in Asmara, Eritrea, and earned his BFA at Concordia, his BA at the University of Saskatchewan, and his MFA at Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
He has exhibited work in solo and group shows throughout Canada and internationally, including “Flow” at the Studio Museum in Harlem, “Becoming” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, “Remix” at Prefix ICA in Toronto, and “Strike Black” at the Observatoire 4 in Montreal. Petros was awarded a Canada Council Visual Arts Production Grant, Fulbright and Bombardier Internationalist fellowships, as well as an Art Matters Foundation grant. Petros lives and works in New York.
Awards/Honours:
Larry English, BComm 78, has been honoured with the 2010 Distinguished Service Award by the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO). He is a past member of CAUBO’s Board of Directors and was named President of CAUBO in 2004. Earlier this year, he retired from the position of Vice President, Finance, at Concordia.
John Price, MFA 96 (studio art), combines kaleidoscopic colour, parenting and art-making in his domestic life frieze Home Movie, an extended portrait of his children captured with an old Russian 35mm camera and a variety of expired film stock. This was one of only four Canadian films of the 36 featured in the Wavelengths program at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
John is a Toronto-based cinematographer and independent filmmaker who has produced experimental documentaries, dance and diary films since 1986. He has received production support from The National Film Board, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. His work has been exhibited at festivals and galleries internationally. He has also produced film projections for opera and dance and has led workshops in Canada and Europe. Price earned a BComm at McGill and an MFA at Concordia.
James Temerty, S Attd 64 (arts and science), of Northland Power Income Fund, has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 for the Ontario region. For more than twenty years, James has celebrated the continuous success of Northland Power, alongside his core management team. James volunteers his time and financial support to numerous organizations. As chairman of the Royal Ontario Museum, James was responsible for raising the largest single fund of $250 million in Canada by a charitable organization. Honouring his heritage, James also takes an active interest in supporting projects in the Ukraine. His recent contributions include the establishment of a business school at Kiev's university and ongoing support of local orphanages. James was recently appointed chair of the Advisory Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and in 2008, was named a member of the Order of Canada.
André Turpin, BFA 89 (film production), was cinematographer on the Denis Villeneuve film Incendies, winner of the Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Incendies is also Canada's official nominee for Oscar consideration in the best foreign film category. André has been described as the country’s best cinematographer by eyeweekly.com. Born in Hull, he has been living in Montreal since his student days. A seriously experimental risk-taking director of photography, Turpin also shot Denis Villeneuve's Maelstrom (2000) and Un 32 Aout sur terre (1998).