Swimmer, Pharmacist and bank CEO: a Desautels alumnus’ journey
Barclays Bank Kenya CEO Jeremy Awori (MBA’96) more or less fell into banking. He started out as a competitive swimmer, but when his Olympic dream fell apart he went to the UK on a scholarship and became a pharmacist.
After practicing for a few years, Mr. Awori opted for an MBA in Finance at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management, which led him into a job at Standard Chartered Bank.
EXplorance among Canada’s best workplaces for 4th year
Montreal’s eXplorance has made it onto the Great Place to Work list of the best workplaces for the 4th year in a row. EXplorance is a learning experience management specialist that has gone through huge growth and acquired a business intelligence solutions provider over the past year without losing its corporate culture.
Student-mentor programs hit their stride
As students looking to start their careers realize the value of getting sound advice, the number of student-mentor pairings in Canada is growing at a rapid rate. The growth and evolution of the Desautels mentorship program echoes that of many other schools’ programs. When the Desautels MBA mentorship started a decade ago, it was aimed at female students, but has since expanded to include all students and an online component.
The Desautels alumnus at the centre of a CAE/JAL joint venture
Quentin O’Mahony is a long way from his Abbottsford, BC home. He lives, works and plays in Japan as the General Manager of CAE’s joint flight-simulator and flight training venture with Japan Airlines, a job that includes overseeing cost efficiencies, preparing the ground to expand operations, and overseeing a training centre in South Korea. He has been at it since 2015, when he helped launch the program at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
CEOs, academics and how to run a restaurant
Desautels Associate Professor Karl Moore was recently interviewed on The Grilled Podcast to discuss his development as a businessman and academic, collaboration and bringing CEOs in to speak to his classes. He then interviews those CEOs on his podcast, The CEO Series.
Eytan Bensoussan on mentoring, entrepreneurship and modern business banking
Eytan Bensoussan (BSc’05, MBA/LLB’10) loves a challenge. He has studied math, bio-chemistry, political science and management. In his career life, he worked for McKinsey & Company, the Globe and Mail, and Ferst Capital Partners before co-founding Ferst Digital, which is a modern banking platform for small businesses and start-ups.
Future food now: how insects will solve world hunger
In an interview on Fox Business Network, Aspire CEO and former MBA student Mohammed Ashour makes the case for eating bugs as a way to meet the world’s growing protein requirements. His company, the Aspire Group, runs a cricket farm in Texas and a palm weevil larvae operation in Ghana, both aimed at creating a sustainable insect-based food industry. Mr.
Desautels alumna runs for city council in Colorado
Melissa Youssef (MBA'91) is stepping into municipal politics in Durango, Colorado. She is a civically-minded member of the community and a successful businesswoman; Ms. Youssef is VP of the local Parks and Recreation Advisory board, and has served as President of the Durango Discovery Museum and VP of the school district’s Board of Education.
Desautels MBA-Law student to spend year with Supreme Court of Canada
Aly R. Háji, a student in the joint MBA-Law program at McGill University, has been selected to fill one of twenty-seven positions as Clerk for the Supreme Court of Canada. Under this highly selective appointment, he will work under the direction of a Supreme Court Judge and will fulfill various duties, including researching points of law, preparing memoranda of law and assisting the Judge in the general work of the Court.
In Bermuda, arts and culture can be an enabler for progress
Desautels alumna Lauren Merkel (MBA'13) makes the case that Bermuda’s best resource for moving the island nation forward is its arts and cultural capital. Ms. Merkel is a senior consultant at Toronto-based Lord Cultural Resources, which specializes in the cultural heritage sector.
MBA students win big at HEC case competition
The Desautels Faculty of Management was well represented at this year’s HEC Corporate Responsibility Challenge. Among the twelve competing teams, MBA students Taha Ataullah, Bernardo Prôa Bressane, Hardeep Singh, and Karen Vanthuyne secured second place, while Angela Hernandez Castillo, Matt Jones, Akshay Kohli, and Margarita Komarova placed fifth.
An MBA victory at USC Global Case Competition
The Desautels MBA case team composed of Catherine Du Pont, Jiawei Lin, Helena Rati, Karen Sidhu, Jessica Truong secured first place at the USC Marshall Global Case Competition, which was hosted at the Amazon Headquarters in Seattle, WA. Congratulations to all!
For McGill alumnus, seaweed is green gold
Jean-Paul Deveau sells seaweed — or rather, products derived from it. His company, Acadian Seaplants Limited, is the world’s biggest producer of seaweed-based fertilizers and products for human and animal consumption. The company manufactures in five locations, including New Brunswick, Maine and Ireland; and exports to over 80 countries. One of those countries is Japan, where Deveau’s products are ubiquitous.
Quebec’s finance minister meets with McGill community to talk budget
Quebec’s finance minister, Carlos Leitão, is touring the province’s universities to consult students and other university members ahead of the provincial budget. The agenda is heavy on fiscal policy, public infrastructure investment, regional development and the social safety net. So far, Mr. Leitão has been to the University of Sherbrooke, Laval University and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
Speech By President Tony Tan At The Appreciation Dinner For Mr Wong Ngit Liong, Former Chairman, NUS
Good evening. I am pleased to join the NUS community this evening to pay tribute to Mr Wong Ngit Liong, who has helmed the National University of Singapore for 12 years, from 2004 to 2016.
