In honour of his exceptional commitment to academic excellence, France’s Aix-Marseille University recently conferred the title of Doctor Honoris Causa upon Professor Alain Pinsonneault.
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º«¹úÂãÎè’s MBA program leverages program flexibility, practical skills training, and experiential learning to prepare students to join leading companies and start their own. Daniel Franco (MBA’19) earned his degree after emigrating to Canada from Peru. After graduation, he co-founded Turbodega, a successful startup that digitizes the supply chain of bodegas in Latin America. Franco praises his alma mater for its educational commitment to exploring emerging business tools that have proven invaluable in his own career, including artificial intelligence and data analysis.
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º«¹úÂãÎè’s newly restructured MBA is designed to meet the needs of international students, says Professor John-Paul Ferguson, Academic Director of the MBA and PMBA programs. With the flexibility to choose between one- and two-year programs, students with less work experience can gain more exposure to the Canadian job market prior to graduation.
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Following the unprecedented resignation of Governor General Julie Payette after allegations of a toxic work environment at Rideau Hall, Professor Patricia Faison Hewlin stresses the importance of authentic leadership skills in the workplace.ÌýEffective leaders rely heavily on the ability to connect to people meaningfully and with empathy, she argues.Ìý
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Nathalie Bernier (BCom’86) was recently appointed to join the Board of Directors of RF Capital Group Inc. She brings nearly 30 years of experience as an Audit and Advisory Partner at Andersen and KPMG to her new role. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President, Strategic and Business Planning and Chief Financial Officer for The Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
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After spending the last fifteen years on Wall Street, Aaron Stern (BCom’06) is fulfilling a longtime dream to launch his own investment fund in downtown Montreal.
With ten current employees, five of whom are fellow º«¹úÂãÎè alumni,ÌýConverium CapitalÌýhas already raised over US $125 million with a plan to begin investing at the beginning of April.
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After founding a reusable mask company after the onset of COVID-19, four partners have launched a second business: Squarefeet.ai.ÌýUsing proceeds from their former mask project to fund the product, the collaborators combined their real estate and technological expertise to build a user-friendly, accessible interface that monitors the sale of homes in real time across Canada. Professor Karl Moore interviewed Squarefeet.ai in his weekly blog for Les Affaires.
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In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the º«¹úÂãÎè-HEC Montreal EMBA program has introduced a bimodal learning style that allows students to choose between online courses and in-person instruction.
As co-director of the EMBA program, Professor Alain Pinsonneault recognizes that knowledge sharing is a less fluid process online. On the other hand, he points out the value of technological tools in teamwork situations for increasing collaboration and facilitating seamless virtual conferences.
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In recent months, property firms behind prominent shopping malls across North America have taken Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC) to court to claim unpaid rent totaling millions of dollars. While industry analysts question the financial security of the Canadian icon, recently taken private following a months-long process, key HBC executives cite the landlords’ unwillingness to absorb the share the costs of the pandemic as the primary reason for the dispute.
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Quebec will receive only half of the expected Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines by February 8thÌýdue to strategy adjustments made by production facilities in Europe. Accelerated vaccine deliveries are planned for February and March to address the shortfall. The shortage will mainly affect elderly patients in long-term care, who were set to receive the second round of the vaccine in mid-March.
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Sylvain A. Girard (BCom’92) will begin the next chapter of a distinguished financial career when he is appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Resolute Forest Products Inc. in March. Over the past two decades, Girard has established a proven track record of spearheading successful finance-related initiatives at General Electric and SNC-Lavalin.
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Alumna Julie Desharnais (EMBA’19) recently accepted a new role as the executive director of the Fondation de l’Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont. Desharnias spent eleven years as Deputy Director General of the Dr. Julien Foundation before rising to the position of Vice President of Canadian Strategic Initiatives at the Canadian Cancer Society. Desharnais brings a strong body of professional work and strategic expertise in the fields of health and philanthropy to her new role.
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As a French-speaking Catholic from small-town St. Alban, Quebec, Jean E. Douville, (BCom’58) overcame religious and linguistic barriers to thrive in Accounting at º«¹úÂãÎè. Experiencing great success in his subsequent diverse financial career, he made regular donations to his alma mater. In 2019, he funded the creation of Jean E. Douville Bursaries, which provide $60,000 in awards to students without the financial resources to pursue their education and career goals.
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When alumnus Jade Dagher (MBA’95) realized the pressure placed on over 300 Lebanese students studying at º«¹úÂãÎè by the tragic Beirut explosions on August 4, 2020, he moved into action. An active volunteer mentor and guest lecturer, Dagher contacted Desautels senior development officer, Joy Bennett, and jumpstarted a support fund by donating $12,000 and calling on º«¹úÂãÎè alumni to contribute.
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If international MBA students want to gain a competitive edge, they should learn the local language, says Marie José Beaudin, Executive Director of Career Services at the Desautels Faculty of Management. Though most students can get by with English only, bilingualism is a requirement for client-facing roles and an asset across industries.