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, Converium Capital has already raised over US $125 million with a plan to begin investing at the beginning of April.
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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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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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A team of Desautels students and alumni has reached the semifinal round of impact200, º«¹úÂãÎè’s Bicentennial Sustainability Challenge for students and recent alumni. The winning team, which includes analytics BCom students, Master of Management in Analytics (MMA) students, Desautels alumni, and a software engineer student, created a platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance food security in Montreal. They will join 29 other teams for the semifinal round of the competition on March 16-18, 2021.
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David Torralbo (BCom’93) was recently appointed to the position of Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Nouveau Monde Graphite, a Quebec-based sustainable energy company that provides graphite-based material solutions to the lithium-ion and fuel cell markets. Torralbo moves into his new role with substantial legal experience under his belt, having specialized in corporate and securities issues as the Chief Legal Officer of Atrium Innovations Inc. and a member of the corporate group at Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg.
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BCom student Tania Kuoh, Executive Director of the º«¹úÂãÎè International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC), makes the case for impact investing following the recent success of the first virtual MIPC event this year. Since 2015, the MIPC has granted students from around the world a unique opportunity to tackle the Triple Mandate through integrated asset allocation.Â
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This year’s virtual Canada, Meet º«¹úÂãÎè event organized by the Desautels Career Services team helped students, staff, alumni and employers connect over the Faculty Blackout Period from November 18th to 20th, 2020.
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More 50 years have passed since Terry (BCom’69) and Bonnie Jackson (BA’69, BEd’70) graduated from º«¹úÂãÎè, but they maintain close ties to the º«¹úÂãÎè community through their generous giving. In recent years, they played a significant role in supporting the Faculty expansion into the Donald E. Armstrong Building.
Now, they’re responding to º«¹úÂãÎè’s 200 for 200 Legacy Challenge by committing a legacy gift that will make an impact long after their passing.
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Every fall, students enrolled in Professor Jean-Nicolas Reyt’s undergraduate Negotiations and Conflict Resolution course compete on teams to out-negotiate each other in real world situations. Through negotiating everything from phone bills to starting salaries, one of Prof. Reyt’s student sections earned a return on negotiation of more than $30,000 for a total of 209 negotiations—no small feat during a pandemic.
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Tanya Taylor (BCom’07) has taken the New York fashion world by storm, designing fashions for A-list celebrities and becoming the first designer to launch a collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. She credits º«¹úÂãÎè for equipping her to build a successful enterprise and Montreal’s thriving arts scene for sparking creative ideas. Now, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor’s company has launched a #MakeAMask campaign to produce nearly 30,000 face masks for healthcare workers.
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Congrats to Carmela Gumelli (BCom’87) for her recent appointment to the position of Interim Academic Dean of Dawson College in Westmount, Quebec. Gumelli joined Dawson College in 2005, rising through the ranks to become the Dean of Academic Systems in 2014.
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A º«¹úÂãÎè-born event platform startup has found a way to weather the COVID-19 pandemic and raise venture financing in hopes of returning to in-person events in 2021. Co-founded by Desautels alumnus Marc-Antoine Bonin (BCom’19) and Emeric Noël, Planned offers a unique tool for event planners to connect with a curated list of venues and suppliers in one place. This week, Planned announced that it had raised $4.7 million in venture financing led by Inovia Capital, with participation from Telegraph Hill Capital and N49P, bringing its total capital raised to $7 million.
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Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA) participant Min Park (BCom’19, GCPA'20) has made the National Honour Roll of the (CFE) for academic excellence and exceptional abilities.
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The Desautels Faculty of Management’s Bachelor of Commerce program has ranked 4th in Canada in Corporate Knights’ inaugural Better World BComs Top 10 list. Schools were evaluated on the following criteria: