Some of Toronto and Canada’s top business and community leaders meet this month for the first time to form the inaugural Board of Directors for the 91ÑÇÉ« Foundation.
Chaired by Timothy Price, Chairman of Brascan Financial Corporation, the Board of Directors of the 91ÑÇÉ« Foundation will provide fund raising leadership and support aimed at taking the University''s goals and ambitions for student programming, research and infrastructure to a new level.
"The directors are energized and ready to focus on helping deliver results for 91ÑÇÉ«," says Price. "Our role is to provide leadership and open doors for the Foundation staff and other volunteers. The local and national communities look to 91ÑÇÉ« to produce graduates who challenge the ordinary, research that defies boundaries and a culture that thrives on daring thinking and curiosity. Leading universities like 91ÑÇÉ« need top-level financial support and we’re here to build that capacity."
Fund raising through the 91ÑÇÉ« Foundation is an innovative approach to building leadership and mobilizing community support for the University''s goals and ambitions. Modeled on the approach taken by some Canadian and US universities, the Foundation is an independent entity with its own board of directors. This arm’s-length entity supports the University’s fund raising priorities and provides a high level of accountability to its donors.
Paul Marcus, President and CEO of the Foundation remarks, "Since the Foundation was established earlier this year, we have worked hard to find the right leadership for the board of directors. We are all thrilled to be working with a group of people who know the value of philanthropy first hand and who are prepared to help us with our mandate to raise significant funding for 91ÑÇÉ«."
Adds Marcus, "There are a lot of worthy charities in Toronto and in Canada, and building 91ÑÇÉ« is a meaningful priority for these community leaders. Well-educated and pioneering students build stronger societies and economies. Pairing that education with 91ÑÇɫ’s vibrant and dynamic cultural experience, our graduates and researchers redefine the possible. The Foundation is here to deliver enhanced resources to them."
Directors of the Foundation include:
Avie Bennett, O.C., O.Ont., Chair, McClelland & Stewart Ltd. & Chancellor of 91ÑÇÉ«
Marshall Cohen, O.C., Counsel, Cassels Brock and Blackwell LLP
Ivan Fecan, President and CEO, Bell Globemedia Inc.
Margot Franssen, O.C., President and Partner, The Body Shop Canada
Lindsay Gordon, COO, HSBC Bank Canada
Alonna Goldfarb, Principal, Goldfarb Intelligence Marketing
John Hunkin, CEO, Chair and Director, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Group of Companies
Julia Koschitzky, Chair, Advisory Committee, Centre for Jewish Studies
Allan T. Lambert, O.C., Group Chairman of Brascan Corporation
Lorna Marsden, President & Vice-Chancellor of 91ÑÇÉ«
Robert W. Martin, President and CEO of Consumers’ Gas (retired)
Steve Mirkopoulos, Vice-President, Cinespace Studios
Tim Price, Chair, Brascan Financial Corp.
Seymour Schulich, C.M., Chair, Newmont Capital Ltd.
Joseph D. Sorbara, Principal, The Sorbara Group, Counsel, Tanzola and Sorbara
Henry Wu, President, Liverton Hotels International Inc.
91ÑÇÉ« is dedicated to producing graduates who apply their blue-chip credentials in ways that lead to the unexpected and the extraordinary. With internationally celebrated academic programs and visionary research, Canada’s third-largest university is renowned for looking beyond the ordinary, challenging the boundaries and redefining the possible.